Different cartridge for Crystal Castles

[godsey1]

Hi. Has anyone noticed the different cartridges for Crystal Castles? I was looking through mine and saw that they are made totally different. This is not a good scan, but I think you can see what I mean.

Tony http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/740597...05_castles3.jpg

 

[ 12-31-2001: Message edited by: godsey1 ]

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Hmmm..I see what you mean..but the only Crystal Castles I have is an original 82' release and it has the actual dust door on it needing the posts on the 2600/7800 cart connector to open it up for the pcb to access the connector.

 

The ones you show in your scan are newer made carts..starting with about 84' I would say...to about 86-87 is when I have seen these cheap dust spring blocks put on the carts.

[King Atari]

Crossbow is right, pretty anything before he crash had dust covers, as far as I know, everything after didn't.

[King Atari]

Let me also mention that the newer carts (especially red labels) that have those pegs like that have a tendency to bend and/or break somewhat easily. I always recommend getting original carts with dust doors if possible, as these protect the pegs.

[MattyXB]

I have 3 Crystal Castles (1 is a Prototype). But there are 2 diffrent lables.

 

Crystal Castle 1984

and

Crystal Castle (no copyright)

[Heavy Sixer]

Since the links are currently down and I can't view the pictures, I'm inferring that the two Crystal Castles carts have different dust shields or endpieces. A while back, I studied my carts and wrote a little history or timeline of the dust shields based solely on my observations (I've never come across any official collectors' guide or professional analysis of these). Here's my response to a similar question that was asked about a Dig Dug cartridge:

 

---------------------------------------------

Here's the history of the Atari dust shield/endpiece (or whatever you want to call it), based on my observations:

Atari's original design was the well-known spring door endpiece that requires tabs to open. These can be found on all Atari/Sears carts made from 1977 to 1982.

 

Starting in 1983, the endpiece was changed to a wide, open slot instead of a door. Apparently, this new style began to appear on some Atari silver label carts in 1983. All of the older black label carts and some of the silver label carts retained the old style, however. Slot endpieces became more common in 1984 and 1985.

 

In 1986, Atari ditched the door style (although a few carts with 1986 copyrights, such as Taz, were made with the door endpiece) and began releasing all its games with only the slot endpiece, including the re-released black label carts. BTW, I have an interesting variation on a 1986 Solaris cart which looks just like the door endpiece minus the flip-up door; it's not a single wide slot like the others, although the endpiece freely slides in and out of the cart. That is to say, the slot is just wide enough for the circuit board, and there are open tab holes on either side. Sort of a hybrid...

 

Later in 1986, Atari eliminated the endpiece altogether, leaving the circuit board exposed. (I have a 1986 Flag Capture with the open end.) AFAIK, all Atari carts made from this point on have open ends.

 

Some titles can be found with multiple styles of endpieces. For example, I have Battlezone carts with all three styles. The endpiece doesn't really affect the rarity of a cart, but it can be useful in determining the approximate period of time during which the cart was manufactured.

 

These are just my observations; if anyone has more info (or if I've made a mistake), please let us know.

 

HEAVY***6***er

(A veritable font of entirely useless and utterly inane knowledge and detailed minutiae)

[ubersaurus]

Hey, looking over your site, I realized that my Kangaroo cart has a larger font for the end label then normally. Neat little quirk.

[Tempest]

I've noticed that on my 87 Kangaroo cart as well. Many of the 86/87 re-releases have slightly larger fonts.

 

BTW, Mario Bros. also has that no copyright label. I refer to it as cropping variations on my label page. I think I took those pictures off due to lack of space.

http://www.msu.edu/user/reicher6/labelvar/...labelmuseum.htm

 

 

Tempest

[atari70s]

hey tempest you know im inching to bring up my Hangman silver cart again.

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by MattyXB:

I have 3 Crystal Castles (1 is a Prototype). But there are 2 diffrent lables.

[/url]

---

 

We have scans of those labels online here at AtariAge also:

 

Crystal Castles - Copyright 1984

Crystal Castles - No Copyright

 

As for the various cartridge styles, I've seen many Atari games in all three (the original dust cover, the cheaper dust cover and without any). I haven't even dared try to keep track of these styles with relation to actual label styles, that would probably drive me nuts. But generally, the later the Atari release, the more likely it is to use the no dust cover cart. I'm sure a timeline could be put together of the transition to the different cartridge types.

 

..Al

[Scott Stilphen]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albert:

I'm sure a timeline could be put together of the transition to the different cartridge types.

---

 

Already done

[atari70s]

scott vey nice but about 50% of the pics loaded and 50% wont load.

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Scott Stilphen:

Already

done

---

 

Did you know that none of the pictures are loading on that page?

 

..Al

[Lemmi]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Albert:

Did you know that none of the pictures are loading on that page?

 

..Al

---

 

Thats because they are on Geosh

 

to many people looked at them in the last hour and it shuts down