MaximRecoil

I fixed it. See this thread for details.

I have no idea either; I just suspected that little IC because my house is the place those little TTL-size ICs come to die, which is why I have several tubes of new 16-pin dual-wipe sockets onhand (whenever I replace one that's directly soldered to the board I always add a socket). I even managed to inadvertently catch one of those little bastards giving up the ghost on video: At 8 seconds in it said, "Goodbye cruel world!" I don't know if you've ever worked on an arcade boardset or not, but there are some forty-eleven thousand of those little TTL chips on them. I spent about an hour piggybacking chips and testing until I found the dead one. I've replaced dozens of those things in the 10 years since I got my first arcade machine. I've replaced at least half a dozen of them in my Super Punch-Out boardset alone. By the way, sure enough, the issue followed over to the light sixer. It is now doing exactly the same thing that the heavy sixer was doing before I swapped the hex buffers, both in Combat and in Missile Command. I'll have to order a few of those chips.

It is fixed, and it was that "hex buffer" IC that was the problem. I desoldered it from my heavy sixer's motherboard and also desoldered it from one of my light sixer's motherboard, soldered new dual-wipe sockets into both motherboards, and then plugged the light sixer's hex buffer into the heavy sixer's motherboard. I tested it and it is perfect. Not only does the barrel of the red tank not change color now when rotating, but its bullets are red like they are supposed to be as well. The numbers in the Missile Command score are now displaying correctly as well. I'm curious to see if the problem followed over to the light sixer, which is now sporting the heavy sixer's hex buffer. I have to put everything back together to find out.

Aside from the 3 big socketed ICs which I've already swapped around to no effect, there is only 1 other IC on the board; a small 16-pin IC which a Google search for the number on it (C010816-01) tells me is an Atari IC hex buffer C010816. Could that have anything to do with it? At least 1 of its traces leads directly to the TIA.

No, but I tried 5 other Atari 2600s with the same Combat cartridge (3 light sixers and 2 4-switch woodgrain versions), and none of them had this issue (nor any other issue, for that matter), which rules out the TV and the cartridge.

Yes, a leaf-switch joystick. Quality ones (such as the Bally/Midway one I mentioned, and arcade joysticks made by Wico) haven't been manufactured in ages. There are some Chinese Wico knockoffs being manufactured (last I knew anyway), but they obviously aren't that great. Microswitches typically click. There are supposedly silent microswitches (for example), but I don't know if they are truly silent or not (I've never used them). Nearly all of the "Golden Age" arcade games used leaf switch joysticks (and buttons), the most notable exception being Nintendo (e.g., Donkey Kong, Punch-Out, Popeye, Mario Bros., etc.), who always used microswitches. They started phasing leaf switches out during the JAMMA era. Double Dragon was an early JAMMA game which still used leaf switch joysticks (Wico 8-way; Wico 4- and 8-way leaf switch joysticks having long been the de facto standard back then), but by the time of Street Fighter II, the Happ microswitch joysticks (e.g., Super, Competition, Ultimate) had become the new Wico, and leaf switches never made a comeback.

No need for a hacked ROM, i.e., in games 6 through 9 and 12 through 14, the background is red and the tanks are green and blue, and there is no issue with either tank on those stages. I think you're onto something with the color red. I didn't make the connection to red objects; I thought it had something to do with the background colors.

Thanks. Do you have any idea how only the barrel of the tank could be changing color as it rotates?

Here's a video showing what it's doing:

Are the tanks one object, or are the barrel and the rest of the tank two separate objects? The reason I ask is because my "heavy sixer" is acting strange. I posted about it in the "Hardware" section of this forum, so I'll paste what I posted there: In Combat, in games 1-5 (with the light green background), the player 1 tank (red) barrel turns the same color green as the background when you rotate (when the barrel is facing strictly to the left or to the right is the only time it is red like the rest of the tank). Also, the bullets it fires are always the same color green as the background, making them difficult to see (it is only due to RF artifacts that you can see them at all). The player 2 tank (blue) doesn't have these issues. Its bullets are blue (the same color as the tank, just as they should be), and its barrel doesn't change color as it rotates. None of my other 5 Atari 2600s have these issues. Swapping the TIA chip with one from a light sixer didn't make a difference, and neither did swapping the RIOT chip or the CPU. Also, the issue disappears in B&W mode, for whatever that's worth. If the tank is just one object, I don't see how just its barrel could change color as the tank rotates. In any event, I'm hoping that knowing more about how the game was programmed will help me figure out what's wrong with my heavy sixer hardware.

No, because the hue looks right as-is, and I can't see how it could cause completely wrong colors to selectively appear when performing certain actions. Hue adjustments have a global effect, i.e., they don't just affect the barrel of the tank when it is in a certain position or its bullet.

