15 replies to this topic

[Rik]

Through all my years of collecting for 2600,INTV,CV,ETC,i have NEVER EVER come across a 5200,in thrift shops,mom and pop,classic game shops,you name it.Even when the system hit whatever stores,i have never seen a 5200 console.Where the 5200's even sold in CANADA?I mean ive come across every classic system in thrift shops and the like,but never come across a 5200 or games,....no correction,,i did find 1 5200 game in the wild,pole position,2 years ago,WHY IS THAT?.Looks like I'll have to get one on ebay or something,cus ive given up on finding one in the WILD!I think the 5200 is a great system,with GREAT GAMES,cant be cus it didnt sell!

[CPUWIZ]

Over the years, I have bought at least 5 lots of 5200 stuff from Canada, including systems.

[MacbthPSW]

Although it probably was sold in Canada, I've never seen one in the wild here, and no games for it either. I finally bought one just this year at the MGC a few weeks ago, to fill that BIG hole between my 2600s and my 7800.

[mimo]

MacbthPSW, on Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:17 AM, said:

Although it probably was sold in Canada, I've never seen one in the wild here, and no games for it either. I finally bought one just this year at the MGC a few weeks ago, to fill that BIG hole between my 2600s and my 7800.

you certainly need a big hole if you are going to fill it with a 5200

[DracIsBack]

I saw a non-working one outside of Toronto in a thrift shop a few years ago.

[misspent_youth]

AFAIK, the 5200 was not sold in Canada at retail; it's likely that the ones people have seen were the result of purchases by Canucks while in the US, or mail order purchases, or even collectors who acquired them. I'm in Canada, and I've got one, but I just acquired it recently from an American; I did not know anyone as a kid who had one. Truthfully, I didn't even know all that much about it back then, which speaks to the fact that it wasn't available here.

[DracIsBack]

I wonder why not? It was the only Atari system that wasn't.

The 2600 was everywhere
The 7800 was at Toy City, Toys R. Us and K-Mart Canada
The XE Game System was at Zellers
The Lynx was assorted computer shots.
The Jaguar was at Electronic Boutiques

Weird that Warner, with their distribution, didn't release it.

[misspent_youth]

My guess is that Coleco is responsible. They had a Canadian presence (i.e. a warehouse in Quebec), and the 2600 was still the dominant (Atari) product. Given the smaller market, Atari probably just didn't think it would be worth their while up here. It was like that with tons of stuff back then.

[Atariboy]

5200's were sold at least in Ontario.

[Mord]

Atariboy, on Fri Jun 29, 2007 11:41 PM, said:

5200's were sold at least in Ontario.

Yeah, I remember hearing/reading about it getting a limited release in the southern ontario area. It managed to spread out from there a bit tho I presume, both from imports and canadians going back and forth from Ontario. I know I can find some 5200 games at thrift stores, although not many. Haven't seen the console itself available tho.

[Shawn Sr.]

misspent_youth, on Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:41 PM, said:

AFAIK, the 5200 was not sold in Canada at retail..... Truthfully, I didn't even know all that much about it back then, which speaks to the fact that it wasn't available here.

Ummm, 5200 was sold in Canada, don't know where your getting your facts from.

[King_Salamon]

Yup... I recall playing the 5200 at a friends place in the 80's... it was all about Pac-Man at the time.

As for where they were sold... we had a store called Video Concepts which was really amazing and they had everything from the 2600 to the Atari computers. (Still remember playing 2600 pacman on a projection screen! WOW!) This is one store that had the 5200...

Consumers Distributing didn't carry the 5200 from what I remember... later on they did have the 7800 and the lynx.

Zellers didn't carry it... but Woolco did... it had a tiny amount from what I can remember.

Wait a second... KMart might have had some 5200 stuff... or perhaps it was all 7800 and 2600... I remember drooling over the game cases in the jewellery department... good times. LOL!

[davidcalgary29]

I saw the 5200 in a few Toronto-area stores for a few months around 1983. I know that K-Mart carried some stock, and I believe that it was carried by one or two other major retailers, as well. I never saw it for sale in Western Canada, though; all of my friends and relatives in Alberta had the CV.

[Rik]

King_Salamon, on Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:34 PM, said:

Yup... I recall playing the 5200 at a friends place in the 80's... it was all about Pac-Man at the time.

As for where they were sold... we had a store called Video Concepts which was really amazing and they had everything from the 2600 to the Atari computers. (Still remember playing 2600 pacman on a projection screen! WOW!) This is one store that had the 5200...

Consumers Distributing didn't carry the 5200 from what I remember... later on they did have the 7800 and the lynx.

Zellers didn't carry it... but Woolco did... it had a tiny amount from what I can remember.

Wait a second... KMart might have had some 5200 stuff... or perhaps it was all 7800 and 2600... I remember drooling over the game cases in the jewellery department... good times. LOL!

Yeah,i remember CONSUMERS DISTRIBUTING,great store!!!!!!!!!!,i got alot of my carts from there,do you also remember SHOP-RITE?

[misspent_youth]

I stand corrected.

[tyranthraxus]

Ah! Messed up quoting for the other current thread!

Edited by tyranthraxus, Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:21 PM.