johnnywc

Thank you all for your help. Unfortunately, I don't think I phrased my question correctly. I am aware that instruction manuals are online (thank you sway!) but I was looking for a page that describes the types of instructions by company, much like the Label Variations Guide. Basically, it would list manual variations by company with a picture and description of each type. Does this page exist somewhere on this site? Thanks again and sorry about the confusion...

ATARIPITBULL - That is exactly what I'm looking for - I just can't find it! Could you do me a favor and post a link (or instructions on how to get) to the section on the web site that has this info? I can easily find the Label Guide and variations, but I have no luck finding the Manual Guide... Thanks!

Is there a resource that lists the instruction manual variations (similar to the label variations)? I think it would be pretty cool to have a section on this web site that explains the differences and history of major instruction manual variations. Thanks,

This weekend I caught the end of the movie Fantastic Voyage which inspired me to play the 2600 game of the same name (via emulation). I must say that I was impressed! The game is quite challenging and has decent sound effects and graphics. A little off topic - it reminds me of Caverns of Mars except that the screen scrolls down instead of up. Any comments?

Great job on the mocks - do you have them posted online anywhere?

I did get 4 copies of Combat, 4 Asteroids, 3 Pac-Man carts, etc. but I didn't get many dupes because I only bought from 4 people. Most non-collectors who have an Atari in their attic or basement have 1 copy of each game because they only needed (or wanted one) back in the day... BTW - I only got one copy of Star Raiders too! (thankfully because I already have 9 copies...)

If memory serves, I believe CX2672 was going to be for Swordquest: Airworld, but don't quote me....

Matthew - I'm not if there is a product for CX2672 - I believe Pitfall Harry posted a list of all the Atari catalog codes a while back but I couldn't find it in a search. Slightly off topic - I noticed a picture of Miniature Golf (picture label) on the CD jacket - was this ever released? If so - was it released for NTSC? Just curious - I'm a collector and that's not on my list of label variations...

Matthew - Just noticed that the same thing was done for Hunt & Score and A Game of Concentration. These are also the same game.

Great job on the CD inserts! The only thing I noticed is that you have Pele's Soccer and Championship Soccer listed - I believe these are the same game. If you removed one of these entries, the other ones would fall on the correct track (ie. Video Olympics would be 21 instead of 22, matching it's catalog number of CX-2621, etc...)

Mot - FYI - I live in a 2 1/2 horse town and was able to get some pretty good feedback. All of the people I spoke with expected me to give them a price - they all said things like "I have no idea what it's worth...". My rule of thumb was a buck a game (with a complete system) and people jumped on it. By the last call I had put my estimate down to 50 cents a game and - guess what - they STILL jumped at it! Most people just want to get rid of the stuff and put the money towards a PS2 or Xbox or Gamecube. Lucky for me! PS - I'm a player turned collector (mostly because of this web site!) but playing is still my top priority! (and my wife is very supportive when it comes to my new *hobby*, as long as it doesn't clutter the living room!!)

Here's an FYI for all of you yard sale/thrift store people looking for Atari stuff... As a test, a couple of weeks ago I ran an ad in my local want-ad/buyer's magazine asking people to call me if they had Atari stuff they wanted to sell. The ad ran for 7 days. I received 5 calls and closed 4 sales. Here's what I was able to pick up: 7 systems: - 2 4-switch woodgrain - 1 4-switch Darth-vader - 1 6-switch Sears Telegame - 3 2600 Juniors - all had cables and working power supplies 250 carts (224 unique): - Rarest find was Track&Field and Skeet Shoot - 5 games were mint in box (including Kung-Fu Master) and 1 NIB Pac-man - most games were in mint condition - mint instructions for over 100 games Controllers: - 11 working joysticks, including 3 slick-sticks, 1 gem stick, 1 gemini controller and 2 quick shot joysticks (1 MIB) - 4 sets of paddles - 1 Video Touch Pad Miscellaneous stuff: - 1 Atari Binder to hold 8 games - 1 Atari briefcase to hold a system, controllers, and 10 carts - 1 wood roll-cart to hold a system - 1 cartridge storage case to hold 36 carts Total price for everything: $145 Needless to say - I won't be going out to yard sales anytime soon!

Does anybody know if Fatal Run exists in NTSC format? I could have sworn I saw it in the Atari Age rarity guide a couple of months ago (rarity was an '8') but it's no longer there... Any clues? Thanks,

Track & Field all the way. Graphics/sound and gameplay are all superior. Decathlon was ahead of it's time and I played the heck out of it, but T&F is an amazing accomplishment on the 2600.

