What is "THE" 2600 Holy Grail Game?

[Pioneer4x4]

For me, LOTR. Or for something I am actually looking for, cheap local in the wild Snoopy instruction.

[Frostbite Bailey]

SS-018 MID-TIME is one of my " Holy Grails" PAL and all

 

Bleh, PAL stuff doesnt count....

 

Let them keep thinking that Dino...and send me all your PAL stuff if it is insignificant

[Dino]

SS-018 MID-TIME is one of my " Holy Grails" PAL and all

 

Bleh, PAL stuff doesnt count....

 

Let them keep thinking that Dino...and send me all your PAL stuff if it is insignificant

 

No worries. I'll send you all my insignificant PAL stuff. 100 copies of combat and pacman coming your way

[ianoid]

It depends on if a Holy Grail of collecting is something you can never have, or something you could actually get.

 

Air Raid is closest to Holy Grail for me, because it's gettable.

 

The Birthday Mania, Red Sea Crossing, and Gamma Attack are not really releases, aside from the repros, they are prototypes. There are several one or two off unreleased games.

[Dino]

Birthday Mania, Gamma Attack and Red Sea Crossing were all "released" and not protoypes. To be "released", they only had to be made available for sale, and each of those clearly was as they were advertised as mail order releases and each has been found in the wild. But I agree that they are virtually "ungettable", which is why I consider these to be holy grails and not Air Raid. There is as much evidence that Air Raid was "sold" as there is that these were "sold"

 

If you are talking about "gettable" Holy Grails, then I would put Gauntlet and Ultravision Karate ahead of Air Raid personally.

[ianoid]

I dunno, I feel like something where there are less than 5 proven, it's hard to call 'released'. It's all a technicality.

 

Even an ad doesn't prove a 'release', only the intention to release. It's possible that the companies didn't even fulfill any orders or that the companies were fraudulent in their ability to fulfill orders. Perhaps the companies were hoping to get a rush of orders to fund production. Perhaps they only fulfilled 5 orders or 10 orders? Is that a release?

 

And do you consider everything Atari Age sells a 'release'? I call them homebrew or new releases. However, by these definitions, Atari Age titles or even Hozer should be considered as very rare since the production numbers are relatively low.

 

Having only one or two copies of a game out there could still represent prototypes. For example, several unreleased Atari games have many prototype copies. They are not necessarily released because there are several copies (i.e. Donald Duck's Speedboat or Grover's Music Maker or others). In this case these are clearly prototypes because of the lab loaner labels. But should we consider those released since there are 10 copies of those prototypes out there? Obviously not.

 

I wasn't involved with the threads for these 3 titles specifically, but I still don't fully trust their uniqueness. Of course, you can call me suspicious and that's ok.

 

It's just something to think about as a collector.

[Dino]

Donald duck, etc are clearly protoypes, and they are marked that way. There was never any itention to sell those prototypes. They were never made available for sale. Whereas these games have "production" labels on them and were in the form that they were (or would be) sold..

 

To release a game means to make it available for sale. you dont actually need to sell even one copy, so again, these three differ to prototypes.

 

AA releases are releases in every sense of the term, but they are homebrew releases (arguably with the exception of Boulderdash). They have little value for a number of reasons including:

 

1) Most are still available;

2) They are not old era;

3) AA is not an established development house like Atari, Activision, Commavid etc

 

Hozer carts are homebrew pirates, and fall into that category.

 

The only distinction I can make between these titles and other releases is whether these are "homebrew" titles.

[Gateway]

... I don't consider these to be "released" titles. (It would be the sweetest kind of irony, though, if the 2600's "Holy Grail" turned out to be a Christian-themed game. )

 

I do agree with BassGuitari that it's fitting that the Holy Grail be Red Sea Crossing which is a Christian Based game. Especially since there is only one...

 

Hey guys! A bit of a nitpick, but..

 

Based on the photos and video of the gameplay, Red Sea Crossing appears to be based on Moses and the Exodus of the JEWS (Hebrews) from Egypt, not the Christians. Jesus wouldn't be born for 1000+ years from the game's setting!

 

So can you call it a religious- themed game? Yes. Biblical- themed? Yes. Christian? No.

 

@Smeg: Just to clarify from the "10's" you listed, below are the games you can get with little to some effort. A few are uncommon to get but not impossible if you want to just play the game. They are listed as 10's if you want to get a certain brand release (Xante, Beagle Bros. etc) or CIB packaging, etc. :

 

Alien (FOX common)

Asterix (common in PAL countries)

Beany Bopper (FOX common)

BMX Airmaster (TNT uncommon)

Crypts of Chaos (FOX common)

Demon Attack (IMAGIC common)

Karate (FROGGO common)

No Escape! (IMAGIC uncommon)

Solar Storm (IMAGIC uncommon)

 

[Dino]

 

Based on the photos and video of the gameplay, Red Sea Crossing appears to be based on Moses and the Exodus of the JEWS (Hebrews) from Egypt, not the Christians. Jesus wouldn't be born for 1000+ years from the game's setting!

 

 

Actually, the Old Testament was adopted by the Christians, so it can definately be called Christian based. In fact, the game was advertised in a christian magazine!

[Foxsolo2000]

The one true Holy Grail for me would be GoGo Home Monster. Would die a happy man to get my hands on the cart of this game, right Rom?

