Tempest Posted May 10, 2001 Share Posted May 10, 2001 Did any 7800's actually get sold to customers in 1984? If so did any cartridges get produced around the same time? There's got to be some 7800 carts with the colored labels and 84 copyrights floating around out there somewhere (I know John Hardie has a few, but he said they were market samples). Lots of people have have 7800's they think were produced in 84, but no one has any 84 games. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted May 10, 2001 Share Posted May 10, 2001 Tempest, No...the 7800 was shelved before it's initial launch in 84..The Tramiels didn't want them...so they were shelved and not released until 86. Even in 84...the initial launched wouldn't have had more than about 3 games to go with it. BTW...for anybody interesting...look at this: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1236319512 hehe..there is an 84 model... Note the screenshots on the lower right? The one in the middle looks like Sky Fox...or whatever that you see being played in the commercials as well..but yet has never turned up. This practically proves that Protos have to exist of this game somewhere.... Oh...I just remembered..that I think the winner of the SwordQuest Fireworld competetion also got a prereleased 7800 boxed also...and some of the runner ups as well. They would be the only ones who would have the 84 carts...more or less. [ 05-10-2001: Message edited by: -^Cro§Bow^- ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted May 10, 2001 Author Share Posted May 10, 2001 Maybe that's where I heard about people getting 84 7800's. I know I have one that's compatible with everything (including the Supercharger), but I don't know if it was actually made in 84. I'm sure Skyfox exists somewhere, I know they've found a box for it. Don't quote me on this, but I think John Hardie said they did find a prototype of it but there ws only one screen done (the one you see) and it sucked badly. Don't know if he was joking with me or not (he does that sometimes). Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted May 10, 2001 Share Posted May 10, 2001 Tempest there is a very very easy way to tell when you 7800 was made. But it will require you to crack it open to check. Some state the labels on the bottom to be accurate..and that may be...but that wasn't the case with mine. The only real way to tell is to take it apart...and then remove the RF shielding that is covering the main guts...if you remove the shielding on the bottom...you will see that hidden under it will state the Rev level of the board and the year and will state either Atari Inc. (Which is better quality control) or Atari Corp. (Which is the Atari Jack and his brothers put into the ground.) The Serial number and Labeling on my 7800 states it to be a late 88-89 model...which is about when I got it...I got it October of 89. Anyway, when I cracked into it a year ago to clean out the contacts that was when I discovered that what I actually have is a RevA-001 board from 84 including the Expansion port...which was hidden until I opened it up. I believe that only about the first 5000 units built in 84 have the expansion port and were done on the RevA-001 board. That link I gave above is for an 84 model I am pretty sure...as it is the original box that the 84 models came in. So basically if you have the supercharger working in it...it has to be a RevA-001 board and hence...built in 84. Congrats and join the club of the true 7800 100% compatible club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted May 11, 2001 Share Posted May 11, 2001 quote: BTW...for anybody interesting...look at this: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?V...item=1236319512 hehe..there is an 84 model... And soon it will be in my collection. The last boxed 7800 system I needed. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TunnelRunner Posted May 27, 2001 Share Posted May 27, 2001 Okay, here's the scoop: Yes, there were only about 5000 of the expansion ported 7800s made in 84, they went into storage thanks to the beloved Tramiels. After Nintendo and Sega came on strong they released the 7800s to try to 'compete' - fat chance, right? Anyway, you do have to look at the board on the solder side under the RF shield. Look for something like 8425, which would mean a board from the 25th week of 1984. The 84s are fully compatible with all 2600 software and the Supercharger (some carts physically won't fit, such as Telesys carts). The 84 box shows a picture of, not Sky Fox, but Rescue on Fractalus, which never made it to the 7800 (maybe a proto out there?). The 84s are all socketed boards for the major chips, and don't have weird items such as resistors soldered to various spots. A real trip is to get an OS ROM upgrade chip from Best Electronics. You can actually play PAL 7800 carts on them (some degree of screen flicker, though), where with the standard unit all PAL carts show black screens. And if you have a 7800 diagnostic cart you'll see a truly weird apparition on your screen - an eerie 'frowniy face' against an orage screen, and the number 14 below it. I was one of the lucky purchasers of the first batch of 7800s released back in the summer of 1986. Still mint condition, wouldn't sell it for a box of Chuckwagons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted May 27, 2001 Author Share Posted May 27, 2001 My 7800 is definetly an 84 model since it works with all games (including the Supercharger). I've never had trouble playing Telesys games on it although I'll agree it's a tight fit. I have one of the later boxes with Sky Fox on it (I got it seperately, not with my 84 7800). Can someone scan that picture of Rescue on Fractalus? I'd love to see it. