collector advice

[chriswhit]

I've been collecting atari stuff for about a year now. I have several heavy sixers and one of each style 2600 consoles. I have 116 game carts one is a double ender and I also have a Starpath super charger. What are some of the must haves for a good collection? Anything strange and almost unheard of? I also have a 7800 with the expansion interface jack on the side. I only have 9 games for that. most of my games for both systems are common.

[Cebus Capucinis]

I've been collecting atari stuff for about a year now. I have several heavy sixers and one of each style 2600 consoles. I have 116 game carts one is a double ender and I also have a Starpath super charger. What are some of the must haves for a good collection? Anything strange and almost unheard of? I also have a 7800 with the expansion interface jack on the side. I only have 9 games for that. most of my games for both systems are common.

 

 

I'd say just collect what you want! Some people are really big on collecting shrink-wrapped original games in complete in box, others like getting all the prototypes for the systems. Others (like me) just like collecting the loose carts for playing!

 

One of the coolest things about this hobby is the options. You can get so much out there and just about everything you get is a cool little piece of history! T-shirts, ads, posters, even those kid's albums! Everything is fun so I say either grab what you want or grab it all!

[thebiggw]

Yars' Revenge is a must have, not that I am a fan or anything

[Red 5]

If I could start over, knowing what I know now (hindsight being 20/20 and all)... I would collect boxed games from the start.

 

I swore I would only collect loose, but eventually you hit the wall and collecting becomes much more difficult than it was in the first few years of grabbing commons.

 

So I started collecting boxes, which I should have done from the beginning. Plus boxes and manuals are very cool looking on a shelf.

 

Secondly, decide what you want to collect. I collect major label variations. That means you could wind up with the same game a few times. Asteroids for example has an Atari Text Label, an Atari Picture Label, an Atari Silver Label, a Sears text label and a Sears picture label. Some people collect minor variations (dates, years, etc.) but they must live in warehouses or something.

 

If you just want to collect the 'fun' stuff there are tons of lists on AtariAge where people list their favorite games. It really depends on what you like.

 

Check out the 'must have' lists that you can find by doing a search here or check out the pinned topic.

 

There are plenty of interesting things to add to your Atari Collection. An expensive and hard to find add on was the Colecovision Kid Vid Voice Module. This added music and talking to Atari games. The only games available for it were Smurfs Save the Day and Berenstein Bears. Interesting and pretty rare add on.

 

The joyboard was a joystic that you were supposed to be able to stand on, although I would imagin the weight limit would be about 30 lbs. Mogul Maniac is a skiing game for it. The first Wii.

 

I like the items from the AtariAge magazine club. There are things like carrying cases, mugs, etc. Collecting all the Atari Age Magazines from the time period is fun too. Being part of the Atari Age club back in the day was the only way to get some 'Club Games'. Most of these games were released later, but Quadrun, Swordquest Waterworld, Silver Label Gravitar, and Crazy Climber were all exclusives for members.

 

My prized possession is my two Atari Baseball Bats that were fan giveaways back in the early 80's at baseball stadiums, but I love baseball.

 

So it is really what you make of it. I love the hobby because over 10 years of collecting later and I still am discovering new things all the time.

 

Oh.. and Tunnel Runner is the best game ever made for any system ever...

 

 

[Rom Hunter]

What are some of the must haves for a good collection? Anything strange and almost unheard of?

Try finding these:

http://www.atarimania.com/lst_soft-MENU-2-TYPE_CODE-G-VERSION_CART_RARITY-10-REF--VISU-SCAN-SUPPORT_ID--Step-100-TRI-SOFT_LIB-Page-1-SENS-ASC-TRI-SOFT_LIB.html

 

And every VCS games collector will be your best friend.

 

Edited September 25, 2009 by Rom Hunter

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

 

My prized possession is my two Atari Baseball Bats that were fan giveaways back in the early 80's at baseball stadiums, but I love baseball.

 

 

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YEAH!!

 

 

[Red 5]

My prized possession is my two Atari Baseball Bats that were fan giveaways back in the early 80's at baseball stadiums, but I love baseball.

 

 

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YEAH!!

 

 

 

 

You know, I was just going to PM you recently to see if you got it yet.

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

My prized possession is my two Atari Baseball Bats that were fan giveaways back in the early 80's at baseball stadiums, but I love baseball.

