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Atari 5200 Label Variations

The 2600, by far, has the market cornered when it comes to label variations. Not only were a great deal of games released for the 2600, but due to the 2600's long lifespan, many games were sold for several years and were produced with several different labels. Most label collectors only seek out the major label variations for any given cartridge, while some go after every minor variation, of which there are quite a few. This list only contains major variations by each company, along with pictures so you can get a feel for what the differences are.

Atari produced more label variations than any other company, which isn't terribly surprising given that they produced more games for the 2600 than any other company. Quite a few carts produced by Atari are available on at least two major label variations, one being a Text label and the other being a Picture label. Other common label variations include the Blue label carts produced by Activision in their later years, the White label INTV versions of M Network carts, and the Sears Text/Picture variations (similar to Atari).


Activision
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardActivision cartridges for the 5200 follow the style of Activision carts for other non-2600 systems (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64), except naturally they're quite a bit larger on the 5200. The top of the cartridge is sloped slightly, and this is typically where the name of the game is printed. There are also indentations near the top to make the cartridge easier to grip when removing it from the system. The labels don't follow any convention, each with unique stylized text and graphics. Zone Ranger can also be found with a silver Telegames style label. The back of Activision's cartridges contain a space to store overlays. The Activision logo is embossed on the cartridge underneath the logo.Click for More Info


Atari
Label NameDescriptionImage
Silver 1For the Atari 5200, Atari must have decided that everything needed to be larger, and naturally this must have extended to the cartridges as well. These cartridges also have lots of grooves along the edges, which dirt finds its way into quite easily. The front of the cartridge has a large label, which ironically is the exact same label size as that used on the 2600, just rotated 90 degrees. The back of the cartridge contains a space to store overlays. Atari produced two label styles for the 5200, which we call "Silver 1" and "Silver 2" to denote the order in which they arrived. The Atari logo is embossed on the cartridge underneath the label.

The "Silver 1" label style is that used by the original batch of cartridges Atari released for the 5200. The label background is silver, and the text "Atari 5200" is featured prominently at the top, with 5200 rotated 90 degrees, adjacent to the "I" in Atari. Under that is the name of the game in white text against a blue horizontal bar the width of the label. Under the title is a graphic unique to the game and then copyright text in black under the image.

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Silver 2For the Atari 5200, Atari must have decided that everything needed to be larger, and naturally this must have extended to the cartridges as well. These cartridges also have lots of grooves along the edges, which dirt finds its way into quite easily. The front of the cartridge has a large label, which ironically is the exact same label size as that used on the 2600, just rotated 90 degrees. The back of the cartridge contains a space to store overlays. Atari produced two label styles for the 5200, which we call "Silver 1" and "Silver 2" to denote the order in which they arrived. The Atari logo is embossed on the cartridge underneath the label.

The "Silver 2" label style also features a silver (or less-reflective gray) background but differs from the original style on several points. First, the "Atari 5200" text is much smaller and displayed right-justified along the top of the image. To the left of the Atari 5200 logo is the text "VIDEO GAME CARTRIDGE" and "ATARI 5200 SUPERSYSTEM" on two lines, left justified with the image. The image itself is larger than on "Silver 1" carts and has the name of the game embedded in the graphic, in stylized form. Some games, such as Rescue on Fractalus and Ballblazer, don't have the name of the game anywhere on the cartridge! To the left of the image is copyright information, rotated 90 degrees.

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Big Five Software
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardBig Five only produced two games for the Atari 5200, Miner 2049er and a sequel, Bounty Bob Strikes Back. Miner 2049er is encased in a bright red cartridge and can be found with two different label styles. One is a gold foil label with red printing while the other is a more colorful label reminiscent of the Atari 8-bit Miner 2049er label (but much larger!) Neither is particularly rare, but the gold label is a little harder to come across. Bounty Bob Strikes Back also has a color label, but is enclosed in a green cartridge instead of red.Click for More Info
GoldBig Five only produced two games for the Atari 5200, Miner 2049er and a sequel, Bounty Bob Strikes Back. Miner 2049er is encased in a bright red cartridge and can be found with two different label styles. One is a gold foil label with red printing while the other is a more colorful label reminiscent of the Atari 8-bit Miner 2049er label (but much larger!) Neither is particularly rare, but the gold label is a little harder to come across. Bounty Bob Strikes Back also has a color label, but is enclosed in a green cartridge instead of red.Click for More Info


CBS Electronics
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardCBS Games for the Atari 5200 are rather unique in their appearance for two reasons. First, their cartridges are made from a light-brown plastic instead of your typical black and second they have a tapered grip at the end to allow easier removal. The labels for CBS games are black with the name of the game printed, not once, but twice in yellow (don't ask us why!). Copyright information is displayed below the name, printed in white. The end of the cartridge contains the CBS Electronics logo (bright orange with white text) instead of the game's name, making it impossible to tell stacked CBS carts apart without looking at the main label. Of CBS' five titles for the 5200, four came with overlays but for some reason there's no place to store them with the cart (which probably makes these overlays harder to find!)Click for More Info


Electra Concepts
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardElectra Concepts only released one game on the Atari 5200 -- Meteorites. This also happens to be one of the rarest games for the 5200. Meteorites is encased in a Sega cartridge shell and has a label that only covers the front of the cartridge. The game title is displayed in orange at the bottom of the label on a white background. Above that is a graphic taking up most of the label, along with some copyright information in a small, yellow font.Click for More Info


Parker Brothers
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardOf all the manufacturers, Parker Brothers seems to have been the most consistent with their cartridges across platforms. Their 5200 cartridges are similar in style to carts they made for every other system, although they're a bit larger and have storage space for overlays on the back (the only Parker Brothers game to actually include overlays, and cheap paper ones at that, was Frogger). Parker Brothers carts are angled at the end, displaying the game title (in a similar manner to Activision carts on the 5200). It's not uncommon to find the end of the label peeled off from the plastic. Labels for the 5200 were a blue-green color and usually just have the name of the title in stylized form (there are a few with graphics, like Popeye and Q*bert).Click for More Info


Sega
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardSega only produced four games for the 5200 and each of them is contained in a rather plain, black cartridge shell. However, the labels for these games are unique and fairly colorful. Each game contains the game's title in stylized text along with artwork that takes up a large portion of the label. The game title is also repeated on the end of the label. Copyright text is displayed in a small font at the bottom of the front label along with a small Sega logo. The labels also have a horizontal orange bar, at either the top or bottom of the cart, with the text "ATARI 5200" in white lettering.Click for More Info


Sunrise
Label NameDescriptionImage
StandardPicture Not Available