BeatleBruce Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 Hello Atari Community! Here is an Atari mystery for you to solve! LOL. I have what I believe to be a rare Atari Multi-Cart. I bought it online in 2001 or 2002; I wish I had the paperwork and packaging that it came with but sadly, I do not. I do recall that it was rather expensive though; maybe about $100. I cannot find any information online in regards to it! Here is all of the text on the cartridge label: "Atari 2600 Video Game Cartridge For The Atari 2600 VCS Multi-Cart 255 Complete Games On One Cartridge. Use with various controllers. Cartridge design and menu software. Then it has the copywrite "C logo" and the date 2001. Then what appears to be the model number: "CX26999". It appears to have a copywrite label dated 2001. The label and cartridge are of excellent quality; very professionally produced. The cartridge has the open pin design of Atari Pole Position, with the pin board exposed. The label stock is glossy and thick, much like the original Atari carts were. The cartridge itself looks just like all the Atari carts that have the "pebbly" textured surface. The front label is very colorful. The end label is printed in red and says "MULTI-CART". It has an image of an Atari 2600 4 front switch model, a joystick, 2 paddles and 16 game boxes around the system. Really Cool! There are indeed 255 complete games on the cart. It is menu-driven and very professional looking. Please help me to identify this cartridge! It is in like-new condition and I hope to sell it. I am selling my video game stuff on Ebay; I recently retired and will be downsizing my living arrangements. Thank you for reading this very long posting! Cheers, BeatleBruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 You are already offering it for $1000. So why do you ask? 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_q_atari Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 Every once in awhile I see these posts from people who just joined atariage and their first and only post on atariage is to ask how much money they can try and get for some perceived valuable atari item. I just ignore those posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: You are already offering it for $1000. So why do you ask? Why do I ask? Because I truly have no idea what it is worth! I would not want to ask for $150, have someone buy it and then find out it is worth $300 or more. When I have more information on it I will adjust the price accordingly. Does that make sense to you? It seems reasonable to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 I would like to reply to John-q-Atari. You haven’t a clue, John. I am 66 years old, I joined Atari Age sometime in the 90’s I think. I haven’t been active for a long time so I have a new screen name and email address. I stood in line at Montgomery Ward to buy the Atari VCS back during the holiday season of 1977. $300 bucks was a lot of money back then. And I’ve been collecting ever since. But now it is time for me to part with a lot of my stuff. I posted my question about my Multi- Cart to get information about it. Is that offensive to you, John? Are you always so quick to judge? I hope you take this post in the vein that it is intended, John. And I am confident that that there are others who would be interested in discussing my cartridge. It is an interesting find. At least it would be to a legitimate gamer and collector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 The cart is homemade, joke is on the CX number, 666 upside down, evil pirate. Arrr Worth the parts, maybe 20 bucks. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 1, 2023 Author Share Posted May 1, 2023 Thanks for the info. It is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted May 1, 2023 Share Posted May 1, 2023 A web search of CX26999 seems to only bring up your ebay auction. Pricecharting.com doesn't have it either. Given it has a copyright date of 2001, that is well after the original Atari produced cartridges, and given the number of likely unlicensed titles displayed on the cover changes are it is a bootleg of some sort. Sounds like your best bet is to let the market decide what it is worth. If you get $1000, great! Otherwise you may need to relist it over and over again to see what the true value is. There are numerous flash carts available for the 2600 now, so people would likely be buying it for the novelty rather than any of the games that may be on there. Edit: Beaten to the punch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 2, 2023 Author Share Posted May 2, 2023 Yes that makes a lot of sense. Back at that time the flash carts were not available and there were many bootlegs. I’ve believed it’s a high quantity bootleg