EightiesMan

You mean like a Brillo pad? Apply it sparingly?

Did that. Put everything on standard mode with no enhancements. Looks like it's just the TV. Glad anyway that these HD screens can play vintage games at all, but it's certainly disconcerting to see these errors after over thirty years.

Thank you so much. Now I don't have to worry about getting another cartridge. I do have a '90s CRT monitor somewhere in the house that still works. Think I'll use that for Atari gaming.

Ten years ago, my Atari 5200 and its cartridges were exposed to mold from open windows in my unfinished basement. I cleaned them as best I could and all games appear to work fine to this day, except Popeye, my favorite game. It stopped working two years ago. Ten or so seconds into the start of the game, graphic anomalies appear in parts of the screen; detached fragments start moving about with the characters. On one instance, Popeye appears to walk on thin air as the uppermost levels at the sides seem to extend themselves past the staircases to the center of the screen. Ten more seconds later, the entire game freezes, the colors change, and the music freezes in a long buzz. I've tried cleaning it multiple times with alcohol on a Q-tip, to no avail. In 2016, I bought a used cartridge for $7.00 which also had the same problem; luckily they refunded me. Later, I bought another used one for about $20.00, which was a bit bumpy at first, but did stabilize itself with some cleaning. The store inspected my console and said there was nothing wrong with any of its components. Last year, I tested out my original cartridge and it continued to freeze. However, when I put the new one in, it froze as well and has not recovered even after cleaning. Has anyone had similar problems with Popeye? What could be the problem? Does my original cartridge have something on it that transferred to the new one? or did the new one simply deteriorate after a year? I am afraid to waste money on yet another cartridge. If anyone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it.

In 2008, my 2600 cartridges were exposed to mold in my unfinished basement when my father attempted to air it out by opening the windows. I cleaned them as best I could with alcohol on Q-tips. I played them with the VCS adapter on my 5200 system and the colors of some games now appear to be off. In Ms. Pac-Man, for example, the blue background on the first two boards is now green. In October, I bought an original 2600 console for the first time, a four-switch CX2600A. I play it on a 40" Westinghouse HD monitor, straight into the RF input with an RF adapter, no switchbox. I also set the 5200 up the same way. Colors on the 5200 cartridges appear to be unaffected. The colors on the 2600 seemed to be okay for the most part, certainly different than on the VCS adapter as I remember growing up with (in particular, they seem to be less saturated). However, I noticed that the green ghost on Ms. Pac-Man seemed to be smeared or poorly focused, especially on the black title screen. The blue maze walls on boards three and four also appeared to be more of a light purple/gray than blue. Green and blue, in particular, on other games, also had smearing/focus problems. I adjusted the chroma pot slightly counterclockwise, to the point that the ghost was no longer smeared, but now the blue background on boards one and two is as green as it was on the VCS adapter, despite the fact that the maze walls on three and four are now a bit more blue, not to mention slightly blurry. Other games have had similar blur problems with certain colors after the adjustment; Yars' Revenge, in particular, which I only recently bought; its white lines are somewhat out of focus and not as sharp as they once were. Most significantly, before and after the adjustment, pure reds are dusky and dark, almost maroonish at times, nothing like the screen captures I've seen. Another problematic game is Asteroids: the graphics seem to have horizontal lines going through them, the asteroids in particular, and the firing cannon. What could be the problem here? Is it possible that the graphics of the game cartridges themselves were affected by my cleaning or the mold exposure? Is the VCS adapter off-set? Or is this a chip problem? Is it worth tracking down cartridges in better shape? I'd greatly appreciate any feedback. Thanks.