How many of you have the "Full Set"

[Mayhem]

Yeah forgot about that, I have the dev board, cable and ST floppy too.

[4300]

I have the full ntsc retail set, loose, with some boxed. It was really the only system I could realistically see me completing without breaking the bank too badly. 

[Silver Back]

31 minutes ago, 4300 said:

I have the full ntsc retail set, loose, with some boxed. It was really the only system I could realistically see me completing without breaking the bank too badly. 

This reason is why I figured more people would have complete sets. It was an easy decision for me considering my nostalgia but I could see other people doing it for the ease of completion or avoiding it if they don't care for Atari. 

[Supergun]

I have a “complete set” (officially 57 cartridges) and have had it since the late 1990’s. At that time, Mean 18 Golf was the hardest game for me to find and thus was the last cart I acquired to complete the set.

 

Present day, obviously Tank Command has over taken the “grail”  spot of the set or the “rarest cart”.

 

I also have a Sentinel cart (PAL exclusive), the color label pole position 2 cart (variant) and 1 proto cart. But those 3 carts only round out or enhance my collection, they do not complete it.

 

An official complete USA/NTSC set would be 47 Atari carts and 10 third party carts. (Activision, Absolute, and Froggo) It’s still a relatively easy set to complete, even present day, compared to most other classic era systems.

[Trebor]

On 11/5/2022 at 11:29 PM, Silver Back said:

So my question is, how many of you have the complete collection?

I have a complete NTSC Retail collection for the 7800 only.   

On 11/5/2022 at 11:29 PM, Silver Back said:

Did you go for boxed or loose?

Mostly boxed for the 7800, other platforms mostly loose, though in the case of the Sega Genesis, all boxed.

On 11/5/2022 at 11:29 PM, Silver Back said:

Do you collect full sets for every console you can? 

No.

On 11/5/2022 at 11:29 PM, Silver Back said:

How do you decide which consoles to go complete for? 

The 7800 was under utilized and underappreciated, during its heyday.  Much to do with Atari's own poor (resources) support of it, among other factors.  The aforementioned, couple with it was feasible possibly, and financially reasonable, to own a complete Retail NTSC collection for the ProSystem platform, so I did (twice).

On 11/5/2022 at 11:29 PM, Silver Back said:

Was it back in the day when things were being clearanced, or via conventions and game stores?  Or maybe you went all EBay.

A combination of all the above and more.  O'Shea's 80 cents for a brand new boxed Atari 2600 or 7800 game, certainly helped complete the first full NTSC Retail 7800 collection in the late 90's, which was 'lost' after a move over a dozen years ago, along with many other platform games. The second go around, I didn't have the O'Shea factor any longer, but still, it was reasonable and feasible to acquire the entire 7800 retail library again.

 

Currently, in addition to the 7800, my console physical collection entails approximately 250 NES titles, ~300 Atari 2600 games.  For the ColecoVision, Genesis, and SNES, a few dozen games.  I've acquired at bare minimum, the launch titles and the titles I owned during the respective system's original retail run.  Many original retail lineup favorites and homebrews accompany the collection. 

 

Relatively modern console collections include about two dozen Wii games, a few dozen titles each for the Dreamcast, PS2, and Xbox 360.  I have a handful or so PS3 games.

[krslam]

I think I have all the original NTSC releases and a handful of PAL, homebrew and others.  O'Sheas, trades and thrifts back in the '90s got me everything except Tank Command, which I eventually had to buy ($30!-Outrageous!) on fleabay. About 90% are boxed.

 

I'd have a full 5200 set, too, but that danged Bounty Bob never fell into my lap, and by the time I realized I'd never find it locally online prices were more than I wanted to pay.

[Silver Back]

11 hours ago, Trebor said:

The 7800 was under utilized and underappreciated, during its heyday.  Much to do with Atari's own poor (resources) support of it, among other factors.  The aforementioned, couple with it was feasible possibly, and financially reasonable, to own a complete Retail NTSC collection for the ProSystem platform, so I did (twice).

This was probably the saddest part of the 7800. I was young when I initially had the 7800 so I didn't consider Atari's resources or what was going on. But in looking back and doing research it feels like such a waste. Had GCC been kept around to continue producing software for the 7800 and had it been the main focus I think it could've achieved more.  

 

It's a great platform to collect for and I'm glad to see all the love it's getting today. I didn't catch ZPH's Livestream but I hope to get to see the exciting new stuff coming to the AA store soon via replay.  It's great to see so much love for the Prosystem. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Silver Back

[Trebor]

27 minutes ago, Silver Back said:

Had GCC been kept around to continue producing software for the 7800 and had it been the main focus I think it could've achieved more. 

