Built-in games

[Andre81]

I don't think so.

 

[hendersonn]

Seems legit.

[Video]

without seeing a different picture, I'd say the "128 games built in" looks like it's actually photoshopped onto the picture. It's fairly lined up, but it's a bit to crisp with a bit to much image errors around it to look legit.

 

As for the game pics, whatare those supposed to be box art or something? They look like nintendo games, not atari, (or maybe 7800, my experience with that system is very limited though)

 

Is this an old console, or a new one? It looks retro to me, but who knows?

[freewheel]

Those are Genesis/SNES screenshots at the very least. Way too detailed to be 7800 or even NES (hard to tell for sure with the limited zoom though).

 

My first thought was that this might be the coolest Famiclone ever. They often use pics from other systems on the packaging for those. I'd buy a 2600-case Famiclone in a heartbeat!

[Mef]

It's an ordinary late VCS clone. They've been producing them as late as till 1994, selling mostly in Europe/MiddleEast/Asia.

And the screenshots are from newer generation of consoles obviously, because these were simply available already. And would appeal to the buyer much more than real Atari 2600 games' screenshots.

So in fact, the packaging is a scam to make you think into having bought a modern console, while you're getting repackaged dinosaur. Because there were still some motherboards, cases and chips left in the factories in Shenzen to make them - someone was still cashing in on it, while the stock lasted.

 

There were quite a lot of those available in my homeland of Poland in early-to-mid nineties, imported from taiwan and sold "half-legally" on the flea markets and such.

Mostly known here as Rambo consoles (Google it) or Rambo TV-games, because of the ridicoulus RPG-totting Rambo picture that adorned the most popular boxed version of these.

Another supplier here, other than the one using the Rambo packaging, was Callifornia Access (supposedly the same one that made bootleg Atari floppy drives), calling it's version "CA-160" to signal the 160 built-in games. These were only available in exclusive shops, but were generally the same thing, only in a shell shaped after an Atari Junior.

 

As for the number of games, the most typical are 128 (512k of 2-4k games) or 160 with 2 piggybacked ROMs built in instead of 1 and a swicth at the back (replacing chanel selector switch) to select between 128 and 32-games banks (built-in ROMs).

 

They're mostly compatible with regular VCS cartridges, with the most notable exceptions being:

- No Paddles support. The whole thing was built around single (usually UMC produced) 48 pin chip, a mock-version of Janice, with analog input lines unavailable at joy ports.

- Some carts will refuse to be autodetectd and the game will boot to the built-in ROM(s). That is because they've left some edge-connector pin floating, or maybe they've bridged it to another one, something like that. Small modification will solve this pernamently, I bet there was a topic on that, for those interested.

- Some rare tricks or illegal opcodes used in Demos, Homebrews or rarely in "regular" games, might not work like intended, leading to glitches. The core Atari-on-a-chip die is made to resemble the original chips as per the official datasheet, without caring for some rarely triggered behaviours.

 

Also, forgive me for the wall of text, I'm mercilessly stoned at the moment.

Edited July 19, 2014 by Mef

[freewheel]

Posted Today, 4:20 PM

 

 

Also, forgive me for the wall of text, I'm mercilessly stoned at the moment.

 

I realize that it's timezone specific and all, but what great timing! Maybe doesn't work if you're not Mountain Time...

 

Thanks for the informative post, in all seriousness.

Edited July 20, 2014 by freeweed