Beerbarian

Battlezone's sense of a 3D spatial battlefield (ableit in a horizontal only plane) was very immersive to me as a yongster. Even though the radar is very simple, it's that visual window and audio cue into the world beyond/behind your view screen. The animation of the tank tracks and audio rumble of the tank engine were simple yet effective, and the player's tank destruction animation by way of a convincing camera transmission breakup I always thought was a stroke of genius, and fits perfectly with a game mechanic that you were remotely controlling a tank in a futuristic war scenario. I think the manual paints a different picture that you have found an old tank in a museum, but I always imagined a more furutistic Tron-like situation (like the arcade version - and yes I know that predates Tron). It's also more convincing that you have a stock of remote control tanks that you restart into, rather than the more abstract 'death and respawn' of a living being (ones' self!). Berzerk was also thrilling and convincing to me. The frantic running animation of your character translated well from the arcade version, and the robot enemy animations and their square shoulder strance always reminds me of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica. Most (but not all) Atari 2600 arcade ports I had played early '80's aged 8/9 were my first experiences with those games before I got to see their arcade originals when I got that a bit older.

I've done this particular one a few times on some PAL units: http://blog.tynemouthsoftware.co.uk/2015/02/atari-2600-jr-composite-video-mod.html It's very neat and very easy. I went a step further and avoided the RCA sockets, and hardwired a decent length (2M) composite cable bundle and then tie wrapped it down for strain relief using the holes from the RF jack. The picture is a bit darker than the native RF, but much sharper and clearer, albeit with typical composite dot crawl. You can use the pot on the mainboard to tune the color a bit while the top is off. I found that by just using TV color and brightness controls after everything was complete, all differences could be rectified.

Great Juniors collection @high voltage And interesting observations on your audit of the CX-2600 JR. model name. Atari seem to be really hit and miss with it... out of your 8 systems, 4 of them have offical JR. model name, 4 don't. I guess maybe we can put it down to US bias. Maybe the CX-2600 JR. name was only put on labels for certain runs of PAL systems? Similar to how it's often reported that the Junior was re-released in 1986, which is probably a US re-release timeframe since we know it was released in Europe earlier than that. Covered in length on older threads on here. I went looking again and found this Argos (UK retailer) catalog from Spring/Summer 1985.. and they called it the "JT" system. It can be found on page 213 of the catalog: https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no23-1985-springsummer/213 EDIT: I found the Atari 2600 Jr. (but listed as the "CX2600 Video Computer System") in the Autumn/Winter Argos catalog for 1984! https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no22-1984-autumnwinter/240 It's a very low res scan so the price is hard to make out, but I think it's £69.95 price. So was released in the UK/Ireland that year, but not at the 1986 "Fifty bucks" promotional price. I remember those TV adverts here in 1986 were the same unedited US version with the fifty bucks phrase and a dollar price shown, but the price was GBP 50 / IRP 50. However I got my own 2600 Jr. for my birthday in late summer 1985, replacing a broken VCS light sixer I had since 1983 but broke during Christmas '84. I checked the Spring/Summer catalog for the same year 1984, and it has the Vader model shown for £69.99 price: https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no21-1984-springsummer/216

Some online auction examples with photos where model number is "CX-2600 JR." For a while I started to think it was only for some large rainbow editions, but this first one is a short rainbow one: https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/melville/other-video-games-consoles/vintage-atari-cx-2600-jr-game-console/1245662740 https://www.catawiki.com/l/12486993 https://picclick.co.uk/Atari-2600-Video-Computer-System-Complete-In-Original-133416532210.html

Lovely looking set. Is it yours? Out of curiosity, what does the underside sticker label say?

Yes. There are label discrepancies for sure. But plenty do.

No, I read it correctly. He said he should check, inferring that it's a curiosity worth looking into. So we wait to see if he checks it and gets back to us. Not that it's going to be conclusive. Plenty of evidence from picture searches online suggests not all Jr. have CX-2600 JR. as the model on the underside sticker. But plenty do. I mainly quoted @The Mister Video to capture "Maybe the unoffical name was inspired by the model number?" and respond that I think it wasn't a maybe. Probably should have edited down. Was putting CX-2600 JR. as the model number on mine and lots of others a mistake? Or was leaving it out a mistake?

I think this model number is EXACTLY why it's known as the Jr. It makes sense that it was not referenced specifically as the 2600 Jr. / Junior during it's sales cycle. That would probably have been a confusing brand strategy as it's a minor model name change. They wanted people to know it was the 2600, same as all other models, which functionally it was. My point is that Atari named this model the CX-2600 JR. therefore that has some officiality about it, label discrepancies not withstanding. To me, "heavy/light sixers", "woodies" and "Vaders" are all informal nicknames for sure, and it seems like Jr. is being lumped in with them, which I believe is an innaccuracy.

Greetings all. Long time forum lurker/surfer/searcher, first time poster. After sitting on the fence about getting a Harmony cart for the best part of a decade while I continued to collect Atari 2600 carts, I finally took the plunge during these socially distanced times, and am having a blast catching up on homebrew experience on original hardware. However, this isn't what this post is about. I did a few searches to try and see if this topic was covered already, and I couldn't find it but please point me in the right direction if it has been. With my renewed enthusiam for all things VCS/2600, I'm obviously exposing myself to an increase in reading and video material on the topic. And in doing so, something has begun to bug me more and more of late. YouTubers from all over the world when discussing Atari seem to, more often than not, refer to the 1986 re-released Atari 2600 slimeline model as "sometimes referred to as the 2600 Junior", or "also known as" and other seemingly vague stances on it's name. The Wikipedia articles on the Atari 2600 makes multiple references to the Junior or Jr. part being "unofficial" and a nickname when it comes to this revision's name. Why? The underside label of my Atari 2600 Jr. actually has that listed as the model: CX-2600 JR. It's a PAL edition 'large rainbow'. If it's printed on the underside label that the model number is CX-2600 JR. , surely this means it's offical and not a nickname? When looking for more underside label photos, I found some on iFixit and on bubek.eu that don't explicitly list the model number as CX-2600 JR, but plenty of others do. Is it this labelling inconsistency that is causing people to assume Jr. / Junior is unoffical and a nickname?