 

 

[/size][/font][/size][/font]

 

 

YEAH!!

 

 

 

 

You know, I was just going to PM you recently to see if you got it yet.

 

 

Today was a good day!

[Red 5]

wrong place... nothing to see here... carry on...

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2009 by therealred5

[shadow460]

Two collections to fill up:

The Starpath games and the 7800 games. I know this is the 2600 forum, but the question was asked. Also get as many common 2600 titles as you can. It's been said that most of the good games are very common, and I agree with that. If you want to go from there, get all the titles from Imagic, then Activision, then Parker Brothers. You might be able to pick up companies with small runs like Telesys and Mythicon somewhere in between all of that.

 

Decide now if you are going to collect boxes. I collect a few boxes for the 2600, but it is very hard to justify re buying a game just for the box. Getting instructions only is a lot easier, since they can be had in large lots even without their carts.

Label variations are another thing you have to decide on. Getting a single label variation makes a collection look better, IMO, but sometimes it's ultra tough to find a particular game in that variation (like Sears pic Superman).

 

I'd chase down one of the console units for whatever system you're going to have out the most. If it's the 7800 you may have to build a custom storage bin for it. There are a number of 2600 storage bins, though. Also, try to track down a set of paddles, a Trak-Ball, and a light gun for that 7800.

 

Last thing, I recommend learning to repair carts and system. You don't have to learn TIA theory or programming or anything like that, but if you can learn to open carts & system without tearing the labels and learn some basic soldering it will help. Your first project will probably be to fix paddle controllers, and it's a very good start to get one used to working on 2600 equipment.

[Cebus Capucinis]

<snipsnipsnip>

Last thing, I recommend learning to repair carts and system. You don't have to learn TIA theory or programming or anything like that, but if you can learn to open carts & system without tearing the labels and learn some basic soldering it will help. Your first project will probably be to fix paddle controllers, and it's a very good start to get one used to working on 2600 equipment.

 

 

If you're going to learn to repair carts and a system and you're clumsy like me be sure to practice on a bunch of those Combat carts that you'll turn into wallpaper since you'll have so many! I fried SO many carts by breaking traces with my soldering iron because I have gorilla hands and am the world's worst solderer.

[chriswhit]

<snipsnipsnip>

Last thing, I recommend learning to repair carts and system. You don't have to learn TIA theory or programming or anything like that, but if you can learn to open carts & system without tearing the labels and learn some basic soldering it will help. Your first project will probably be to fix paddle controllers, and it's a very good start to get one used to working on 2600 equipment.

 

 

If you're going to learn to repair carts and a system and you're clumsy like me be sure to practice on a bunch of those Combat carts that you'll turn into wallpaper since you'll have so many! I fried SO many carts by breaking traces with my soldering iron because I have gorilla hands and am the world's worst solderer.

I'm good at sodering. I hacked a nes controller that works on my 7800. Love it. I can repair most 2600's but all other system are very complicated to me. Thanks for the tips on collecting. Do need to learn more about the internals of my 7800 so I figured I'd read every thread in that section a bit at a time.

[seanhq]

Last thing, I recommend learning to repair carts and system. You don't have to learn TIA theory or programming or anything like that, but if you can learn to open carts & system without tearing the labels and learn some basic soldering it will help. Your first project will probably be to fix paddle controllers, and it's a very good start to get one used to working on 2600 equipment.

I'd like to see a tutorial on opening carts without tearing the labels. I assume a heat gun is involved to remove the label?

 

Speaking of label removal, what glue is recommended to reattach labels that have fallen off?

[chriswhit]

Last thing, I recommend learning to repair carts and system. You don't have to learn TIA theory or programming or anything like that, but if you can learn to open carts & system without tearing the labels and learn some basic soldering it will help. Your first project will probably be to fix paddle controllers, and it's a very good start to get one used to working on 2600 equipment.

I'd like to see a tutorial on opening carts without tearing the labels. I assume a heat gun is involved to remove the label?

 

Speaking of label removal, what glue is recommended to reattach labels that have fallen off?

Me to as 75% of the time I end up damaging my labels and I have a bunch of labels that need tho be re attached and don't want to have them dis colored.

