AirRaid the Da Vinci Code =O

[brpocock]

Do you think Oak-Mitsui's records go back far enough to see if there was a contract from MenAvision to make these boards.

 

Wouldn't hurt to ask. Of course, they might well have bought them through a wholesaler if this was a limited production run, or something.

 

Being curious, I checked... US PTO never issued any trademarks similar to "men a vision." I couldn't figure out how to check biz licenses in California, though. Assuming (wildly) that the company was in California, or even USA. I doubt, say, Mexico or Brazil has such records online

[NovaXpress]

Maybe it's another scam from the people who brought us "Tax Avoiders"

[rockman_x_2002]

Do you think Oak-Mitsui's records go back far enough to see if there was a contract from MenAvision to make these boards.

 

Wouldn't hurt to ask. Of course, they might well have bought them through a wholesaler if this was a limited production run, or something.

 

Being curious, I checked... US PTO never issued any trademarks similar to "men a vision." I couldn't figure out how to check biz licenses in California, though. Assuming (wildly) that the company was in California, or even USA. I doubt, say, Mexico or Brazil has such records online

 

Another thought:

 

Would it not be possible that the boards could have been purchased from a wholesaler in the US (or elsewhere) who had the Oak-Mitsui boards, and then had them shipped to their location somewhere else in the world?

 

To put it another way, I guess what I'm trying to suggest maybe is that the boards may very well be from the US, but does that mean necesseraly that MenAVision is from the US also? So even if you do prove the boards from the from the US, that still says nothing about the company if these boards were sold through a general wholesaler. Right?

 

Edited May 18, 2006 by rockman_x_2002

[Dino]

So considering what's mentioned earlier and all, from strictly a collector's standpoint, if this game turns out to be a PAL game after all, then for the folks that have this game in their library, their $1000+ blue-plastic-and-silicon investment turns out not to be worth a pluck nickel?

 

That said, though, I have to say that this has got to be one of the highlights of my summer. And so soon after wrapping up college for the semester too. So interesting to see what will develop next here.

 

It will be worth what the market is willing to pay. This one sold for $1,500, which is less than half what was paid by some collectors recently. There is no knowing what the effect on market value will be if this turns out to be a pirate cart, but chances are it will fall in value. Given the mystery of this cart, even if it turns out to be a pirate, I think it will hold its value somewhat...

[Rom Hunter]

Please remember that a lot of effort was put in this hack.

It quite differs from the original Space Jockey.

 

I don't know of any Taiwanese or Brazilian company putting that much effort in hacking a game.

 

Only Suntek titles come close, but you can still make out which game was hacked.

 

Edited May 18, 2006 by Rom Hunter

[sylabyss]

HAHAhahahah what a circus, I do believe that OAK Symbol does look very similar to that company in the Good Ole USA It cant be too hard to email them a pic and ask them if its one of there early boards .Also If anyone wants to Know what my bid at 10 sec was for the cart ,it was $7500.00

[Happy_Dude]

.Also If anyone wants to Know what my bid at 10 sec was for the cart ,it was $7500.00

Would you still have cracked it open if someone else was prepared to pay $7000

[Chickybaby]

HAHAhahahah what a circus, I do believe that OAK Symbol does look very similar to that company in the Good Ole USA It cant be too hard to email them a pic and ask them if its one of there early boards .Also If anyone wants to Know what my bid at 10 sec was for the cart ,it was $7500.00

 

You know, I'm really curious as to your reasons behind bidding on the cart and even opening it. Regardless of what the final bid was, it's still a good chunk of money just for curiousity's sake.

 

Yep, being a nosy female.

[A.J. Franzman]

I Googled the number on the chip "HD74LS04P" and came up with a Hitachi brand semiconductor, as their logo on the chip would corroborate. I then noticed that some of the results were listing "HD74LS04" without the "P", so for kicks I put in "HD74LS04N" and also got back Hitachi info. Now, I'm no engineer (that's my dad's job), but could the "P" and "N" designations refer to PAL and NTSC? My guess is they don't since several websites refer to the "P" version as being used in North America, but I'm just asking, so please be gentle. Perhaps the more technical types can better explain the coding on the chip...

