Philflound

Wow, a year since I posted. If you haven't been in the 7800 forum, I've been posting that I'm working on the 7800 variation list, which I'm moving quite well. My target finish date was the end of this month. It may be a few weeks past that, but I'll try my best. There is a lot of work involved, much more than I anticipated. Anyway at the moment I'm waiting on some fixed scans to continue. I was contacted by someone about helping me with the 2600 with a Congo Bongo cartridge. I never finished the carts/boxes for a few 3rd party software, Sega being one of them, Telesys, Starpath and Xonox the others if I recall correctly. I decided that I will work on these, starting with Sega. It's high time that I finish at least the carts and boxes for all 2600 games on my site. Manuals are another headache. Speaking of manuals, I'm going full force with the 7800 and am documenting EVERYTHING for that system. This will include all manuals,since the library is rather small and there aren't too many variations. Though I'll be missing scans of several manuals, especially the German and French ones, they'll be documented on the list as existing. If anyone has some free time and can help out with missing scans, or if you possibly have a new variation not on my list, I'd appreciate it. Just email me at pdispenza@verizon.net. There is no real site on the internet that has in-depth data for 7800 variations. The link to the 7800 page is here. http://www.videogamevariations.com/Atari7800.htm Thanks. Phil

So far I've completed 10 titles and am looking at doing another 5+ by Sunday. I'm missing 4 Choplifter manuals. If you see titles missing in between, I'm just waiting on scan fixes, which I should have by tomorrow and will get working on them. There are several box scans that are rough. If you own any of these variations in better condition, please send me scans. Also, some of the end labels I don't have for cartridges. Again, I'd appreciate any you can supply. Choplifter I have 2 end labels and they are actually different for the variations. I'm missing the other two. I'll keep working and update everyone as I progress. Again, missing tons of French and German manuals. Doing more research I discovered Choplifter has a French manual, so add that one to the list. Thanks. Phil

Can someone explain to me if the order that Desert Falcon manual pages is correct here on AA? I wouldn't believe that the copyright/printed info would be on page 6. I wish I could find my loose 7800 extra manuals. My DF is sealed. I thought I saw one manual on Ebay that folds out? Please explain to me. Thanks.

Just a quick update on manuals. The order of manuals is as follows: 1. Copyright date 2. Rev 3. The printed date, example "BT.5.1988". 4. Foreign (French then German). I'm putting these at the end just to keep it simple. With the 2600, I think I follow my rules above. There is much more material. Just to give an example, the Ballblazer manual B was printed in 1989 with the printed date "B.T.6.1989", but has a copyright 1987. Manual C with the copyright date of 1988 was printed in 1988 with "M.W.4.1988", but is listed afterwards using the rules above.

I don't own the 32 in 1 manual. Is the one on here good enough to put up? Is there any order of pages and the pages shown here are correct? I believe this is folded, so I'm not sure the order of the pages. Also, I'm getting Asteroids and Barnyard Blaster finished today. So if you have time to review them, let me know if I'm missing anything or you have better scans. I was about to finish Ballblazer, but discovered more box variations. When i'm done with all the titles, I'll put exactly what I'm missing in scans. Thanks. Phil

