RichG1972

To me Seaquest is nothing more than Megamania underwater

When you turn your Atari on the games look exactly like THIS correct? This is how they displayed when I set my Stella emulator to PAL, and as an added FYI Atari 2600 cartridges pre-date region coding, the region coding thing only applies to DVDs:

I just checked the ROMS in my computer of those 3 games against your descriptions of the colors by setting the emulator to PAL for those 3 games, and that confirmed my suspicions. You have 3 PAL cartridges, that's why the colors are off

Well post the 3 cartridges and I'll check the labels against the 3 I have, I have the same titles but the other text on the labels may be different between the NTSC and PAL releases

Did you check the cartridge to see if it was a PAL cartridge?

The contact cleaner I advised them to use says it right on the can, 3rd line down on the label "Harmless to most plastics", plus no residue either and it is not necessary to use alcohol afterward because that will just dilute the protective barrier that is put in place with this particular cleaner

Also if it's not one with rotary tuning dials, sometimes turning it on, and then running the channel scan locks in on the Atari's signal, I'd much rather you not use alcohol on the cartridge slot because it doesn't evaporate as fast as a can of Johnsen's Electronic Cleaner, it works very well for me, MUCH better than the CRC cleaner I used to use. Here is a direct link to it, but you MAY be able to get it locally as well.: https://www.walmart.com/ip/JOHNSENS-4600-Electronic-Clnr-10-Oz/579422342?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1148&adid=22222222227000000000&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=42423897272&wl4=pla-51320962143&wl5=9002215&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112562587&wl11=online&wl12=579422342&wl13=&veh=sem&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0_3-17PC4gIVTFqGCh0esABDEAYYASABEgIN5fD_BwE

Another thing is, when you LAST used the Atari when it still worked, what kind of TV did you use it with? Was it a traditional CRT type?

For that matter what are the chances it could be the cartridge slot connector itself? I had an Atari that was giving me a black screen no matter WHAT cartridge I put into it, soon as I turned it on, black screen turned out a good bit of dirt and dust got into the unit by going under the black plastic covering the cartridge connector. Luckily a good few applications of a light spritzing of contact cleaner cured things

How many cartridges did you try with it?

Speaking of Cosmic Ark, I seek the version of it where the starfield can be turned off with the tv type switch

I hear that, you think along the same lines as myself and Mike Mika

If I may ask, how old are you that you have this tremendous insight?

The way I see it, Activision designed their games according to their OWN rules, not according to a corporate mentality. When the people that started Activision worked for Atari, they could only design the games the way the "powers that be" at Atari wanted it done, but when they LEFT Atari and formed Activision, they were able to do things the way THEY wanted to do it and in turn took a better approach and we ended up with BETTER games, and if anyone that worked for Activision during that time is a member here they can say whether my hunch is right or not

I think 3-D Tic Tac Toe does the screen flashing thing as well, my Dad used to say that the flashing in Maze Craze and other games that do it was the Atari "thinking" about it's next move and then DOING it