Atari 2600 Consoles and Clones

[@DrBizz]

Neat video, and nice collection! Lesser known fact, there are actually 4 switch Sunnyvale consoles made in California before they had the 4 switch model made overseas in Taiwan. It has gold/yellow letters for the Game Reset, Game Select, and TV Type switches and red letters for the Power switch. There is a matching "Promotional Use Only" console with the difference of shiny chrome switches instead of a brushed nickel look. They are both uncommon but the promo one is more so than the retail one obviously. Collectors debated the existence of Sunnyvale 4-switchers outside of the promo one but I have one, so I can personally confirm it as have others.

[@geraldford6409]

Nice you pointed out the difference between Paddle and Driving controllers. Paddles were Absolute Position type controls Driving were Relative Position rotary controls Nice forethought from Atari

[@BIBO_67]

Very nice video. :) We once had the Vader - and now, 35+ years later, I own the ATARI FLASHBACK 9 GOLD and I'm very happy w/ it.

[@ravenstarretro4445]

I love that Flashback 9. I did a video on all of the Atari ones comparing each one. I think that is my favorite.

[@ravenstarretro4445]

I just actually realized I say "actually" a lot! 🤭

[@stephaniecourte5905]

I actually hadn't noticed...

[@MrDDawson]

hahahaha, actually now that u say it I actually think you might actually be right. lol JK

[@ravenstarretro4445]

I found out some "light sixers" also came in boxes that had an image of a "heavy sixer" on the front.

[@chrisgude1091]

Yes, in Germany 👍. Bsp.

[@StealthDonut1]

My parents got us a Sears TELE-GAMES in 1982 and my brothers and I played the heck out of that thing. We even had the TELE-GAMES console holder/storage box, but like too many others the cover broke. I still have the bottom though and still have all the games we had from back then. There's a little molded storage area inside to put your instruction manuals and everything. It occurs to me that if someone started making those storage boxes again they'd make quite a lot of money just making the covers alone! Thanks for the review! My Sears model is a Light Sixer, and I also got an Atari 4-Switch several years ago online! Happy playing!

[@DenizTurkmen]

Nice collection. Growing up in Turkey, we early users had import machines (mostly 4 switch version) including mine. Then, the official distributor started selling their versions. They implemented a region lock by switching 2 pins on the machine and on the Turkish cartridges so you couldn't play original imports. Some friends could not swap games because of this. I believe they were manufactured in 1984.

[@fordprefect80]

My dad brought back an Atari VCS from Hong Kong in about 81/82. Cost him about $300 Australian which was a lot of money then. By the late 80s you could pick up a 2600 for about $50 as they were well and truly superseded. I remember Kmart Australia sold a b/w (no color) Atari clone for about $30 and would have been in around 86/87.

[@retrocomputerskarachi6158]

Your video took me back in my childhood. Greetings from Karachi, Pakistan

[@_Thrackerzod]

The Heavy and Light Sixers have the exact same RF shielding inside. The "heavy" name comes from the much thicker bottom portion of the case. :)

[@itsjustagamechannel]

I’m a huge Atari enthusiast and collector. Just ran into your video. Thank you for the great information. 😊

[@dynastymusou8906]

Okay, so... have you seen it? The Atari 2600+ was just announced for a November 2023 release. Let's hope it releases here in Europe, too. A brand new Atari 2600 more than 45 years after it originally came out. Crazy.

[@ravenstarretro4445]

Of course! I'm getting it for Christmas!

[@BB-vq6cb]

Me too Christmas of 82 ! It was my all time favorite gift!!

[@wallacelang1374]

Gemini was a former development partner with Atari for game controllers, but Coleco bought out Gemini and turned it into their Atari clone division.

[@ravenstarretro4445]

Nice to know!

[@maxpower8390]

Great collection !! Your tele-games systems look awesome.

[@HyenaMan]

I had my atari 2600 for about 5 years now it's a sears tela games light sixer and it still works i'm 21 years old now

[@johnliller3032]

That's a nice VCS collection you have. I did notice you were missing an original keypad similar to the Star Raiders one that was used with the Atari BASIC cartridge.

[@PatuZero]

Very cool collection. Thanks for straightening out some of the Atari models I had jumbled in my head.

[@PFCtjwetzel]

Thank you for making and Sharing this Awesome video.

[@CP200S]

What a beautiful collection, thank you for sharing!

[@geraldford6409]

THe Starpath Supercharger was cool At the time, cassette games were common for home computers like the VIC20, so adding that ability to the 2600 was very cool for bigger games with more levels/screens/etc Plus the added memory, which became common in later carts like PitFall II and others as costs for chips went down. Still woulda have been nice to see more Supercharger games, especially third party. Demonstrates how expandable and flexible the 2600 architecture was.

[@JoshuaOne9-d3z]

Wow this takes me way when I got original Atari model in 1982 on my birthday and got collectivism 1983 with add-on expansion play Atari . I had fun those library’s to I got a SEGA genesis in 92

[@ravenstarretro4445]

Very nice!

[@crowseph7046]

Fascinating video with lots of great info! Can't wait to pick up my first 2600.

