rob // AtariSpot

I've unearthed some interesting things, but I don't know if I'll ever top this. Here's my story about finding a one-of-a-kind, personalized Atari prototype... plus an interview with its creator: GCC programmer Noelie Alito! @atarispot/the-zorfon-mystery-6d1f58544254?sk=474616e4f1e669de55fa3000baddaafd" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">medium.com/@atarispot/the…

@Dendy_Forever Potentially from the same (unknown) manufacturer that made this Atari 2600 multi-cart. Same style of dip switches on both, and it looks like both cartridges might say 游戏大王.

Таинственный китайский картридж с 4 тумблерами (итого 16 позиций), произведенный, судя по надписи внизу, в г. Тяньцзинь. Большими иероглифами вроде как написано нечто типа "Супер-король". Что это может быть?

@circuitlions temporarily coming out of retirement on this site to show you this! ebay.com/itm/1662969388…

@2008Philz @threadreaderapp unroll

Here's the entire history of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise (1883-2023) in one thread:

@TheMogMiner I’ve got one, I’m just hesitant to lift the label to get to the screws. I can fire up the heat gun and do it, though. Might not get to that for a couple more nights. There’s this on Wikipedia Commons, not top quality but might suit your needs: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm…

@AtariSpot No need to spend any cash on my part - I know Pitfall II didn't sell too many copies due to coming out after the crash, but I have to figure there are enough kicking around that someone'll already have one. :)

Question for anyone who owns: - First-gen Atari VCS cartridges (e.g. Tank, Breakout) - CBM-made first-gen Commodore 64 cartridges (e.g. Radar Rat Race) - First-gen NES cartridges - First-gen Game Boy cartridges AND the capability to open them and get high-res (1080p+) photos...

@TheMogMiner I can probably crack open an Asteroids (8K) cart tomorrow night and get some shots of that. Pitfall II, I’ll have to keep an eye out for a bargain one.

@AtariSpot If it's not too much trouble, can you think of any VCS titles that were still fairly early on, but which added bankswitching to the mix? On the entire opposite end of the complexity spectrum, do you have a Pitfall II cart?

@TheMogMiner Glad to help. Let me know if you need any other Atari shots and I’ll see what I can do. Linking to my twitter for credit is fine, thanks.

@AtariSpot Excellent, a great example of how simple things could be when mappers and CICs weren't involved - thanks! How do you want to be credited, "Rob w/ AtariSpot" + Twitter link?

@dhm I’m still low key disappointed that the Union weren’t actually the ZOLOs

Thought this deli was selling a new product called “2002 Pepsi Zero” at first. Still an important thing to put a big sign up for.

I know I’m probably one of a very few people to really, *really* care, but I cannot express how excited I was to find a 2600 cartridge with Thai text — ไทยนิยม; “Thai Niyom”— hacked into the game copyright. See my pinned post for where to find more details…

@DigitalEclipse @Robotube You all rule and you know it. A similar ask: the museum timeline shows the Atari Corp. red rerelease box for 2600 Gravitar, though the timeline year for it shows 1983. This means people don’t get to see the original silver box with the sweet title logo!

@AtariSpot @Robotube Thanks for bringing this up. The art team is working on it as we speak, so future generations who unlock this gem will see the optimized, correct box art as seen in the library menus. Thank you!

We appreciate the continued feedback on #Atari50. We will be squashing bugs, implementing improvements, and fixing minor mistakes in a future title update. We're also discussing various requests from players, but they aren't always feasible. We'll see what we can do.

@Robotube Sure — left image is an authentic box scan. Right image is an internet mock-up and appears to be what got used for the unlock image.

@Robotube I’m really loving Neo Breakout. Too late to replace the Breakout box that’s pictured when one unlocks the VCS/2600 version of the game? That’s a mock-up image with wrong typefaces used. I know it only appears on screen for a moment…

Lode Runner 2600 streaming LIVE tonight on @zeropagehomebre! We'll be playing through as many levels as we can of this brand new, officially licensed masterpiece by @dionoid! WATCH @ 8PM PT | 11PM ET | 4AM GMT+1Day twitch.tv/zeropagehomebr… #atari2600 #homebrew #classicgaming

This one…

In case you missed my thread from late last night. I feel like I should probably take a photo of this sitting next to the white Yick Li Industrial (HK) clone, and the regular black 2600 Jr…

@mdoerty Cool. Hopefully this place rises out of the ashes, assuming we hit the ashes stage…

@AtariSpot I just created a Mastodon account. And followed you.

Can I cram some potentially last-day content onto this site? Let's try! How about a virtual unboxing (with a history lesson)? Here's the utterly gorgeous and beyond scarce 冒險家「銀河號」(Adventurer "Galaxy") 2600-compatible from Funvision.

@mdoerty It’ll probably be Mastodon or Cohost; I have accounts on each. Waiting to see what happens. I *should* post on the AA forums given that, you know, it’s an Atari-focused site and all that. But I feel like I got way more in the way of fun feedback and conversations here, so…

@AtariSpot Where else (if anywhere) do you post your stuff? You know … just in case.

Anyway, if this is it... it's been fun! Hopefully this isn't it, because I'm nowhere near done with my wild world of Atari collecting. But yeah, if we're at the end here, hopefully this was a fun thread to go out on.

Of most note is the Funvision-branded TIA chip. This is not the only console in which this chip appears, but... again, you may have to follow me elsewhere to get the rest of that story!