cx2k Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 I just wanted to inform, and get everyone's opinion about, the fake 8-bit carts that have been floating around on ebay. I have to say this really pisses me off. When this individual first started making these carts, they would put in their description that it was a custom-made cartridge. Now they have resorted to bundling the fake with several real carts and selling them in lots. Nowhere in the auction does it mention anything about these not being legit. Here are the 2 auctions currently running: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1331303539 http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1331303944 The first auction contains a fake Shadow World cart by Synapse and the second auction has a fake Montezuma's Revenge cart by Parker Bros. I haven't seen these carts in person but I'd be willing to bet that they don't have any info on the labels indicating that they're copies. Just felt that I needed to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening. Any comments? John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Wow, that guy has some gall bundling those games with other released carts. If you didn't know any better you'd think you were getting actual released cartridges. No doubt all these fakes are going to turn up on eBay down the road, with the seller not even knowing they're fakes. Or worse, knowing they got scammed but trying to pass them off as the genuine article anyway (either intentionally or through omission). Someone's obviously going through a lot of effort to make genuine looking labels, and even using the correct cartridge shells from the appropriate companies. But to not even mention that one of the carts in each of those auctions is a copy is just wrong and misleading. Technically the auction description is accurate, so if someone discovers after the fact that this is just a copy they don't really have any recourse (except to not do business with that individual again and to warn others about these carts). ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhindle The Red Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Oh, but the second auction is a dead giveaway, isn't it? Subconsciously he admits his wrongdoing; accidentally calling Frogger "Forger." Ha! This is too much! What kind of a photographer do you think I am? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Rhindle The Red: Subconsciously he admits his wrongdoing; accidentally calling Frogger "Forger." Ha ha! Good catch, that's quite amusing. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Yeah this is beginning to tick me off too. At first I thougth he had found some UR carts that were maybe never released in the US, but then I noticed he said "Custom Made" so I knew it was a fake. Later on he did the same thing but dropped the "Custom Made" part from the description (I forget what word he used instead). But to bundle them with several released carts is just plain deciving. At first I thought it was kind of cool that someone had the talent to do this, but now I see that he's just trying to trick people. I believe Ian knows this guy, maybe we can get the whole story from him. Incidently I did e-mail him about the Tapper carts he had for auction a few weeks ago and he told me that he got them from a guy in Germany and he thought they were copies. At least he told me when I asked, so I guess he's not all bad. BTW, Anyone know why Montezuma's Revenge didn't come out for the 400/800? I've seen a prototype so I know it exists. Why go through the bother of porting it to the 5200 and not release it for the 400/800? Same deal with Mr. Do's Castle. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 hey that pitfall2 looks odd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 I have a cordial relationship with this seller - (up till now!). Complained to him that he should clearly state the nature of these carts in his auctions. Atarians would then appreciate his efforts to make new carts. I really get no response from him on this topic. He does not seem to be doing it for money. Judging from the prices he gets, it is hardly worth the time and effort required. Can only chalk it up to a different way of thinking, but I too, wish he would stop doing it this way. A disk version of Montezuma's Revenge did come out for the 8bit. Its on a C64/Atari disk. Evidently, Parker did not want to go to the expense of producing ROMS. The dual package was a much cheaper way of doing it. I don't think they did a C64 cart either. Did they? Mr. Do's Castle is more of mystery. I actually have a cart. One of five or six that I know of. Its a Parker case and white label. Always assumed it was a Parker loaner or test cart, but since someone has proven adept at duplicating Parker carts, it may be a fake. How do you open a Parker Bros case without breaking? Would like to find out if it is an eprom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 quote: Originally posted by atari70s: hey that pitfall2 looks odd Looks fine to me, the only thing odd about it is that someone exposed one of the screws. I assume these carts have two screws, seems unusual that only one of them would be breached like that. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 An 8-bit Parker Brothers prtotype would look like this: http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/prototype.../supercobra.htm If it has that little white sticker then you've got a genuine proto. If it is real then I'm jealous! Mr. Do's Castle has always been a favortie of mine an I've always wanted a proto of it. Ever think about trading it? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 >>has that little white sticker then you've got a genuine proto Well, no it doesn't have that sticker, but I could print one up for you. But seriously, cut and paste this into your browser. GeoSilly doesn't allow direct pictures. http://www.geocities.com/ejgnandt/mrdocastle.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Hmm... That looks a little suspicious. What do the internal EPROMs look like? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Sorry I must have missed that part. I suppose you could just pry it open. I believe that PB protos are glued shut without a screw (at least that's how my Super Cobra proto was). This will really make the case loose and it will fall apart constantly unless reglued. Somehow I doubt you'd want to do that, but if you really want to know I think that's the only way to find out. Anyone have a better suggestion? Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 8, 2002 Share Posted February 8, 2002 Seemed like it is glued around the edges too, IIRC. I just became afraid at some point of pulling up from the bottom. Perhaps whacking the side near the top will break the glue seal. Probably have an old and tatty Frogger or Cobra that I can practice on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 As stated in my post, don't know how to open it. Any tips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 Seems pretty odd that Parker Brothers would print up small stickers for a Mr. Do!'s Castle prototype unless they sent it out (or planned to send it out) to many people for review and/or testing purposes. Given that laser printers were uhmm, non-existent at the time, this would probably have had to be professionally done. Meaning it wasn't just someone feeding a sheet of labels into their printer at Parker Brothers. Nowadays, it would be a piece of cake for anyone to create a label like that on their computer. If *another* such prottoype popped up and the history could be traced back to Parker Brothers, then I'd believe this cart to to be genuine as well. The fact that it's glued shut is a good sign, but anyone could glue a cart if they knew that's what PB did. I guess you could do a chemical analysis on the glue to see how old it is. Same with the printing, also. