Rob Mitchell

Back in 1977 we (family) bought all the Sears launch titles (x Math). In 1978, we bought the keyboards to play Codebreaker. (We were crazy about Mastermind). Basketball, Space War and Home Run. Biggest disappointments from 1977: Star Ship (Outer Space) As we drove home I was reading the instruction manual and thinking, "Lunar Lander can't be this bad!" Same with Pong Sports (Video Olympics), "Where's Catch?" a game on Super Pong (1976) which a neighbor had. Funny how I was hitting the arcades from 1976-1980, I did not experience many of the games that Atari was bringing home to the VCS. Played a lot of Computer Space, Death Race, Indy 800, Stunt Cycle, Tornado Baseball, Gunfight / Boot Hill, Breakout .. But No Tank, No Anti-Aircraft, No Dominos, No Star Ship, No Pong.

David Crane said that the programmers were forbidden to make more games for the driving controllers. In 1977, top down driving games were all the rage in the arcades so Indy 500 with DC makes sense. The later Super Sprint should have been made for these controllers. (Yeah I know that Thomas made a hack which is barely steerable / playable compared to Indy 500.) What irks me is that every few months, people start another thread and call the driving controller a "paddle" followed by multiple posts about the difference between the DC and paddles. In 1977, Atari should have put a little more thought into the DC design. Yeah Basic Math had to be part of the 1977 launch so Atari could justify the "education" element of the VCS to parents. I agree with you about the use of the keyboards with the other games .. but Human Cannonball should have used a paddle controller to "dial" in the angle and strength.

In 1977 -1978, the pack-in controllers were a pair of paddles and a pair of joysticks. The release games included Math and Indy 500 with driving controllers. Imagine instead of releasing Math in 1977, they had delayed Math until 1978 when the keyboard controller was released. Also instead of making the driving controllers look virtually identical to the paddles with the exception of stickers and cable, they had made the driving knob look more like a steering wheel. Also allowed the programmers to come up with other driving games. That would have required the driving controllers be available as a separate purchase.

Thought about it years ago .. then I got the Coleco Combat tank game which has two speakers built-in .. the LR effect is not that great.

Late to the party .. I would like to get the SCCC for my 400.

Thanks .. the different game lineups just became apparent to me. The IC with the code C11500-03 has this Breakthrough game as the unique game: The IC with code C010755-03 has this single Rebound game as the unique game:

Old thread helped me .. I had a dead 800 keyboard fault .. I ruled out the POKEY, swapped with another working keyboard so ruled out that. Swapped in two 4051s and now fully working! Thanks!

Back in the day and for many years all I had was the plain vanilla Atari C-380 video pinball. Only recently did I get the brown Sears and now the brown Atari C-380. The other day I realized that the two brown ones have a different game called Breakaway or Breakthru! This game has a gap in the Breakout wall! Absent from this game lineup is the one basket version of basketball. I think I prefer these for this different Breakout version. (I never liked either of the basketball games.)

Atari did use a General Instruments chip for their home version of Stunt Cycle (ay-3-8760-1). It would be interesting if Atari had chosen the better GI chip (AY-3-8710) for their tank game which defines borders against which tanks cannot move. The Coleco Combat which has the AY-3-8700 allows tanks to run over objects and go off the edge of the screen and not be seen until reset!

Thanks for doing this!

I had a bad keyboard situation on my 800. I ruled out the keyboard, then POKEY by swapping with another good working 800. Next I looked here and learned about the two CD4051BE multiplexers. Ordered five off eBay for $10 shipped. I just replaced both on my 800 and now it is working well again! I'm glad I did not have to take apart the keyboard unnecessarily.

Five different controllers work with the Atari VCS 2600: 2 Joysticks, 2 driving controllers, 4 paddles, 2 keyboards, and one light gun! In 1977, my family had all of the above except the light gun. The only other retro systems with this similar complexity of controller input (analog and digital) are the 5200, Bally Astrocade and the Vectrex.

Follow up .. Is she willing to make some more Starplex Space Rocks stickers?

After all these years, I just used an orange sharpie to color the Six Shooter box for game 12 in the manual matrix.

I finally loaded these menu games onto my Harmony! 1. Great job! 2. Indy 500 has a vsync rolling issue with the Flashback 2. Stable with the 7800. 3. Combat has an issue with rebound fire in the right lower corner. It makes rebound sounds and then shoots out of the right upper corner. I was able to replicate this twice on the Flashback 2. Thanks!

Thanks for all the info. I printed out everything. I was just given one of these so hopefully I can get it to work.

Yes it is primitive and sad but at the same time it is charming. If it had come out in 1975, It would have been a hit. I got the RCA multicart and added the composite video / sound out and new power input with power switch. Gone is the RF power cable by which to repel from the side of the house ..

I have three Atari Pongs so that means six tri-groove screws! I used a spanner bit to remove 5/6 but the last one would not budge despite my best efforts! (spanner is two dot or snake eyes screws) Another search revealed this video ... So I made a tool using a spare hex driver which allowed me to turn the screw about three times and then I could get my needle-nose vice grips on it. Finally I can clean these pots for a great game of Catch! Replacement screws are #6 phillips almost 2 1/2" long .. I plan to add some washers to the new screws to make up the difference.

Look forward to buying more merch from you.

I got 8/9 launch titles as they became available one by one. ($20 for Math .. naah). Then continued to get the games one by one in 1978 ..'79. Got the Keyboards in '78 so we could play Codebreaker. Got a second set of Paddles so we could play 4 person Pong games We ended up with 22 carts. It was magic for those three years .. Every now and then my wife and I will play as though it is 1977-78 and they are brand new. We will look at the instruction manuals to see how to get a different twist on whatever game.

That's why I keep the Super Pong C-140 so that I can play Catch with my wife!

Dad and I bought the Atari Video Arcade with Target Fun and Tank Plus back in Fall 1977. Those were the only two carts available initially. One by one the other launch titles became available at Sears and we would trek to get them. (I'm sure I annoyed the Sears sales force by calling every day to ask if a new cart was now in stock.) I would read the manual on the way home to become familiar with the game play and get ready to challenge Dad on the TV screen. Back in the early 1970s I visited the computer center at the local university and played a text Lunar Lander game. I remember running out of fuel and seeing the altitude numbers scroll up the screen as my lander then crashed with dramatic text at the end. So when we bought the Outer Space cart, I remember being excited to see the Lunar Lander game and then reading the instructions .. thinking it cannot be this bad, can it? Ugh! it was and still is that bad. Another time I visited a friend's house and playing a game called Catch on their Super Pong. What fun! So when Pong Sports arrived at Sears we had to get it. So I scanned the manual .. What? NO CATCH game! People describe Video Olympics has every conceivable Pong game .. Not so! Yesterday I was talking with a friend who has a Pong but doesn't know about Catch so I sent this picture to him. I'm going to bring my Super Pong to the Southern Fried Gaming Expo in July for people to play.

Interested in one ..

add me please!

All the launch titles with Sears branding were gatefold boxes.