for awhile but it is almost shocking when one searches the web and gets no info! It is such a good production that it cannot possibly be one of a kind. The titles depicted on the cover are legitimate titles and not bad hacks, like we see now in the many cheap emulation consoles from China. I will probably just leave it on EBay, keep dropping the price and see what happens. I never expected to get a lot of money for it; putting the high price gets a lot of hits on EBay and I wanted information, and if it sells… all the better! Maybe I’ll get $200 or so in the end, you never know. That’s what collecting is all about; one man’s treasure is another man’s trash, right? LOL If I wasn’t selling all of my stuff, or at least the 2600 stuff, I would keep it for sure just to play the games. I mean, how many carts have 255 complete games on them from 2001? Most of the older bootleg stuff that I saw back then was nowhere near as complete and polished as this one is. Thanks for the response, it is truly appreciated! Cheers, BeatleBruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Eyesight does go with age, nearing 60 myself. But this shit is Edward Hozer Hands, even for the half blind. 😛 Keep it as a conversational piece. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Why are there no photos of the back of the box? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 2, 2023 Author Share Posted May 2, 2023 The back of the cart is as you would expect it to look, same pebbly surface as the sides and front. I see what CPUwiz is seeing in the photo; the bottom corners of the label are not rounded smoothly. Maybe not as “professionally produced” as I thought! Lol! Maybe Edward Scissorhands, Johnny Depp made it…! If you look closely at my EBay photo both lower corners are almost reverse mirror images of each other in regards to the “cut”. What I plan to do is to post more photos on my listing including screenshots of the menu pages. So far every game has worked flawlessly; I’ve only inserted it in to my Atari a dozen times or so and played 15 to 20 titles. You guys gotta admit that it is pretty interesting though, huh? How rare is it to have a cart in hand with 255 complete games that you know, or at least I know, had to have been made before 2002 that when searched online pulls up No Hits except my listing? As has been stated on an earlier post, this was before the age of the flash-carts being so relatively easy to produce. Oh, and I have received two generous offers…. $1.99 and $20. I think I’ll hold out for a little more! Cheers, BeatleBruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 16 minutes ago, BeatleBruce said: The back of the cart is as you would expect it to look, same pebbly surface as the sides and front. My mistake - what I thought was box art is actually a closeup of the cartridge label. Looks to be someone's homebrew effort. Rarity over 9000, desirability 1. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 About tree-fiddy. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 10 hours ago, Cebus Capucinis said: About tree-fiddy. Too late. Gave it to the Loch Ness Monster. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cebus Capucinis Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 Wow! I wonder if the Loch Ness monster is amazed by 255 games in 2001, ViRtUaLlY uNhEaRd Of, as we've repeatedly been told. This thread belongs in the Marketplace as obvious as it's being "pitched." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+x=usr(1536) Posted May 2, 2023 Share Posted May 2, 2023 10 minutes ago, Cebus Capucinis said: Wow! I wonder if the Loch Ness monster is amazed by 255 games in 2001, ViRtUaLlY uNhEaRd Of, as we've repeatedly been told. This thread belongs in the Marketplace as obvious as it's being "pitched." Wait... You mean that someone signed up an account just to put their item(s) up for sale in a forum filled with what must clearly be open wallets? That never happens, my good man. NEVER. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 2, 2023 Author Share Posted May 2, 2023 Here is an update on my Multi-Cart. I have posted several screen images of the menu pages to support the legitimacy of the cartridge on Ebay, in case anybody was to think that this cartridge is bogus. Ebay only allows 24 photos per listing so I couldn't post them all. Then I went through the entire menu and put a list of the game titles on Ebay. Below you will see the titles. I found out that there are not 255 games on this cart like the label states; there are only 253. And there are indeed some rom hacks on this list, maybe fifteen to twenty. The rest are legitimate releases from back in the day. This took me all day but it was definitely worth the effort. I would not want to risk my 