frax Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 Hi! I was cleaning out my collection and found these white pirate carts. I googled a little, checked the lists but couldn't find any info. Anyone knows something about them? Company, boxes/manuals, where there any more? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 I've seen cartridges like these before, but know about as much about them as you do Would also like to know more - they're pretty distinctive as pirate cartridges go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted September 30, 2018 Share Posted September 30, 2018 any way to open one up ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nezgar Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Here's a screenshot from SPACE INVADER. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frax Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 any way to open one up ? Not without breaking the label Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Level42 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Yeah feared that.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Frax, have I seen those carts at Videopac's place once upon a time or identical ones? The white plastic and metallic labels almost make me think of Handic but obviously they didn't make pirate Atari carts, as well as not having exclusive rights to a such type of packaging. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter83 Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 I've seen the first 3 on Ebay over the years space invader is a new title for me. From the label they came out after 1982 since it's for the 600 and 1200 . To help date it. They look almost gebelli or tg software style shells but not quite. From what I've learned over the years it was a Taiwanese company putting them out. Prices on Ebay vary from as low as 30 ea to as much as 100 listed prices. I dont recall any selling as of late in any range. But I havent been really following sold listings lately. I hope this helps 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 Hm yes, the mention of 1200 should rule out all possible European pirates if there ever were any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted October 2, 2018 Share Posted October 2, 2018 5 10 15 if perfect a pop, all kinds of self cased and pirated stuff still floating around but. some us distributors made or had same made for them over time. Just enjoy the carts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted October 3, 2018 Share Posted October 3, 2018 Hm yes, the mention of 1200 should rule out all possible European pirates if there ever were any. There were a few European cartridge pirates. Having said that, the first time that I saw these was in Ireland, but I'll admit that that doesn't mean that the cartridges were European in origin. In all honesty, the Taiwanese angle sounds like the most plausible one. As an aside, there was a small amount of European Atari literature that referenced the 1200XL, at least in English. Whether that was because it was lifted wholesale from American literature or was indicative of an intended European launch of the 1200XL is up for debate, but I'm inclined to go with the former given the short period of time that the 1200XL was on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frax Posted October 3, 2018 Author Share Posted October 3, 2018 Just enjoy the carts. Im not really an Atari 8-bit guy. I like consoles more. I'll put them in the BST and hope they end up at someone how will enjoy them more. @carlsson, yes, I got the from VP, as usual 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 (edited) Does not look like shells Video 61, Steve Tucker, or Albert has in stock. I can not account for GR8 because I do not know what color their shells were. Someone would need an EPROM burner. I know there has been soom bootleg piracy outside of the U.S. dating back to the 1980s. Producing a mass quantity of shells will cost anyone some money, unless they go a hold of some unused stock from a manufacturer that went under. Any ideal when the cartridges were manufactured? To do a new run of bootleg cartridges is not worthwhile because someone would need the boards, shells, and labels. End up spending almost as much to manufacture new ones than to order older ones on Ebay, Amazon, AtariAge Store, or AtariSales. Video 61 has many old games made by the original manufacturer, not sure about the packaging status. Edited October 4, 2018 by peteym5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 There are some threads on these carts -- although not a whole lot of information. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/245458-taiwan-carts http://atariage.com/forums/topic/192722-river-raid-cartridge-label-variations http://atariage.com/forums/topic/38195-was-ist-das 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted October 4, 2018 Share Posted October 4, 2018 The black market is huge in Asian/Oriental regions of the world. They pirate everything, Games, Movies, TV shows, Music, software. Some of your bit-torrent sites operate out of that part of the world. I have seen downloaded movies with Chinese or Korean captions. I know people who served in South Korea, Japan, Philippines, etc. Came home with video tapes of big movies, and the labels looked like something made with a printer. They probably had someone make the plastic shells and pay them a bag of rice of the days work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 For sure those are bootlegs from the old days. If anyone today would make reproductions (nicer word than pirates), it would be of some of the most expensive and hard to find games. To me all four on the picture look like commons. Also people making reproductions today tend to try to make them look as much as the original as possible, perhaps with a small note saying repro, not purposedly completely different. The links posted by MrFish also dates the awareness of these bootlegs back 15 years and probably far longer than so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 (edited) The pictures of the boxes -- posted originally by Thorsten Günther -- are definitely from something that's been around for quite a number of years. I've been seeing posts about these types of carts as long as I've been coming to AtariAge... Edited October 5, 2018 by MrFish 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frax Posted October 6, 2018 Author Share Posted October 6, 2018 On more detail, they are very light, no way there's an eprom in there. I guess it's an epoxy blobb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted October 6, 2018 Share Posted October 6, 2018 Did someone open up a shell and look inside? Found out back in the 80s. Some of these were seized coming into the United States by Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.