Where did one get this 2600/5200/7800 catalog?

[King Atari]

The recent post about the Sears Telegames catalog(s) reminded me just how fascinated I am by this 1984 catalog put out by Atari Inc. that spotlighted not only the 2600 and 5200, but also the 7800. Not to mention a handful of unreleased titles and the Mindlink! It looks like it was a poster-style catalog, and given the number of things in it that never saw the (official) light of day, never mind the fact the 5200 was being pushed alongside the pre-Tramiel 7800, I can't imagine it was in print for very long or widely distributed.

 

(AA has scans of the whole thing here.)

 

So, my question is: how was this obtained back in the day? The easy answer is it came with games, but if so, which ones? My eBay searches haven't turned up anythng. Hits on the later Corp.-era "Atari Advantage" posters, sure, those are fairly plentiful, but I saw nothing regarding this particular poster/catalog.

 

Can anyone offer any info? Does anyone (besides whoever provided those scans) have it?

 

(I know I could have posted this is any - or all - of the 2600/5200/7800 forums, but I think most people 'in the know' will see it here just fine; no need to bombard!)

[John Stamos Mullet]

I had copies of this that came with Track & Field and Stargate.

[King Atari]

I had copies of this that came with Track & Field and Stargate.

 

Thanks!

 

I guess the trick nowadays would be to find sealed or truly CIB copies that were put out by Inc. rather than Corp. in hopes of nabbing one of these - unless one 'loose' pops up, that is. (Did Corp. even re-release Track & Field or Stargate AS Stargate? I know they eventually put the latter out as Defender II, but Track & Field?)

[Flojomojo]

Wow, I hadn't seen that one before and I'm glad you posted a link to it. What a mess the console line was -- duplication of titles across the 3 platforms, with poorly articulated differences between them.

 

An adapter to play 7800 and 2600 games on the 5200 must have been basically a 7800 without a power supply or video out.

 

Fractalus for 7800 could have been neat. I guess I need to try the prototype. http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=2693

 

Modern "Atari" should being back the MindLink concept. At least it's something different.

[JayAre]

I had copies of this that came with Track & Field and Stargate.

 

Well, this is the only catalog made by Atari that has eluded me in all my years of collecting. It's definitely one of the rarest Atari catalogs.

 

I've come across sealed copies of a few of the games from that 1984 timeframe, and none of them have contained this catalog. Although I can't speak for Gremlins, Pengo, Stargate or Track & Field, as I only have these CIB and not sealed.

 

The thought has even crossed my mind that this catalog wasn't even included with any 2600 games, and may have only come in a 5200 or 7800 game, since all three consoles are featured in the catalog. But I'm glad to see that Stamos' Mullet found the catalog with Stargate and T&F. Thanks for the info., Mullet.

Edited June 5, 2019 by JayAre

[+wongojack]

Neat!

 

It really is too bad that the 7800 didn't come out in '84. Those games marked as 7800 Exclusive! might have actually impressed someone then.

[Flojomojo]

But that would be only 2 years after the launch of the 5200, which seems to have been a huge flop. It's possible Atari didn't have the resources for a big hardware launch even if they market demand were there -- and I would assume it was NOT. No doubt this situation fed into Atari's decision not to cooperate with Nintendo.

 

This poster reminds me of ~1995, when SEGA was trying to sell Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Sega 32X, Sega 32X CD, and Saturn all at the same time. Yecch.

[Lord Thag]

I had one of these in Mario Bros, I think it was. Used to drool over it endlessly, hoping Santa would award me one of those shiny new Atari consoles. I did eventually end up with a 7800.

This and the old green catalog with the weird artwork were always my favorites to obsess over as a kid.

[King Atari]

 

Well, this is the only catalog made by Atari that has eluded me in all my years of collecting. It's definitely one of the rarest Atari catalogs.

 

I've come across sealed copies of a few of the games from that 1984 timeframe, and none of them have contained this catalog. Although I can't speak for Gremlins, Pengo, Stargate or Track & Field, as I only have these CIB and not sealed.

 

The thought has even crossed my mind that this catalog wasn't even included with any 2600 games, and may have only come in a 5200 or 7800 game, since all three consoles are featured in the catalog. But I'm glad to see that Stamos' Mullet found the catalog with Stargate and T&F. Thanks for the info., Mullet.

 

It definitely seems to be one of the rarer ones; my best guess so far is that Atari only included it with games for a short window of time, given how the 7800's situation and ultimate sale of Atari Inc. to Jack Tramiel played out. It's certainly neat to see it alongside a Vader 2600 and 5200 here though. It's that unique aspect of it that makes me want one!

 

It being shipped with certain 5200 games is a possibility and I'd even say probability. But if this had been included with 7800 games, it would pretty much have to be during the '84 test launch, correct? The system didn't wide release until 1986 under Tramiel's Atari Corp. Since Corp. sold off a bunch of leftover Warner stock, I could actually see them including this catalog with early 7800 releases in hopes of moving whatever 5200 stuff remained. (Provided they still had a bunch of these catalogs on hand, that is. But then, that raises the whole Inc. branding on them issue, which Corp. may have not even legally been allowed to use without re-branding. I dunno. Either way, I'd think these would be a whole lot more common had they gotten out that way, but I'm really just spitballin' here.)

[JayAre]

 

It definitely seems to be one of the rarer ones; my best guess so far is that Atari only included it with games for a short window of time, given how the 7800's situation and ultimate sale of Atari Inc. to Jack Tramiel played out. It's certainly neat to see it alongside a Vader 2600 and 5200 here though. It's that unique aspect of it that makes me want one!

 

It being shipped with certain 5200 games is a possibility and I'd even say probability. But if this had been included with 7800 games, it would pretty much have to be during the '84 test launch, correct? The system didn't wide release until 1986 under Tramiel's Atari Corp. Since Corp. sold off a bunch of leftover Warner stock, I could actually see them including this catalog with early 7800 releases in hopes of moving whatever 5200 stuff remained. (Provided they still had a bunch of these catalogs on hand, that is. But then, that raises the whole Inc. branding on them issue, which Corp. may have not even legally been allowed to use without re-branding. I dunno. Either way, I'd think these would be a whole lot more common had they gotten out that way, but I'm really just spitballin' here.)

 

Very good observations on your part, King. You bring up some good points.

 

Definitely possible to have had the catalog packaged with some 5200 games. As far as the 7800, the 1984 test market launch could have seen the catalog included with the console. And some of those early 7800 games from 1986 might have included the catalog as well. Like you said, assuming that they had some left-over catalogs. I've seen several instances of left-overs being used in later years. For example, picture label releases using the box from the original text label release.

Edited June 5, 2019 by JayAre

[+Mitch]

It took me quite some time to track down a copy. I forget which game I ended up getting it with.

 

Mitch