2600 Giant list Labels, boxes, manuals, UPDATED!

[phitter]

Sorry - I will stop with the game scans. I think I have a bunch of manuals not on the list - would you like info/scans on those?

 

Oh and by the way, this list is unbelievable! I can't imagine how much time you must have put into it. Thanks to you and all the contributors for all your hard work on this. You are truly a classic videogame archeologist.

 

 

-phitter

[rheffera]

there is another deamon attack label variation, RED label with white text.

Edited September 20, 2006 by rheffera

[Rom Hunter]

That's the HES version.

 

[Christophero Sly]

Phil,

 

I compared my collection with your list about 2 months ago and found dozens of cart, box, and manual variants that needed to be added. You might remember that I started sending scans of things to you then, but you asked me to hold off until you had more free time to work on the list. Unfortunately, in the meantime, my HD crashed and I'm on a backup computer until at least late next week. I won't be able to scan anything for you before then. Would you like descriptions of things now, followed by scans later, or would you just prefer scans in a few weeks?

[Christophero Sly]

Good to bring this up, Phil.

 

Many collectors don't know about the . , difference of Sears text carts.

I was unaware of this variation, or had forgotten about it. Is it only found on 49xxxxx carts?

Edited September 20, 2006 by Christophero Sly

[Philflound]

I don't know what versions it is on. What I'm doing is going through all the scans I can get from AA or from Rom Hunter. I'm then going through all my copies again that I have in the closet in the basement. That is when I'm going to scrutinize over all the Sears versions. I caught the AA copy of Gunslinger against my own personal copy. The thing is I don't have many duplicates when it comes to Sears, so that is why I'm hoping the 5th Ghost will help out. Though I've yet to hear from him. He's probably taking a vacation from the site.

 

As for my doing the list, it was proabably about 40% of what it is today. Thanks to adding all the variations from help by people like Sly, Staberinde, and Rom, and others who've added all the Activision boxes, or the Sears like 5th Ghost. The manuals and such were my idea and I pretty much did that by myself with the help of looking at the Atari Guide website to see what manuals he had. There've been countless number of people who have contributed at least a small portion of the list, and that is why I have it available for all to use, and will make sure it is complete and accurate. That is why I'm being so particular with scans.

 

As for the new additions from you Sly, hold off till you see what I have. All the scans you gave me for red labels, or grey labels, or black labels or anything else you sent me I still have and will be all ready to add when I get to the Atari section.

 

As for you Phitter, I appreciate anything you will contribute, but wait till I get everything good so you can see what I'm missing altogether or what scans I'm missing that you can help me fill in. What I like about the scans is that I can compare side by side variations and let everyone see exactly what the differences are instead of just read about them.

 

Rom, have you heard about the PB German boxes yet? After I get through the third party carts, I'm going to go back and see what you may have added so I can be as accurate as possible with any new additions, probably almost all foreign.

 

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I think I came up with a theory about the Sears labels that fade and form black boxes around the titles and those that don't. I was considering making this a variation a few months ago, and a couple of days ago decided against it. This is sort of how I found the Gunslinger variation. I was studying the font, and noticed that the one I had was slightly thinner than the one on AA, then came across the , vs . variation. There are several Sears variations with font differences that are so miniscule that I think I'll avoid those altogether unless I can come up with some concrete proof there is a variation. The one example I believe I posted somewhere with pictures was the Codebreaker. I discovered the TM on the main label was a different color. The one I have now in my collection did not have the black boxes, and the white text was white with a purple bleed. The TM also was this color. My original Codebreaker turned out to have a green TM just like the title color. So this one I put down as a variation. I will further scrutinize when I get to my basement stock on other titles.

 

Some people call me obsessive. I guess I am since I sit here with a ruler and measure things to make sure they are exact. But I still consider this fun. Should there be a price difference on many of the variations? Probably not. But some of the most popular variations command a considerable amount more than their regular counterparts. Most are 3-5x what a normal version would sell for. And it all boils down to the rarity of the labels. Subtle variations won't do much, but major ones will.

