Activision Games Not Working On First Try?

[mtshark7]

I noticed that with some of my Activision games (Frostbite, Pitfall II) that when I pop in the game and turn the system on nothing shows up on screen. I have to take the game out, re-insert it then it works.

 

All of my games are clean, and it's only Activision games that don't work right away so I doubt it's the system.

 

Does anyone else have came across this problem with Activision games on their Atari 2600? Or does my console not like Activision for some unknown reason?

[+save2600]

Yeah, this has been talked about lots here and on the newsgroups. General consensus is that they used a shave or two thinner PCB's, which is partly or primarily to blame here. Old worn cartridge slots not gripping the edge connectors so well anymore. Conversely, the PCB's of which the homebrew games are made with seem a little thicker than normal. Shouldn't be having any trouble with those for decades to come!

 

In the case of the Activision games, I just get real aggressive about cleaning 'em too. Not sandpaper or anything like that, but a real good electrical contact cleaner helps them to behave a little more than typical.

Edited December 20, 2011 by save2600

[mtshark7]

save2600: Wow thanks for the information! I never knew that, glad it isn't my system that's the problem. Kinda silly how Activision always had bad labels and PCB yet their games are amazing, lol

[Ranthulfr]

You're definitely not alone. My Pitfall 2 took about 10 reboots to get it working last time.