Ok, I've begun the Atari section. I have put up the Ace of Aces cart, manual, and box variations. I wanted to clarify some things in case you are new to my site and never looked at the 2600 section. Some of this may be a repeat from previous posts, bear with me. Alien Brigade will also be finished tonight. 1. I put all Atari manuals at 5x7". Is this accurate? I didn't put measurements for French or German, though the German may be the same size as the English ones. 2. I'll be putting all 1986 Taiwan labels as a Cart? unless I've clarified them. I read somewhere these are all sliding protectors, which I call Cart2. Is this accurate? Are there any open circuit boards like the other years? How about 1987 Taiwan. I've put all other cartridges as a Cart3 (open circuit board protector). If there is any inaccuracies with this, let me know. 3. Any cartridge with the same label for NTSC and PAL will not have separate variations. If a variation is known only for PAL with the black "P" sticker on back, that will be noted. But if they exist for both, there is one variation. That is because it's easily peeled and the only way to tell is by testing the cartridge. I forgot to mention that if you think my rarity is incorrect, please let me know. Rarity is based on the variation, not how rare the game is to find. 4. Any manual I have will have scans for all pages for that particular variation, even if all the pages are the same except for the back page with year, country, or date printed (example BT.5.1988). This is the main reason I never finished doing the 2600 manuals. There were just way too many. Eventually they'll be done. Since the 7800 library and manual variations is much less, I'm working on getting everything done. If you look at the Ace of Aces manual page, you will see 3 manuals. All manuals listed I have proven to exist, but may not have scans of them. In this case, I don't have a scan of Manual A, which does not have a * next to it along with not being a clickable link. Manuals B & C you can click to see the individual manuals. Again, maybe only the last page is different, but sometimes there are other subtle differences that the majority of people will not know (including myself) and that is why I want all scans of a particular variation. All information about a manual is listed with the variation. NOTE: The manual link goes to the main manual page. If there is only 1 known manual, that main manual page will show the entire manual, like Alien Brigade does. If there is more than one manual, the main manual page will be a list of all the manuals with clickable links for each individual manual (like Aces of Aces) if I have the scan. 5. Box variations are usually year, made in/printed in, and possible stickers or lack of stickers. It is possible that a color or TM or something may be different too. With the Ace of Aces, all 3 boxes are exactly the same short of the "New" sticker and "Atari advantage" sticker either being present or not present. I am listing these as separate variations, even though I believe it may be possible to peel off stickers. In the case of Alien Brigade, box 3 has no variation for the Made in China, so there is no reason to say "No 'New' sticker in corner". If a 4th box is discovered that looks identical to box 3, but has a "New" sticker, then that information would be added to box 3 and 4. So please compare anything you own or see online to what I have on my site. Also, if a box has a Rev on the tiny flap (usually Rev A with these) and a printer/printed date on the bottom tiny flap, I can use that info. Like I mentioned earlier, I have very few open boxes for the 7800. 6. When I'm finished with the Atari games (hopefully by the end of the month), I'll be adding scans of paperwork like catalogs and the System owner manuals. 7. If you have better quality items than what I'm showing, please scan them and email me the pictures. I'm taking what I can get and having Daniel modify the photos to be in the format that I put on the site. Though some of the scans will look distorted because the angles are too great. 8. And lastly, if you have a variation I do not have at all, please send me scans. I expect manuals to be missing, but I tried my best to have all the carts and boxes. I've mentioned with the 2600 variations, if there is a cartridge that has a 1988 Hong Kong label, logic should dictate that there should be a box that has Hong Kong on it and vice versa. That also goes with manuals to some degree. If we have a 1987 Taiwan cart and box, there should be a 1987, or possibly 1988 Taiwan manual to go along with it. This will not always be the case, but most of the time will be true. Finally, thanks to everyone helping, at the moment Mitch and Daniel, but I'm sure others will be lending a hand or a scan. PS: I forgot to mention, carts are 400 pixels horizontal and manuals/boxes are 600 pixels horizontal. If you can't resize, it's not a big problem. It would just save me time. Phil

Is it possible to get me the missing page and let me know where it goes? Thanks.