 

I'll keep everyone posted. Phitter, you didn't send me your email. Do you want to be on the mailing list? Several collectors get this updated list, even if I don't update it on the website regularly. Though when it looks like I'm pretty much ready, I'll try and keep the website as up to date as possible.

 

Phil

[Rom Hunter]

Rom, have you heard about the PB German boxes yet? After I get through the third party carts, I'm going to go back and see what you may have added so I can be as accurate as possible with any new additions, probably almost all foreign.

I contacted the owner about it, but got no reply yet.

 

I'll keep you informed about this as soon as he responds.

 

[YOK-dfa]

Rom, have you heard about the PB German boxes yet?

You mean these?

 

 

I had never heard of or seen them before. Maybe i should have bid on them. The auction ended for €1,-

[Philflound]

Yes, that is exactly what I was referring to. I want to know about the top of the box. Is it open on top or is there a flap? Since it is die-cut at an angle, I can't tell from any photos I've seen if this is a closable flap box or not. I can't believe it to be any other way though, but I'd like to be as accurate as possible. This may sound dumb, but are these new releases? I've never heard or seen them before until recently. Thanks.

 

Phil

[YOK-dfa]

Yes, that is exactly what I was referring to. I want to know about the top of the box. Is it open on top or is there a flap? Since it is die-cut at an angle, I can't tell from any photos I've seen if this is a closable flap box or not. I can't believe it to be any other way though, but I'd like to be as accurate as possible. This may sound dumb, but are these new releases? I've never heard or seen them before until recently. Thanks.

 

Phil

 

Some more pics from THE AUCTION

 

 

According to the seller these were the first release versions. After these PB switched to the 'normal' boxes. It's the first time i've seen these too, so i can't help you any further...

Edited September 22, 2006 by YOK-dfa

[Philflound]

This is exactly what I was looking for. So it looks like the boxes open from the front like a book, similar to the original Atari and Sears games and Intellivision games. Thanks for helping me out. Now I can add those to the list confidently.

 

Phil

[Omegamatrix]

Wow those are cool boxes. Nice pieces YOK-dfa.

[Philflound]

So far, Rom only has showing 6 German boxed versions of Parker Brothers games. Action Force has a German label, does anyone have a scan of the box? Also, I can't see how they wouldn't have made German versions of Q*Bert and Popeye, since they were and still are extremely popular. Anyone have an idea on them?

 

Phil

[Philflound]

I can't remember if someone told me this, though I remember reading it. It may have been in this thread, or another, or someone PM'd me, but I'm putting this down as an official box variation. This version at the moment is for the Sears games, but will most likely also pertain to the Atari made games.

 

There seems to be three types of boxes in existance. The first is for the original releases, which is the book opening type of box. The other 2 I can't seem to figure out which came first. One version has a full flap across that tucks into the top or bottom, depending on which flap it is. The other version has the flaps glued, and there is a glued hang tag on the back of the box at the top. The example I'm showing is for Missile Command. The version I personally own is the tucked flap, no glue. The bottom small side flap has Rev 1 on it. If anyone owns a glued version which has come loose on the bottom flap, do me a favor and see if there is a Rev 2 or no Rev at all on it. This would sort of verify which version was made first. I'm sure there will be others. If anyone knows of any other Sears variations like this, please send me scans. Box scans of Sears games are difficult to obtain. When I get to the Atari, I'm going to look at what I have.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Phil

Edited September 24, 2006 by Philflound

[Philflound]

Alright folks, I just updated the website with the giant list of variations. I've added even more variations. Everything that I have knowledge of from 20th Century Fox up through Sears is now on there. I don't have scans yet of everything and am still working on that, so hold off on sending me scans yet, since I still have to go through my stock. The only scans I am requesting is those of the Sears boxes. Whatever I have access to both on the internet and in my personal collection is now on my computer. So any Sears boxes that do not have a * next to it means I need the scan. The 5th Ghost said he does not have a scanner. I believe he has the most comprehensive Sears boxed collection, and would be a great help if he had a scanner. He has offered to send me things to scan, but I don't want to really have that responsibility on my shoulders with such rare items. So if you own the boxes and have access to a scanner, please do me a favor and scan both front and back of the box and email them to me.

