knight76

It stands for Home Entertainment Suppliers. Australian distributor of Atari 2600 and other console games. Here is the Atari Mania list of their releases. http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=2&type=G&publisher=1702&step=200 Many of them are from Activision.

Whats the going rate for something like this? I am interested in obtaining a copy, being an Aussie Atari collector and HES Atari collector I am going to need to get this to complete the HES collection. I am aware at least 1 person on AA has a copy of this game. There are details about one selling here for $250 USD. Interested.

I'm tossing up whether to buy a 800xl or just have the XEGS. I'm leaning towards getter the 800xl just in the hope it is better overall on the cart success. But also to add one to the collection.

Been looking through pages but not able to get this one answered definitively. The game cart port in the 800XL, is that better quality than the XEGS version? I have an XEGS at the moment, and plugging in carts is problematic. It takes repeated unplugging and plugging to get the game to work. Otherwise I get self test, or missile command. Seems a common issue with the XEGS. I have to say I can't recall a cart system where you can move the cart so far back and forward whilst it is plugged in to the console. So the 800XL, I realise it has a trap door for the cart slot that keeps a lot of the gunk out of the connector, but is the actual connector better designed to hold the carts more securely? Am I going to buy an 800xl only to find the same issue? I am still yet to take the XEGS apart and clean the contacts though, this may help the situation. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the 800xl is a better option to solve this problem. Thoughts?

Thanks Stargunner - I really like the look of the Irish with it's sleek all black appearance, sexy. Those consoles are all just for display (they all work though of course) and sit there covered in Atari dust covers purchased from a member here. I play using a long rainbow jr that is AV modded. The list you linked to is great and I have looked through it previously, but it leaves off the French Scart variant Atari made so that lead me to think there may be other Atari made variants out there for regional markets. I find the manufacturing process for the Atari intriguing as they started in the USA then moved to various different locations like Ireleand, Hong Kong, China etc. Sears models seem to be made from their own factory, or probably in the same atari factory but through a different company there to separate sears from Atari. It's interesting, and I hope to collect one of each variant Atari themselves made along with the most known 3rd party Atari's like sears and Polyvox. Just for fun, here is a pic of the atari's all covered up.

That makes sense thanks, I'll add it to my list of non Atari made consoles to grab, like Sears, Gemini etc. On the Sunnyvale made Atari's, was there one of each model made at Sunnyvale? So is there a Sunnyvale jr, Vader etc? I know there is the Sunnyvale light and heavy sixer, and the 4 switch woody. What about vader and up? Edit> According to THIS link, vaders were made at Sunnyvale. So that leaves Jr's.

It's not that I am not going to add sears consoles later, just that for now I want to stick with official Atari releases. Moving on to non Atari releases could really snowball the situation with clones and sears and other manufacturers. Which is why I asked above about the polyvox being licensed by polyvox and made, or did Atari initiate the move to release there. The Sears Arcade 2 would be a no brainer down the track as an example of what the japanese 2800 looked like. It will probably be very difficult to find an original 2800.

Great, so polyvox is the company and these were made in Brazil. Were these licensed from Atari much like Sears, or did Atari release this in Brazil through polyvox?

Thanks for that one Liduario, I'll add the hard wired controller Brazilian variant to the list. This is the stuff I am talking about, hardware variants that differ from the standard fare for some reason, that version has very different switches and controllers hard wired. Are they hard to come by there?

Nice, I forgot about the Asian 2600 they tried there. They didn't sell many at all before pulling the plug and later trying it on again with the 2800? Is that right? Though I didn't realise they also had 128 in 1 variant there as I was under the impression these were Aus only. Did they also release it without the built in games, and then when that wasn't selling try it with the 128 games built in?

Hi all. I've been collecting Atari for about a year now give or take, I used to collect generally for all systems but decided to sell the rest and concentrate on Atari and a couple of other systems. Basically the stuff I can link to from my childhood really. Anyway so I've set out to get one of each Atari 2600 hardware variant, not so much individual revisions, or if it had yellow instead of orange text etc, just the variations to hardware or larger variations in case design. So, with this in mind I so far have collected: Heavy sixer Light sixer 4 switch woody vader Long rainbow jr Long rainbow 128 in 1 aus release Irish black I know of the short rainbow of course, and the Japanese 2800, plus the french release with scart. And then there are the Sears versions which I am ignoring for the moment to concentrate on official Atari. But beyond this I am at a loss to come up with any further hardware variants. Do any other types exist? Another side hardware collecting issue is collecting the Sunnyvale releases. So I have the heavy, but they also made each new Atari at Sunnyvale for a short time didn't they prior to sending manufacturing off shore? So there is the not for resale 4 switch sunnyvale, and others? Here is a pic of the Atari's on display.

