The Atari 2600's TV Type Switch: An Important Piece of the VCS Legacy

[@jimwright4163]

For the first couple of years I had my Atari I could only play on a portable B & W tv. I was only allowed to play on a colour tv when I got Starmaster. I was suddenly blown away by the colours on my other games. I still think of some Atari games in B & W though 😊

[@Man_of_Tomorrow]

I was still using a little portable B&W tv as a kid as recent as the mid 90s, though I don't recall if I ever played any games on it. Mainly just gave me something to do when I was either legitimately or illegitimately home sick from school!

[@dennisaylen813]

As a kid in the early 80s, I remember playing Pac-Man on my Atari in black and white mode because I liked the bloom effect that it created on the small color CRT my parents had set up (a hand me down) way back then. It was very cool to watch. I noticed today this effect can be sort of simulated on the Stella emulator, but it requires a lot of work to get right (or at least resembling your particular memory of how it should look). The fact this can be simulated is impressive, but in my opinion the OpenGL filters Stella uses have a long way to go. I am optimistic the quality and ease of use will improve over time.

[@KabukiKid]

I remember being so excited when my parents gave me my VERY OWN TV when I was little. It was a tiny black and white set. I'm guessing it was something like 12 inches. I used that with my Atari 2600 for several years. When I went to my grandparents' house on the weekends, I would bring my Atari with me and they had a COLOR TV I could use for the weekend. I got to experience both B&W and color... obviously preferring color, but it was a nice thing to have my own TV (and Atari!) in my room when I was little. :-)

[@GenXGrownUp]

Absolutely! Thanks for sharing your memories. 😁

[@ButterSpider3]

This is a fantastic explanation of what the origins were for console gaming. My first experiences with home video game systems and eventually the 2600, all started on a B/W TV in my house. So I totally get that explanation. However, I did forget about the extra uses of that switch in later games. Thanks, Jon. Those young whippersnappers out there will finally understand what us pioneers in video gaming went through for their benefit! Now, get off my lawn!!!!!

[@TheMultiGunMan]

The TV Type Switch is part of the Atari 2600's charm.

[@GenXGrownUp]

MGM gets it. 😉

[@bobbus_74]

Great video. I played my Atari mostly on a B&W TV as a kid. I only got to bring it downstairs on the colour TV now and then. That little switch made a big difference!

[@HeroJournalism]

Awesome video covering this little-explored corner of gen 2 video game history! Great work

[@sa3270]

A lot of people have a misconception that the color/bw switch simply removes chrominance information from the signal at the hardware level. But it is actually controlled by software. The purpose is so the software can choose a palette with better contrast for black and white TVs. But...that doesn't mean it is restricted to using black and white colors. Alternatively, it can ignore the switch altogether, or use it for something completely different.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Yep. Sounds like you watched my video! 😀

[@fensthespook]

These kind of videos are my favorite of your channel. Very academic yet accessible. Been a lifelong Atari player as my parents had one when I was a child in early '80s before I got a Nintendo. I had no idea about how the black and white switch worked or really any of the switches.

[@wallacelang1374]

I am a fan of the Atari 2600 VCS home video game console and I still play it to this very day. I have an old RCA XL 100 Color CRT TV that my Atari 2600 VCS is hooked up to. I have used the TV Type switch on games such as Atari's Star Raiders and Activision's Star Master, for the switch makes it fun to play because you can flip from one mode to another mode in these two games.

[@phaedrus44]

Cool video, Jon! I remember trying some games in B&W on my color set! Sometimes they seemed a bit sharper this way.

[@mikeschotte9480]

My family didn’t get a Color TV until Christmas of 1982. You are absolutely right- the 13” Black & White Curtis Mathes TV became a hand-me-down gaming set.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Haha! Exactly.