Ok, all 3rd party are done. I do have one question, Kung Fu Master has pages 3 and 4 exactly the same. Is this as it is in the manual or did this get scanned twice? Looking at archive.org, it seems that this is legit. Please clarify. Also, if I have any mistakes, let me know. If you have any information that I have a ? next to, like size of manuals (measured in inches), feel free to email me the info. If you have open boxes that have any Rev info or printer info on the bottom tiny flaps, I'd appreciate that too. I noticed that some of the printer flaps that have BT 1988 do not have a month blanked out. I have very few open Atari boxes, so printer and Rev info is going to be scarce. I've discovered quite a few label and box variations for the Atari made games, especially early ones. I gave myself a time frame by the end of August. I believe that is feasible, but I will have many holes in the list, especially with manuals. Again, if you have scans or can scan manuals, please email me at pdispenza@verizon.net. I'm going to list the French and German manuals I know exist and I need scans of below. Many times I have found manuals that I can see the back page info, but do not have scans of the interior pages. I do not want to assume the interior pages of manuals are exactly the same with their counterparts. Even if they are, I'd prefer having unique scans of those manuals in case there is a very minor difference. I noticed Ms. Pac-Man has 6 box variations where, even though the printed/made in and year are different, the TM on the front is either missing or different on some. So please compare copies you may have with my scans, just in case there are other minor differences. Any cartridges that I know are PAL only with the black sticker, I have listed as such. Otherwise, there will be no designation. If a label variation has both NTSC and PAL and is exactly the same looking, I do not give it a separate listing. This is because a "P" sticker can be peeled off and the only way of knowing if a particular cartridge is NTSC or PAL is to test it. If I have poorer scans that you can replace, please help out. I took what I could get and tried doing my best. My Ms. Pac-Man extra box, 1986 Printed in Taiwan is destroyed, but I could not find another copy online at this time, so I'm going to scan what I have. I do plan on double checking some titles if I have scans I think can use upgrading, but I'm hoping to get help from everyone here. Thanks. Phil Manuals I need scans of are below. When I get done with a title, if you see that a French or German manual exists, but is not on my list, please inform me and if you can send scans. I have German Ms. Pac-Man, French Pole Position & French Sentinel. French- Crack'ed, Ikari Warriors, Impossible Mission, Jinks, Ms. Pac-Man, One-on-One Basketball, Planet Smashers, Super Huey, Tower Toppler, Xenophobe, Xevious German- Ballblazer, DK Jr., Hat Trick, Mario Bros., Pole Position, Super Huey, Xevious

Thanks. I should have all 3rd party on the site within a couple of days. Not much to put up, so it's much easier.

I'm starting to put up pages, will do 3rd party first. Here on AA, the F-18 manual has 19 pages, which probably should be 20, so I'm assuming one is blank. Can someone tell me what page it is? I'm assuming it's either page 2 or page 19 or possibly the back cover? Thanks. Phil

I should be done with the list tomorrow and will start putting up the pages this weekend. I do have a question. With the Atari 2600, some of the later releases had the Atari Advantage sticker on the front of the box. There are also some with the 7800, along with the "New" sticker in the bottom right corner. I've had several combinations of both stickers, one or the other, and none at all. I came across an anomaly with Super Huey. I have 2 sealed copies of this game. One has the Atari Advantage sticker, new sticker and "Don't do drugs" seal on the back of the box. The other does not have the drugs reference, but what I found interesting was that the Atari Advantage and "New" were not stickers, but rather printed on the front of the box. I am working on Summer Games right now, but pulled the Super Huey to get ready to reference when I did it next. My question is, are there other games that have the Atari Advantage and/or "New" printed instead of being stickers? I'm going to look through all my boxed games to see what I can find. Problem is that any scans/photos I find on the internet, I won't be able to tell if it's a sticker or printed. I've always put them down as stickers as I never knew a printed version of anything existed. Thanks for your help. If you have anything printed, please scan and send me. Phil

I've never recognized labels that were put on upside down in my lists. If they are legit, they are an oddity. They are also easily made if the label comes off and reglued on. I let the market decide if they are willing to pay for items like these.

Ok, forget about the PPII manuals. I may have found some complete.

It seems like most of the games that I identify having French manuals are sealed and the manual is folded in the back of the box. So I know they exist, just can't get a scan. I'll put up a list when I'm done. I think I'm down to 14 games. So I'll probably start working on the site in a few days instead of a week. If you have anything not on my list of French and German manuals, feel free to volunteer scans. Thanks. Phil

Does anyone have a foreign version of Midnight Mutants? I see the manual is different than the US in an Ebay listing, but the seller has the manual turned so you can see NO info whatsoever. It looks like the info is on the bottom left of the back cover.

