classicgamesnut

Do my eyes deceive me, or is that a LIGHT sixer you've got? Not that there's anything wrong with that--my "daily driver" is a light sixer, and you still got a good deal, but I hope your seller didn't advertise it as a heavy sixer. Best wishes getting that E.T. collection going!

Thanks for all the great suggestions...got me some thinking to do!

I used to play--and loved--Montezuma's Revenge on Commodore 64 back in the day. Had an Atari 2600 also, but did not have the Montezuma's Revenge cartridge for it. From what I've seen and heard, the Atari 2600 version of that game is quite good and really not significantly downgraded from other systems' versions. I currently enjoy all my old Atari favs on the original hardware. Looked into seeing Panama Joe on my CRT, and was disappointed to find that a Montezuma's Revenge cart is not cheap these days...on average $50 for a beat-up loose copy. So if I've only got $50 to blow on one cart or the other, I'm torn between Montezuma's Revenge, which I KNOW I'll enjoy, versus a homebrew which captures the spirit of my old favorite, but I'd be taking a chance. Any suggestions on which homebrews are most similar to Montezuma's Revenge? A fast-paced platforming adventure with treasures to find and a huge world to explore? Hope to hear from some other Montezuma's Revenge fans who know what I'm talking about.

Go ahead and laugh at me if you want to, I deserve it. I opened two 7800 carts and think I might have mixed up the PCB's. Since I don't have a 7800--these two carts were part of a 2600 cart bulk buy some years ago--I can't just plug 'em in and look at the screen. So which is which?

Would love to know myself. Have heard so little about this game and it's now been quite a few years since its release.

My first experience was in 1979 at a military BX. I was six years old, and no stranger to arcade video games...I'd played Super Bug, Space Invaders, and numerous Pong clones at pizza parlors etc, but this was the first time I'd seen video games played on a home TV set. What a magical experience. The display had just been turned on with the Combat cartridge, and before long every kid in the store was crowded around it. I wanted to stay and watch while my folks looked elsewhere in the huge store, so they told me "OK, stay right here and don't run off." I did as I was told.

Thanks for all the guidance here. Sent a label to the buyer along with a note that I wanted EVERYTHING back and would issue a refund upon receipt. Have not heard from the buyer today. We'll see what happens. If it doesn't arrive by October 5, Ebay will excuse the refund (so they say.)

It crossed my mind that the buyer may have swapped the board, and I don't have any photos of the original board. BUT--I replaced the TIA chip and socket plus several capacitors, and soldered the RF cable directly to the board and bypassed the on-board jack. (Helped a LOT with the picture quality.) So if the buyer did swap the board, he'd have buckets of time involved in copying my handiwork. I did ship it priority, as I most often do, but have never had to file a claim. How does that work? Fifty notarized forms, and six to eight months?

Heard back from the buyer. Buyer says that the game select switch lever was floating loose inside the cellophane I'd wrapped the console in. Maybe this is a legit case of shipping damage, but it would have taken considerable force not only to break off the game select lever but also mash the game reset lever permanently down. I pointed out to the buyer that there was no cartridge inserted and that the TV (assuming it's more modern) won't even display garbage on the screen without a cartridge. I did some internal repairs on this unit when it went out, so if I get it back I'll know pretty quickly if something shady happened. As for the power adapter tip, I not only heat-shrinked but epoxied the interchangeable / reversible tip to make it "idiot proof." Wish I'd taken more photos...big lesson learned.

Thanks for all the helpful info and commiserating. Disgusting situation. Here's an update...don't know how I missed this the first time around! The picture of the Atari with all the games and accessories is the exact unit and photo I posted for auction on Ebay and sent to the buyer. The other two pictures are the ones the buyer submitted with the return request. Maybe YOU will spot the problem immediately. I didn't.

Sold an Atari 2600 / VCS on Ebay last week along with a bundle of games, controllers, and a coax adapter. I confirmed numerous times (to hopefully avoid a situation like this) that everything worked the very day it was packed. Received a formal return request from Ebay via the buyer today, and it sounds like the buyer just doesn't know how to hook up a vintage Atari unit. The complaints didn't make sense. "No light or sound." HUH? Asked for a description of how the buyer was attempting to hook it up to a compatible TV using the coax adapter provided, and have yet to hear back, but the troubling thing is that the list of recourse options provided all were in the buyer's favor. It looks I have no path to formally dispute this return request. Anyone else been here, and can point the way forward? Getting through to Ebay staff is an ordeal in itself. Larry

Way cool, man!👍

BEAUTIFUL work, A+.

As many times as I've looked at this box, how have I never noticed something unusual on it? The logical explanation is that the console shown was just a prop for the box photo, but does someone here know if there ever actually was a four-switcher in a heavy-sixer case, some weird hybrid of the four and six switch models? I've never seen one in person. Larry

Got mine for Christmas in '84, a Vader 2600. It came from the local Toys-R-Us for $49.95. This price was finally within the realm of my folks' reasonability range. I didn't care that Atari consoles and games were on clearance tables many places, didn't care that technologically superior systems had been available for a couple years at that point. Didn't care. I was so happy to finally have one that I played it morning 'till night the first week (was out of school for Christmas break.) That first week I wore out and blistered my hands on Combat, Asteroids, Dodge 'Em, Pac-Man (of course), Pitfall, and Bermuda Triangle. That Atari 2600, for me, was the equivalent of Ralphie's BB gun. I'm a hopeless nostalgia junkie, so if YOU'VE got a story, PLEASE share. Larry