Raticon Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) I just picked up "River Raid" and "Decathlon" in an auction. Both are PAL and work great on my PAL-system but when i put the two cartridges next to each other i spot some differences that make me believe that my Decathlon is either a bootleg copy or from some strange, special low-quality production round.First off the label sticker is of very bad quality. It doesnt show so much in the photo but it is very low resolution and not centered, as the "Activision" logo on the top is almost chopped off.Secondly, it only says "DECATHLON" "One to Four players using both joysticks" and nothing else. Even the end label is off-center.Click the picture for super-size!Secondly, the "River Raid" cart has "Activision" embossed in the plastic molding, as do another Activison game i have since earlier "Skiing"."Decathlon", however, only has a raised embossed rectangle where "Activision" should be. It also rattles a bit when shaken slightly in the hand.Click the picture for super-size!Could this be a bootleg cartridge or illegal copy, or is this just a strange budget variation? The game is PAL and works flawlessly though, but my other 2 Activision carts are of a better quality label with more text and plastic embossing on the back side of the cartridge.All Activision "Standard" carts have embossing according to the Activision label page here on AA found here -> http://atariage.com/label_page.html?SystemID=2600&LabelID=7Also, the cart scan looks completely different, but that could be due to being NTSC and not PAL. http://atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=126Thoughts? Ideas? Edited June 10, 2014 by Raticon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BioForceApe Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 http://atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=126 The cart should say The Activision Decathlon and the "2600 and VCS are trademarks of ATARI Inc." message. You've got a near-perfect bootleg right there, mister. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted June 10, 2014 Share Posted June 10, 2014 It looks like a South American version…not sure if it was officially licensed or a bootleg, but it looks like some other Activision SA versions I have seen on eBay as of recent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted June 10, 2014 Author Share Posted June 10, 2014 (edited) South America? As in made for the South American market or for export by shady manufacturers?Wouldn't they make games in NTSC-standard? I get that Brazil has PAL-M though.I have checked the list on AtariMania as well as here on AA and i only find entries for NTSC Decathlon. Weird.EDIT: Well, according to the rarity list here on AA there was a PAL release under the "White" Activision label, rarity 5. Still doesnt match up.http://atariage.com/cart_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=1029So far the "South America trace" is the best lead in this mystery case. Edited June 10, 2014 by Raticon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kane Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 It's not a bootleg, it's the HES release from Australia. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBuff Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 It's not a bootleg, it's the HES release from Australia. Spot on, Mr. kane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-activision-decathlon-_19903.html Nothing special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted June 11, 2014 Author Share Posted June 11, 2014 Bullseye! Thank you good sir! Still dont understand the embossed plastic rectangle where Activision should be. Mystery solved! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 Bullseye! Thank you good sir! Still dont understand the embossed plastic rectangle where Activision should be. Mystery solved! You said you got the games at auction -- I assume EBay? Where was the seller located? It's strange one would be Aussie and the other Europe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted June 12, 2014 Author Share Posted June 12, 2014 (edited) I got it from an auction on the Swedish ebay "Tradera.se" where i get most of my games. The seller is located in Sweden, well at least his bank account was in a Swedish bank . I find it very strange that an Australian game would find its way to Sweden. Activision released their own games here in PAL as i understand it. More mysterious is the fact that HES that released this version of Decathlon apparently uses a copy of Activision cartridge as the embossed Activision logo is merely a rectangle on my HES cart. Very strange. Edited June 12, 2014 by Raticon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kane Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 It's common to see HES titles on ebay.de so I think quite a few made it over to Europe. Not all HES carts have the 'rectangle' on the back of the cart. My HES Decathlon cart has 'Activision' just like that River Raid for example. There were quite a few non-Activision games that HES released with that rectangle Activision style cart, so I suppose they needed to blank out the name for them at some stage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted June 15, 2014 Author Share Posted June 15, 2014 I noticed that my EPYX carts like summer games and winter games come in a cartridge exactly like my HES Decathlon with the rectangle on the back. Could it be that when/if HES ran out of Activision cartridges for whatever reason they opted for the same as EPYX had for their incredible similarity with the Activision original carts? I mean, the EPYX and Activision carts are exactly the same except EPYX has the embossed rectangle where Activision has its embossed name on the cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I got a HES Frogger not coming in a Parker style cart. Now that does look weird. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted June 15, 2014 Author Share Posted June 15, 2014 Looks like the very same type of cartridge that EPYX uses, as well as HES. Mind if i ask you to if it has just the embossed rectangle on the back or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 (edited) For many reasons, Aussie HES games often are mixed into collections with German games, and Brazilian games. I guess with the PAL 2600 market being so fragmented, people just got carts from wherever they could. I've long suspected that this area was one of the earlier places we saw overseas trading between collectors, long before Ebay and such. I strongly suspect that we're also seeing Brazil being a "concentrator" of these regions, due to Brazil being an isolated PAL market, and the collections eventually make their way north. It's just so common to see the 3 regions mixed together that I don't even blink an eye anymore (the NES scene also sees this effect to some degree). It's somewhat challenging to distinguish between legit PAL releases and pirates because of this. You get used to HES releases though, because they have those characteristic labels with very little text on them compared to what we're used to. Edited June 16, 2014 by freeweed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mef Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 (edited) I just got a real bootleg Decathlon myself, not a HES release. Just wanted to share, since it feels like it belongs to this topic. The label looked just like the dark-blue Activision one, with all the text present, but it didn't have the typical "Activision-rot" issue and was actually printed on different material. It wasn't just a half-glossy paper, but was covered with an ultra-thin plastic film (ripped off on the pic below). On the back, it looked almost like HES carts I have, but it didn't have this plate where the logo should sit (just plain surface) and had cutouts at the very bottom, just like 32-in-1 (cheaper to make, as the prongs for opening the cart port are not from a separate bit of plastic, but kinda "cut out" from the back side of the case). Now the real treat was inside: It's an EPROM cart and under the label, there was a series of openings for switches used in some bootleg multicarts! Sadly, it refuses to work with 2 of 3 of my systems, and there isn't even any consistency in that. It won't work on 81' Light Sixer, neither on 91' Long Rainbow Jr, but does work on 84' Short Rainbow Jr (dates based on chips' production dates, not board revisions). I thought it might be a problem with cart connector, but even removed from the casing it just gives me black screen on those 2, no matter how many times I reposition it within the slot. Shame, might have been a good donor board for F8 multicart, but I'm not sure if it'll work at all. If anyone wants close-ups of the board for analysis, just let me know, I've scrapped the case as it was cracked when I got it, anyway. Edited December 31, 2014 by Mef Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 6, 2015 Share Posted January 6, 2015 I just got a real bootleg Decathlon myself, not a HES release. Just wanted to share, since it feels like it belongs to this topic. The label looked just like the dark-blue Activision one, with all the text present, but it didn't have the typical "Activision-rot" issue and was actually printed on different material. It wasn't just a half-glossy paper, but was covered with an ultra-thin plastic film (ripped off on the pic below). On the back, it looked almost like HES carts I have, but it didn't have this plate where the logo should sit (just plain surface) and had cutouts at the very bottom, just like 32-in-1 (cheaper to make, as the prongs for opening the cart port are not from a separate bit of plastic, but kinda "cut out" from the back side of the case). Now the real treat was inside: It's an EPROM cart and under the label, there was a series of openings for switches used in some bootleg multicarts! Sadly, it refuses to work with 2 of 3 of my systems, and there isn't even any consistency in that. It won't work on 81' Light Sixer, neither on 91' Long Rainbow Jr, but does work on 84' Short Rainbow Jr (dates based on chips' production dates, not board revisions). I thought it might be a problem with cart connector, but even removed from the casing it just gives me black screen on those 2, no matter how many times I reposition it within the slot. Shame, might have been a good donor board for F8 multicart, but I'm not sure if it'll work at all. If anyone wants close-ups of the board for analysis, just let me know, I've scrapped the case as it was cracked when I got it, anyway. WP_20141231_15_16_49_Pro.jpgWP_20141231_15_17_10_Pro.jpgWP_20141231_14_26_07_Pro.jpg Looks like the same PCB's used by telegames in the UK. Real tell would be if the banks are reversed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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