 

New additions that were from the last update were the Parker Brothers German boxes, and the glued vs tucked boxed variations of the Sears. If you have anything not listed, please contact me with the scans and I'll add them. Also, anything with a ? means I need that particular information, so if you are privvy to it, let me know so I can get rid of the question marks.

 

Remember, only the 3rd party section from 20th Century Fox through Sears is complete. Do not send any updates for the Atari section or after Sears since I'm still working on those sections. I'll keep everyone updated with my progress. Since I'm back, I'm doing very well in adding things. I will continue to keep the website as up to date as possible. I was behind with it, but spent a good 1 1/2 hours this afternoon filling in everything.

 

Also, like I mentioned, there was a new discovery with the , vs . variation on Sears labels. If you have specifics on these that are not listed, let's get them showing.

 

Thanks again for all the effort. Any new major discoveries I'll post here so I can get help filling in new sections.

 

Phil

[Philflound]

Oh, I forgot to mention. This list is no longer a rumor mill. Until I physically see a variation, it will not be added to the list. There are many foreign versions that are on Rom's website in name only that he does not have a scan of. Until he gets a scan of the cart or box, I will not add it to the list. So if you look at his site and see something that he has listed and does not have a scan, and you own it, please contact him with a scan and hopefully he'll pass the info to me so I can add it to the list.

 

Phil

Edited September 27, 2006 by Philflound

[Rom Hunter]

Oh, I forgot to mention. This list is no longer a rumor mill. Until I physically see a variation, it will not be added to the list. There are many foreign versions that are on Rom's website in name only that he does not have a scan of. Until he gets a scan of the cart or box, I will not add it to the list. So if you look at his site and see something that he has listed and does not have a scan, and you own it, please contact him with a scan and hopefully he'll pass the info to me so I can add it to the list.

 

Phil

Please don't think that the Atarimania database is full of rumored titles, only because I don't have proper scans of them.

 

Except for two ITT Family Games and a few Home Vision titles, all entries in the Atarimania database are known to exist.

 

Either their existence is confirmed by respected Atari 2600 cart collectors, or I've seen a (crappy) picture of the actual cart or prototype.

 

I own thousands of cart pictures, but they are just not good enough to add, so feel free to contact me if you own a good quality scan of any non-scanned cart in our database.

 

Edited September 28, 2006 by Rom Hunter

[Philflound]

Rom, nothing personal, but there's a real good reason why I don't want to add anything without a scan. When I can physically see the label or cart, I can define it correctly. Many times things were "said" about a label, and it turned out to be something different, or was not listed correctly, or misinterpreted. Like you write for example a Parker Brothers that has French, International, German, etc. I may not know what French is, or possibly the French version has the exact same label as the standard NTSC. The list I've been working on is specifically for a "variation" of either the cartridge shell or the label(s). Writing something has French doesn't help anyone. Also, there may be more than one French version. Say one has a "P" on it and the other doesn't, but they are both English/French labels. That is actually 2 variations and if you're not showing it, how am I to define the label correctly? So by leaving it out, I don't make that mistake.

 

If I have a scan and a good definition, say I have the one with the "P" on the label. Someone can read the variation and see a "P" is on the label, and they can look at the scan I have and see the "P" on the label. They can then tell me that their version doesn't have a "P" on the label, thus creating 2 variations for the same release. I see that many times you will list several photos under the same release. If you look at Star Wars ESB, you will see that there are MANY variations, almost all are NTSC. You may only show 4 on your website, when in fact there may be 7. You may even know there are 7, but the rest of the world will not know unless you write down that there are 3 more variations that you either have bad scans of or have no scans of. So my method, though may not totally be complete, will at least insure no more errors and phoney entries in the list.

 

If at any time you receive a scan of any label or cartridge type, contact me with it and I will happily add it to the list. I'm not out to keep anything from the list. I'm not including foreign released companies, or may keep them to a minimum, which would be the most popular. One thing I've been debating is whether or not to include the CBS Coleco games. After I'm done with the list, I may go back and add them under the CBS label. At this time they will remain off the list. But since these games were released by Coleco originally, and CBS is a company that released NTSC games, I think it would be appropriate to eventually add them.