I've got the following Atari's Heavy sixer Light sixer 4 switch woody vader Jr long rainbow Jr 128 in 1 Australian release Irish Black XEGS 7800 Looking to add the short rainbow, french scart, and any other variants I can locate.

I would also like to know which HES releases are hardest to find, other than the obvious Pitfall II. I'm guessing mainly some of the 2 Pak's may be rarer. But anybody have a good idea of the ones that are harder to find? I've got 30 HES titles at the moment and am working my way towards a complete set. But need to know what is generally hardest or difficult to find so I can keep my eye out for them and not leave them alone when they come up for sale. Who is Albert to ask. And I have looked through the link above and this is great, but does not cover rarity very well. Thanks for any assistance.

This depends on what level of arcade realism you want. For the most authentic way, you would need power supply, coin mech, arcade monitor and chassis and control hardware. Then from there you could use game boards, multi game boards, or mame on computer. If using mame on computer you will also need an Arcade VGA or soft15khz video card, also need a J-Pac to run the arcade monitor and interface the controls to the PC etc. If your in a 110v land you will also need a step down transformer. If you are going to be using a PC CRT monitor or LCD then decide that from the outset and design a cab around that screen size as building a full size arcade machine with a small PC LCD inside, or PC monitor looks a bit ordinary usually. For this method you will need a computer, monitor, J-Pac or I-Pac keyboard encoder, then you arcade controls etc. If you go the PC route there will be hours and hours of configuring ahead unless you download a pre-installed ready to go hyperspin or other mame setup. That's the basics.

I came to Atari later in it's life when my parents bought me a Jr. Prior to that I had been enjoying a relatives 4 swtich woody when I visited. Born in 76' so by the time I was ready for games I was probably 8 I guess and started out on Intellivision and remember playing Discs of Tron and Golf mainly. Then came the Atari Jr and I was hooked from there and games I can recall playing are H.E.R.O, Pac Man, Demon Attack, Road Runner, River Patrol. Basically the A2600 got a big workout until I moved on to C64 and beyond. Fast forward to today and I am collecting video games. I used to collect for every system without really knowing why, if I saw something at a good price, at a yard sale, or something cool I bought it. I amassed a good collection of every main console, with games for each. Recently I started thinking, my collection is cool, but I never play them, and don't really care for them much. You see I was missing that link to my childhood. I think that is a real requirement for collecting a game system as it provides you that emotional link to the games and system. I already had a small collection of C64 and Amiga boxed games and when I looked at my shelved of those titles I knew each game, could recall playing it and was proud to own it. So I have been selling off the consoles that possess no retro link for me personally, and am going to dedicate my collecting for a handful of systems that I mostly owned. Namely Atari, C64, Amiga and Genesis mostly because I have a good collection for that as is and it was the cart system I chose to keep as it is around the Amiga level of gaming which is about the sweet spot for retro gaming. Atari will always be special for me and that is what got me in to collecting for it. The plan is to get one of each, A2600 Heavy, A2600 light sixer, 4 switch woody and vader, Jnr, Irish Jnr, Jr 128-1 Aus release, Short rainbow Jr, 7800, 5200, XEGS, and 2800 if I can find one. One of each main variant basically. I'm well on the way :-) Step two of the plan is to collect a complete (maybe except Pitfall II) HES collection, then keep it going from there.

Thanks guys, that makes sense. I was not understanding why the TV would show a picture from the console if it did not have an NTSC tuner. Looks like I am going to need an NTSC vcr or tuner. Shadow460, I don't see the point in swapping the insides across, as I am collecting Atari and am going to get one of each main Atari console release, well on the way already. If I just wanted a working Atari I would have just bought a Jr here in Aus, or a 6 switch etc. The adjustments I made inside the console were just to the color and sound pots (from what I understand) I did not take off the square RF shield to adjust. I mentioned it above but I was calling the heavy metal casing the RF shield. Thanks for all the advice. I'll update when I have gone the tuner route. Edit> Would something like this suit? http://dx.com/p/standalone-analog-tv-tuner-box-with-remote-high-resolution-1680-1050px-view-tv-on-lcd-without-pc-12257 It states it receives signals in Pal and NTSC formats. So no sure if that means it tunes NTSC?

what you say makes sense but if the TV was not able to tune in NTSC via RF then I would think it would not be able to get a picture at all? From what I have read a TV without NTSC tuner can not search low enough in the VHF bands to find the NTSC signal. The NTSC signal is very low in the VHF-Low band. Anybody living in a Pal territory able to comment on this with their Multistandard TV? Can you get a dual NTSC/Pal tuner for a TV or do they have both?