This chip is an off-the-shelf hex inverter. This chip tells us absolutely nothing (except that it's an EPROM cart.) N or P is probably just the type of silicon used in manufacture.

Yeah, it's off-the-shelf, could have been used by anyone anywhere. HD is Hitachi's prefix. 74LS04 is for TTL logic type, 7404 is the number of a hex inverter (six inverters in one chip, thus all those unused pins); the "LS" in the middle is for Low-power Shottky logic subtype. The suffix "N" or "P" just indicates the revision of the particular mask used to make the die. In many cases, there are minor behavior or perfomance differences between revisions but you might not be able to discover exactly what they are even if you have the full manufacturer's datasheets. For the purpose of an Atari 2600 cartridge I'm sure the revision of the inverter makes no difference at all.

 

Also, the "OAK" outline-stencil font logo on the board for Oak-Mitsui is very common; I'm sure I've seen it before and I probably have one or more boards with it here in my scrap or salvage piles. Again, it only says who made the board not who put the board in the cartridge and sold it. It's even possible that Oak sold the blank copper-clad board to someone else, who did the circuit etching and drilling.

[crunchysuperman]

PAL pengos are one, which sell for between $10 and $100.

 

Show me one that went for $10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . and I'll cry

[sku_u]

My conclusion is that it is still ultra-rare (there are only seven accounted for). Just the mere fact that only seven are accounted for makes it ultra rare. Just my opinion.

 

My conclusion is that my unknown game console, two Eram titles and my Argentinian carts are all rarity 13 worth 10K each since they are the only ones known to exist.

[keilbaca]

PAL pengos are one, which sell for between $10 and $100.

 

Show me one that went for $10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . and I'll cry

 

Well it hasn't been the worst you spent... remember the sears picture label superman?

 

 

A lot of work has been put into this hack and to answer a question earlier in the thread, it IS a hack as it has been compared to Space Jockey by code.

 

I think no matter what happens, there's still going to be a lot of value to this cart, until they find that warehouse where all the Air Raids are hiding at

[video game addict]

Also, the "OAK" outline-stencil font logo on the board for Oak-Mitsui is very common; I'm sure I've seen it before and I probably have one or more boards with it here in my scrap or salvage piles. Again, it only says who made the board not who put the board in the cartridge and sold it. It's even possible that Oak sold the blank copper-clad board to someone else, who did the circuit etching and drilling.

 

 

I've owned carts in the past that have the exact same stenciling on them.

[brpocock]

Also, the "OAK" outline-stencil font logo on the board for Oak-Mitsui is very common; I'm sure I've seen it before and I probably have one or more boards with it here in my scrap or salvage piles. Again, it only says who made the board not who put the board in the cartridge and sold it. It's even possible that Oak sold the blank copper-clad board to someone else, who did the circuit etching and drilling.

 

I've owned carts in the past that have the exact same stenciling on them.

 

Not to read too much into it, but ... do you recall who the mfr. was ?

[+batari]

Also, the "OAK" outline-stencil font logo on the board for Oak-Mitsui is very common; I'm sure I've seen it before and I probably have one or more boards with it here in my scrap or salvage piles. Again, it only says who made the board not who put the board in the cartridge and sold it. It's even possible that Oak sold the blank copper-clad board to someone else, who did the circuit etching and drilling.

 

 

I've owned carts in the past that have the exact same stenciling on them.

I think the stenciling further suggests that the cart might be a US release, along with the NTSC colors (in PAL, the sky is purple and the ground appears black.)

 

About the other boards: what manufacturers made them? US companies? (Pictures?)

[orrimarrko]

Just my two cents...

 

I think that the cart will ultimately hover around $1500. Wonder is correct about one thing (for the moment) - there are only so many available.

 

Barring some technological miracle which allows us to definitively verify that this is NOT a PAL cart, it's NTSC.

 

Those two factors will be enough to keep the price at that level in the future.

 

Now, should that "boxed" Air Raid come out in public again...we have a new player in the "most expensive boxed game" category.

 

Again, just my opinion.

[CPUWIZ]

come out in public again

 

Again, I do not believe it ever has, who has seen it? The guy who claimed that this cart is called Air Raid, claimed to have the box, claimed that the company name is Men-A-Vision. The same guy who also mysteriously disappeared? Does that really make it a fact?

