Are these home copies or some sort of rental/loaner?

[OldPAL]

Got a small lot from eBay. 5 of the cartridges had this simple reddish label with "Video Computer System" and "GAME PROGRAM" written on it. They also put the game code and name on the label with a typewriter (hard to see). When I tried to peek inside I could see a piece of label which is at this point fried to crisp. Most likely PAL (colors are off on my NTSC 7800). Games are from different publishers which made me think they are probably not a publisher prototype. Are these some sort of basement copies?

[high voltage]

European alright:  List of Atari 2600 VCS Games : Video Computer System Game Program, page 1, (atarimania.com)

 

Could be  a rental

Atarimania could use the photo of the cartridge, if you don't mind.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by high voltage

[Rom Hunter]

Interesting carts, these.

Quite rare as well.

 

BTW: which other four titles do you own?

Edited June 25, 2021 by Rom Hunter

[OldPAL]

1 hour ago, Rom Hunter said:

Interesting carts, these.

Quite rare as well.

 

BTW: which other four titles do you own?

Cool!

Other than Pac Man; Donkey Kong, Demons to Diamonds, Demon Attack, Super Breakout. Demon Attack does not have the typewriter markings. 

Edited June 25, 2021 by OldPAL
Deleted Asteroids, it's not one of them.

[OldPAL]

38 minutes ago, high voltage said:

European alright:  List of Atari 2600 VCS Games : Video Computer System Game Program, page 1, (atarimania.com)

 

Could be  a rental

Atarimania could use the photo of the cartridge, if you don't mind.

 

Oh absolutely. I will be happy to provide photo of each. 

[OldPAL]

Well, I had an itch to see the inside of one these carts. So ended up opening the Demon Attack. The screw didn't give up so I had to drill the head. Inside is what seems to be a shielded EPROM? I see (c) 78 and ATARI. Is this what a typical 2600 ROM looks like?

[+Andrew Davie]

Although it's your property, this destructive treatment is such a shame to see. 

[OldPAL]

13 minutes ago, Andrew Davie said:

Although it's your property, this destructive treatment is such a shame to see. 

I did not realize a hole on the label could be this offensive. Yes it is not just another Combat, but in the name of shedding some light and provide information to others what these carts might be I "sacrificed" one that looked least appealing (no labels or information). I guess not everyone as curious as me. 

[Rom Hunter]

On 6/25/2021 at 10:11 PM, OldPAL said:

Oh absolutely. I will be happy to provide photo of each. 

Added:
http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-2600-vcs-video-computer-system-game-program_publisher_2788_2_G.html

[phattyboombatty]

On 7/12/2021 at 3:48 PM, OldPAL said:

I did not realize a hole on the label could be this offensive. Yes it is not just another Combat, but in the name of shedding some light and provide information to others what these carts might be I "sacrificed" one that looked least appealing (no labels or information). I guess not everyone as curious as me. 

Next time, take a hair dryer or heat gun to the label. Warm it up a bit, and gently lift it up with a thin plastic spudger tool. This provides a damage-free investigative method. 

[Supergun]

Well, one thing of note that was learned which is of curiosity & interest is that the chip appears to be an eprom rather then a mask rom. You can just make out the tell tale thin grey line across the side.

 

The board itself appears to be intended to use a mask rom, may have been a production board, and was modified (hacked) by someone to use an eprom instead.

 

They likely got a plentiful regular release game like say a combat and desoldered the mask rom, installed an eprom, and then cut traces, made jumpers, added circuit components, etc. A messy and untidy job, but likely was fast and cheap at the time.