+Nathan Strum Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Well, I'm not really a collector. I haven't bought anything off of eBay, I don't go to garage sales or thrift stores looking for games or collectibles. In fact, except for a few homebrews, nearly all of the games I own are ones I bought back in the day. But this... this I couldn't resist. I found this at a store in Seattle while on vacation, and snatched it up: More pics, and the complete story can be found here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 How much? I want it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Very cool writeup and great pictures! Too bad about the cutout, but still a very cool find. I love the picture with all the carts. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIPITBULL Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 That is one of the last few items I would love to have in my collection!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 That is cool. Too bad those homebrews don't work correctly with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susuwatari Posted August 7, 2004 Share Posted August 7, 2004 Looks like Imagic display. Defiantly could use one as ROMScanner is limited to paltry 10 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted August 8, 2004 Author Share Posted August 8, 2004 How much? I want it. I'd originally bought it with the intention of reselling it, but it turned out to be so cool, I'm going to hang onto it. At least for now. That is cool. Too bad those homebrews don't work correctly with it. StarFire works perfectly with it. Those are the only three homebrews I own so far. I thought it would make a great display for selling homebrews at a game expo, but I wonder how many will ultimately work with it. Of course, that would mean I'd have to learn how to program, and then come up with 24 games for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susuwatari Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Can you check and see how it worked?I would like to try and build something similiar but I'm not sure how exactly the multicart system select only one cart. Is it by toggling only A12 (enable) or are there other things to toggle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike OC Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 That is damn cool!! I remember seeing those (or similar to those) in Sears, back in the day. I wonder if there is a way to rig the timer pot for unlimited play time? Maybe a switch/bypass? I remember playing on the one @ Sears and being in the middle of a hot game and Zap! Time over! Great find!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted August 8, 2004 Author Share Posted August 8, 2004 Well, I went through and tested all of my games. (I'm beginning to regret having looted the bargain bins after the big crash. ) Anyway, I posted a page about incompatible games that I ran across. The good news is - Qb and Marble Craze actually do work. The bad news... Pitfall II doesn't. Can you check and see how it worked? Is it by toggling only A12 (enable) or are there other things to toggle? I'm not really sure, and it's a bit beyond my scope as to how to figure it out. However, based on the tests (linked to above) it appears that whatever it's doing, it doesn't completely isolate each game from the rest. I wonder if there is a way to rig the timer pot for unlimited play time? Maybe a switch/bypass? The guy I bought it from only tested it for 30 minutes (I haven't tested it that far yet), but he suggested that, depending on how they designed it, it may be that turning the pot all of the way up gives you unlimited time. I suppose it would have to do with whether less resistance meant a short time, or more resistance did. At some point I'll set it up and just let it run, and see how long it'll go. One thing I didn't mention on the page, is that the difficulty switches are impossible to reach on a four-switcher, so my six-switcher will probably go in there at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dykesr Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Dang it i was in that same store about a month ago and i didn't even see that maybee wasn't out yet because if i had seen it it would have been mine, nice find though very nice RD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Most of the games that don't work in the Imagic selector either have a timing-sensitive bankswitching scheme or are writing to an extra RAM chip. Since the ribbon cable is pretty long, the signals between the cartridge and the cartridge slot on the 2600 would be delayed a bit. This is probably why these games don't work properly. Maybe plugging them into the selector cartridge slot that is closest to where the ribbon cable connects to the board might improve the situation for some of them. Looking at the board, the only line that is seperated on all cartridge slots seems to be the +5V line. So I suppose the games are selected by only providing power to the corresponding cartridge slot. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricDeLee Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Very nice... I wish I had this as well. Has one ever shown up on ebay before? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susuwatari Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 I do remember one on eBay sometime ago (along with a multicart system for Activision and one other I can't remember) It was long ago though, maybe there's something in the Google news archive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted August 8, 2004 Author Share Posted August 8, 2004 Dang it i was in that same store about a month ago and i didn't even see that I almost didn't see it. It was way up on the top of their display cabinets, near some boxes of 2600 carts. Although they didn't say when they got it, or from whom. Maybe plugging them into the selector cartridge slot that is closest to where the ribbon cable connects to the board might improve the situation for some of them. Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a shot. It appears slot 31 is the closest. Still, it's a lonnnng ribbon cable. Looking at the board, the only line that is seperated on all cartridge slots seems to be the +5V line. So I suppose the games are selected by only providing power to the corresponding cartridge slot. I posted the full-rez digital pic of the board here, if you want a closer look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godzilla Posted August 8, 2004 Share Posted August 8, 2004 Man, that unit is just beautiful. I used to play one of those at a local 2600 game store in new york as kid, and I always lusted after it. One day... sigh.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad2600 Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 *drools* Man, what I would give to find something like that in the wild! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eckhard Stolberg Posted August 9, 2004 Share Posted August 9, 2004 I posted the full-rez digital pic of the board here, if you want a closer look. Thanks for the picture. It clearly shows that all the data and address lines are going straight between all eight ports in a cartridge port row. Only the two topmost pins on the left side of each port have an individual connection to the other side of the board. These pins are ground and +5V, so they must be used for selecting the active cartridge. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 That is very nice. Congratulations! I have a theory for you. I suspect the unit could be locked originally, but that the lock mechanism was removed when the previous owner cut the wedge of wood out of it. That hole in the plexiglass looks like just the right size for a lock mechanism. In fact, it may have been locked with the key missing, and the previous owner had to cut in from the bottom to get the unit open. Great find! Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Damn, an Imagic game selector. That's an awesome find! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted August 10, 2004 Author Share Posted August 10, 2004 That is very nice. Congratulations! I have a theory for you. I suspect the unit could be locked originally, but that the lock mechanism was removed when the previous owner cut the wedge of wood out of it. That hole in the plexiglass looks like just the right size for a lock mechanism. It looks like you were pretty close! There's a picture near the end of this thread of another one that shows a lock on the top where the other hole is (I was wondering why there were two finger holes in the cover). The lock on the top makes more sense anyway, since it would just hook under the top of the cabinet when locked. Besides, they wouldn't have needed to cut that much wood out to disable a lock like that if one had been there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincYnoTi Posted August 10, 2004 Share Posted August 10, 2004 Very nice... I wish I had this as well. Has one ever shown up on ebay before? Three sold on ebay last year. Marco bought two of them, one for $455 and the other for $233. I remember those, not too fondly, since I was the second highest bidder both times . Povlok found one that nobody else did which sold for $46. I have record of another one selling $627 and another sold on Ebay Europe, but I'm not sure if that was the same one or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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