Cart Labels' Significance

[JJohnson]

Hi all,

 

I was wondering if there were any significance to the different cart labels I've seen on Atari 2600 games before.  I have seen silver label, text label, and artwork labels on my own carts.  I have two Space Invaders, one text, and one with a label, and I never knew why.  Different year?  ROM versions?

 

And what's the deal with the numerous "## Tele-Games" cartridges I see on ebay all the time?  That auction itself has an 8 and a 12 Tele-Games cartridge.

Edited March 21, 2021 by JJohnson

[Jstick]

Here is a good site that goes into detail about different Atari label variations:

 

http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/vcs_label_variations/vcs_label_variations.html

 

As far as Tele-games, these are renamed versions of Atari games sold by Sears for their version of the 2600.  There are 2 games exclusive to Sears I believe, Submarine Commander and Steeplechase (there may be one more but can't remember off the top of my head).

[toiletunes]

12 minutes ago, Jstick said:

There are 2 games exclusive to Sears I believe, Submarine Commander and Steeplechase (there may be one more but can't remember off the top of my head).

Stellar Track

[+groundtrooper]

See the Article posted above or this one from Atari Protos for the many label variation changes that Atari went through over the years. 

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/other/labelvar/2600/2600labelvar.htm

 

The Sears numbers are very simple. For some ODD reason the decision was made to put the number of game variations in a LARGE number on the front label. It's not a part number, those are in the lower right hand corner. 

 

In your link there are at least three number 8 games. From the best I can tell from the pics they are Circus, Night Driver and Cannon Man.  The 12 is Breakway IV.

Sears later went to Picture labels for some of their games just like Atari did. But not every Sears game got a picture label. 

 

@jstick The three Sears exclusive games were Steeple Chase, Stellar Track, and Submarine Commander. 

 

 

 

[Rom Hunter]

12 hours ago, JJohnson said:

Hi all,

 

I was wondering if there were any significance to the different cart labels I've seen on Atari 2600 games before.  I have seen silver label, text label, and artwork labels on my own carts.  I have two Space Invaders, one text, and one with a label, and I never knew why.  Different year?  ROM versions?

 

And what's the deal with the numerous "## Tele-Games" cartridges I see on ebay all the time?  That auction itself has an 8 and a 12 Tele-Games cartridge.

The ROMs inside Sears cartridges are 100% identical to their Atari counterparts.

These three Sears titles are exclusive:
http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=2&type=G&publisher=33&original=1&step=200

The ROMs inside Atari games of the same title are 100% identical.

However, some original produced ROMs still contained a bug.

In that case, the ROM was fixed in a later production run.

Superman for example:
http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-2600-vcs-superman_8231.html

Edited March 22, 2021 by Rom Hunter

[JJohnson]

Thanks for the info!  Very interesting.