PapaCharlie

Yeah, I saw the auction. I'm still upset for passing up a chance to buy it a few years ago at $120. It's a horrible game, and I'm a casual Atari collector - I'm mostly interested since I'm a fan of the movie. That being said, just because nobody makes me a realistic offer doesn't mean I don't want to hear what they're offering.

Any condition as long as the cart works / playable. Thanks.

Thanks for the info. So far, KNOCK WOOD (or "wood grain," as the case may be), all my 2600s are in working condition, though some of them could use a good clean-up. My main concern now is: A) Restoring some of my joysticks that are working, but look like hell (cheap finds on eBay). B) Just browsing to see what's available for console repairs. I think I was a little rough on the PCB when re-assembling one of my 2600s, and a few of them have totally destroyed composite out cables (one of them I replaced by soldering a new RCA cord directly to the plug on the PCB, and it looks great, but that's my sort of beat-up, everyday use one - when restoring one of my nicer ones, I'd like something that looks like it used to).

To start off, your daily humor: I haven't setup my Atari since I moved about six months ago, and tonight after work, finally went out to buy the required cabling and converters (that I've already bought about a dozen times but have subsequently lost) to hook up one of my woodies. After verifying it still works, I decide to test a couple of my other ones ... and even though I'm very good (obsessive?) about making sure the A/C adapter doesn't have power before I pull the plug, I forget, and see those nice blue sparks from the power jack of one of my consoles. And then it won't boot up. I spend the next ten or twenty minutes kicking myself, beating myself up, opening the thing up and cruising a voltmeter around the board looking for obvious dead / fried components, and Googling for Atari repair resources (I did find this one nifty webpage - http://www.atariguide.com/help/care.htm - with downloadable PDF scans of original 2600 / 5200 field service manuals) and checking repair tips, when I read something and it dawns on me - was the console set to channel 3? DUH! Anyway, now that I know one of my prized 2600s isn't ready for the scrap heap due to my own negligence, I can sleep better. But it got me wondering - what resources are there for good Atari restoration parts websites? There are tons of websites out there that have parts, but can anyone here recommend one over the rest? I'm looking to pick up some rubber joystick parts (stick cover / lower ribbed ring), maybe switches to replace corroded switches on some of my woodies, some of those foam discs that go over the switches, etc. I remember one guy even sold whole assembled system boards.

Not sure why I'm having such a run of good luck lately, but I'm also not complaining about it: Sears Video Arcade "heavy sixer" (not an original USA one with rounded corners on the front wood panel, but a later Japanese one with squared corners) Sears Video Arcade II One joystick, power supply, some games (Megamania, M*A*S*H*, mousetrap - red label). Sears Video Arcade II didn't have the power supply, and the plug looks different than on a normal 2600. I may need to hit Radioshack this weekend & see if I can find a replacement. No joystick for the II either, but that's no problem. Question for those of you out there who may know: Why did the Sears Video Arcade II come with four joystick ports? I can't think of a single game that would need four ports, unless this was to maintain four-player capabilities for games like Warlords, since the SVA II had the paddles built into the joysticks.

Just got back from the Bellwood Flea Market in glorious Chesterfield Co., and had a great time as usual. Found some really choice items today, too, including (only classic video game items listed): Atari Super Pong stand alone game console - $1 Atari 2600 Video Cube in damn near mint condition - $2.50 Atari 2600 Sky Diver (ok, so it's not rare, but I'm pretty sure I don't have it yet - blue text label) - $2.50 Some hand held LED baseball game (not by Commodore, but by some other off-brand company) - $1.00 This is in addition to last week's find at the Fantastic Thrift Shop in Richmond: a six-switch Sears Video Arcade complete with power adapter & joystick (non-OEM). S/N, for anyone curious, is 23069S. And thus ends the dry spell of no classic video game finds (of note), which lasted for God knows how long. I have actually gotten to the point where I disconnected the Atari from my entertainment center to make room for my 8-track recorder/player on the shelf. I may have to juggle things around today & re-connect the VCS.

