Two A8 Parker Protos, one is a WIP.

[CPUWIZ]

Not mine.™

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 250566557072

[Wickeycolumbus]

Looks like some one got a great deal on the other prototypes that were listed by the same seller:

 

Pole Position ($24.50)

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 250566553755

 

Joust ($19)

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 250566550819

 

I was going to buy them, but I don't have much interest in the A8 (or own one for that matter).

[Tempest]

I saw them but didn't bother bidding very high. They're review copies and the same as the final version (both Joust and Pole Position were developed on the 5200 originally and ported to the 8-bit anyway).

 

Tempest

[+Mitch]

I bid on them as well but got outbid. Some newb bid pretty high on the two Parker protos and really drove the price up.

 

Mitch

[kchris73]

How do you know they are prototypes and not simply carts with missing original labels?

[Wickeycolumbus]

How do you know they are prototypes and not simply carts with missing original labels?

 

That's what a typical Parker Bros. prototype looks like. They have a small label with the game name, the ROM size, and the version. Look at this prototype for a comparison:

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/starwarsarcade/4584.htm

[kchris73]

How do you know they are prototypes and not simply carts with missing original labels?

 

That's what a typical Parker Bros. prototype looks like. They have a small label with the game name, the ROM size, and the version. Look at this prototype for a comparison:

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/2600/software/starwarsarcade/4584.htm

Thanks.

 

I didn't see any reference to the Parker Brothers or Atari carts being prototypes. Do you think the seller knew they were prototypes? Has anyone ever seen a dishonest seller who takes advantage of this knowledge and removes the original label to add a small label to mislead people into thinking a normal cart is a proto?

 

What made people think Joust and Pole Position were protos and/or review copies? How are review copies different from normal cartridges?

[Wickeycolumbus]

Do you think the seller knew they were prototypes?

 

I don't believe the seller knew that they are prototypes.

 

Has anyone ever seen a dishonest seller who takes advantage of this knowledge and removes the original label to add a small label to mislead people into thinking a normal cart is a proto?

 

Yes. One example is how Best Electronics took the guts out of common Atari 2600 games, replaced them with a Quadrun mask ROM, and affixed 'loaner cartridge' label. Thankfully, these are pretty easy to spot.

 

What made people think Joust and Pole Position were protos and/or review copies? How are review copies different from normal cartridges?

 

For me (I don't know much about A8 prototypes) it was mainly a suspicion. First of all, the same seller had other prototypes. The pictures were taken with the carts facing down, only showing the back of the cartridge. This leads me to believe that there is nothing interesting (AKA no label) on the front. There are small, handwritten labels on the back. These labels look to be the same size as the labels used on other Atari prototypes. And finally, the hand writing looks similar to the hand writing found on other Atari prototypes.