strange atari 2600a

socialdrone · April 21, 2004

i bought a bunch of atari stuff that looked like it had been buried in the dirt for sometime.

while cleaning one of the cx2600a? i noticed it was a bit different. its one of the 4 switch woodgrain types, but the bottom is from the origional 'heavy sixer' and the top looks like the top to the 2600a but its got speaker grills...

theres two stickers on the bottom one says it was made in sunnyvale ca and the other one is an atari call toll free super service sticker...

i opened the thing up, and the main mother board looks like its from the origional '6 switch' atari but modified with some flimsy dificulty switches not properly anchored.

how many atari vcs 2600a's were made with speaker grills? do i have a mutant atari and is it worth holding on to?

thank you for any insight.

sku_u · April 21, 2004

It sounds like you have a refurbished 2600. There are many refurbished systems floating around out there. I've seen all sorts of combinations between the heavy sixer, light sixer, vader and 4 switch woodgrain systems in the past.

gamerz · April 21, 2004

I had one like that, too. From what was told, it was made from leftover sixer parts to save costs.

bjk7382 · April 21, 2004

Got a digital camera so you could snap a pic of it.

From what I read it sounds like a hack job that someone did.

Does the bottom plastic have the controller ports coming out the back? and do the difficulty switches come out of the top plastic like a normal 4 switcher.

This sounds like an intresting thing that is probly worth holding on to. (especially if it works and all)

Mr.FoodMonster · April 22, 2004

Also, all 2600's had speaker grills, the original plan was to have speakers included in them, but they decided not to.

Susuwatari · April 22, 2004

I have seen an odd 2600 as well: it looks like standard 4 switcher and has standard 4 switcher board but the bottom shell was from a 6 switcher with black plastic sheet covering the unused ports. I don't know if it was a refurb or if it was just the very first 4 switcher to come out and Atari used leftover 6 switcher case.

bjk7382 · April 22, 2004

Also, all 2600's had speaker grills, the original plan was to have speakers included in them, but they decided not to.

4 switchers usually don't have grills. Pretty much all the 6 switch systems (lite and heavy) have speaker grills.

socialdrone · April 22, 2004

thanks a bunch for the replys.

i thought at first it was probably nothing special but the speaker grills made me wonder...none of the 4 switch 2600's i have ever seen have had grills. are they just less common?

i looked at the mother board and i was wrong i dont think its from a 6 switch 2600...but its still different from all my other 4 switch ataris.

i took some pics though my camera skills are not that great.

again any input would be great...