Thanks. I should be done with the list within a week and then start working on putting up the pages. I'll keep everyone posted. When I'm ready, I'll try and make a list of scans I need, probably mostly manuals, but if I can't find good scans of carts and boxes, I'll post those too.

Can I please get end label scans/photos of the Made in USA. I'm about 2/3 finished with the 7800 list and acquiring scans. It'll take some time, but I'm hoping to have this finished with everything I get in 6 weeks. I started the header pages for the 7800 on my site. No scans yet and of course, no list until I complete it. Thanks. You can email any scans/photos to my email address instead of posting them here. pdispenza@verizon.net

Can you please scan me any Made in USA you have of DK or DK Jr? Thanks.

What about Junior? https://www.ebay.com/itm/203507100341?epid=56234438&hash=item2f61f7eab5%3Ag%3AGXMAAOSwQQhgxa9A&nma=true&si=gy0Lfg7IPOCIfQzMqkL6Mn7wemY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Wanted to get your opinion on this one. I'm going through Donkey Kong and saw this. I think this is a manufactured label. Made in USA. I say this because both main and end labels are on upside down. I'm looking to see if there are other Made in USA as this would be very rare and so far, all the titles I've done, none have a USA label. Please let me know. Thanks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/144057183741?hash=item218a7a2dfd%3Ag%3A7jYAAOSwJYlgpDQ4&nma=true&si=gy0Lfg7IPOCIfQzMqkL6Mn7wemY%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Well, we have time on this, so it's no rush. Thanks though. Didn't know there were German instructions. At least I haven't come across any yet.

Does anyone have the French instructions on any of these games? So far I got a scan of Choplifter and Commando and saw Crack'ed sealed in the back of a box, but have no info or real scan of that one. I'll be working on Crossbow when I post this. But I'll take any and all scans of French instructions. I'm debating on whether or not to call a shrinkwrapped box with French instructions inside the back a variation or not. One photo of Crack'ed shows it but I can't make out any printed and copyright info.

I think that's the one I found. Wish I could get a nice straight scan. I think that copy is/was located in Kentucky if I remember right. So maybe it's NTSC. It seems like Taiwan is usually the first release from what I've seen with the games. If this is first, I doubt it's PAL. Anyway, hopefully when I get all the info up on the site, we'll clarify many things.

I have no idea, but this is what I have. Possibly the Taiwan is PAL? I only saw the one copy. Choplifter is CX7821. a)* R PicGr2 ©1987, CART3, ML: “Printed in Taiwan” b)* C PicGr2 ©1987, CART3, ML: “Printed in Hong Kong” in italics c)* U PicGr2 ©1987, CART3, ML: “Printed in Hong Kong” normal font, very small letters d)* U PicGr2 ©1988, CART3, ML: “Printed in Hong Kong” normal font, very small letters

When you say spring loaded covers, are you referring to what I call C2 with my 2600 list? I thought I had scans of the circuit board protectors, but I guess not. C1 was the locking one, C2 was the spring with one slit only, C3 was no protector. I'm defaulting everything to a C3, which I'll probably need correcting on with some of them. Going over the list that "nrslam" has on video game sage website, I'm finding more variations than what is listed there. In fact, I'm going to contact him and ask if he can help me when I'm ready. There are going to be several scans on my site that will look really bad, but I want to get whatever I can find, just to show proof and hopefully will acquire a real scan to replace them. This is much tougher than I thought. Probably because I have very little to go on and spending hours doing the research. To give an example. I just "finished" Choplifter. I have 4 cart variations and 4 box variations. Only 3 manuals, but since I have a Taiwan, I'm sure the manuals have Taiwan too. Thing is the guy didn't flip the back so I couldn't find one. When the list is done, probably within 4-6 weeks, I'm going to throw it up on my site immediately. Then I'll put up the scans as I have time. But at least you'll be able to see what I've found. Phil