Stella'sGhost

Those mattel 2600 carts resemble the intellevision carts, they are wider at the bottom because of the connectors, otherwise I guess they were trying to duplicate the intellivision look of the carts, sans the art work....

True story: I'm at a flea market, this stall has everything retro you could want, atari, coleco vision, intellevision, atari 8 bit, everything, tons of stuff, nes too. I see a box of 2600 carts and Im looking thru it. THe games are too pricey, very common ones for 10-60 dollars, I have them all anyways, so I ask the lady, what's with these prices? She goes: These games are very old and rare. I go, yeah they are old, but they aren't that rare, I mean half of these games you've got I've seen at a local thrift store for 2 dollars each. She doesn't care. So I look some more and I find another cart, it's Master Builder, mint. How much does she want for it? 15 bucks. Sold. I mean, shes got pitfall for 20 bucks and lets me have the Master Builder for$ 15 Canadian.... I dunno, some people don't understand what rare means.

Those Mattel carts are the worst looking and least inspiring design of all time probably. There are some good games though so collect them. If its for the Atari, I'll pick it up, no matter how dumb of a game it is. Xonox is annoying too, but at least they have artwork and look kinda cool.

I check my local pawn shops/ thrift stores/ flea markets 2 times a month, or maybe every sunday. And sure enough I always find something atari 2600 related, games and systems, usually I even find a title I don't have, and I have over 200 so things are still not so bad, but I still feel like these carts are getting scarcer and eventually I won't find anything in person anymore.... either because someone else has beaten me to it or because the pool is dry around here.... And yes a local flea market guy told me that whenever he gets atari games, this other flea market guy buys them and sells them at his stall for like 5 times as much. What a bastard.

That is nice, it reminds me of going into Toy City back in the 80's asd seeing all thes boxes on the shelves... I only have about 12 boxes left from when I was kid. Yes, the old boxed art work is great, and in many cases the art is better than the game

It is not Combat. It's probably Air Raid.....

Yes I'm pretty sure that that number has nothing to do with the game. But it's stull a number, and that's a clue! Now we're getting somewhere.... I shall clean the contacts even more thoroughly and see what happens. exciting isn't it?

The yellow cursor block thing from Adventure.

The dude who bought this game sounds like a dumbass. To a serious collector, who has 800 carts and is looking for some really rare items, I can see spending thousands, however, the guy who bought the cart sounds like he doesn't know what he's doing. Also to the seller, just because it's printed on-line, doesn't mean it's true, even people here at atari age can make mistakes given these rare pal/ntsc carts that no one has seen since 1983. When youre dealing with this old stuff, you should put sold AS IS on the auctions, that's what I do, even when things are working properly. Things can get silly when you're dealing with very rare collectables eh???

They were buried in the sand in the vain hope that one day, in the year 2600, archeaologists would uncover the carts and they might actually be worth something.

That's a cool wedding gift you can actually use!! I gave a friend of mine - who really is not into vintage games - an asteroids cartridge just for fun. He hadn't seen one since he was 14. He was so happy he put it on his shelf along with other things like pictures and knick knacks, as if it was a piece of art. Now he shows everyone - "hey check this out" like its worth something. See, it was the first video game I ever owned, so it means alot to me. It's ok though I have like 5 more now

I cleaned the board, the contacts, everything. It refuses to work. I tried it on my other 2600, nada. I still say a million bucks it's combat.

so what, I found Bowling at a flea market last year. And I wasn't even looking for it.

The translator was a program for the XL/XEs that replaced the OS that came with the machine to the OS that the 400/800 used. It lasted until you power-cycled the machine, and allowed you to run programs that were incompatible with the XL/XE. I have a few different versions of the discs for the translator, so I can include a copy of that as well, if needed. I'll also attempt to dump the cart that I have tonight as well -- I might just have a flaky dump, and that's why it requires the translator. Thanks, I thought that's what a translator meant, the assembler software was written for the original 800 not the XL series I take it.... Whatever you can do I would greatly appreciate, as I know no one personally who programs 8 bit computers anymore or who has usefull information on the subject. Only on-line can I get any decent info these days....

