Atari 5200 Boxes with 2 Port Picture on Box...All are 2 ports Inside?

[+swlovinist]

Just wanted to post here to ask 5200 collectors. I have a friend who has a 5200 box sealed. The picture on the box 2 port 5200. Does that mean 100% that it is a 2 Port console inside?

[fiddlepaddle]

Personally, I'd guess any sealed box is most likely a 2 port, especially with a 2 port picture.

 

I think Atari had a bunch of 5200s warehoused after the crash...for awhile, new 5200s were really cheap. Those were probably mostly the most recently manufactured units (2 ports), but some could have been new old stock of 4 port units returned from retailers, although those would probably have the 4 port picture on them.

 

But I wouldn't make any guarantees knowing how Atari patched different 2600 parts together sometimes, especially with "refurbished" units.

[BassGuitari]

If any mixing-and-matching was going on, it would have been by Atari Corp.*, during and immediately post-Crash. While Atari Corp. did produce their own 5200 box--smaller, more square, and with that Atari Corp. dull gray instead of Atari Inc. silver--it's possible they used/sold any leftover and returned 4-port and 2-port consoles and boxes they may have acquired from the old Atari Inc., and combining whatever was on hand. Since Atari Corp.'s main concern vis a vis the 5200 was basically to just get rid the stuff, it probably didn't matter too much whether the boxes matched the hardware. It was a dead system anyway.

 

*It's possible there may have been overlap during the original transition from 4-port to 2-port production, as well. As fiddlepaddle pointed out, even Atari Inc. combined "mismatching" parts and components when they transitioned or refurbished VCS consoles. For instance, heavy sixers were sometimes packed with CX40s and standard text label Combat instead of CX10s and 01 Combat as the company shifted to the light sixer, and I've even heard of light sixer boards in heavy sixer cases.

 

Anyway, chances are the system in question is, in fact, a 2-port. But...there's also no way to be 100% sure.

Edited April 21, 2018 by BassGuitari

[fiddlepaddle]

Now that I think about it, you MIGHT be able to distinguish it with an x-ray image or an ultrasound (or an MRI? ha ha)...

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Now that I think about it, you MIGHT be able to distinguish it with an x-ray image or an ultrasound (or an MRI? ha ha)...

 

You put it through an MRI and it won't stay boxed very long...