Marco(2)

quote: Originally posted by dwh: Correct me if wrong, but aren't these protos on chips that degrade over time, and the games could be 'saved' by dumping them onto the internet?I wonder how many protos have been 'lost' this way? You are absolutely right about this process, called bit rot. I think that every 2600 prototype owner knows about this risk. There are maybe 3 or 4 of them, despite the risk, persist in not dumping. As far as I know, there's only a handful of 2600 protos that has not been dumped yet. I have not heard about any 2600 protos being lost for good, because the final surviving EPROM had died. Not dumping a ("new") prototype is something to get angry about indeed. The issue of sharing the dumped ROM is not that straightforward though. Some people (like myself) feel there are several valid reasons for releasing it when the owner feels the time is right. Other people feel that is unfair or even immoral. I say this is your typical issue that will never be solved. That's why I proposed to be more relaxed about this, and enjoy all the cool and not-so-cool protos that are available, instead of arguing the few that aren't. Cheers, Marco

Hi guys, Yeas, I won that expensive piece of Star Wars cardboard on Ebay. Now I have another proto set complete: Ewok cart and Revenge of the Jedi box (not a 100% match, but still pretty cool) @osmeroid: sorry, this is the best pic I have, but I'm sure Tempest will be able to provide you with a better quality pic of the box soon Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by weaselbrains: Are you sure these are Hi-Score carts? I don't own any boxed Hi-Score carts and I don't claim to be any authority on the matter, but any Hi-Score carts I have seen that are boxed always have smaller labels than this and have a v-shape molded into the top of the cart. I have quite a few carts with this style of label but I have never seen one of them in its box. I have a boxed cartridge similar to this but it has a different picture on the label, and on the box it just says Atari compatible. Does anyone have any thoughts on who might make these cartridges if it is not Action Hi Tech? I'd be interested to know I was talking about the label only. You are right, this is not a Hi-Score cart. As you say, they come in the V-shaped cases. As for this one, it's a Zellers cart but it could also be a generic (sic!) Taiwanese pirate. Cheers, Marco

Cheers, Marco

Here you go: I don't know what they did to it though. Knowing fish a little, it might be hellish red now Cool stuff, Thomas and Fish (but I already told you that in Frankfurt)!! Cheers, Marco

I wish. It's not mine. You should recognize the place I'm in, you've been there as well: it's John Hardie's Attic Atari Museum . Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Pitfall Harry: The label I was thinking of looks like this.Ben Yup, that's Hi-Score (and Zellers) allright Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Pitfall Harry: I think I've seen it before. And I think it has a generic label. An island with a huge central mountain that looks like a skull. That shouldn't be it, the real Homevision games come in a white case with Homevision molded into the back, and have nice, black labels with unique picture and big game number. I think you are referring to a Hi-Score game by Action Hi-Tech, Ben. There's a picture of some boxes on the box of the Homevision repro cart, but Col'N isn't one of them, unfortunately. Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by CincYnoTi: i don't recall seeing any video life auctions, but i remember the air raid one. here are the 10's i've seen on ebay: air raid, gauntlet, obelix, quadrun, magicard, eli's ladder (auction ended early), music machine, mangia (questionable if ntsc), vidco copy cart, boxed motorodeo (upside down label, was that ntsc? thought it was sold by someone from atariage or digital press) I think it's fair to say that NTSC Obelix and Quadrun should be a 9 (at the most), and Music Machines should be an 8, I think. quote I've seen one Romox cart being sold on Ebay. In fact, I sold it myself (to Tempest). Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Tempest: Very true. It's easy to see both sides of the argument. I know of a few more prototypes other than the ones listed that haven't been released, but I'm not at liberty to say what they are. Fortunatly most of them will be released at the CGE. And as for the others, like I said other copies will be found. There you go, nothing to worry or be angry about - all will be well in the end Cheers, Marco

Let me ask you angry people this: How many 2600 collectors do you know that are hoarding 2600 protos? Let's see: we have Charlie Brown, Pink Panther, Snow White, Pleiades and Funky Fish. That's five protos in the hands of four people. Perhaps there are a couple more, but these are the ones I know of. Now, how many previously unreleased 2600 games have been 'released' in the past couple of years? Two dozen? More even? With as many collectors involved? So how come you angry people still focus on the handful of cases in which games aren't available? There's plenty out there to enjoy instead! Also, I think there's several valid reasons for not releasing ROMs the day after the proto was acquired (even though dumped to save it from bitrot). Some collectors may want to cherish the moment of having something unique a little, others may just not get around to it right away because their real life has first priority and still others may prefer to wait for a suitable moment (the release of Lord of the Rings was just perfect, IMHO). Still others may prefer to take the time to put in a lot of effort to release a real game. Something, I'd like to add, for which there apparently is a big audience out there. I wonder why it is such a problem (apart from possible legal issues regarding copyright) in that case that some collectors try to get back some of the investment they made? Would you rather have them notbuy the games and instead see rich bastards buy up all protos without giving a damn? I think there are much more prototype owners out there that care - about the game, about the ROM, about the historic value, about the playing - than there are ruthless hoarders. In stead of being angry, I rather prefer to be happy about cool products like Elevator Action, Combat II, Bugs Bunny and ROMs like Lord of the Rings and Ewok. Oh, and for you angry people out there who think you have the right to all ROMs out there: now who's blaming who for being greedy? Cheers, Marco