Stan, I never played the NES version of Spelunker but I believe it's based on the arcade game. Here is a link that may jog your memory: Spelunker at KLOV I played the heck out of this game on MAME sometime ago and really enjoyed it! (I also love HERO... )

My bad - It looks like it does exist in the Atari age database - it just doesn't come up in the rarity guide search under "Asteroids" or "silver". I was able to get it listed by clicking on "Silver" in the label variations description page. Perhaps there is a problem with the search engine itself... Thanks,

Hello all- A couple of questions: Does a silver label Asteroids (NTSC) exist? I found a brief mention of it on this web site (under the Silver label variation description) but no entry exists in the rarity guide. If it does exist, what is the rarity of it (1-10)? Thanks,

Great job on the Galaxian hack - the graphics look excellent! (almost like the 5200/800 version). Does anyone know how difficult is it to change the colors? If the enemies were teal/blue w/red eyes, purple/blue w/red eyes, red/blue w/yellow eyes and yellow/blue with red eyes (like the arcarde) it would look even more authentic. Also - is there a way to blank out the border (make it black or something?). Either way - an excellent update...

OK boys and girls - time for a new list. This one is unique in that you need to list your favorite games for the 2600 from A-Z. Here are mine: A - Adventure B - Berzerk C - Crystal Castles D - Demon Attack E - Enduro F - Frogger II: Threedeep! G - Ghostbusters! H - H.E.R.O. I - Ice Hockey J - Jr. Pac-man K - Kaboom! L - Laser Gates M - Missile Command N - Night Driver O - Omega Race P - Pressure Cooker Q - Q*Bert R - River Raid S - Space Invaders T - Track & Field U - Up 'n Down V - Video Olympics W - Warlords X - Xenophone Y - Yars' Revenge Z - Zaxxon Have fun!

So what's the story with Pleiades? Why did UA Limited make it but not release it? This used to be one of my favorites back in the early 80's and I'd love to see it released (much like EA or Combat II), with a nice label and all. Does anyone know how complete it is? Thanks,

I'd have to say Elevator Action. I purchased one of the copies at CGE (expecting a 95% completed version) but unfortunately it's more like 80% done. A completed playable version of that would have been awesome...

I feel your pain JR... In the mid 80's I loaned my entire Atari collection (over 100 carts from 1978-) to a 'friend' when I was into my 800xl. Now I'm back to the 2600 and regretting it every day... Oh well, life goes on...

I apologize for posting my question of "ranking" collections without actually giving the standards I used. Well, here they are: 1) I only included NTSC (Domestic) games listed in the Atari Age Rarity Guide, mostly because I do not own one PAL or foreign cart. 2) I only included the MAJOR label variations (again, as defined by the AARG) 3) I did not count dupes. For example, I have 10 picture label Combat carts, but only 1 counts towards completing my collection. 4) I did not include prototypes, pirates, or modern releases. 5) When determining the percentage of my list (for rarity), I simply gave each game a value based on it's rarity (as defined by the AARG). So, by dividing the rarity points of the collection by the total rarity points would give this number. 6) The condition or completeness of an item did not affect it's points. So, a complete MIB Moon Patrol is worth the same as a loose cart with magic marker on it. As we know, (5) is very subjective and I may alter it to give a more realistic value, and I'm certainly open to any suggestions. One was the power of 2 scoring (so that a 1 would get 2 points and a 10 would get 1024). Another is the sqaure of each, so that a 1 gets 1 point and a 10 gets 100. There are certainly endless possibilites... As for (6), perhaps a list that ranks the "condition" of a collection would be more appropriate. For example, each point ranking could be scaled according to things like condition of the cart, instructions, box, etc., with a maximum score for MIB and a minimum score for a loose cart with a damaged or missing label. Perhaps the members of Atari Age would be able to come up with a fair scoring system. It may even be worth while to have separate lists for different things (ie. top 100 list for NTSC carts, PAL carts, prototypes, all, "best condition" carts, etc.). Alot of work, for sure, but interesting none the less... Thanks for letting me rant - I'm gonna go play Atari Video Cube now (just got it and it's my crown jewel.... )

atari70s - I'm not including dupes, so you're right - 1 rarity score for each major label variation.

Pitfall Harry - Thanks for your insights. I completely agree with you - a Gauntlet cart is certainly worth a lot more than ten common carts, heck maybe even a hundred. And sure, a boxed game in pristine shape will always be worth more than just a loose cart with no label. PAL games should be included, and dupes, prototypes, etc. These are all true. Let me clarify: I just thought it would be neat to determine how far along I was in my quest: to collect all NTSC games that were released, including major label variations. As far as the rarity points: I again agree on the absurdity of the ridiculous assumption I made that a rarity of 10 is worth only 10 times more than a rarity of 1 in a collection. My initial calculation gave rarity points based on the power of 2 (2,4,8,16,32...1024) so that 1 rarity 10 (ie. Gauntlet) cart would be worth 512 rarity 1 (ie. Combat) carts. The result of 4% was just too depressing.. . Anyway - let me put up a disclaimer that my results are in no way scientific and just a general benchmark that I'm using. But I do agree that it would be neat if we could come up with an agreed upon scoring system to *rank* our collections more accurately.