Weird Pitfall Cart?

[jman965]

Anybody have any ideas what this is?  Got it about a week ago with a large lot of random common carts. The cartridge itself is odd - I don't have any others like it - it is perfectly square and flat with zero flair or styling. No lines / bevels / cutouts anywhere, not even a very slight indent for the end label. Opening it up (from a single screw in the middle), it says Pitfall, and game is indeed pitfall, but not a standard Activision chip.

[Supergun]

It’s most likely a pirate bootleg cart.

Can you show pics of the cartridge shell case?

[jman965]

Absolutely. Bootleg makes sense and explains the period-appropriateness of this whole cart. See below for pics from all angles.

 

 

[Supergun]

I must say though that it’s rather interesting nonetheless, because I’ve never seen such a totally and completely plain cartridge shell. Talk about making something as basic and functional as possible.

[CMR]

Could it be a prototyping cart?

[keithbk]

Just curious... has this been tested on an Atari?

 

The cartridge shape looks like a different system altogether, but the prongs suggest it opens a 2600.

[Supergun]

Well, your right about one thing, because I didn’t look closely at first, but it doesn’t have a “standard” hex inverter to work with the eprom.

 

Rather it has a 74LS368. By “32” on the eprom label, I would assume it to be an 4kb eprom then.

 

EDIT: a factory pitfall utilizes only a 4kb mask rom. So if that eprom is bigger, then a 2532 or 2732 then it’s an 8kb game. We need to play test this cart on actual hardware.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Supergun

[jman965]

It appears to be regular, plain Pitfall. At lease for the first 5 screens or so.

 

I did test it when I first got it - in my standard 4 switch 2600, and was surprised it was Pitfall because obviously wasn't a standard Activision cart, and unlike anything I'd seen before either, which is what prompted me to open it up. 

 

Would be more than happy to run it through other tests though - what should I try to do? 

[Rom Hunter]

Never seen this cartridge type before.

From what country did you buy this?

[jman965]

10 hours ago, Rom Hunter said:

Never seen this cartridge type before.

From what country did you buy this?

Not entirely sure - but it was the U.S. or Canada. I bought a ton of bulk lots on eBay several weeks ago (1 from Canada), and this came in one of them, but I don't remember which. And I went back looking at the pics from each of those lots and this wasn't in any of them, so someone just tossed it in.