 

I have seen the box for Rocky & Bullwinkle, prove me wrong!

[Marco]

If known board members like CPUWIZ, buyatari and sku_u keep on telling that it's a darn pirate that's worth $50 max (and no hard evidence is found to prove otherwise), the value will come down. The people who paid $3k for it will of course claim it's worth more, but they'll most likely lose the battle. This hobby is that small and easily influenced.

 

Cheers,

Marco

[Dino]

PAL pengos are one, which sell for between $10 and $100.

 

Show me one that went for $10.

 

 

 

 

 

 

. . . and I'll cry

 

Hehehe... i did badly word my post. i meant these ultra rare PAL and pirate carts, some of which are rarer than pengo sell for $10-$100. But a PAL pengo sold for Euro 50 recently with a whole bunch of other stuff. resell the rest and you'll get pretty close to $10....

[Dino]

If known board members like CPUWIZ, buyatari and sku_u keep on telling that it's a darn pirate that's worth $50 max (and no hard evidence is found to prove otherwise), the value will come down. The people who paid $3k for it will of course claim it's worth more, but they'll most likely lose the battle. This hobby is that small and easily influenced.

 

Cheers,

Marco

 

I agree with marco. in this hobby a game is guilty until proven innocent. So long as there is doubt over the origins of this game its value will be supressed

[sku_u]

come out in public again

 

Again, I do not believe it ever has, who has seen it? The guy who claimed that this cart is called Air Raid, claimed to have the box, claimed that the company name is Men-A-Vision. The same guy who also mysteriously disappeared? Does that really make it a fact?

 

 

No one. That story's bunk and based on Pitfall Harry's vague recollection of a conversation he'd had on RGVG years before with a guy who for all we know could have been talking out of his ass. The only reason that game's called Air Raid is because the label picture resembles an air raid attack. There is no box until someone shows physical proof otherwise. Until then, it's just a rumor like the supposed existence of the Incredible Hulk prototype, Airworld and all the other vaporaware stories floating around. At best, this is a game like Off Your Rocker, which never saw a true release. At worse it is just another pirate cart.

 

There are many other carts out there that are more rare than this one. The only reason people assign such esteem to it is because there are a few collectors who bought into the story and legend behind the creation of this game. The number that has surfaced is irrelevant. There are many Homevision games for which only 1 or 2 have surfaced yet they do not sell anywhere near what Air Raid sells for.

[pmpddytim]

Do you think Oak-Mitsui's records go back far enough to see if there was a contract from MenAvision to make these boards.

 

Wouldn't hurt to ask.

 

So I did. I'll let you know if they respond.

 

-Tim

[Rick Weis]

@sku_u after reading that post again of ben, are you sure you are talking of Ben's Vague recollection? or the owners vague recollection? (just making sure of your statement)

 

i've always known Ben to be a stickler on details!!

 

Rick

[Room 34]

I'll admit I'm not terribly well-versed in the extreme raritiies of the Atari library, but has it been considered that just because this game is/appears to be NTSC doesn't mean it was made in or released for the North American market? Isn't NTSC also the standard in Japan?

[MattG/Snyper2099]

My conclusion is that it is still ultra-rare (there are only seven accounted for). Just the mere fact that only seven are accounted for makes it ultra rare. Just my opinion.

 

Yes, there might be only 7 known to exist, but as Marco so often states, US collectors are only interested in US NTSC releases only. There are a lot of brazillian carts and PAL carts of which there are less than 7 known to exist - PAL pengos are one, which sell for between $10 and $100. If Air raid falls into this category and is no longer desired by US collectors, its price would fall considerably, even though its ultra rare.

 

true, but Air Raid is NTSC. The colors in the game are consistent with they shoud be...sky is blue, etc.. If it was PAL, the colors would be different. Besides, in my version, there is no rolling whatsoever. In fact, I have tried the game on several television sets with different atari sets and always a great screen with NTSC colors. Thus, if it is NTSC, then the value will still be up there.

There are plenty of ultra rare NTSC games that are near worthless. Brazil and other countries have hosted NTSC-like pirate parties throughout the ages.