 

And like was mentioned before, don't any of your PAL people jump down my throat about not adding the PAL entries. Besides the fact that there are proabably 4-5x minimum more PAL re-releases, it's not feasible to list them. Collecting PAL is more of an exception that 95% of the collectors out there do not want to do, so it would be too much work on my part with little use to the collector. I do invite anyone willing to take on the task to do so. My guess may be Marco, since he may have the most comprehensive collection out there. But if there are others who have a couple thousand PAL games, I want you to seriously think about taking on this task. Think about the hundreds of hours you would need to create the list, look for all variations, and scan them all. Then reconsider bashing me for not doing it.

 

Anyway, thanks to Phitter for providing me with a few Sears scans. I believe I'm going to add the Tank Plus box as a new variation. I'll run it by 5th Ghost and see what he thinks, or possibly what he owns.

 

Phil

[gamme]

Hey Phil. Good work on the variants. I'll check the comma / period on some Sears carts - we may have to work in groups with this since not alot of people collect Sears text label doubles.

 

Hopefully we can do the scans in pairs. This can work with everyone. I'll start it by posting what Sears text carts I own and whether or not they are comma or period. Then once enough of us post what we have, we can scan when we get two people with different ones.

 

-gamme

 

Have a period:

 

Bowling, Baseball, Breakaway IV, Tank-Plus, Target Fun

 

Have a comma:

 

Steeplechase, Backgammon, Arcade Pinball

 

Note: the comma on Backgammon is very slight - it's almost a period. I am 83.71% sure it's a comma but it might be a period in disguise...I don't want to go blind with this sort of thing.

 

-gamme

Edited September 27, 2006 by gamme

[Philflound]

I'm voting on the 5th Ghost to supply me with most of the variations. This is why I have scans. If I have at least one scan, anyone can email me and ask me for it, and then compare the one I have versus the copy they own to see if it's a variation. Also, when Rom Hunter reaches the Sears section, he'll have scans for anyone to access, which would be much easier than asking me. The Sears section has always been sparse, and even the scans here on AA are much less than what exists. The 5th Ghost revamped the entire Sears part of the list for me. The only possible inaccuracies may be the rarity of the variation itself. Since Sears carts are much harder to acquire, it may be more difficult to determine which label is the rarer.

 

Phil

[gamme]

I'm voting on the 5th Ghost to supply me with most of the variations. This is why I have scans. If I have at least one scan, anyone can email me and ask me for it, and then compare the one I have versus the copy they own to see if it's a variation. Also, when Rom Hunter reaches the Sears section, he'll have scans for anyone to access, which would be much easier than asking me. The Sears section has always been sparse, and even the scans here on AA are much less than what exists. The 5th Ghost revamped the entire Sears part of the list for me. The only possible inaccuracies may be the rarity of the variation itself. Since Sears carts are much harder to acquire, it may be more difficult to determine which label is the rarer.

 

Phil

 

Alright - so you have all of those Sears that I mentioned then?

[Philflound]

You need to look at my list and be more specific. Anything with a * I have a scan of. Tank Plus has 6 variations alone. Telling me something has a . or a , is not helpful unless you specifically pick something from the list to compare it to. Also, I don't anticipate every one of the carts to have this variation. So it's not necessary to note unless the variation exists. The easiest way to tell would be to compare any copy you run across with the scan I have on file.

 

Phil

Edited September 27, 2006 by Philflound

[gamme]

You need to look at my list and be more specific. Anything with a * I have a scan of. Tank Plus has 6 variations alone. Telling me something has a . or a , is not helpful unless you specifically pick something from the list to compare it to.

 

Phil

 

Ok. Here's the 49xxxxx ones since seem to be the only ones that will have the variation.

 

 

Bowling is the 4975117 text version with the copyright 1979 on it. It has a period.

 

Target Fun is the 4975102 text version with the copyright 1977, yellow letters - a very sharp black label with bright white lettering, almost looks brand new. It has a period.