[Rik]

There's a million themes and variations you can collect for,its just impossible to collect for them all,IMO.I say just collect what you like the most,like say red label games,sealed games,certain manufacturers,etc.I've been trying to collect for too many parameters which got too stressful for me,and was putting quite a strain on the wallet.So now,i just collect what i find,and no longer seek anything specific.I would however try to get all the IMAGIC and ACTIVISION titles for the 2600,they are mostly quite good.As for the 7800,you must absolutely without question get MIDNIGHT MUTANTS,a 7800 only game,great Halloween themed game.

Edited September 26, 2009 by Rik

[chriswhit]

There's a million themes and variations you can collect for,its just impossible to collect for them all,IMO.I say just collect what you like the most,like say red label games,sealed games,certain manufacturers,etc.I've been trying to collect for too many parameters which got too stressful for me,and was putting quite a strain on the wallet.So now,i just collect what i find,and no longer seek anything specific.I would however try to get all the IMAGIC and ACTIVISION titles for the 2600,they are mostly quite good.As for the 7800,you must absolutely without question get MIDNIGHT MUTANTS,a 7800 only game,great Halloween themed game.

Thanks for the advice. I've been collecting for 10 systems and it's really hitting the wallet. I will look for Midnight Mutants. I have 285 nes games, 50 n64 games, 116 sega genesis games, just bought the first version of sega cd. Going to stick with atari 2600 and 7800 and get things I find locally most so I don't go for broke. Collecting has become addictive for me.

[ninermaniac]

Last thing, I recommend learning to repair carts and system. You don't have to learn TIA theory or programming or anything like that, but if you can learn to open carts & system without tearing the labels and learn some basic soldering it will help. Your first project will probably be to fix paddle controllers, and it's a very good start to get one used to working on 2600 equipment.

I'd like to see a tutorial on opening carts without tearing the labels. I assume a heat gun is involved to remove the label?

 

Speaking of label removal, what glue is recommended to reattach labels that have fallen off?

It's not worth the effort. Believe me. I've tried.

[Cebus Capucinis]

It's not worth the effort. Believe me. I've tried.

 

 

It's worth the effort if you find a Quadrun or Music Machine at a yard sale for $1.00!

[ninermaniac]

It's not worth the effort. Believe me. I've tried.

 

 

It's worth the effort if you find a Quadrun or Music Machine at a yard sale for $1.00!

 

 

Unless the label absolutely needs replaced I wouldn't try to open one up unless it was a cheaper game. I wanted to see what was inside a fairly expensive cart once and am kickin' my a$$ for doing it.

[shadow460]

It depends on the cart. Some of them can't be coaxed off for anything, others come right off with heat. I use a hair dryer to help soften the glue up, then usually I can peel them right off. I've torn a couple that way, though, out of the many I've opened for one reason or another.

Generally, if it's R4 and under, you're probably best off getting another cart unless you're just attached to that one or can't find it easily (i.e., no game stores nearby, hate ebay, etc.) I don't replace labels unless they are just awful or they're missing. This is a good time to change to that uber rare label variation, too. The ones I've done that had both labels and I replaced 'em both were Submarine Commander, which had been in a flood, and Superman, which was missing half the end label but got repros of the Sears pic/yellow text labels. Oh, and the Centipede I tore down so I'd have the shell for a rare 7800 game.

 

Elmer's school glue sticks work wonders to attach labels. They're the purple ones. Don't worry, they dry clear. All you gotta do is put it on, press out the label, run some heat over it to set the glue, and wipe off the excess.

[chriswhit]

It depends on the cart. Some of them can't be coaxed off for anything, others come right off with heat. I use a hair dryer to help soften the glue up, then usually I can peel them right off. I've torn a couple that way, though, out of the many I've opened for one reason or another.

Generally, if it's R4 and under, you're probably best off getting another cart unless you're just attached to that one or can't find it easily (i.e., no game stores nearby, hate ebay, etc.) I don't replace labels unless they are just awful or they're missing. This is a good time to change to that uber rare label variation, too. The ones I've done that had both labels and I replaced 'em both were Submarine Commander, which had been in a flood, and Superman, which was missing half the end label but got repros of the Sears pic/yellow text labels. Oh, and the Centipede I tore down so I'd have the shell for a rare 7800 game.

 

Elmer's school glue sticks work wonders to attach labels. They're the purple ones. Don't worry, they dry clear. All you gotta do is put it on, press out the label, run some heat over it to set the glue, and wipe off the excess.

thanks for the info. it will come in handy