Weird Space War cartridge

[Emmett]

I have a cartridge of Space War that has a different pin cover from all the other games I have. It has just one long slot instead of three smaller ones, and you can push it in just by pressing it down, which you can't do with the normal covers. I thought it might be one of the 7800-era rereleases by Atari Corp, but it says 1978 Atari Inc, not 1986 Atari Corp, so it seems to not be. I put some pictures of the game, and a picture of what the normal pin cover looks like for reference. Does anyone know anything about this?

Edited November 21, 2020 by Emmett

[jaybird3rd]

It wouldn't surprise me if this is a Tramiel-era cartridge, assembled from whatever parts they had on hand at the time.  It's not uncommon to find games from that era with a mix of manuals/labels/boxes with different dates on them, and with different style cartridge shells.

[+batari]

Those have a coil-spring cart door, which I think was used during the early 7800 days (probably 1983-1984?) as they work with either 2600 or 7800 games. I suspect they were expensive to produce, as Atari soon went with the much maligned two-piece cart design with the holes under the label.

 

They are uncommon, but not rare. I have been saving them over the years and amassed about 70 of them, which I just sent to Albert to use for 7800 games, as they will work with either and don't have those irritating holes older the label!

[Shawn]

1 hour ago, jaybird3rd said:

It wouldn't surprise me if this is a Tramiel-era cartridge, assembled from whatever parts they had on hand at the time.  It's not uncommon to find games from that era with a mix of manuals/labels/boxes with different dates on them, and with different style cartridge shells.

 

+1

[The Mr. Video]

I looked at my copy of Space War and it turns out that I have the same kind of cart that you have. As for where it came from, I have to agree with jaybird3rd's explanation. Right when Tramiel became CEO, Atari started cutting cost on many of their products, including Atari 2600 cartridges. They probably had a surplus of 1978 Space War labels that they wanted to get rid of before printing new ones.

[Voxel]

That's my favourite Atari cart shell.  I have a few games in that shell type and often look out for a cheap pick up on ebay.  They are usually on the silver label games

[roadrunner]

Couldn't have been much demand for Space War in 1986?
 

[Emmett]

Thank you everyone! I always love finding out new bits of information like this.

[retroeight]

On 11/21/2020 at 4:22 PM, jaybird3rd said:

It wouldn't surprise me if this is a Tramiel-era cartridge, assembled from whatever parts they had on hand at the time.  It's not uncommon to find games from that era with a mix of manuals/labels/boxes with different dates on them, and with different style cartridge shells.

Agreed 100%

[retroeight]

On 11/30/2020 at 11:09 PM, roadrunner said:

Couldn't have been much demand for Space War in 1986?
 

Not so much as to the demand but what Atari had in warehouses.

[zzip]

On 11/30/2020 at 11:09 PM, roadrunner said:

Couldn't have been much demand for Space War in 1986?
 

Supposedly they were selling a lot of 2600s and games to third world countries around this time.