I don't know what kind of joystick is used in the "Hori Fight Stick", but I've read that it isn't a very good one. As far as I know, it doesn't have a restrictor which can be rotated for true mechanically-restricted 4-way operation. What you can do though, is buy a Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT, which is a very popular and high quality joystick, and which will fit in your Hori Fight Stick housing. It comes with a restrictor that is selectable for 4- or 8-way operation. Here is a guide on how to do it if you don't already know how. If you follow that guide, ignore this part in the "Parts you will need" list: "Sanwa GT-Y Octagonal Restrictor Plate, you won't want the 4 way plate that comes with your joystick, so get this or the cornerless GT-0, whatever your preference" Because obviously you will want to use the 4-way selectable restrictor that comes with it. So, you either need to find a "fight stick" type controller that already has a 4-way selectable joystick (Sanwa isn't the only company which makes such joysticks), or replace the joystick in something you already have, with one that either has a dedicated 4-way restrictor or one that can be rotated to become a 4-way restrictor. By the way, the Bally/Midway-manufactured 4-way leaf-switch, rubber grommet-based joystick which was original equipment on original U.S. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and other classic 4-way Bally/Midway arcade machines from the '80s, is widely regarded as the best 4-way joystick ever made (they look like this). Unfortunately, they have been out of production for ages, so the only option is a used one (or NOS, if you're lucky).

Swapping the TIA chip didn't make a difference, and neither did swapping the RIOT chip or the CPU. Also, the issue disappears in B&W mode, for whatever that's worth.

I've noticed another anomaly with my heavy sixer. In Combat, in games 1-5 (with the light green background), the player 1 tank (red) barrel turns the same color green as the background when you rotate (when the barrel is facing strictly to the left or to the right is the only time it is red like the rest of the tank). Also, the bullets it fires are always the same color green as the background, making them difficult to see (it is only due to RF artifacts that you can see them at all). The player 2 tank (blue) doesn't have these issues. Its bullets are black/dark, and its barrel doesn't change color as it rotates. None of my other 5 Atari 2600s have these issues. I suspect these things indicate a logic issue somewhere on the motherboard, perhaps in its TIA chip. Does anyone have any ideas? In the meantime, I think I'll swap its TIA chip with one from one of my light sixers to see if that makes a difference.

I don't have much of a collector mindset. I only buy games that I actually want to play (and there really aren't very many that interest me; just a handful of games for a handful of systems), and I don't care about boxes and manuals, which makes things a lot cheaper. I don't have much of a completist mindset either. Most of the consoles and many of the games I currently own fell into my lap, for free, years ago, which includes 2 Sega Genesis Model 1s, a Sony Playstation 2 (which I used exactly once, to test functionality, when I got it over 10 years ago), 4 NESes (3 front-loaders, 1 top-loader), 1 NEC TG-16 (no controller or games), 2 SNES Model 1s, an original Sony PlayStation, and an Atari 7800. I also have another original Sony PlayStation, 2 Sega Dreamcasts, and 6 Atari 2600s (1 heavy sixer, 3 light sixers, and 2 4-switch woodgrain), but I bought all of those (I only had 1 2600, a light sixer, until the other day when I got a good deal on a lot of 5). My main regret with regard to collecting (which is more hoarding than collecting) is that I didn't keep the consoles and games I had as a kid. I guess I didn't have much of a hoarding mindset as a kid, because I got rid of every last console and game I had back then, some of which I simply threw away, because I didn't want to be bothered with them during one of the times I moved. It was 1994, I was 19, and those old Ataris seemed outdated and worthless at the time. If I could go back in time I'd have a few choice words to say to my younger self. I now have all the types of consoles and most of the games I had as a kid, but for the sake of nostalgia (and I have a strong sense of nostalgia now), it would be nice to still have the actual ones I had as a kid. I had an Atari 2600 "Vader", an Atari 7800, and an SNES Model 1, all of which I bought brand new (currently the only console I own that I bought brand new is one of my 2 original PlayStations). Furthermore, I had an NES front-loader which I bought used from a friend, but it was like new (it hadn't even started blinking yet), and I bought an NES Advantage controller for it, brand new.

In my experience, a 2600 4-switch without its RF shielding has a lot more RF interference in the picture than with it. I don't know about a 6-switch, but the same probably applies. In the case of a front-loader NES, I couldn't see any difference with the one I tried without its RF shielding, neither through the RF output nor through the composite output (I wouldn't expect it to affect composite anyway).

All 5 of those Ataris are now cleaned and tested, and they all work perfectly. Also, I noticed that one of those 4 Combat cartridges I got is an "01 combat", which is probably the actual Combat cartridge that came with my heavy sixer from the factory, which is pretty cool. It will be my default Combat cartridge from now on:

There are 2 completely separate PCBs in there, so yes, it would work. You would probably have to disassemble the 2 Ataris and use just the guts, and even then you might not be able to do it without them physically interfering with each other, because of the angles involved. Edit: You could do it with two 2600 Juniors as-is, because a cartridge inserted in one of those points straight up instead of being angled toward you.