[@bryangrim6021]

To hear you describe the situation where the black-and-white TV was banished to the basement hits close to home. LOL! When our 2600 was new, (for us the later all black edition with pac-man) we played it on the color TV upstairs, but when our parents got tired of the cords running everywhere it was banished too and we hooked it up to the old 13” B&W. It was better than nothing and not a big deal cuz in the 80s we still actually played outside a lot too. After hormones and the desire to drive kicked in, I could care less and didn’t really care about or come back to video games until my 40s. Lol. To that end, when starting a family in the late 90s, I gave all that stuff away for free at a yard sale. Thought it was junk and would never be used to again. At this point in my life, I have reacquired anything I would want to preserve and show future generations, but just funny how life changes over the years. Interesting video about the switches. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼

[@markracer3281]

Thanks for giving us more tidbits of the VCS legacy!!! And the GENXGROWNUP T.V. is soooo RAD!!! I want one...🙂

[@GenXGrownUp]

Haha. Who knew we had an electronics brand, right? 😉 Thank you for watching, Mark.

[@HMansion999]

Its so great that you see these issues with the new atari systems! It's like a feature or 2 always gets overlooked. and how you explain it to make it known that it is a true issue and how it changes the gameplay because a function is missing, or not working correctly, like the paddle issue in your previous vids that we talked about!🤣. Im still hoping that somehow the paddle issue can get fixed. And i hope that the companies are watching your videos and are taking notes! They should be paying you as an advisor! LOL. KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON!!!!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks for watching and for your kind words, Mansion. 👻

[@gildersleevefan67]

A lot of us had to play on the Black and White TV. **Remember** there was that malicious rumor that moms and dads believed that if you played the Atari on a TV, that it would leave marks on the picture tube. So we had to play it on the 12 inch black and white TV's we had in our rooms. But Space Invaders looked much better on a black and white TV with the switch turned to "Color"

[@GenXGrownUp]

It wasn't just a rumor. Burn-in of persistent images on CRTs was a real thing. Though you'd have to leave your Atari on for a loooooong time for that to happen. 😀

[@gildersleevefan67]

@@GenXGrownUp certainly more than anyone would in reality

[@TortureBot]

@@GenXGrownUp that's so true! That's why most arcade monitors have "ghost" images of the game that's installed into the cabinet if they've been left on for days on end. At the very least, images of the score are visible on the simpler games. My full-sized arcade Mortal Kombat 2 has the comic book offer text slightly burned into the crt. My Gauntlet Legends does, too. But it's only the area at the bottom where the individual character stats are, and they can only be seen when the game is either turned off, or the screen displays a single-colored background.

[@ChrisUnlimitedGames]

My Atari 2600 was the 4 switch type. I knew about the Star Raider map because I usually would test the difficulty to see what changes to the game it made, but rarely used the black and white toggle. I wasn't aware Flah Gordon even had a pause. That would have been handy to know. Lol

[@Issicra]

Some of my favorite Atari memories center around playing Missile Command in the middle of the night on a little 13" B&W TV.

[@GreenTeaViewer]

I'm your core audience here :-) I've been intrigued since I heard that the switch was used in Starmaster gameplay...

[@GenXGrownUp]

Hi there, core audience. 😜 Since I started research for this piece, I've learned just how many other games also employed it for a number of functions, too. Starmaster is always the first I think of because of all the man-days of time I spent piloting that ship through the galaxy in my bedroom. It always felt cool flipping the TV Type switch for the map - like I was throwing a switch on my spaceship's console!

[@wisteela]

I was looking for information on how it actually worked, and got lots of bonus info. Excellent. Subbed.

[@GenXGrownUp]

I happy you found something you enjoyed enough to stick around. Welcome!

[@angelaesquibel5649]

U r so right about B&W and color TV's and the right of passage handed down!!

[@tedadamgreen]

Coming here after you linked it in today’s video … thanks!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Is this a new one for you, Ted? So much in the old back catalog, I know! 😁

[@tedadamgreen]

@@GenXGrownUp it is!! I have a lot to catch up on 😎

[@IuriFiedoruk]

I actually saw Atari games in color only when I played at my friends home. I could only connect it to an old woorken B&W TV for all time I played my brazilian Dactar clone. And yes, BW switch was needed quite a lot, colors like green and red, in BW are jjust the same.

