liammw8

That brown buildup on the circuit board is old solder flux. It can be cleaned off with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol and Q-tips safely. Judging by those pictures, it looks like you may have some cold solder joints that should be re-soldered.

Those labels are fantastic!

You can use a trackball with Activision Decathlon too?

I'm wanting to collect some of the special-labeled Activision carts for the 2600, specifically Private Eye, Beamrider, H.E.R.O., Pitfall 2, River Raid 2 and Cosmic Commuter. I only want the cartridges, not the boxes or instruction booklets. How much do those carts generally go for?

Awesome! Saving some wear and tear on a joystick AND easier than hammering the D-pad on a Sega controller! I will most definitely try this out!

As awesome as the CX-40 Joystick Controller is, I know it can be susceptible to some wear and tear, especially when playing intense games like The Activision Decathlon. Is there a controller that you like to use in place of the joystick on the 2600?

Had Activision been on this list, I would have voted for them at once. I thought about Parker Brothers, but in the end I went with Imagic, just because of Demon Attack, Atlantis, and Cosmic Ark.

Okay, I'll try to fix it with wires. Thank you.

They need to make a PS4 version of Activision Anthology to go with that machine!

When I was a kid, all my cousins and friends were getting Atari 2600 Jr's with a small bundle of games from local garage sales. When I was over their houses to play them, Activision games stood out the most, like Boxing, Grand Prix, Plaque Attack, Pitfall!, and Double Dragon. Other multiplayer games like California Games and Mario Bros. were really fun too.

Looks like you may have to replace the circuit boards. Or you may be able to part them out. I don't know. karokoenig, you can soak an old toothbrush with 91% isopropyl alcohol and work the bristles into the plug holes, then spray compressed air into the plug and leave it to completely dry. Works a treat.

Have you opened the joysticks up and cleaned the metal dome contacts? Have you tried cleaning the PCB with rubbing alcohol? Is the ring on the plastic joystick handle cracked or split? Are there any broken pins or missing contacts in the joystick plug? Are the solder joints on the joystick port solid?

I was trying to desolder and remove the 5v regulator from the bottom-left of my Atari 2600A motherboard, but unfortunately in the process I ripped two pads right off the solder-side of the PCB. The component-side pads are still intact. Could I replace the regulator and solder a wire across the three leads to make contact? Or should I just get myself another 2600A or 2600 Jr.?

CX-2600A S.N. 82590534 NTSC Manufactured in Taiwan. Found it in the classifieds for $20. Came with 2 joysticks, an OEM power supply, a universal switchbox, six games, an Atari catalog and the Centipede comic. I cleaned it inside and out - joysticks too, sold the games and now I'm collecting all Activision games. The smooth black goes very well with the CX-40 joysticks (the ones without the orange rings, which rub off very easily).

Thank you very much for the help! I'll start the repairs right away.

Robot Tank. Besides the fact that Activision made among the very best games for the 2600, Robot Tank had so much more to it. The changes in weather patterns, the switch between day and night, the varying degrees of damage you could sustain ... there is so much more depth than Battlezone.

I own an unmodified 2600 'Vader' and it has an issue where the display on my old tube TV becomes snowy after 10-20 minutes of gameplay. The power supply is fine, so is the RadioShack Universal TV Switchbox and the composite cable. All connections are tight, game connections are clean on the cart and the console. I haven't noticed any cold or broken solder joints and all switches are working fine, as far as I can tell. I searched some forums for instructions to fix this issue, and most say to replace the 5v Regulator and the 0.1 ufd 24v capacitor on the lower left of the Atari's motherboard. The thing is, I can only find 50v capacitors at the local RadioShack's. I don't know all that much about electronics, so if I put one of these 50v capacitors in, do I risk causing long-term damage to my console?