I tried that about a week ago with 2 different VCRs (a GE and a Zenith, both from the late '80s), and the results were horrible. It looked like a case of bad reception rather than just RF interference, and it looked the same on both VCRs. I didn't think to try an auto channel search with the VCRs; maybe it would have locked onto the 2600's broadcasting frequency better. When connected directly to my TV the reception is perfect (RF interference is a different issue than bad reception). My newly acquired heavy sixer is actually pretty close to my 7800 in terms of the low level of RF interference (and better than my light sixers and 4 switch woodgrain versions), and might even be on par with it. I think the reason the RF interference is normally a little more prominent on the heavy sixer is because the colors are far more saturated than the notoriously dull colors of the 7800, making the RF interference patterns embedded in the color more noticeable. I just tried my heavy sixer with Missile Command with the "TV Type" switch set to B&W, and I can't see any RF interference whatsoever, not even on the medium- and light-colored background levels (which appear as medium and light shades of gray in B&W mode), where they are most prominent in normal color mode.

I just finished cleaning and testing a lot of 5 Ataris (1 heavy sixer, 2 light sixers, 2 4-switch woodgrain), and they all have more RF interference than my Atari 7800. The heavy sixer seems to have the least amount of it, but still significantly more than my 7800. I would like to know why that is. I wonder if it's because the 7800s motherboard is fully encased in RF shielding while all of the Atari 2600 versions I have are only partially encased (the six-switch versions' motherboards are fully encased, but their "switchboards" aren't). Does anyone know of a specific ferrite choke product that they've seen actual positive results from?

While I was trying to get my money out of my wallet, the price went up to $400. I told her I'd have to go to the bank to get more money, but she said no one was going to get it, EVAR!!!, because she was taking her new used new used new Vader and sealed Pac-Man and going home. Well, I tested another one; the newer of the two 4-switch versions (i.e., the one with the real 4-switch base instead of a converted light sixer base). This one seemed only lightly used, and the switches felt like new when operated. The switches felt exactly like the switches on the Vader I bought new as a kid in 1985. Inside it was quite clean, just a bit dusty, and the card-edge connector was rather clean too. It seemed to work perfectly when I tested it, aside from the dull colors that the 4-switch models are known for (I don't have any 820 ohm resistors onhand right now to fix that). However, while testing everything, I noticed the 2nd player difficulty switch was flaky. I figured it was probably a bad solder joint, because the switch itself seemed fine. I desoldered and resoldered the three legs on that switch and now it works perfectly. It is going to take a while to test them all, because I like to make sure they are clean inside (especially the card-edge connector) before testing.

RARE!!! [email protected]@K!!! I'll make a killing. Yeah, it sucks, but on the other hand, at least the undisturbed crud suggests that no one has been monkeying around inside it in recent history. I didn't see any signs that this thing has ever been apart since the day it left Sunnyvale. A lot of people who have no business doing so like to take things apart on a whim, and you end up with things like missing screws, stripped screw holes, missing items such as the foam dust covers on the switches, and in the worst cases, goose poop solder joints, lifted pads, and damaged traces.

This is my first "heavy sixer"; it just arrived today. Everything seems to work fine, but the numbers in the score in Missile Command are strange compared to my "light sixer" (and compared to it running in the Stella emulator, which looks the same as on my light sixer). On my light sixer, the numbers are always the same medium-weight typeface regardless of the level. On my heavy sixer, the numbers are a bit heavier weight typeface on all of the levels except for the yellow-background level, in which case they are a very lightweight typeface: Heavy sixer, yellow level: Light sixer, yellow level: Heavy sixer, non-yellow level: I've read that some versions of the TIA do things differently than other versions of the TIA in certain situations. Is this a case of that, or is there something wrong with my heavy sixer?

My 5 Ataris arrived this morning, well-packed and undamaged: I've only cleaned and tested the "heavy sixer" so far, and it works fine. The colors are brilliant, and the build quality is amazing for something that most people consider to be a toy. I wonder who it was at Atari that decided the original 2600 should be built like a piece of industrial equipment. Who ever heard of using 3/8" thick solid plastic for the case of a small piece of consumer electronics? That's 6 times thicker than the plastic used for the NES case. It was a mess inside; full of crud, pet hair, and one unidentified insect carcass. Even the card-edge connector was full of pet hair, which was a pain to clean, but it is spick and span inside and out now. One of the 4-switch Ataris is interesting; it has a "light sixer" base that was factory-converted for use as a 4-switch base. The opening in the back for the light sixer's joystick ports and A/C adapter jack is covered by a die-stamped black plastic decal of sorts. It has the opening in the bottom for the channel select switch, which is unused because the channel select switch is up on the upper half of the case, and there are no screws in the two outermost screw holes in the bottom rear, nor have there ever been (because the 4-switch version only has 4 screws in the bottom instead of 6+2). It also has the number "371" stamped into the plastic on the bottom; I don't know what that's all about. Of the 9 loose cartridges that were included, 4 of them are the super rare and highly sought after game called "Combat". The rest of them are: Missile Command, Space War, Star Ship, Decathlon ... plus Gyruss for the Atari 5200 (I don't own a 5200).

Replacing the original 72-pin connector with an aftermarket one is a downgrade. The originals never need to be replaced unless they have been vandalized. They simply need to be cleaned properly. For example, Bar Keepers Friend and a toothbrush results in an absolutely clean connector in a matter of ~30 seconds of scrubbing (due to its oxalic acid content); isopropyl alcohol is significantly less effective (due to it being merely a solvent, which has little to no effect on oxidation).