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 Actually, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I've seen a real Mr. Do's Castle proto for the 400/800. It had the usual price tag sticker on it and I believe it said Mr. Do. ?/?/84 (I can't remember the date) 16K (Might have been 8K) RLS.1 Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 Al Here's my logic: Fake - Not likely. You wouldn't put that label on a fake prototype. Nor would you try to fake an actual released cart that way. Homebrew - Maybe someone just wanted "Mr. Do" on a cartridge and burned a few copies. Would they go to the extra trouble of a Parker case and the label. Well, maybe. Loaner/Review - Maybe Parker had this kind of sticker lying around. The Mr. Do series was pretty popular and perhaps they had a supply from some other product. Suppose I could poke around the web and try to find this particular graphic. If I ever open it up, it still might not tell us much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 9, 2002 Share Posted February 9, 2002 It was Mr. Do's Castle, but simply labeled Mr. Do (for space reasons I assume). They probably didn't think it woudl be a problem since Coleco owned the rights to distribute Mr. Do on home systems (cart versions that is, Disk versions were by Datasoft I believe). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 10, 2002 Share Posted February 10, 2002 Never thought it was a prototype, so its really not good or bad news, just more information. Is the game Mr. Do or Mr. Do's Castle? There is a whole series of these titles on various platforms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video61 Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 hi all, atari had many games on e-proms that they bought from other third parties when they tried to ressurect the 2600, as well as launch the XEGM, and never released the games. they bought out coleco, as well as parker bros. stable of games for the 2600, and the 8-bit games, that is why hasbro released frogger, and q*bert. they also bought out activisions 8-bit stuff, and i have them all on e-proms. they also did a bad deal to synapse(to long to go into detail), and all of those games like picnic paranoia were also converted to e-proms, so there are a few of these floating around because 2 other dealers have them also, and from time to time they will show up. as i get around to them i make them available on my site for sale, no auctions. thanks, lance www.atarisales.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callipygous Posted February 14, 2002 Share Posted February 14, 2002 Hello Lance! Welcome to AtariAge. Does anyone have a list of the unreleased 8bit cart catalog numbers (RXxxxx). We started to fill in the missing ones in this thread (Kangaroo, Gremlins, Mario bros), but seemed to have reached a dead end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Asmo Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 Was there a version of Activision Seaquest available for the 400/800? I know there isn't a cart version, but I thought there might be a diskette version or a proto out there. I don't know anything about what was released on disk for the 400/800 (I'm rather new to the system), but seeing as Activision produced disks for the C64 (I've got an original disk of River Raid), I would figure they would have produced disks for the 400/800 series. Did Seaquest ever come out on *any* other platform than 2600? I don't recall ever playing a C64 version. KA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video61 Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 hi, thanks for the warm welcome, i am not sure that we could ever come up with a fairly complete list. i contacted, and aquired permission from scott adams of adventure international about 2 years ago to release all of his games onto cartridge. so far we have done preppie 1, and II, rally speedway, whomper stomper, and have a few others done, but not released yet. russ wettmore who who wrote preppie 1, and II contacted me to say how happy he was that they were finaly available on cartridge, and what took so long. to make a long story short he told me that atari had cut a deal to release them on cart already, and that they were supposed to come out in 1985-1987. sure enough i started digging thru some of my many unopend boxes from atari searching for more wraps of e-proms, and there was bug off from russ wettmore of adventure international. jack was so secretive that i doubt we will ever know how many, and what titles remain to be found. he was buying these all on the cheap during the crash period of 1984-1986, then did nothing with most of them. i might have some that my other 2 dealer friends may not, and they might have some that i do not have. thanks, lance www.atarisales.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 15, 2002 Share Posted February 15, 2002 quote: Originally posted by King_Asmo: Did Seaquest ever come out on *any* other platform than 2600? I don't recall ever playing a C64 version. I don't know if Seaquest was ever released on anything other than the 2600. There are quite a few Activision titles that were never ported to any other systems. In fact, most of their 2600 library (especially the earlier titles) ended up being exclusives for the 2600. Only the more popular titles like Kaboom!, River Raid, and Pitfall! were ported to other systems. The 5200 and ColecoVision seemed to have ended up with the most 2600 ports. Ten 2600 titles ,a href="http://www.atariage.com/company_page.html?SystemID=2600&CompanyID=11">also appeared on the 5200. Not sure how many made it to the ColecoVision, probably a similar number. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted February 16, 2002 Share Posted February 16, 2002 I used to collect 2600 and 5200 a lot, since 1985 or so. Over 75% of the protos out there are complete fakes. Anyone can have completely authentic Atari labeled prototype boards run, even in proto quantities for $8 or so each. Getting old-datecode eproms and inverters is just a ebay bid away. Any bozo with $75 can get a whole rolls of offset printed wax coated 'lab labels' printed, not many print shops would care in the least what was on the label. Money talks. One of the big Atari retailers sells tons of fake prototypes, they take old boards, buy eproms on eBay, peel off the old robotron/pac-man/whatever sticker, apply a little while label over the screw and get $70 for it. For awhile they didnt even bother to peel off the retail labels. People eat it right up, and the retailer claims the whole product is authentic because the eprom boards are old atari stock. Yeah right. If you dont know the whole story from reading r.g.v.c for years, thier web page wont make you any wiser as to where the big well of 'prototypes' is coming from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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