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

Thanks for shedding some light on the different iterations of the old Atari. The only variant I think you missed was the Atari Flashback II-it uses Atari On A Chip (based on actual Atari 2600 architecture). You can mod the system to allow a cartridge slot to enable actual 2600 games to be played on the machine itself... well, almost all of them; apparently, the 32k games like Pitfall 2: The Lost Caverns, a majority of Activision’s games, and even some others that were built into the system itself like Secret Quest, and even Off The Wall don’t even work on it at all, sadly.

[@ravenstarretro4445]

Oh yes, I love the Flashbacks. I have most of them from the very first to the X! My favorite is 9 gold, which lets you play roms on an sd!

[@Verena7x1]

I Iove your collection since I am a huge Atari fan as well. I have a collection similar to yours although some versions are still missing. Such as the heavy sixer which is so hard to get here in Germany. And if you find one on ebay, it is very expensive. Same with the Sears Versions. But I do have two all black juniors 😁. Greetings from Germany and thank you for showing your very nice collection. I am sure we would have a lot to talk about 💜

[@simoneliashaddad]

It’s a shame the Gemini controller doesn’t appear in this video. It was a rectangle with a joystick on top and a paddle on the bottom.

[@ravenstarretro4445]

Yes. Sorry about that. I do have a pair of them but I couldn't locate them in time for the video. 😒

[@jonniefast]

the gemini controllers are my favorite another close 2nd is the hyperkin branded ones theyre still in production so you dont have to worry about it breaking :)

[@jonniefast]

retron 77 will do your 2600 carts but its hdmi only so make sure you have a good low latency gaming monitor :) cool upload, i have the light 6er, 7800, coleco gemini, various flashback units, and the retron 77 finding the carts for sale in the wild is a ton of fun :)

[@Atarifan72]

Awesome collection and excellent video! Bravo!

[@stephaniecourte5905]

I laughed when you referred to the light sixer as "wimpy"! 😆 Another great and informative video! Thanks Ravenstar Retro!

[@chrisgude1091]

In Deutschland gab es die Light sixer in der heavy sixer Box. Ich habe deshalb nur die Chance einen aus eurer Region zu bekommen. Die Verpackung habe ich schon.

[@jimspagg5496]

Awesome collection

[@artisticwren2997]

Nice video 😁. Love Atari ❤️. Yay Cheeps the Gaming Bird!

[@kyokorn]

Thnaks for the video, you have a very impressive collection

[@robsonhenrique2000]

Relics of one generation of the eigthies

[@perryperry659]

when you got it what did you think about the graphics? did you ever think they would get better? I remember going from NES to 64 and I was like OMG the Graphics!

[@ravenstarretro4445]

I first saw an Atari 2600 at my cousins' house. I played all day long and I was hooked. I asked my parents for one for Christmas in 82. As far as the graphics, remember back then, most of us have never really seen a video game console before so anything that you can play on a TV was awesome! Those were great graphics compared to a pong. I only heard about Intellivision and Colecovision after I was deep into my Atari. Most people didn't have more than one console way too expensive. I could see the graphics slowing getting better with the Activision and Imagic games. But then the crash happened and they really slowed down the numbers coming out. My next console was in 1988 the NES. I have most consoles now and will keep going, even picking up the Amico when it comes out.

[@christophertuckwell9665]

I have large collection of atari 2600 and now atari 2600- consoles including flashbacks I did not grow up with atari 2600 grew with NES find your channel interesting Maby you consider doing update on your collection if you brought any more atari 2600 consoles of last 3 years

[@dancero643]

you must have the spitfire attack controller 😛

[@leosztlak]

Hi does anybody know if the original Atari 2600 joysticks are compatible with these?

[@hypnotised-clover]

I found an arabic market darth vader system, complete in box, on a website, I have been thinking of buying it. I discovered this video while looking for videos about it.

[@NelsonMurad]

É isso ai, bons tempos e memorias!!!

[@daviniarobbins9298]

That isn't the box for the heavy sixer. The box that the heavy sixer came in had a knight chess piece picture on the front. All the boxes with the wood grain front, heavy and light sixer and the four switcher had that heavy sixer look. Atari just recycled the picture over and over.

[@donkeyparadise9276]

Say no to the great reset

[@donkique956]

I got mine in 1984 for around $40.00.

[@basketballsteve54]

Pretty complete collection but you're missing a Retron 77! (ha just kidding). I admire your collection although if i tried collecting Ataris my wife would Kill me (I only have the R-77).

[@ravenstarretro4445]

I almost picked one of those up just for fun!

[@Kand1nSky]

nobody called it the 2600? it is printend on the box, CX-2600 ;-)

[@ravenstarretro4445]

The originals were called the VCS. They were not called the 2600 until a little later, after the 5200 was released.

[@fordprefect80]

Your comment on Nintendo bringing back gaming is a little erroneous as millions were playing games on their home computers such as the Commodore 64. The video game crash seemed to have been a USA thing as I didn't hear of the term till the early 2000's.

[@Scott_Bakula_is_my_DAD]

Don't forget the VIC-20, the VIC-20!! Because that's all I had. ...All I had.

[@gobo6175]

Had no effect over here in the UK either as we had all the home computer stuff going on too