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted May 27, 2001 Author Share Posted May 27, 2001 Yeah I don't know about that either. I've had 3 7800's all of them had full expansion ports, but only 1 of them was fully compatible. I think the second generation of 7800 was built with expansion ports as well, at least for the first batch after the 84 7800's ran out. I'd think there were more than 5000 out there. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbrit2 Posted May 28, 2001 Share Posted May 28, 2001 Hmm, well my 7800 seems to be fully compatible with everything, last time I checked, anyway. I think the Supercharger worked fine... It sounds like I've got quite a rarity on my hands. I think I'll have to investigate further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted May 28, 2001 Share Posted May 28, 2001 I don't have supercharger to really confirm mine with...but I can tell you that RobotTank runs fine on mine...which as I understand it...is another test for compatibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbrit2 Posted May 28, 2001 Share Posted May 28, 2001 So were there only 5000 expansion port 7800s made? Or were there more made after '84? I didn't think mine was that rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted May 28, 2001 Share Posted May 28, 2001 It might or might not be a compatibility test, depending on what version of Robot Tank you have. I believe that Activision changed the three games with the problematical bankswitching method (Decathlon, Robot Tank and Space Shuttle) after the release of the incompatible 7800 consoles. For example my PAL picture label version of Space Shuttle uses Activision's FE bankswitching method, while the ROM on the net uses Atari's F8 bankswitching method. And while my PAL picture label version of Decathlon also uses FE bankswitching, I have a HES rerelease version, that uses Atari's 16K F6 bankswitching. So I think the picture label version of these three games might have trouble with the later models of the 7800, while the text label versions and the HES rereleases might work on any 7800 console. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted May 28, 2001 Share Posted May 28, 2001 I am still in the clear, Eckhard, I have talked to you about my 7800 while I was modding it to be a dev unit. I have found out that the first 5000 original manufactured units had all the ICs in sockets such as mine...plus the rev level under the RF-Shield states it to be a RevA-001 unit...made in 84. However, it was reworked and then resold with a new serial number and then put into the later 80s casing which didn't have the expansion port hole present yet I still have the expansion port on my unit. Again, if there were some other way to get the original serial number off of it then I would be glad to help to at least verify for once if mine particularly is one of the fabled first 5000. Also my Robot Tank is a picture labeld version...featuring an 83 copyright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Just some quick scans for future reference so that you too can see the difference and confirm if you have an 84 model or a later rev. Keep in mind that although these are the small pics..they are still fairly large for detail. I also have much larger higher res scans of my 84 board that I can email or send the link to upon request. Smaller 7800 84 board scans - 84 7800 Front - (Note: mine is modded with the DevOS ver. 1 bios) 84 7800 board back shot - (This one is large give it time) Also note in the lower right corner of that board where it states the 2584 (July 84) manufacture date and board revision level. Have fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JagDiesel Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 I have yet to yank apart any of mine, but I do know that 2 of my 7800s work with the supercharger. The newest acquisition has yet to be tested any further than a marathon of Crossbow and OneonOne... So I guess I've been pretty damn lucky, huh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wntermute Posted June 23, 2001 Share Posted June 23, 2001 I haven't opened my 7800.. but I do have an 84 copy of Pole Position II Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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