Atari 2600 Cart and Label Design Variations

[@lh_a-spec]

I always wanted a comprehensive examination of all the different styles of cartridge on the 2600. This is great!

[@markrotondella4689]

Thanks :D

[@joeyb_32]

This was incredibly satisfying. Bravo

[@GameLibrarianWithABear]

This is the authority resource for Atari cartridge variations as far as I know, awesome video!

[@markrotondella4689]

Thanks :D :D

[@Ron2600_]

Another thing to add is that some very early Activision games had a piece of foam to keep dust out, which only the first handful of games had.

[@markrotondella4689]

I had no idea that was a thing - I've never seen one in the wild - thanks.

[@experiessence]

I gave up video games in the late 80s, but I really enjoyed this presentation and may assign some chapters to my video game addicted students. :) Cheers

[@markrotondella4689]

Thanks :D

[@salgallucci6403]

Nice, Video do you have one on History of Controller's i have the JoyBoard that you stand on for the ski game from Amiga 20:30 if need a pic! Thanks for the Video!

[@markrotondella4689]

No but that is a good idea for a video. Oh nice that's a bit a history there, I have never seen one in the wild.

[@nuggetprich7069]

Can we see a video just about your 2600 Space Invaders cartridges!;)

[@markrotondella4689]

Haha careful I do have it on a couple of other systems I probably could expand on it. :P It was the only game that came on every cart type - the silver one was surprisingly difficult to find.

[@300BaudStudios]

Nicely done. Many of the games are not so great but the carts are nice!

[@markrotondella4689]

Thanks. :D Very true.

[@islesguru9712]

This was oddly fascinating

[@markrotondella4689]

Thanks so much :D

[@a2pha]

7:51 Admit it viewers. You did not know about the stacking slot.

[@markrotondella4689]

I had no idea other companies used the same system till I started collecting.

[@evad999]

This is one of the most complete label variation retrospectives I've seen. There were, however, 2 variations of the silver label carts. One with that red stripe and one without. Most games I am aware of only had one or the other, but Mario Bros. (possibly others?) was released in both. Side note: It has been claimed that the Activision name was chosen, in part, to appear above Atari in alphabetical order... and again with Absolute.

[@markrotondella4689]

Thanks yeah I was aware of those and there are a few variations of the carts beyond just dust cover no dust cover I had to draw the line somewhere for sanity sake :P

[@a2pha]

17:38 Gold seal ! What about it ?

[@markrotondella4689]

Just a fancy PAL region sticker

[@a2pha]

@@markrotondella4689 Oh I thought it was something awesome like, "Limited edition" or something.

[@a2pha]

Please review artists in the manuals that come with the games. For instance DEFENDER shows a city scene with a beam coming down hitting a pedestrian.

[@markrotondella4689]

That's a good idea the Atari art was so well designed I love the Apollo and Tigervision as well. I was looking at Cliff Spohn's art work he was one of the artists and still makes work that looks like the Atari carts. Defender was Steve Hendricks I think. I don't have too many boxes or manuals I only got the boxed games that really loved back in the day. I'm doing a top 20 2600 games still worth checking out games at the moment.

[@a2pha]

@@markrotondella4689 Indeed ! I found a picture of what I remembered. Check this out: atariage.com/2600/manuals/Defender/m_Defender_1.jpg

[@sandal_thong]

I kept some boxes as long as I could, but since the carts aren't stored in them, I had to let them go during a move. I guess it makes sense to put the art from the box on the cartridge, since you keep them.

[@markrotondella4689]

Have you seen the book Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino? It's a bit pricey but a beautiful book if you are interested in this art.

[@ShamrockParticle]

​@a2pha aye, the 2600 artwork was phenomenal. It's probably a reason why so many people kept the games with their boxes intact. The time needed to draw the detailed and creative imagery must have been extensive. "Defender" is one of the best IMHO.

[@AloanMoreira1]

I remember going to a store in Queens, NY in 1985 and buying frogs and flies on an M-Network company for a dollar! I also bought Ridle of the Sphinx for a dollar.. games were that cheap and I was a kid having no idea there was a crash going on haha

[@markrotondella4689]

That's a nice haul. I got quite a collection on the tail end of the system although I also remember paying some crazy high price for H.E.R.O. which fortunately turned out to be worth it

[@cootmaster]

how does one by bit w swiches work? if both are to the LEFT lets say thats 1 and left is to RIGHT is 2 then Right is left 3 right to right is 4 but what is both are right?

[@markrotondella4689]

Switches [>>] Laser Blaser the first game [>

[@rickytickybobbywobbin055]

Any idea when Atari used the one piece dust cover? I have a couple that are both black label, pac-man and missile command

[@markrotondella4689]

The Atari Compedium is a great source of information on those fine grain details partially for the Atari published carts. According to that website they started using those dust covers on some of their carts in 1982. I don't think I ever got one of those back in the day. www.ataricompendium.com/archives/articles/vcs_label_variations/vcs_label_variations.html

[@BDUBZ49]

Wow, half of those manufacturers I never even heard of, although after about 1987 I stopped buying Atari games. The only ones I knew were Atari, Activision, Imagic, Parker Bros, Coleco, and M-Network. One that you missed was Bally. who made the actual arcade games. The only title I know from them was Tapper... about a bartender who had to slide beers down 4 or 5 bars that were stacked horizontally. IMAGIC had the coolest looking cartridges by far and also some of the best looking games.

[@markrotondella4689]

honestly I didn't know most of them there was a crazy range if manufactures I like to think Atari was part of the spark that turned Taiwan into the chip giants they are today. :P

[@sandal_thong]

Some of the later games I got for my Atari barely fit in the slot, as they are fatter than previous carts. Do you know what that is about? I thought maybe it was because ColecoVision had an adapter to play 2600 games and they didn't want them to fit. Or somebody screwed up the mold. I don't think quality was a big deal after their best programmers left for Activision or they just put the best on coin-op arcade games.

[@markrotondella4689]

I have heard of this but can’t say I experienced it. The different publishers’ carts vary a little but looking at the original vs tail end Atari carts that I have I can’t detect a size difference. Their build quality did drop though - the newer carts have cut outs hidden by the labels as well as the obvious absence of the dust cover. The carts were made in a few different countries too so I imagine it came down to where they were from.

[@sandal_thong]

@@markrotondella4689 Thanks for the reply. If I find out anything about cartridges not fitting this week, I'll try to post.

[@nuggetprich7069]

Does the silver label Space Invaders have the dust cover?

[@markrotondella4689]

Mine doesn't.

[@nuggetprich7069]

@@markrotondella4689 Good. Mine doesn't either.

[@markrotondella4689]

yeah it is much the same as the red cart with no dust cover and cut outs hidden by the sticker

[@cootmaster]

epyx made fast load too

[@markrotondella4689]

Never understand why Commodore didn't fix their dodgy 1541 Disk Drive ROM themselves. :P

[@christophertuckwell9665]

Very interesting I Atari 2600 6 lite Atari 2600 Vader Atari 2600 JR Atari 7800 Atari 2600+ Atari flashback 59 anniversary console Atari flashback X Atari flashback 1 Atari flashback 3 Atari flashback portable Atari flashback Nintendo switch Atari flashback vol 1 vol2 vol 3 for Xbox one As have the atari 2500- can Play all atari 2600 games and atari 7800 games from all regions

[@markrotondella4689]

I had the 6 switcher and then the vader back in the day. I got the 2600+ yesterday but haven't set it up yet. :P

[@christophertuckwell9665]

@@markrotondella4689 please consider doing your own review on atari 2600+ when you get around to doing I think the atari 2500+ is great system