I hate to say it, but I think a lot of what is seen as greed may actually be ignorance as to what's rare and what's just common crap. The flea markets here in Chesterfield Co., Virginia are a good example ... There's one guy at the Super Flea who does nothing but vintage video games, 90% of them are pure crap, but he keeps prices down (I think the 8-bit NES run $5 each, N64 / SNES / Genesis are $3-$8, some random systems like Master System are all thrown in a box at $3 each). Every once in a while, you find something rare or desirable and get a good deal. Then there's the day I went to look at his Atari stuff, and he tried to sell me a four-switch woody with a Pac-Man cartridge ("Great game man, it's a classic, everybody loves it!") for $50, power supply/RF switch not included. WTF? Most of his Atari 2600 games go for $10 each, systems for $40 each. Later, I found an original Sunnyvale VCS thrown under his table, damn near the best shape I've ever seen one, and was told I didn't want that one because "the ones with six switches don't play all the games; I couldn't even get this one to fit (shows me an Atari 7800 cartridge)." I offered him ten bucks for it and am very happy to say it's one of my best purchases. I've begun boycotting stores that have firm, no-haggle prices on vintage games because all the prices are grossly inflated. On the plus side, a fool and his "heavy-sixer" are soon parted, if you're lucky enough to be at the right place and the right time.

Was finally able to find a Sunnyvale VCS in great shape and with an affordable price tag today - $10.00 at the local flea market. The guy selling it is a moron, all he sells is video games, and has been trying to charge $60.00 for a four-switch woody with four games for as long as I've been going to this flea market (it was still there on the shelf today). I found the Sunnyvale in a box behind his table, offered him ten bucks, no games included, and he took the offer. Woo-hoo! Also found a 5200 Pengo for a buck and some other random non-Atari stuff.

I just moved to a new place in July of this year, and a lot of my game consoles & cartridges are still elsewhere. Counting only Atari 2600 carts, including dupes, I ranked in at 288 according to the database. Now, if I had included my NES, SNES, Colecovision, Sega Genesis, Sega Master System, Gameboy, Commodore 64, VIC-20, and the other systems that I probably still have games lying around for but not the console (Atari 5200, Sega CD, Sega Gamegear, did I forget any?), I may have been able to compete with everyone else Fridays at my place are Atari & Margarita night, everybody pile on the couch and grab a stick!

The NES game, Goonies II, was actually supposed to be a new concept, a "sequel" to the original. The C64/Atari 800 game was fantastic and highly addictive. I was thinking of doing it as a "series," i.e. three games, the 2nd and 3rd games a succession of the first. Something like the first game being about hunting through Mikey's house to find the map and the doubloon, then an adventure through the Light House Lounge and the underground caverns, and finally a hunt through One-Eyed Willy's pirate ship for the treasure. I'm still picking through games to see what could be hacked to best suit the system. I've written games on the C64 before "from scratch," but to be honest with you, I'd rather hack some existing stuff on the 2600 to get a feel for how the environment runs before I try and tackle an original creation.

See, you're just that good I just bought a new digital camera (no, it's not VCS compatible ) and I'm thinking I need to take a picture of my 160+ cartridge collection (not counting duplicates) and 6+ consoles, see if anyone here can spot some more "variations" I didn't see. PS - had a HUGE Atari 2600 score recently, 40+ carts for $109 including a double-ender and quite a few rarity 4 and 5 specimins, will post a list of the spoils as soon as I have the energy to do it.

Since I've got so many duplicates of so many games I've become obsessed with label variations (such as the two different end labels for POLE POSITION). I can't find this one in the Atari Age archives, so I figured I'd ask here. The end label of JOUST has two variations, that I've found so far, as does the picture label. #1: © 1983 on the picture label, JOUST* on the end label #2: © 1985 on the picture label, JOUST* P on the end label Everything else looks identical. The Atari Age archive only lists the first variation that I can find. I should really go through ALL my carts and see what other variations I can find.

Looking for options for replacing the Atari 2600 CX-40 rubber "shift boots." I've found a website that sells Atari 2600 Joystick boots but they limit 1 per customer (not per order, per customer, as in they put you in a "database" to make sure you don't buy a bunch of them). I've got maybe 5-6 CX-40s that need new rubber boots, some of them are 100% mint condition except for the missing rubber (original ones with the orange accents around the retaining ring), and I really want to get them up to speed. So, anybody out there got some ideas?

Can anyone give me some information, tips & resources on hacking games? I've got a few ideas in my head, the biggest one being that I was rather disappointed Atari never made a game for The Goonies for the 2600 (only the 8-bit computer line) and I could probably hack a few different existing games to make something with a similar premise to the game on the Atari 800/Commodore 64.

WTB: Atari 2600 carts. Still looking to flesh out my collection (just a hair under 120 total carts right now), mostly interested in cartridges rarity 4 or less to keep costs down right now - I'll go after the "holy grail" items later. If anybody's looking to dump their duplicates or common carts cheap, drop me a message. This is a good chance to get rid of those carts you can't seem to give away on eBay! I'm also looking for cheap (fully functional but may be cosmetically damaged) Atari 2600 hardware including consoles (any style) and controllers/accessories.