[@lurkerrekrul]

I find it interesting that what was designed as a simple device to play simple games actually had features that could be used for more advanced purposes than Atari ever intended. Like using the color/BW and difficulty switches as game inputs. Or that the design of the controller port would have made it easy to create a 3-button joystick (just use the two paddle lines for the extra buttons). Or that it could have supported an analog joystick.

[@TheAtariCreep]

Great topic and great take on it bro.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks, Creepy! 😜

[@Gaming-Enthusiast]

Great Video massive inspiration to us smaller creators

[@GenXGrownUp]

That's kind & humbling, GE. I appreciate you watching. 😀

[@lemonherb1]

I always thought it was cool to use the colour/bw switch to toggle the shields and the left difficulty to toggle the map view and forward view on Phaser Patrol. I was aware of the shuttle game using some of those switches, but I didn't know there were several others.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Made me feel like I was in the cockpit of a complex machine!

[@armandorivera186]

I am old-school and I had that 6 button atari 2600. That was nice times.

[@PatJones82]

Agree completely. 👍👍

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks for watching. 😀

[@teachme325]

Riddle of the Sphinx NEEDS this switch to control parts of the game.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Wow! I never played RotS, so I just went out and found the manual. Holy moley! It appears the TV Type & difficulty switches are used in tandem like dipswitches for all sorts of functions & displays. Very cool!

[@TortureBot]

I remember it using the switches, but I just looked at the online manual, too, and forgot all the switches did. I LOVE that game! One of my favorite! I always loved using the spade to dig for objects. And I hated those darned traders who would sometimes steal from you, especially if it was the sceptre, disk of Ra, or the goblet.

[@FishDS9]

HeMan and The Masters of The Universe also needs this switch for a feature.

[@BandoidView]

This makes complete sense!

[@lo1bo2]

Yep, as a kid growing up in the 80's, my family had a couple color TV's (one large and one of modest size), plus an old B&W. Don't remember what happened to the B&W. Garage sale? Given away?

[@daveperry2772]

I remember playing Atari on a black and white tv My aunt had a color tv so I used to bring my Atari over and play in color it was cool!

[@cappa310]

You should have a list of all the atari 2600 games that use the B&W switch as a special function unrelated to its original intent.

[@sandal_thong8631]

That would be great. Maybe there's a list somewhere? I'm putting some games that do this in my thread.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I figured this video was going to be dedicated to all the games that used the Color/BW switch to perform some function in the game. Riddle of the Sphinx: Set to B-W to see your wound and thirst levels. StarMaster: Use B-W switch to call up the Galactic Chart at start for level, and during game to warp. Star Raiders? Nothing's in my manual. That comes with a separate keypad controller, and I don't think games made by Atari used the Color/BW switch for anything other than what it was for. Flash Gordon: 8:16 pause button Phaser Patrol: a Starpath-Supercharger game. See thread. Space Shuttle: 8:04 thrusters. I don't have a list of games that use this; please add if you know more.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Did you check the article on the linked website? Long list including some Atari.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@GenXGrownUp Thanks found it: "B&W Switch used for Something Else Space Shuttle (engine controls) Cosmic Ark (turn on/off star field on some cartridges) Fantastic Voyage (pause) Solaris (inverts planet horizons) Mouse Trap (removes playfield) Starmaster (brings up Galactic Chart) Beany Bopper (pause) Flash Gordon (pause) Spacemaster X-7 (pause) Secret Quest (brings up Status Screen and password) There are undoubtedly more games than on this list,"

[@chriscorsello]

Many of the earlier iterations of the Flahsback consoles did still have the B&W switch, but it was a small switch on the back. Guess they were just trying to reduce the cost by a tiny, tiny fraction.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Too bad. 🥲

[@CyberKnightt]

With all of the console modding videos I've seen there has be be someone who has relocated the TV Type switch to be a switch on the joystick. Even a 3rd party joystick with 2 buttons for left and right handed players could have the 2nd button repurposed. It would of course be more for convenience as (I don't think) the alternate uses for the TV Type switch was ever for an action button, that would make no sense, but the convenience and cool factor would be pretty high. It would be a dream come true for homebrews too.