 

Steeplechase is the 4975126 text version with the copyright 1980 on it, gold letters, big copyright. It has a comma.

 

Backgammon is the same as the Atari Age scan. It has a comma.

 

This may not help you at all. Sorry,

[Philflound]

What I'll do is check what you have vs what I own or have on scan. If I don't have your versions, I'm going to ask you to scan both main and end labels so I can add them. I'll get back to you soon. I'm deciding to do the Sears in my stock real soon, probably no later by tomorrow.

 

Phil

 

EDIT: I'm already done with A-G now with the Sears labels. So anything you don't see a * next to means I don't have it and can't get it. So those are the ones I need so far. I'll update you tomorrow if I can finish the rest of the Sears. I've added several variations that I thought were noteworthy. Most were font differences where one was thicker and the other thinner. I have scans of both so if you see it on the list and want them, just contact me.

Edited September 28, 2006 by Philflound

[Rom Hunter]

Rom, nothing personal, but there's a real good reason why I don't want to add anything without a scan. When I can physically see the label or cart, I can define it correctly. Many times things were "said" about a label, and it turned out to be something different, or was not listed correctly, or misinterpreted. Like you write for example a Parker Brothers that has French, International, German, etc. I may not know what French is, or possibly the French version has the exact same label as the standard NTSC. The list I've been working on is specifically for a "variation" of either the cartridge shell or the label(s). Writing something has French doesn't help anyone. Also, there may be more than one French version. Say one has a "P" on it and the other doesn't, but they are both English/French labels. That is actually 2 variations and if you're not showing it, how am I to define the label correctly? So by leaving it out, I don't make that mistake.

 

If I have a scan and a good definition, say I have the one with the "P" on the label. Someone can read the variation and see a "P" is on the label, and they can look at the scan I have and see the "P" on the label. They can then tell me that their version doesn't have a "P" on the label, thus creating 2 variations for the same release. I see that many times you will list several photos under the same release. If you look at Star Wars ESB, you will see that there are MANY variations, almost all are NTSC. You may only show 4 on your website, when in fact there may be 7. You may even know there are 7, but the rest of the world will not know unless you write down that there are 3 more variations that you either have bad scans of or have no scans of. So my method, though may not totally be complete, will at least insure no more errors and phoney entries in the list.

 

If at any time you receive a scan of any label or cartridge type, contact me with it and I will happily add it to the list. I'm not out to keep anything from the list. I'm not including foreign released companies, or may keep them to a minimum, which would be the most popular. One thing I've been debating is whether or not to include the CBS Coleco games. After I'm done with the list, I may go back and add them under the CBS label. At this time they will remain off the list. But since these games were released by Coleco originally, and CBS is a company that released NTSC games, I think it would be appropriate to eventually add them.

 

And like was mentioned before, don't any of your PAL people jump down my throat about not adding the PAL entries. Besides the fact that there are proabably 4-5x minimum more PAL re-releases, it's not feasible to list them. Collecting PAL is more of an exception that 95% of the collectors out there do not want to do, so it would be too much work on my part with little use to the collector. I do invite anyone willing to take on the task to do so. My guess may be Marco, since he may have the most comprehensive collection out there. But if there are others who have a couple thousand PAL games, I want you to seriously think about taking on this task. Think about the hundreds of hours you would need to create the list, look for all variations, and scan them all. Then reconsider bashing me for not doing it.

 

Anyway, thanks to Phitter for providing me with a few Sears scans. I believe I'm going to add the Tank Plus box as a new variation. I'll run it by 5th Ghost and see what he thinks, or possibly what he owns.

 

Phil

Phil,

 

I can fully understand the way you are working and I also think it's the most accurate way to do it.

 

Your list is a very valuable reference guide for serious collectors and it would be a shame to let it get infected with rumored titles.

 

As you probably noticed, I will put minor label variations of the same game together in one entry, otherwise our database will become a total mess.

 

I really hope that some day all your listed label variations can actually be shown in our database, but to accomplish this we both need scans.

 

A lot of them.

 

Edited September 28, 2006 by Rom Hunter