Likely to be broken?

[MFoolsRun]

I scored a bare 7800 at Goodwill tonight. It's my first 7800, so I don't have the power or video cables to test it with. How likely is this to be broken? I realize that's a tough question to answer, but with some systems, like the three-plug original PSX, you can pretty much assume they're broken, so what's the ratio on 7800s?

 

Edit: I've opened it up, there's no rusting or anything like that. There was a piece of broken black plastic rattling around, but I coulnd't find where it came from. I assume it's from a game.

Edited October 20, 2007 by MFoolsRun

[+Mitch]

In general, if there's no obvious damage, then it is probably OK. This holds true for pretty much all of the old Atari systems.

Though they do die every once in a while.

 

Mitch

[MFoolsRun]

Thanks! Hopefully I can score a power cable on eBay or something soon and try it out. The video cable looks like it's the same kind of thing as the 2600, so I can probably just replace it with a single RCA cable and then use one of those RF-to-coax connectors.

Edited October 20, 2007 by MFoolsRun

[Prodos8]

Odds are it works. Of all the cartridge systems purchased at thrifts, I've only had one SNES that wouldn't work. Fortunately it had a nice case, so I swapped it with a yellowed one.

[Rik]

I give it a %98 chance it will work,the ATARI consoles were built like TANKS,especially the heavy 6,and basically most other classic consoles.In all the consoles ive found in the wild,INTV,CV,2600,7800,800,400,ETC,about 20 consoles,only 1 has not worked,(one of the INTV'S,that is).Can i say the same for todays consoles,NO.EDIT,CORRECTION,the INTV worked,just the CONTROLLERS DID NOT,so every classic console ive found has WORKED!

Edited October 22, 2007 by Rik

[Brian R.]

Thanks! Hopefully I can score a power cable on eBay or something soon and try it out. The video cable looks like it's the same kind of thing as the 2600, so I can probably just replace it with a single RCA cable and then use one of those RF-to-coax connectors.

 

A regular RCA cable will indeed work. The power adaptor is trickier, because it's not something standard that you could use a universal with. But getting a 7800 power adaptor shouldn't be too difficult.

 

And yeah, as has been said, it probably works just fine. The first 7800 I found in the wild had a small stone wedged in its cartridge port. I popped it out, and it's worked perfectly for many years since.

 

The 7800 has some fine games of its own - if you like Pac-Man, then the 7800 Pac-Man Collection here is a must - and it's good for 2600 games. And you can use the standard 2600 joysticks on it, which IMO is the best way to go. For games that require two buttons, the joypad is the best alternative, IMO.

[MFoolsRun]

Thanks for all the replies. I have to take it slow with all this stuff to keep the wife happy, but eventually I'll eBay up myself some controllers and a power cord (the real tragedy is that I just traded all my found 7800 games to wccw mark a week ago because I didn't have a 7800).

 

As I posted elsewhere, I scored a complete (with box!) 5200 on the same ridiculously lucky Goodwill run, so I have to save some time and dollars for filling out that new branch of my collection as well! Apparently I'm the only person in history to like the 5200 controllers.