Bob Mackey Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 About half a year ago I bought a 7800 Ballblazer cart new in the box off Ebay. After I got it and placed it along side my other 7800 carts, I noticed that, unlike most of them which had silver end labels, my Ballblazer's end label was red. It didn't mean much to me at the time, but now I realize that Ballblazer also came with a silver label that was more common. So just how rare is my version of Ballblazer? Are the games themselves identical? (I imagine they are.) And why is there a red label version in the first place? I don't remember seeing any other 7800 games with red labels... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 I couldn't tell you. Maybe they ran out of silver labels, or maybe it was an error with a run of them. Either way, I have one too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcprs1 Posted November 30, 2001 Share Posted November 30, 2001 As far as I have heard, the red label ballblazer is not that rare for NTSC. It is very rare for the PAL version though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted December 1, 2001 Share Posted December 1, 2001 Is it? Well I've got a rare PAL 7800 game then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 Bob, on your red label Ballblazer box and instructions. Are they any different than the scans that are on this site? Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Mitch: Bob, on your red label Ballblazer box and instructions. Are they any different than the scans that are on this site? Which are right here (manual) and here (box). I'd like to know if they're different as well. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 Al, I actually have two different Ballblazer boxes but neither of them had a red end label cart. My red end label cart I got loose. The boxes differ in the side layout which unfortunately is not included in the AtariAge scans. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted December 2, 2001 Share Posted December 2, 2001 I have a PAL Ballblazer with a red end label and a NTSC Ballblazer with a silver end label. The only difference in the box is that the NTSC copy has a sticker about the Atari Advantage competition on it. Everything else is absolutely the same. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Mackey Posted December 3, 2001 Author Share Posted December 3, 2001 I checked the manual and the box, and they appear to be identical to those pictured. I noticed, however, that the pages of my manual are in a different order than those pictured would have one believe. (The site shows the "Viewing Game Action" page before the "Strategy" page, my manual has the opposite.) It could be possible that my manual's pages are in a different order than typical, though I figure it's more likely that whoever put the scanned pages on the site made a mistake in the order that pages should be in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Mackey Posted December 3, 2001 Author Share Posted December 3, 2001 By the way, my box has the sticker too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 quote: John K. Harvey wrote: It seems possible that a 2600 end-label was produced, and then dumped on 7800 carts in order to save money because a 2600 version was impractical to program, or that a batch of 2600 labels was run accidentally, and that they were put on the Ballblazer carts anyway. The problem with this theory is that the red end label says 7800 on it. quote: ^Cro§Bow^- wrote: As I understand it a lot of the Pal 7800 games have this red end label on them. Ballblazer is the only 7800 game, that I'm aware of, that has the red end label and I believe that the PAL version is rarer than the NTSC version. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Propane13 Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 Yo, I had originally heard that the red-label is a result of a 2600 version of Ballblazer that was never implemented (I think Tod Frye was working on it, but I could be wrong). The red label is similar to Super Football and Secret Quest's labels for the 2600. It seems possible that a 2600 end-label was produced, and then dumped on 7800 carts in order to save money because a 2600 version was impractical to program, or that a batch of 2600 labels was run accidentally, and that they were put on the Ballblazer carts anyway. Is anything known about a 2600 version being worked on at all? -John K. Harvey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+-^CrossBow^- Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 My belief (which could be wrong of course...) is that these red labeled versions were made towards the end of the NTSC cart making era..89' or so. So Atari either ran these late in the game...or simply ran out of silver labeled NTSC ends and started to use the pal end labels on them. As I understand it a lot of the Pal 7800 games have this red end label on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 I will go check for you Mitch, as I have 40 odd PAL 7800 games now... Though does NTSC Ballblazer work okay on PAL 7800? It's hard to know even with the P sticker on the back... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 quoteI will go check for you Mitch, as I have 40 odd PAL 7800 games now... That would be great. quotedoes NTSC Ballblazer work okay on PAL 7800? I don't know, I've never tried it. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted December 5, 2001 Share Posted December 5, 2001 All my other PAL 7800 games have siver end labels. Some of them have "pro system" silver end labels though, which is a term never used with the PAL 7800. No, NTSC Ballblazer won't run on a PAL 7800. It will crash after a couple of seconds. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari70s Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 where is a scan of the game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Mitch Posted December 6, 2001 Share Posted December 6, 2001 Here's the scans from my page. And here are the scans of the standard label and red end label versions here at AtariAge. Mitch http://atari7800.atari.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted December 7, 2001 Share Posted December 7, 2001 Well I checked my entire 7800 PAL collection... several carts have red writing on the end label, but Ballblazer is the only one to have a red end label. So there you go. Have I got a rarity then (and I only paid $8 for it)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted December 19, 2001 Share Posted December 19, 2001 quote: Originally posted by John K. Harvey: Yo, I had originally heard that the red-label is a result of a 2600 version of Ballblazer that was never implemented (I think Tod Frye was working on it, but I could be wrong). The red label is similar to Super Football and Secret Quest's labels for the 2600. It seems possible that a 2600 end-label was produced, and then dumped on 7800 carts in order to save money because a 2600 version was impractical to program, or that a batch of 2600 labels was run accidentally, and that they were put on the Ballblazer carts anyway. Is anything known about a 2600 version being worked on at all? -John K. Harvey Tod Frye was working on a version, and according to him (on the Stella videos), the display he made was excellent. Far as I know, it was never finished. Perhaps he still has a copy of his work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 27, 2001 Share Posted December 27, 2001 quote: Originally posted by Scott Stilphen: Tod Frye was working on a version, and according to him (on the Stella videos), the display he made was excellent. Far as I know, it was never finished. Perhaps he still has a copy of his work? Even if there's no game attached to this demo, it'd be great to see it. I really hope it surfaces someday. Has anyone tried contacting him about it? If he has it, I would hope that he'd allow someone to dump it. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted January 2, 2002 Share Posted January 2, 2002 Yeah, it would be pretty sweet to see. Has anyone ever given thought to finishing proto games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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