100% positive feedback on Ebay by mis-stating any of the details of one of my listings. I realize that many of you reading this may have become jaded by other individuals posting information that is less than honest on a forum like this, and I understand that mentality and the thought process behind that. It is one of the reasons that forums like this do not interest me very much. My sole purpose for rejoining Atari Age was to find out if those in the Atari community had ever come across this Multi-Cart. I still highly doubt that this is the only one that exists. It is highly unusual to not be able to find any reference to the serial number on the label online. So having exhausted that avenue I wanted to turn to those who have the most knowledge on this stuff. Cheers, BeatleBruce List of Titles: There are No Duplicate Titles on this Multi-Cart 1. Adventure 2. Air Raid 3. Air Raiders 4. Airlock 5. Alien 6. Alligator People 7. Amidar 8. Assault 9. Astroblast 10. Astromar 11. Atlantis 12. Bachelor Party 13. Bank Heist 14. Barnstorming 15. Beany Bopper 16. Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em 17. Bermuda 18. Bermuda Triangle 19. Boing! 20. Boom Bang 21. Boxing 22. Brick Kick 23. Bridge 24. Bugs 25. Bumper Bash 26. Burning Desire 27. Cakewalk 28. Carnival 29. Cat Trax 30. Cat House Blues 31. Challenge 32. Championship Soccer 33. Checkers 34. China Syndrome 35. Chopper Command 36. Chase The Chuckwagon 37. Coconuts 38. Coke Wins 39. Col'n 40. Color Bar 41. Commando Raid 42. Computer Chess 43. Condor Attack 44. Cosmic Ark 45. Cosmic Corridor 46. Cosmic Creeps 47. Cosmic Swarm 48. Crash Dive 49. Criminal 50. Cross Force 51. Cruise Missile 52. Crypts Of Chaos 53. Custer's Revenge 54. Dark Cavern 55. Deadly Duck 56. Death Trap 57. Demolition Herby 58. Demon Attack 59. Dice Puzzle 60. Dishaster 61. Dolphin 62. Donkey Kong 63. Dragonfire 64. Earth Dies Screaming 65. Eggomania 66. Eli's Ladder 67. Encounter At L-5 68. Enduro 69. Entombed 70. Exocet 71. Fantastic Voyage 72. Farmyard Fun 73. Fast Eddie 74. Fast Food 75. Final Approach 76. Fire Fighter 77. Fire Spinner 78. Fire Fly 79. Fishing Derby 80. Flash Gordon 81. Frankenstein's Monster 82. Frogger 83. Frogs And Flies 84. Frostbite 85. Gangster Alley 86. Gas Hog 87. Gauntlet 88. Ghost Manor & Spike's Peak 89. G.I. Joe Cobra Strike 90. Glib 91. Gopher 92. Gorf 93. Grand Prix 94. Great Escape 95. Guardian 96. Halloween 97. Harbor Escape 98. Haunted House 99. Hole Hunter 100. I Want My Mommy 101. Ice Hockey 102. Immies & Aggies 103. Infiltrate 104. International Soccer 105. I.Q. 180 106. Jawbreaker 107. Journey Escape 108. Jungle Fever 109. Kaboom! 110. Kamikaze 111. Karate 112. Keystone Kapers 113. King Kong 114. Knight On The Town 115. Kool-Aid Man 116. Laser Blast 117. Laser Gates 118. Lock 'N Chase 119. London Blitz 120. Lost Luggage 121. M*A*S*H 122. M*A*D 123. Malagai 124. Mangia 125. Marauder 126. Marine Wars 127. Master Builder 128. Megaforce 129. Megamania 130. Mines Of Minos 131. Miss Piggy 132. Missile Command 133. Mogul Maniac 134. Mouse Trap 135. Mr. Postman 136. Music Machine 137. My Way 138. Name This Game 139. Nexar 140. Nitemare 141. No Escape 142. Nuts 143. Off Rocker 144. Oink! 145. Out Of Control 146. Pac-Kong 147. Panda Chase 148. Parachute 149. Peek-A-Boo 150. Piece 'O Cake 151. Pizza Chef 152. Philly Flasher/Cathouse Blues 153. Picnic 154. Pitfall 155. Planet Patrol 156. Plaque Attack 157. Pooyan 158. Puzzle (Maze Craze) 159. Pyramid Wars 160. Q*bert 161. Quick Step 162. Racquetball 163. Raft Rider 164. Ram It 165. Reactor 166. Revenge Of The Beefsteak Tomatoes 167. Riddle Of The Sphinx 168. River Raid 169. Room Of Doom 170. Rubik's Cube 171. Save Our Ship 172. Scuba Diver 173. Sea Hawk 174. Seaquest 175. Seesaw 176. Shark Attack 177. Shootin' Gallery 178. Shuttle Orbiter 179. Skeet Shoot 180. Ski Hunt 181. Ski Run 182. Skiing 183. Sky Jinks 184. Sky Skipper 185. Sneak "N Peek 186. Solar Storm 187. Sorcerer 188. Space Canyon 189. Space Cavern 190. Space Raid 191. Space Robot 192. Spacechase 193. Spacemaster X-7 194. Spider Fighter 195. Spider Maze 196. Spiderman 197. Spitfire Attack 198. Squeeze Box 199. Ssnake 200. Stampede 201. Star Fox 202. Star Strike 203. Stargunner 204. Starmaster 205. Star Voyager 206. