pac-man lable variation

[Atari freak 1]

I just got a pacman from ataripitbull.

Then I compared it to my previse pacman. and noticed that the blue was a different shade (although it's in bad condition so it could just be faded but I don't think so))

but, pacman is a little bigger. and the atari symble is in a little different place.

 

Is this normal?

[RCorcoran]

I have 4 copies of VCS Pacman and each have some minor variation except for one. The Sears Tele-games label, while similiar, has a completely different colour scheme. It is Red compared to Yellow or Orange on the others.

[Heavy Sixer]

As far as I can tell, excluding the Sears version, there are two different Pac-Man label types:

 

1) This is the first and apparently earlier version. It's often known as the "hollow 6" variation because the "6"s in CX2646 display a tiny blue dot in their loops. It's very difficult to see, but it's there. However, it's far easier to identify this version by its other feature. Look under the word "with" in "Use with Joystick Controllers". You'll see the edges of two or three of the white dots/dashes. Due to small imprecisions in the label printing process, many Atari carts will have pictures that are shifted a very tiny bit versus other carts of the same title and date. Consequently, you may see two dots or three at the top of the Pac-Man picture. Additionally, the blue background is a darker shade than the blue of #2.

 

2) This version Can usually be identified on sight simply due to the lighter-colored, grainier picture. The picture seems to be zoomed-in a bit versus #1, the 6s display no blue dot in their loops (this is sometimes called the "filled 6" version), and there are never any white dots/dashes visible at the top of the picture.

 

Version #1 seems to have been made from the game's inception through about the 20th week of 1982. At this point, the second (and lower-quality, IMO) picture begins appearing, although there is some overlap in the dates (Atari was probably mixing in leftover labels). From ~ the 22nd week of '82 onward, Pac-Man features only the second label. However, my list shows that I have a Pac-Man cart with a 32 3 R stamp featuring label #1, so it's possible that they switched back to the older style. I'm not really certain about this timeline, but that seems to be the approximate distribution based on the Pac-Mans that I have.

 

 

HEAVY***6***er

 

Move Pac. For great justice.