Atari2600.com Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 An unusual item recently arrived buried within a large general game collection. At first I set it aside because the hand lettered labels gave the first impression of being a homemade copy cart. Now, I believe it could be a prototype, possibly from a company called Control Technology. I've googled 'Control Technology', 'Control Technology Atari' and 'Control Technology Imagic' but found no relevant links. Control Technology Inc is a company which manufacturers programmable control systems which seems unrelated to anything having to do with video games. The game seems identical to the production Imagic video game. I didn't notice any graphics/scoring or sound differences. The game PCB is visible at the open end of the cartridge. It is not an Imagic production board. I tried to show the difference in the photo. The Imagic cartridge is below the Control Technology cartridge. The Control Technology PCB is thicker, yellower and with wider traces than Imagic. The game cartridge case is also not an Imagic product. The case is identical to the cartridge cases used by Wizard for Texas Chainsaw and Halloween. It does not appear that a label was previously attached to this case and removed. Another way describing this is the game cartridge case was likely new/unused when the labels were attached. The cartridge has three labels. The top label is generic blue and white with hand writing, "TRICK SHOT (FOR ATARI 2600)". The end label is interesting. Here is printed Control Technology NO.6004, with 4K and an upward pointing arrow. Trick Shot is a 4K video game, so the label correctly identifies the game's binary size. On back a simple partially torn white label has the number 58. Can anyone provide positive identification of this unusual Trick Shot game cartridge? Has anyone heard of Control Technology's involvement in Atari 2600 Imagic game production? Does anyone have a similar item in their collection? JC Atari2600.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Hey Joe, that seems to be a Telesys cartridge shell, you can pry those open, they don't have screws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Couldn't Control Technology be just the name of the label company? Or maybe those labels came with cart copiers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Beard Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Couldn't Control Technology be just the name of the label company? That was my first thought as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Couldn't Control Technology be just the name of the label company? Why would a label company put 4K on their labels? Or maybe those labels came with cart copiers? More likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari2600.com Posted January 10, 2009 Author Share Posted January 10, 2009 The cartridge is similar to a telesys case. The area which supports the PCB differs from the telesys case but is identical to the Wizard games. The cartridge case is probably pressed together and could be pried open. Doing so may break the small pins causing the case to remain permanently sprung open. I'll leave it as is. The labels looked to me like generic labels of the type you would use for labeling a cassette tape or something similar. But then what about the 4K designation on the end label? Also the height and width of the end label is a perfect fit, unlikely to find a random stationary label which would fit so well. The labels seem to have been produced for labeling Atari 2600 cartridges. I think this is a deliberate product produced for a specific purpose by Control Technology. JC Atari2600.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Wonder007 Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 I think I have seen a label like that before. The key is going to be how the Eprom/Rom looks like inside the cart shell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Like everybody says, I'm guessing it's a copy cart but until we see the insides we won't know for sure. I don't recall hearing anything about Imagic outsourcing their games to another company, so I don't think this is a prototype. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted January 10, 2009 Share Posted January 10, 2009 Just an idea...possibly this was control technology's first attempt at something similar to the Xante Kiosk? Just looks a lot like something a long those lines. Imagic authorized quite a few games for the Xante kiosks correct? Possibly Control Technology wanted to get in on some of the action but then the declining interest in video games put this project to an end. This example of Trick Shot was possibly a "prototype" used at a meeting to show the idea to the executive higher ups for Control Technology...who then rejected the idea, leaving this example as a survivor from something that "could have been?" Just an idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Interesting find. Reminds me of this: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Interesting find. Reminds me of this: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=6 That looks like those are mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin Posted January 11, 2009 Share Posted January 11, 2009 Interesting find. Reminds me of this: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=6 That looks like those are mine. or mine....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dino Posted January 13, 2009 Share Posted January 13, 2009 I would say its a copy cart also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GameGeezer Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Has anyone uncovered anything on 'Control Technology'? In a lot, I uncovered a cart with a hand-written 'Strategy X' label, like those used on 5.25" diskettes. I wanted to see if it was a proto, or something odd, as it was in a stock Atari-esque case, not a konami case, and the board inside is an EPROm card with '© 1983 Control Technology' on the side. My guess, is that in the face of the '83 crash, 'Control technology' was selling copy carts, to retailers, but I'd be curious for anything other factual information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Atari_Warlord Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 California has a defunct company named Control Technology Corporation with the following info: Founded 4/6/1982 Agent Oscar Rodriguez Jr Address: 7969 Engineer Rd Suite 201 San Diego, CA 92111 There are other businesses currently at the location and the name appears to be very common, so I wasn't able to figure out if the person was still living or not. If someone has access to the yellow pages from 1983/1984, it's possible the business would be listed with a little more info. I agree that it looks like a copy cart that probably had very limited distribution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 Agent Oscar Rodriguez Jr That name sounds familiar. Like I've heard it before in relation to Atari stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nofrills100 Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 Interesting find. Reminds me of this: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=6 that link goes nowhere specific... what carts were you talking about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted March 27, 2015 Share Posted March 27, 2015 that link goes nowhere specific... what carts were you talking about? http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-unimex-duplicator-sp280-unimex-duplikator-sp280_20312.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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