Activision problems on 2-port?

[CincYnoTi]

I tested about 20 games this weekend and most worked the first time I turned on the console. They have all been sitting in storage for at least 15 years. But six out of the eight Activision games just would NOT start. Some would give the Atari logo intro screen with some garbage characters in the copyright lines, but that was it. Is it more likely that these cartridges are dead or that there is something wrong with my 5200 2-port console? 

[bikeguychicago]

Pitfall! is one of three not compatible with the 2-port. The others should work though. Activision games are very finicky (at least on my machine) and have to be inserted 'just right' in order for them to work properly. I had a copy of Megamania that worked fine for me for quite awhile and then refused to work outright, so it may be possible that one or more of your games have given up the ghost.

Try some contact cleaner (not Brasso) on the pins and connector, insert and reinsert until you see something on the screen and, hopefully, you should be able to get them to work. 

Oh, and if you do get them to work, don't bump the console or you may have to repeat the insert/reinsert process all over again.

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by bikeguychicago

[Charlie_]

I think there were other games that also do not work on the two Port console but not many. The best solution is to use the four-port BIOS in the two Port console. 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Activision carts besides Pitfall! all have the same issues as they do on their older 2600 and slightly newer 7800 brothers. The PCBs are thinner and simply don't make nearly as good a contact as the Atari 1st party games do inside the cart slot. As such, they are also more susceptible to corrosion on the contacts both cart slot and cartridge PCB since the contact pressure against the cartridge PCB isn't quite a tight as it is with other games.

 

I believe the other games are:

 

Krazy Shoot Out

Moutain King

 

Those last two both being CBS games but not due to thinner PCBs. I believe Pitfall! is the only Activision game affected by the 2-port bios.

[Rogerpoco]

Not actually contributing anything useful to the topic, but I picked up a really good deal on several 5200 games recently, and set on testing them.

Everything worked flawlessly/immediately, a dozen games or so, most but not all Atari manufactured...

Until I got to the Activision games.

Keystone Kapers seems fine, tho I only tried it a few times, could have got lucky, but I have to fight H.E.R.O. and Zone Ranger a very tiny bit to get them going, and, me having a 2 port, Pitfall doesn't work at all.

 

Super, SUPER happy with my deal, don't get me wrong, my beef seems to be with Activision, which is kinda funny, I'm a fanboy, patches, "Activision only" shelf, etc, but they seem to have dropped the ball with cart manufacture on the 5200...

 

I had always wondered, but never investigated Pitfall-I never could get it to work on my Atarimax, knowing I had the proper game on it, so I suspected there was some kind of issue, is nice to hear confirmation.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

There is a 'fixed' version of the games that don't work on the 2-port that should work on flash carts. I do wish Console5 would get back to offering the 4-port bios chips again to make this easier for some people that just want to play their games.

[jaybird3rd]

Activision's 5200 cartridge boards are terrible.  They always seem to be more pitted and tarnished than other boards of a similar age, and they don't sit deeply enough in the cartridge port, so only the tips of the fingers (which wear out first) ever make contact with the connector.  I'm working on designing new replacement boards which will, among other things, extend the fingers slightly to make better contact.  Using these boards, you can repair any Activison cartridges which suffer from poor contact, and you can also use them to "upgrade" Pitfall to a version that is compatible with two-port consoles.  I hope to have the new boards designed before the end of the year.