[Gateway]

Based on the photos and video of the gameplay, Red Sea Crossing appears to be based on Moses and the Exodus of the JEWS (Hebrews) from Egypt, not the Christians. Jesus wouldn't be born for 1000+ years from the game's setting!

 

 

Actually, the Old Testament was adopted by the Christians, so it can definately be called Christian based. In fact, the game was advertised in a christian magazine!

 

Well, it doesn't appear that Red Sea Crossing sold any game cartridges as a result of the Christian magazine.. Maybe they should have advertised it in a Jewish magazine instead!

[Schizophretard]

For me the holy grail is Steven Spielberg's personalized version of Raiders of the Lost Ark because:

 

There is only one.

 

It isn't rare for the same reasons as other carts(pirate or little third party companies putting out crappy games)

 

It was made by Atari.

 

In the game you are a "collector" searching for a "holy grail".

 

The programmer of the game gave it to the director of the movie.

 

It isn't just part of video game history but also movie history.

 

It doesn't just have value for an Atari collector but for Indiana Jones collectors, Harrison Ford fans, Steven Spielberg fans...

 

Out of all the carts Rom Hunter has listed as holy grails that is the one I want the most.

[bomberpunk]

Based on the photos and video of the gameplay, Red Sea Crossing appears to be based on Moses and the Exodus of the JEWS (Hebrews) from Egypt, not the Christians. Jesus wouldn't be born for 1000+ years from the game's setting!

 

 

Actually, the Old Testament was adopted by the Christians, so it can definately be called Christian based. In fact, the game was advertised in a christian magazine!

 

Well, it doesn't appear that Red Sea Crossing sold any game cartridges as a result of the Christian magazine.. Maybe they should have advertised it in a Jewish magazine instead!

 

do you have a sales history to back that claim? ...that's right, i didn't think so.

[Zach]

Well, it doesn't appear that Red Sea Crossing sold any game cartridges as a result of the Christian magazine.. Maybe they should have advertised it in a Jewish magazine instead!

I actually did quickly scan the Jewish magazines at the library for another copy of the ad.

[Gateway]

Interesting.. so did the Jewish magazines have the same ad for the game?

[Zach]

I only found the one copy of the ad, but that doesn't mean others aren't out there.

[mbd30]

A boxed "Air Raid" is the most valuable and coolest Atari 2600 related thing you could find. I take it nobody else has found an "Air Raid" box.

[Gateway]

I only found the one copy of the ad, but that doesn't mean others aren't out there.

 

True. Okay I will concede that the game would have been popular with both the Christian and Jewish demographic of gamers in the mid 80's. If not for the crash, Red Sea Crossing likely would have been well known and common to find for people in this hobby. Who knows?

 

So, my opinion for the "Holy Grail" game: It's a toss up between Air Raid and Red Sea Crossing.

[nofrills100]

What about a crossover of Air Raid and Red Sea Crossing - what would that be titled...?

[+Andrew Davie]

Mixing a blue air raid and red sea crossing?

 

You'd have have purple (red+blue) to start with.

And halfway between air and sea would give you land.

halfway between a raid and a crossing...?

 

How about...

Purple Land Patrol.

[BassGuitari]

Mixing a blue air raid and red sea crossing?

 

You'd have have purple (red+blue) to start with.

And halfway between air and sea would give you land.

halfway between a raid and a crossing...?

 

How about...

Purple Land Patrol.

 

[Atari Smeghead]

@Smeg: Just to clarify from the "10's" you listed, below are the games you can get with little to some effort. A few are uncommon to get but not impossible if you want to just play the game. They are listed as 10's if you want to get a certain brand release (Xante, Beagle Bros. etc) or CIB packaging, etc. :

 

Alien (FOX common)

Asterix (common in PAL countries)

Beany Bopper (FOX common)

BMX Airmaster (TNT uncommon)

Crypts of Chaos (FOX common)

Demon Attack (IMAGIC common)

Karate (FROGGO common)

No Escape! (IMAGIC uncommon)

Solar Storm (IMAGIC uncommon)

 

 

That is extremely helpful! Thanks for that. I did wonder about it, since it seemed like a lot of the ones mentioned were rare yet weren't. Boggling.

 

I have to say, this thread turned out to be really informative! Not only do I now know what the most expensive 2600 game to own is, but I see that the definition of Holy Grail varies among people.

 

Thanks so much, everyone!

 

Cheers,

Smeg

[Atari2600Lives]

I am lucky enough to own one of the few Air Raid cartirdges on earth but I gotta say Eli's ladder was the hardest one so far that I added to my collection. So my personal holy grail is probably Eli's ladder ...thanks Wonder!

Edited February 10, 2012 by Atari2600Lives

[Dino]

A boxed "Air Raid" is the most valuable and coolest Atari 2600 related thing you could find. I take it nobody else has found an "Air Raid" box.

 

Given the cart does not contain the words "Air Raid", there must be at least one other box out there

 

Which does not make it the rarest item as there are plenty of "one-of-a-kinds" still around.

[atarilovesyou]

The thing about rarity is this...it's not enough to be simply rare, there must be a demand for it. Air Raid?...why would this turdly game be wanted for anything other than its rarity and nothing else? This is the weird thing about collecting...I have plenty of stuff that might be considered rare if only because there's not many of them floating around, but unless you have a group of folks who really understand the rarity of the item, I've got junk. I just don't get it, lol...none of these rares are actually good games, lol!