Atari 8 bit cart lot I came across

[Scooter83]

I saw this lot, and had a few reviewer examples of basic typo attack and the learning phone. Story goes the seller got them from a guy who's father worked at atari. Looked.interesting to say the least. He thought all atari brand carts could be prototypes but I'm pretty certain 3 typed labels are final version reviewer copies. Unsure about the hand written ones minus Satan's hallow. The cases appear never to have had a atari production label on them but I figure the few carts I had a clue about was worth the pickup. They should be here next week. I doubt any will be prototypes. But besides looking for assy boards any other interesting things to look for while going through this lot?

[Tempest]

These look like legit internal Atari prototypes. No sure about the Satan's Hollow though since I've never actually seen an 8-bit CBS proto, but I imagine they look similar.

[AtariGeezer]

Not a bad deal if they are legit: eBay Auction -- Item Number: 182378724115

[gozar]

After listening to the Antic podcasts I was under the impression that Atari employees were hughes pirates. Could these just be pirated carts?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Tempest]

After listening to the Antic podcasts I was under the impression that Atari employees were hughes pirates. Could these just be pirated carts?

 

Yes, and some of them probably are. However that doesn't mean that they're not different from the final version. Many times people pirated whatever they could get their hands on, even if it wasn't finished. Such was the case with Behind Jaggi Lines. There's really no way of knowing until we get these dumped.

[Scooter83]

Tempest. I reached out to an ex employee and showed the pictures i have at the moment some of the hand writing like millipede track and field last star fighter and final legacy look similar to prototype carts he has from the 2600 side. But he woud need to dig through to confirm. So in house copies to say the least. Be interesting if not the final copies. Hard to tell what is a prototype and what is a employee copy made in house I'd bet. Unless there are tells for each. If so I'd sure like to learn. I'll have the carts next week most likely.

[Scooter83]

What does an atari 8 bit computer CBS prototype board look like. Or a CBS prototype board in general for any atari system look like

[Scooter83]

I got the lot in the mail on monday and heres the update on the early findings.

 

I opened up each cart to see what was in each cart. and inside each cart is an ASSY C060053 Atari board with EPROM chips. Many of them are covered up with the HI and LO marked off with a check sum on the labels. All games booted up the same as the regular releases accept for Robotoron 2084 which booted up differently on the Atari 800 but booted normally on the XEGS. ( not sure why one system its different but im gonna thats a normal boot due to how it booted on the XEGS). First assumption is that these might be final versions but a reviewer copy or tester in house copy but hoping there is some sorta difference that is worth noting to the community.

 

Satan's Hallow which when I booted it up it said CBS ELECTRONICS instead of BY DUSTY or CBS SOFTWARE. The game is in a K-Byte case and EPROMs are on a K-Byte board ( no jumper wires or anything on the board. ) I sent pictures off to Tempest about it.

 

Next plans is to sit down and play the games and see if there are any differences and then work on getting these carts dumped incase there is anything note worthy for the community. I still dont know who the ex employee from atari who worked back when but Im working on seeing if I can get that info from the seller.

[Scooter83]