Hi, thanks, and yes I have printed out that book from atariarchives, its very good especially for beginners. I think that the 65XE and the XEGS are essentialy the same. Both run the XL OS I think. Well, I'm actually learning assembly because I plan on using a 6502 to control a synth that Im building, but yes games are definitely on the agenda. I'm doing some basic games right now. But assembly is where the action is and eventually, maybe I will write a 2600 game, sometime before I turn 40 would be nice. I will eventually post all my progress with games and my synth on one of my websites, probably www.neongraphics.com , which is not up right now, will be up soon. For people who have nothing better to do than to see what I'm wasting my time with. I also write alot of games in Macromedia Director, you should try that software, its great. Well, that's all for now.. see ya!

Well, that would be great - what's a translator? I think I have one. I'm new to programming on an Atari, I grew up using 8 bit computers but I never owned an XL/XE or 400/800 until last year so Ive been programming basic ( which I know well) but now I want to get into assembly. The thing is, where I am it's difficult to find Atari computer software and online, I have yet to see an assembler cart for sale? Any ideas of websites that may have one? I tried all the ones I know, about 80 of them and ebay. My email is [email protected]

I say don't sell em, keep them for your kids or something, if you don't have kids go get some, you'll get the passion back one day and then what??? WHAT?? I TELL YOU!!! I gave my games away 14 years ago, and about 4 years ago I was like... man, what the hell was I thinking?? So I spent the last 4 years hunting down all the games I lost, then when I got them all I kept on hunting, I take breaks from collecting but I always get back into it. Now I've got over 200 and everyone loves my collection, I've probably got the best collection in my part of town, I'm the envy of all my peers, many people cheer me at the mall, girls ask for autographs, I eat for free, The mayors daughter wants to marry me, small animals help me when I'm lost in the woods... That's what I say and I'm saying it.

OK, I've opend it and it says: C011885 REV F ATARI 1978 its probably combat... anyone know what those numbers mean?

They are cheap and simple but do the job well, good, simple design, easy to fix. They are one of the classic most recognizeable controllers. However a girl friend of mine recently complained that it hurts her hand to use them, I was like... whatever and proceeded to destroy her in combat...

So, I have this 2600 cart with no lable, I can't get it to work, I don't know what it is.... if I take it apart, will there be some kind of clue inside? .... it makes a lovely coaster. I know, this is a dumb topic, but I'm bored and it's late.

Hi, what software do I need to do some assembly coding on an XEGS. I have heard of the Atari Assembler Editor and the MAC 65, and I know there are or were others, some on discs and some on cart, however I can not find anything on line, and ive checked countess atari sites and on ebay? I really want the Atari Assembler cart, but where can I find one? Are they rare? Is it worth hunting down? Do most developers use a PC emulator? I prefer to use the Atari itself for now. I have a 1050 disc drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd be willing to buy the software or carts off anyone. Thanks.....

I think the fist real video game was Space War, the VCS version was probably a port of it, its pretty bad but in perspective it was pretty good. At any rate, Combat was soooo adictive, we used to play that for days, days on end without eating or going to the washroom. Now its pretty much the same, only its Unreal Tournament instead...

Basic Math, then Bowling. That's it. I'm kidding.

I keep all my games in a van down by the river.

I was kind of young to realize that pac-man for the 2600 wasn't so great, I liked it. But ultimately it looks really lame and graphically it resembles the even more limited Channel F or Balley Astrocade which is a step back for what the 2600 is capable of. It's just a lousy port, blame Todd Frye. However the arcade version was wonderfull. Pac Man Jr. is a better game, so is Mrs. Pac Man no doubt. There are alot of lousy ports from arcade to the 2600, largely due to the massive limits of the system but there's no excuse for Pac-Man, it doesn't even require a scrolling maze for example and has only a few moving objects at any given time... I mean, didn't anyone take a look at the demo and go " hey wait a minute, this game looks lousy, lets tweak it up a bit."... oh yeah, time is money.... whatever.