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 207. Star Wars: Jedi Arena 208. Steeplechase 209. Stellar Track 210. Strategy X 211. Strawberry Shortcake Musical Match-ups 212. Stronghold 213. Stunt Cycle 214. Stuntman 215. Submarine Commander 216. Sub Scan 217. Super Breakout 218. Super Challenge Baseball 219. Super Challenge Football 220. Super Ferrari 221. Super Hero 222. Survival Run 223. Tac-Scan 224. Tank Brigade 225. Tanks But No Tanks 226. Tapeworm 227. Tennis 228. Texas Chainsaw Massacre 229. Threshold 230. Thunderground 231. Time Warp 232. Tomboy 233. Towering Inferno 234. Traffic 235. Trick Shot 236. Tuby Bird 237. Turmoil 238. UFO Patrol 239. Unknown 239. Venture 240. Video Jogger 241. Video Reflex 242. Wabbit 243. Walker 244. Wall Ball 245. Wall Defender 246. Warlords 247. Warplock 248. Wizard Of Wor 249. Word Zapper 250. Worm War I 251. X-Man 252. Z-Tack 253. Zoo Fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomcat2000 Posted May 3, 2023 Share Posted May 3, 2023 Once you get into the realm of unlicensed software, a ton of stuff isn't documented online. I have many carts with little to no information online, doesn't make them particularly rare or valuable. Even reasonably priced stuff rots on ebay forever. 2 hours ago, BeatleBruce said: 17. Bermuda I have a bootleg cart called this, its just a hack of river raid with a north sea theme (icebergs etc). is the bermuda on this cart also a hack of river raid? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 3, 2023 Author Share Posted May 3, 2023 Thanks for the response and solid information, it is much appreciated. I have always assumed that even bootleg carts like ours would show up on internet searches in some way, shape or form. I guess that is not true. I will continue to drop my price accordingly if I don't get any interest in it. As to the game titled Bermuda, yes it is a hack of River Raid as you say! This one is a little different from yours in that you fly an airplane in the sky with clouds added instead of iceburgs. I would definitely keep the cart if I wasn't selling all of my 2600 stuff including my consoles. Not as something likely to go up in value, just because there are so many games to play on it. With the availability of inexpensive emulation boxes from China, anybody who wants to play the old games can do so easily. That is the route I will be taking as I downsize from a large house to relatively small condo in the near future. Cheers, BeatleBruce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted May 3, 2023 Share Posted May 3, 2023 Found this cart image that looks to be another copy. The corner cuts don't match yours. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/atari-2600-multicart-255-games-menu-1787028537 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 3, 2023 Author Share Posted May 3, 2023 Yes! This cart is identical to mine; the corners of this carts are a little different but probably hand- cut just like mine. Just the fact that there is another one out there proves that this bootleg cart has been around for years. I will probably sign up for Worthpoint and quit immediately after finding out the price that was paid. I don’t expect it to be high. You are to be commended for your internet sleuthing skills, my friend! Thank You. Cheers, BeatleBruce 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeatleBruce Posted May 9, 2023 Author Share Posted May 9, 2023 Just a quick update on my Multi-Cart. I sold it for $175 on Ebay a couple of days ago. I am very happy with that price; I don't remember exactly what I paid for it in 2001 or 2002, but I think it was between $60 to $100. Thanks to Tep392 who found a record of another of these that sold on Ebay long ago, and thanks to randomcat 200 for sharing some information about bootleg multi-carts in general. Hopefully somebody else on these forums runs into another one of these bootleg multi-carts and can benefit from this information as well. Cheers, BeatleBruce 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0078265317 Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 (edited) I have never seen anything like this before. There are some 4 in ones on eBay but probably not rare. 4 in 1 4 in 1 And this 128 in 1 but not sure if this is rare also or not. 128 in 1 Edited May 14, 2023 by 0078265317 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfollowell Posted May 14, 2023 Share Posted May 14, 2023 (edited) So, it's a cartridge, possibly homemade, definitely not commercial, full of pirated software. Why would anyone consider this rare?! Just because there aren't many of them, or even more than one doesn't make it rare. If that's the case, I have a ton of "rare" pirated menu disks that are worth hundreds! I know they're rare, as I made them, and each is the only one in existence! 😉 It would be worth however much the plastic and components that make it up are valued at, nothing more. You never know though, some naive collector that doesn't know any better may offer you but bucks. Just because someone that doesn't know any better offers a lot of money for it though, doesn't mean it's really worth that much. Edited May 14, 2023 by bfollowell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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