reusing old cartridge for homebrew

[bradhig1]

How come the people that make homebrew on NES make new cartridge casing for their games while those who make homebrew games on Atari 2600 reuse old carts? Can't new 2600 cartridge shells be made like the way people make new NES cartridge shells?

[Keatah]

IMaybe it's a matter of cost and willingness of the market to support higher prices. It may also be that NES, being more popular, makes it easier to procure the shells in volume from cheap china manufacturers.

 

I rather dislike the destruction of old carts, even if they're commons selling for $1.00 each.

[Albert]

I'm using new cartridge shells now for 2600, 5200, Jaguar and ColecoVision games, and hopefully soon for 7800 games as well.

 

..Al

[+Gemintronic]

The problem before AtariAge efforts is the cost of making a mold. Also, mass producing carts for a niche system. You need to buy in bulk yet sales can be slow (meaning even breaking even is slow.) 3D printing doesn't deliver "enthusiast" grade shiny smoothness. Heck, my two last 3D printers couldn't make carts that stay in one piece.

 

The NES scene has Asian made repro carts (thus shells) because the market is big enough. The Asian Amazon sells tons of Little Samson and 38723789357539-in-1 carts.