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Ok so with the latest updates: US mail order exclusives: - Birthday Mania - Chase The Chuckwagon - Color Bar Generator (note: not a game) - Gamma-Attack - Gauntlet - MagiCard - Malagai - Spacechase (monogrammed) - Survival Island - Sword Of Saros - Tooth Protectors - Video Life Columbia House exclusive games: - Bumper Bash - Random Terrain (awesome site btw) asked here for information regarding Bumper Bash and if it was ever even offered by Columbia House - Cakewalk - Gas Hog - Mangia' - Master Builder - Stronghold As far as I can tell, the Spectravideo games released through Columbia House did hit shelves in Canada but were only available through Columbia House in the US. US mail order games that later hit retail shelves: Atari Club games: - Atari Video Cube - Crazy Climber - Gravitar - Quadrun - SwordQuest: Waterworld - Kool-Aid Man Most likely US mail order only: - Air Raid - either sold door to door or just given away by company salesmen but probably never hit shelves. May have been offered through mail order but unsure. May have also only been sold in one store (Mena's Toys). Big mystery! - Eli's Ladder - only offered with a manual and no box, most likely in a plastic bag...this screams mail order to me. In a wildly entertaining thread, user Atari PAC-MAN Fan and Iwantgames:) also said this was mail order only. - The Music Machine - AtariHQ lists it as mail order only and save2600 mentioned it in this thread about advertisements for mail order only games - Red Sea Crossing - seems to either be an unreleased game or a mail order direct game judging from the plethora of topics about it on here Germany & Netherlands mail order only: - X-Man Questions: Ultravision - Condor Attack (Ultravision) - Karate (Ultravision) According to user Crazy Climber here K-Tel mostly did mail order only. Crazy Climber also said Ultravision was a division of K-Tel, so Karate was also most likely mail order only. Does anyone have more information on that? - CompuMate/PictureMate/SongMate - I can't find much on them, were they mail only? Were they even commercially available in the US? Exus: - Video Jogger - Video Reflex - did these titles see store shelves? - X-Man - was this mail order or did it actually get sold behind counters in the US And to delve into another avenue, were these games Canada exclusives? - Motocross Racer/Tomarc The Barbarian - this may have been on Canadian shelves only according to a post by Omegamatrix - Obelix - Random Terrain lists it as Canadian on his site as does Atariprotos.com And a few more contested releases, but Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre do seem to have been released in stores according to an interview with Wizard's owner. Rescue Terra I also seems to be a title that had a limited in store commercial run according to reviews.

X-Man is an interesting one. I can't seem to find any proof of retailers actually carrying it in the States. It was definitely available through mail order, as most games were at the time, but did it hit shelves?

That is super specific and excellent information. Thank you high voltage

That absolutely helps!

Alright so with updated information thanks to those who have responded, we can say that Tax Avoiders and Glib both hit physical store shelves. Gamma-Attack and monogrammed Spacechase have been added to confirmed mail order only. This leaves the following questions remaining: Questions: Ultravision - Condor Attack (Ultravision) - Karate (Ultravision) According to user Crazy Climber here K-Tel mostly did mail order only. Crazy Climber also said Ultravision was a division of K-Tel, so Karate was also most likely mail order only. Does anyone have more information on that? - CompuMate/PictureMate/SongMate - I can't find much on them, were they mail only? Exus: - Video Jogger - Video Reflex - did these titles see store shelves? - X-Man - was this mail order or did it actually get sold behind counters in the US And to delve into another avenue, were these games Canada exclusives? - Motocross Racer/Tomarc The Barbarian - this may have been on Canadian shelves only according to a post by Omegamatrix - Obelix - Random Terrain lists it as Canadian on his site as does Atariprotos.com And a few more contested releases, but Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre do seem to have been released in stores according to an interview with Wizard's owner. Rescue Terra I also seems to be a title that had a limited in store commercial run according to reviews.

Thanks Rom. Oversights on my part to not include those in the original list. Do you have any info on any of the games under questions other than Glib?

In a little bit of an update, this thread mentions that Glib was found in stores but calls into question how Karate was released, if released at all.

