Atari 2600 hardware variants.

[knight76]

Hi all.

 

I've been collecting Atari for about a year now give or take, I used to collect generally for all systems but decided to sell the rest and concentrate on Atari and a couple of other systems. Basically the stuff I can link to from my childhood really.

 

Anyway so I've set out to get one of each Atari 2600 hardware variant, not so much individual revisions, or if it had yellow instead of orange text etc, just the variations to hardware or larger variations in case design.

 

So, with this in mind I so far have collected:

 

Heavy sixer

Light sixer

4 switch woody

vader

Long rainbow jr

Long rainbow 128 in 1 aus release

Irish black

 

I know of the short rainbow of course, and the Japanese 2800, plus the french release with scart. And then there are the Sears versions which I am ignoring for the moment to concentrate on official Atari.

 

But beyond this I am at a loss to come up with any further hardware variants. Do any other types exist?

 

Another side hardware collecting issue is collecting the Sunnyvale releases. So I have the heavy, but they also made each new Atari at Sunnyvale for a short time didn't they prior to sending manufacturing off shore? So there is the not for resale 4 switch sunnyvale, and others?

 

Here is a pic of the Atari's on display.

 

Edited October 7, 2013 by knight76

[high voltage]

I got the official Asian JR long rainbow 128 in 1 release, very very very and even very rare.

[knight76]

Nice, I forgot about the Asian 2600 they tried there. They didn't sell many at all before pulling the plug and later trying it on again with the 2800? Is that right?

 

Though I didn't realise they also had 128 in 1 variant there as I was under the impression these were Aus only. Did they also release it without the built in games, and then when that wasn't selling try it with the 128 games built in?

Edited October 7, 2013 by knight76

[enthusi]

"I got the official Asian JR long rainbow 128 in 1 release, very very very and even very rare."

 

It's not THAT rare on ebay over here in europe.

At least I've seen it a couple of times and it didnt skyrocket in prize either (I seem to recall).

But I might be wrong

[LidLikesIntellivision]

There are 2 Brazilian Vaders, both work with NTSC carts and has a PAL-M output.

 

Other than the video output,the first model has nothing different from an American Vader.

 

The second Vader produced was a cheap one. And had its controllers hard wired to the console.

 

 

 

 

[knight76]

Thanks for that one Liduario, I'll add the hard wired controller Brazilian variant to the list. This is the stuff I am talking about, hardware variants that differ from the standard fare for some reason, that version has very different switches and controllers hard wired.

 

Are they hard to come by there?

Edited October 7, 2013 by knight76

[LidLikesIntellivision]

(...)

 

Are they hard to come by there?

No. I see them in a regular basis in Mercado Livre.

[knight76]

Great, so polyvox is the company and these were made in Brazil. Were these licensed from Atari much like Sears, or did Atari release this in Brazil through polyvox?

[mkiker2089]

The Sears Arcade 2 should be on your list. I know you said you wanted official Atari but it's so unique it deserves a look. It's a 2800 sort of and isn't impossible to find.

[knight76]

It's not that I am not going to add sears consoles later, just that for now I want to stick with official Atari releases.

 

Moving on to non Atari releases could really snowball the situation with clones and sears and other manufacturers. Which is why I asked above about the polyvox being licensed by polyvox and made, or did Atari initiate the move to release there.

 

The Sears Arcade 2 would be a no brainer down the track as an example of what the japanese 2800 looked like. It will probably be very difficult to find an original 2800.

[LidLikesIntellivision]

Polyvox got the rights to launch Atari in Brazil.

Even not being directly manufactured by Atari (which was almost impossible due to Brazilian laws at the time), I consider Polyvox an official Atari hardware.

 

Although I have many doubts about Activision Polyvox cartridges...

 

The second model came years after the first one. It seems Polyvox didn't look for Atari approval but maybe legally it wasn't necessary...

[knight76]

That makes sense thanks, I'll add it to my list of non Atari made consoles to grab, like Sears, Gemini etc.

 

On the Sunnyvale made Atari's, was there one of each model made at Sunnyvale? So is there a Sunnyvale jr, Vader etc?

 

I know there is the Sunnyvale light and heavy sixer, and the 4 switch woody. What about vader and up?

 

Edit> According to THIS link, vaders were made at Sunnyvale.

 

So that leaves Jr's.

Edited October 8, 2013 by knight76

[mkiker2089]

Not meaning to stray the topic but the Sears units were made by Atari and even re-labeled by them. My SA2 was made in Sunnyvale actually and my Six in Hong Kong. If you want to stick to Atari made products then the Sears models count.

 

As for needing permision as in Polyvox, the Coleco Gemini was made without consent and I think it was the one where the courts decided the Atari couldn't control what people did with generic hardware. Nothing on the 2600 was specific and patented so it was fair game.

[Algus]

I thoroughly enjoy your Atari cabinet. Very cool to see the Irish 2600. I want to get one of those some day. I believe AA's hardware page on the subject is fairly comprehensive, sans several bootlegs and other clone type devices

 

http://atariage.com/2600/archives/consoles.html

[knight76]

Thanks Stargunner - I really like the look of the Irish with it's sleek all black appearance, sexy. Those consoles are all just for display (they all work though of course) and sit there covered in Atari dust covers purchased from a member here. I play using a long rainbow jr that is AV modded.

 

The list you linked to is great and I have looked through it previously, but it leaves off the French Scart variant Atari made so that lead me to think there may be other Atari made variants out there for regional markets.

 

I find the manufacturing process for the Atari intriguing as they started in the USA then moved to various different locations like Ireleand, Hong Kong, China etc. Sears models seem to be made from their own factory, or probably in the same atari factory but through a different company there to separate sears from Atari. It's interesting, and I hope to collect one of each variant Atari themselves made along with the most known 3rd party Atari's like sears and Polyvox.

 

Just for fun, here is a pic of the atari's all covered up.

 

Edited October 8, 2013 by knight76