Just figured out a way to bypass the RF entirely and tested it. What I did was opened up my Aus light sixer and unplugged the RF cable from it, plugged that in to the Heavy and got the same result, poor picture and static sound. It's as if the RF signal is slightly off and not tuned in correctly, and a fine tune would get it right. In the RF shielding there are two holes, one has the red plastic housing with the adjuster right up close to the RF shielding as above. This is the one I adjusted and got no result, it made the picture worse in fact, but did not improve sound. This one was adjusted with a small Hex type bit. Question Time: When adjusting this pot, it does affect the picture. If this is altering the RF output frequency do I need to then re-tune the TV to find the Atari signal again? Basically make small adjustment on the Atari, then tune tv to it again until it is clear? Or, should adjusting this pot being the picture to clarity and sound without needing to re-tune the TV. There is also another hole to the left, not the very bottom one though. Looking through this I can see a blue disk with a slot cut in it for a screwdriver to adjust. What does this one do? Edit> Colors from what Shadow 460 said above. Is there a third pot to adjust hidden under the RF shield that I am unable to get to without removing the shield? Thanks for the help on this to guys, I don't think the ebay seller has been dodgy or anything as I believe it was tested and the seller has great feedback. I just think this is something to do with the NTSC US vs AUS setup. I have tried it on both my CRT and Plasma with the same results. Edit, I just took the entire internals of the Atari out of it's case, removed the RF shielding and there is only the two adjustments that can be made that I can see. The color and the other one that adjusts the RF frequency or something. I tried adjusting it in small increments and re-tuning the TV but was not able to improve the situation at all. Short of an AV mod I am not sure where to go from here. If this is in fact a hardware fault then the AV mod will not work anyhow.

I'm trying to avoid doing the AV mod as I'd rather it remain original. TV's here don't use the screw in type connector but have a male/female type connector. Not sure the actual type or name of it, we just call it RF cables etc. On the end of the Atari 2600 cable is a RCA type plug, you guys connect that to the adaptor above and screw that to the TV's RF input. We have a different plug that I will track down a connector for and try it straight to the TV. The pot I adjusted was the one with the red plastic surround that you can adjust without removing the metal RF shield. I thought this one was the sound RF frequency adjustment. But it affected the picture without affecting sound at all.

The RF Box is a box with a physical switch. I am sure it was for sega, maybe for master system? But it does have the physical switch, could still be the issue though. I'd run the signal through a VCR to test it but VCR's here are Pal and will not be able to tune the NTSC signal in. I am borrowing one to try though. When I switch the RF switch on the unit the picture goes away as it should, switching back brings it back, just not all the way. I think a good idea would be to buy a RCA to RF adaptor rather than a RF box and plug direct to the TV.

Thanks for that, I will check the cable to see if it is tight. I do have that adapter, but removed it as I am in Australia and we don't use that type of connection. Instead, I am using the RCA style plug that is on the end of the lead, plugged in to the Sega RF unit, which then plugs to the TV.

Hi guys, I am hoping to get some help here as I recently bought a Heavy Sixer and had it shipped to Australia. It was console only, advertised as tested and working. I do not seem to be able to tune it in and I am concerned I have a hardware fault. I haven't mentioned this to the seller as I am not sure it is a hardware fault and may be something simple I am missing. I am tuning it in to a multi standard tv that accepts NTSC signals and does tune low enough to be able to tune the NTSC in. Full disclosure here and I am using a Sega Megadrive RF box with the physical Game/TV switch. I have previously tested this RF box with an intellivision and it was working fine. The result I am getting when this is tuned in is a picture with static sound only, unable to pick up any game sounds. The picture is poor quality with static in the image. I have attempted to adjust the pot that is under the hole in the RF sheild which alters the static on the screen, too far one way and diagnonal lines appear in the image, with the same result the other way, there is a sweetish spot that gives the best picture but no sound still. So, at this point I am at a loss. Any ideas?