That's the good stuff I'm looking for. So this is what we're looking at now: Mail order exclusives: - Birthday Mania - Chase The Chuckwagon - Gauntlet - MagiCard - Malagai - Survival Island - Sword Of Saros - Tooth Protectors - Video Life Columbia House exclusive games: - Bumper Bash - Random Terrain (awesome site btw) asked here for information regarding Bumper Bash and if it was ever even offered by Columbia House - Cakewalk - Gas Hog - Mangia' - Master Builder - Stronghold As far as I can tell, the Spectravideo games released through Columbia House did hit shelves in Canada but were only available through Columbia House in the US. Mail order games that later hit retail shelves: Atari Club games: - Atari Video Cube - Crazy Climber - Gravitar - Quadrun - SwordQuest: Waterworld - Kool-Aid Man Pretty sure these were mail order only: - Air Raid - either sold door to door or just given away by company salesmen but probably never hit shelves. May have been offered through mail order but unsure. - Eli's Ladder - only offered with a manual and no box, most likely in a plastic bag...this screams mail order to me. In a wildly entertaining thread, user Atari PAC-MAN Fan and Iwantgames:) also said this was mail order only. - The Music Machine - AtariHQ lists it as mail order only and save2600 mentioned it in this thread about advertisements for mail order only games - Red Sea Crossing - seems to either be an unreleased game or a mail order direct game judging from the plethora of topics about it on here Questions: Ultravision - Condor Attack (Ultravision) - Karate (Ultravision) According to user Crazy Climber here K-Tel mostly did mail order only. Crazy Climber also said Ultravision was a division of K-Tel, so Karate was also most likely mail order only. Does anyone have more information on that? - CompuMate/PictureMate/SongMate - I can't find much on them, were they mail only? - Glib - I question single release companies, but this seems to have hit stores Exus: - Video Jogger - Video Reflex - did these titles see store shelves? - X-Man - was this mail order or did it actually get sold behind counters in the US And to delve into another avenue, were these games Canada exclusives? - Motocross Racer/Tomarc The Barbarian - this may have been on Canadian shelves only according to a post by Omegamatrix - Obelix - Random Terrain lists it as Canadian on his site as does Atariprotos.com

I had a feeling Apollo, US Games and Data Age hit shelves. I will take them out of the questioned list. Thanks for clearing up Mythicon, but for Xonox do you know if Motocross Racer/Tomarc The Barbarian was Canada only? And what the deal was with Ultravision? Kool-Aid Man I forgot to add to the easy list, thank you for reminding me.

Hi! I'm looking to compile a list of mail order exclusive games for a little research I'm doing. I've scoured these forums trying to uncover as much info as possible, but I still have some unanswered questions that I could use a little help on. I thought it would be convenient to limit this just to US releases and then focus on Canada and Europe/PAL later. This is what I've come up with so far: Let's start with the easy stuff: Atari Club games: - Atari Video Cube - Crazy Climber - Gravitar - Quadrun - SwordQuest: Waterworld These were mail order exclusive but most ended up on shelves anyway. Birthday Mania - definitely mail order only Chase The Chuckwagon - promotional give away done through mail order Answer Software: - Gauntlet - Malagai Columbia House games: which included games from: CommaVid - Cakewalk - Stronghold & Spectravideo - Bumper Bash - user Random Terrain (awesome site btw) asked here for information regarding Bumper Bash and if it was ever even offered by Columbia House - Gas Hog - Mangia' - Master Builder As far as I can tell, the Spectravideo games released through Columbia House did hit shelves in Canada but were only available through Columbia House in the US. CommaVid (not from Columbia House, direct from the publisher themselves): - MagiCard - Video Life - available only by mail order to customers who had previously purchased MagiCard Starpath mail order exclusives: - Survival Island - Sword Of Saros - Tooth Protectors - promotional give away done through mail order Somewhat sure: - Air Raid - either sold door to door or just given away by company salesmen but probably never hit shelves. May have been offered through mail order but unsure. - Eli's Ladder - only offered with a manual and no box, most likely in a plastic bag...this screams mail order to me. In a wildly entertaining thread, user Atari PAC-MAN Fan and Iwantgames:) also said this was mail order only. - The Music Machine - AtariHQ lists it as mail order only and save2600 mentioned it in this thread about advertisements for mail order only games - Red Sea Crossing - seems to either be an unreleased game or a mail order direct game judging from the plethora of topics about it on here Questions: Xonox/K-Tel games (possibly including Ultravision?) - Artillery Duel/Chuck Norris Superkicks - Ghost Manor/Spike's Peak - Motocross Racer/Tomarc The Barbarian - this may have been Canadian only according to a post on here that I can't find :-/ - Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot - Condor Attack (Ultravision) - Karate (Ultravision) According to user Crazy Climber here K-Tel mostly did mail order only. Crazy Climber also said Ultravision was a division of K-Tel, so Karate was also most likely mail order only. Does anyone have more information on that? - CompuMate/PictureMate/SongMate - I can't find much on them, were they mail only? - Glib - I question single release companies, but this seems to have hit stores Mythicon - Fire Fly - Sorcerer - Fire Fox Did Mythicon games actually hit shelves? - Tax Avoiders - this seems to be, coincidentally enough, one of those tax write offs, but did it actually hit shelves? Exus: - Video Jogger - Video Reflex - did these titles see store shelves? - X-Man - was this mail order or did it actually get sold behind counters Other companies that I question if they were mail order only: Apollo Data Age US Games Does anyone have anything to offer to confirm or dispute this information? Any help would be appreciated!

I am new to this community, but Dan is an absolute asset to it and a shining example of what attracted me to this forum in the first place. Communication was open and constant from the first message he sent me, up to and through the items being delivered. His prices are more than fair and he went above and beyond in what he offered and delivered on. Plus, I'm pretty sure he must live next door to a bubblewrap factory the way everything was packed so securely.

Hey! New here. Congrats on the baby @gamerMac! I actually found this thread after I bid on the system and the 10 commercially released games. Happy to have won 5 of them, bummed I missed out on the system and the other 5 games. Someone was quicker with the bidder fingers than me! Fortunately, 5 CIB games are a great way to start my Studio II collection