[@techdistractions]

Tomcat flight sim comes to mind. Uses 2600 console buttons and switches as input :-)

[@GenXGrownUp]

There ya go. One more for the list. 😀

[@dancero643]

many games look very good in black and white. All consoles that emulate atari should be able to be played like this. It seems to me a sacred switch of the original console.

[@GenXGrownUp]

I think so. Maybe this will help explain why. 😀 Thanks for watching.

[@literallyunderrated]

When I saw the title of this vid the first game I thought of was Starmaster. Btw did you manage to get a hold of any of those new physical games or the Audacity game Circus Convoy? Whatever happened to those guys anyway?

[@GenXGrownUp]

I didn't jump on Circus Convoy fast enough. I watched someone streaming it back around release and it looked quite good. Hoping it comes around again or is picked up by AtariAge for distrobution.

[@mr.pavone9719]

It was not uncommon for B&W TVs to have good picture quality. As long as you had a good signal you could get a very crisp picture. Color TVs were often a little fuzzy, even with a good signal because (to put it very simply) the color info "rode" on a carrier wave. You were still watching a B&W picture but the color was added after the fact.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Very true!

[@dad7275]

Yep my first tv was bw! I got my first console (2600) when the nes was hot. Alot of people was getting rid of the 2600 to upgrade to the nes so and being a poor boy i was collecting small money from mowing, collecting apples out of our yard for pocket money and going to the fleamarket and finding 2600 games for around 50 cents each. So being a youngster with limited funds I was collecting fairly quickly. But yea anyway I remember how switching to bw on the 2600 made the shades of grey different. Fun times.

[@GenXGrownUp]

You were being GenX industrious. Well done! 😉

[@sailorx72]

Are there any new consoles out that plays the old cartridges.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Absolutely. Have a look at the RetroN 77: amzn.to/40dcDKF

[@MrClawt]

First time I played Atari was on a little black and white TV. Part of me finds it strange to play Atari on a large TV. Considering my computer monitor is larger than the TV we had when I was a kid.

[@intel386DX]

Actually BW switch on French (SECAM) Atari 2600 is real hardware BW switch and can turn any game in to black and white, so no special functuons are available just like in those new flash backs and such.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Interesting. That would result in an entirely different B&W image -- just the desaturated ones I show in this video - since no message is passing to the software to adjust luminance.

[@intel386DX]

@@GenXGrownUp SECAM is messed up in the beginning, have only 8 garish colors , so the gray scale image is preferable. Bay the way it can be very easelly moded for RGB (but in this mode the BW switch is not working) . The mod can be made with only capacitors, resistors and one standard of the self parts IC 7408 if I not mistaken the number . This mod even cna be applied to the PAL or NTSC Atari to get those 8 colors in RGB! :)

[@CMRetroGaming]

I was at my local store this weekend and the owner told me that he's seen a slight up tick in people interested in these classic pre 3rd generation games and consoles.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Interesting. When I walk in a new game store and they ask, "What kind of stuff are you interested in," I always reply with, "I'm not buying anything that's not at least 40 years old."

[@turbomario]

I find certain games (such as Space Invaders) easier to play in B&W than colour on my flatscreen. Makes it a lot easier to see properly for me

[@GenXGrownUp]

Huh. Interesting! 😁

[@genXantiKaren]

I used to move my Atari 2600 from the family TV in the living room to the black and white in my bedroom. Complete with having to unscrew that bloody converter from the back of the TV .