Hi all, I have a couple of nice and unusual classic videogames up for auction on Ebay. Check them out below: Sixteen Classic Boxed Atari 2600 Games Game Gear TV Tuner - NEW! Atari 2600 Stronghold Atari 2600 Sword of Saros SMS Mortal Kombat 3 SMS Baku Baku SMS Super Compact Girl - Pink system Genesis Duke Nukem 3D (!) Good luck! Marco

quote: Originally posted by Atari master marty: I'm almost positive that Air Raid is rarer.Since i've been collecting i have seen 2 or 3 Video Life's on ebay. I have never seen an air raid on ebay. If youre going to CGE and you own an air raid bring it so I can drool all over it. I actually enjoyed playing some air raid on my emulator (when it was working). Are you sure about that? I must have missed them all... Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by CincYnoTi: so how many confirmed copies are there of ntsc versions of atari bmx, motorodeo and ikari warriors and mangia in collectors' hands? is it fewer than video life? there seems to be a lot of skepticism that these even exist. All I can say about these is pure speculation. Anyway, my idea would be that it would be less likely for a big firm like Atari to produce/release only a handful of copies of one of their games - even their last releases) than it is for a firm like Men-A-Vision. Plausible? Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by bones: What other ways are there to test for NTSC/PAL other than the flip test? I ask because I have an Obelix that works just fine on my NTSC Atari. The cartridge was acquired in the US from a non-collector, which makes me think it's NTSC. Dump it and count lines - one of our tech boys will certainly know what to look for in the ROM image. Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by CincYnoTi: there was an auction last year from a guy in Austria for a boxed master builder, boxed mangia and a few other games. the seller did not know if they were pal or ntsc. i later asked the buyer (look.what.i.got) and he said they were NTSC. Possible, but quite improbable, I'd say. How would an Austrian come up with those incredibly rare NTSC versions? Perhaps the buyer just happened to have a good tv Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Eduardo: Magicard can be considered the rarest of them all, but considering that a Magicard isn't exactly a game, from all the games available I think that Ben is right, AirRaid is next to impossible to find in the wild. As far as the Commavid games are concerned, Video Life is even rarer than Magicard. Rumored production numbers vary, but they all seem to agree it was less than the number of Magicards. As for Air Raid and Video Life, I have no idea which one is rarer. I've heard about a dozen Video Lifes in the hands of collectors, but if that definitely makes Air Raid rarer, well, I think it's just impossible to tell. I just go by a top-5, in no particular order: Magicard, Air Raid, Video Life, Eli's Ladder, and Gauntlet. All incredibly rare Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Alex: So Basis-Angriff and Sternen Kampf are unknown pirate games? I consider them to be Ariola games. quote: So according to your list, we are missing these titles: Motocross SS-022 Mole Hunter SS-023 Ski Run SS-024 Asteroid Belt SS-029 UFO Patrol SS-031 Walker SS-032 I.Q. Memory Teaser SS-033 Panda Rescue SS-035 Criminal Persuit SS-036 Do you have these Marco, or does anyone have pictures to confirm them? We will update the list accordingly. Thanks! I have all of them, except #36 which someone else got from an Ebay auction about two years ago. Quite a rare title! Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Chris Federico: I'm hoping to trade for a specific title. I know that this is better placed on the "Marketplace" board, but a lot more people seem to post here, so I thought I'd give it a shot. [but they moved me here anyway. Thanks for reading the whole message, guys. ] Ehrm, I did read the entire message, and you were right: the marketplace was the best place it. People *do* read this board, and as you're not looking for some holy grail game, I'm sure you'll get some good responses. Good luck. Cheers, Marco [ 05-20-2002: Message edited by: Marco ]

Sternen-Kampf, King Author and Basis-Angriff are not Rainbowvision games. Here's the list of Rainbowvision titles known to exist: Time Race SS-001 Galactic SS-002 Pac-Kong SS-003 Pyramid War SS-004 Tomboy SS-005 Netmaker SS-006 Space Raid SS-007 The Year 1999 SS-008 Bermuda SS-009 Mafia SS-010 Super Ferrari SS-011 Hey! Stop! SS-012 Bi! Bi! SS-013 Catch Time SS-015 Boom Bang SS-016 Mariana SS-017 Curtiss SS-019 Tuby Bird SS-020 Motocross SS-022 Mole Hunter SS-023 Ski Run SS-024 Asteroid Belt SS-029 UFO Patrol SS-031 Walker SS-032 I.Q. Memory Teaser SS-033 Panda Rescue SS-035 Criminal Persuit SS-036 Note that King Author and Surround'em, usually found in Rainbowvision games, have not been confirmed to exist. Possibly, someone mixed up Hi-Score titles in the Rainbowvision list. Cheers, Marco

You are completely right, this is NOT a Rainbowvision game. It's a German pirate game, probably distributed by Ariola. Cheers, Marco

Rare consoles? How about the Dynacom suitcase system, the army green Microdigital system and the Bit Amigo? Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by Eckhard Stolberg: Somehow I think that you only need to route the power cable through the cartridge so that you can turn off/on the VCS by pushing the button on the cartridge. The cart probably doesn't use any power from the power supply directly. The blue button just interrupts the power input for the console, and the cartridge switches to the next game when the power comes back, just like Atari's 32-in-1 game does too. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Ahh, what would this hobby be without techies helping out fools like me Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by MattyXB: Wow look great. Must be very Rare. Never see it in auctions. I know of five in the hands of collectors; I have three of them (brag mode off) Cheers, Marco

quote: Originally posted by MattyXB: I love this smily, so I use it often. You must be one happy fellow! Cheers, Marco