Not just software, hardware too.  The Minnie sound chip, an in-cart audio solution for the 7800 console, was playing through the hallways of the GCC offices:

http://7800.8bitdev.org/index.php/The_7800_Minnie_sound_chip

 

Minnie would have added less than $2.00 to the cost of each game.

 

This is in addition to the already used, but should have been leveraged more, POKEY sound chip. 

 

Arguably, the AMY sound chip could have came to fruition and been utilized as well:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191121213609/http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/ASG/Chips/AMY/index.html

[Silver Back]

14 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Not just software, hardware too.  The Minnie sound chip, an in-cart audio solution for the 7800 console, was playing through the hallways of the GCC offices:

http://7800.8bitdev.org/index.php/The_7800_Minnie_sound_chip

 

Minnie would have added less than $2.00 to the cost of each game.

 

This is in addition to the already used, but should have been leveraged more, POKEY sound chip. 

 

Arguably, the AMY sound chip could have came to fruition and been utilized as well:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191121213609/http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/ASG/Chips/AMY/index.html

Nice information there. I had heard of the Minnie from Steve Golsons PRGE speakings in 2012 and 2016 but wasn't aware of it's capabilities or cost effectiveness.  I'm not sure how you could let such ambitious talent like GCC go.  It could've been so different if Jack kept them pumping out stuff for the console they created but it wasn't meant to be. 

 

Regardless thank you @Trebor for the information im always keen to learn new stuff about the 7800. 

[GlamMetalTapes]

I don't have a full 7800 set but it seems like a great lil arcade system to collect for.  More good games than bad etc.

[+jeremiahjt]

I have the complete NTSC set complete in box along with a sealed Sentinel and cartridge and manual for the 32-in-1 Australia only release.  I finished the set last year and bragged about it here: 

 

 

I missed out on the O'shea's $0.80 deal, but I did buy two of everything they had after they had gone up to the outrageous price of $2.  Thankfully I bought before they went up to $5!  Almost all of the rest I picked up off of eBay.  I did buy two sealed copies of Water Ski from Atari2600.com and I got my Kung-Fu Master as a Christmas present from them one year.  My Tank Command came from @Mayhem last year and it is the most I have ever paid for a single game.  The manual for the 32-in-1 cartridge was also extremely difficult to get.  There may have been some more games from places other than eBay, but that is all I can remember off the top of my head.  I kept none of my boxes from childhood, so I had to get all the games I did have again for the boxes.  Rampage was the only game I had as a kid that was worth money, the rest were all cheap.  In fact, I think outside of Rampage I got new copies of all my original games from O'shea's.

 

I also have a complete sets for the Jaguar and Jaguar CD.  I am really close to a complete Lynx set and I only need one ActionMax VHS to finish that set off.  Outside of the 5200, I do not see me ever finishing another set outside of the aforementioned ones.

 

I do purchase 7800 homebrews occasionally, but I do not have a whole lot.  I have Dungeon Stalker and Rikki & Vikki along with cartridges of Sirius and Plutos made by CPUWIZ.  I will eventually get more homebrews, but no telling when.  I do want to get cartridges for Possible Mission and NTSC Sentinel before too long.

 

Since the 7800 was my first system I always had a special affinity for it.  I have wanted to finish off the set for a very long time and over a year later I am still very glad I did.  Occasionally the thought of selling my collection goes through my head, but the 7800 set is never part of that thought.

[Silver Back]

I considered getting a full set for Jaguar but some of the prices are bonkers IMHO. It appears that the reasons for getting full sets is nostalgia (or affinity) for a console or the ease of doing so, or some combination there in. 

 

I too had rampage growing up @jeremiahjt and I was obsessed with it. I thought it was the coolest idea for a game ever. Thanks for sharing you thoughts and your collection sounds impressive.  I'll check out your linked thread after work. 

 

Man I really wish I would've been aware of the o Shea stock back then. The pricing sounds incredible.  Growing up we had several copies of certain 2600 games, some still sealed. As a kid I never questioned anything about it; they were just there. When I got older I asked my mom about those duplicates. It turned out that aunts, uncles and other family and friends gave us their 2600 collections when they found out us kids were playing Atari in the basement. As for the sealed games, my mom claimed she got them by the armful from clearance bins at stores.  She literally didn't care if they were duplicates or not she said she would just buy them.  She couldn't remember exactly what she paid but she thinks it was a buck or two a game. Crazy times.