[@patricecauro1416]

I was looking to buy the Flashback Anniversary with the paddles. With the paddles problem and the missing button I'm starting to think it's not worth it. Is there an alternative that works?

[@uphilliceskater]

Hyperkin RetroN 77

[@Sam-The-PC-Gamer]

i remember the hard option on the back my older brother never knew it was there and i would make it harder for him when playing football on the Atari 2600 and he never understood why i was way faster than him good times lol

[@GenXGrownUp]

Oooh, sneaky! 😜

[@TortureBot]

Lol! You butthead! :P

[@Skorpio420]

Another "idea" behind the B&W/Color Switch...arcade games in the 70s were in black and white.

[@KeithPhillips]

I never thought of the fact that some knockoff consoles/emulators might not honor the Ciolor/BW switch. 😳 I'm writing a 2-player Tetris game for the 2600 and was thinking of using that switch to control certain game functionality...and all of the switches! (in various configurations of course) *Long live the Color/BW switch!* And yeah, I too had to play on a tiny B/W TV when I was a kid...and most of my NES gaming...and a lot of my Sega Genesis gaming!! 😔 My parents thought that a video game console would damage the color TV 🤣 ...but when they later got addicted and started playing too; that all kind of went out the window! 😋

[@GenXGrownUp]

Thanks for watching & sharing your experience. 😁

[@TortureBot]

video games COULD burn images into the phosphors on CRTs, both color & B&W. Great article here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_burn-in You'd have to have the same game on for a VERY LONG time, though. That's part of the reason "screensavers" were created when computers became more widely used.

[@bland9876]

I wonder what's worse when re-releasing Atari games not having a black and white switch or using an NES on a chip and rewriting all the games to run on that hardware? No I'm not joking.

[@GenXGrownUp]

The two choices aren't binary, but I get your question. Rewriting to run on a NOC is just a dilution of the original game and never my preference, but even doing that, unless you provide a button or mechanism for that old TV Type button's function seen in some games, then you're still missing out. If you need to provide the button anyhow, maintaining the original emulation core just makes more sense and requires less engineering.

[@bland9876]

@@GenXGrownUp I found one of those old plug and plays from JAKKS Pacific and it played funny so I looked it up and apparently it's an NES on a chip. No black white selection to be found.

[@StormsparkPegasus]

Despite growing up with this thing (we first got one when I was 7 yeras old), I don't have any nostalgia for the games on it. I understand how important this system was from a historical perspective, and how important it is to preserve the system and its games. But, they just aren't fun to play today.

[@GreenTeaViewer]

Some of the games are fun to play...you just have to discover which ones. The ones that work with the limited hardware are sheer genius. There are some great modern homebrews too

[@StormsparkPegasus]

@@GreenTeaViewer Oh yeah I understand that. It took programming genius to get games to work on that system at all. And that was the era where the games were generally designed and made entirely by one person. I just personally don't find them fun to play anymore. Yars Revenge and Starmaster are probably my favorite 2600 games, but they only provide a minute or two of enjoyment for me. I just need something more substantial to have fun.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Just aren't fun for YOU to play today, I'll agree to. 😉

[@RCfromtheNYC]

The first 2 TVs I played my 2600 0n were black & whites, due to the urban legend my parents believed yhat Ataris were causing color TVs to burn out. When I finally hooked up and played my Atari in the living room, they both apologized to me.

[@GenXGrownUp]

Haha!

[@TortureBot]

they could actually cause phosphor burn on the crt, IF you ran the same game for DAYS on end. So like you'd see the maze from Pac-Man while watching tv or when the tv was even off, lol.

[@thetommygunshow]

One of the funniest thing to do is to mess with the switch to screw people's minds. LoL.

[@MarquisDeSang]

Bring back the 14" BW in OLED form. lol

[@bullrunner5646]

Fantastic episode. Thank you. Minor point. Minor…. Speak slower. Thank you for your efforts and the great channel!

[@GenXGrownUp]

Noted!