23 replies to this topic

[Rurouni_Fencer]

Hey all!

I was going through an old box of Atari games the other day and I came across a PCB for Berzerk. To be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm looking at when it comes to most Atari games, (I'm more of an 8 bit and 16-bit person, to be honest.) But I grew up as a child with a 7800 and I'm eager to learn more about the Atari scene. Anyway, I was curious about this particular chip and figured this would be the authority to go to.

As you'll see in the pictures, it has a red-dot sticker with the name of the game hand-written. I've read that certain colored stickers denoted what the purpose of the PCB was for: either in-house testing, media-copies, etc. From my own limited research, i can only guess that it either is an early build of the game, or a pirated copy. But I can't find any input sources on the chip itself for data transferring. Also, the PCB came in a box of 2600 games and the system, which I was given by a friend at work who was cleaning out his attic. Funny thing is, he also had an original, mass-produced copy of the 2600 game included with the lot, so I don't know why he would have a pirated copy of a game he already owned.

Anyway, I'm hoping somebody out there can help me. I'm not banking on finding a rare copy of a game, and I'm certainly not hoping to score some money or anything like that.. I'm just a fan of classic video game collecting, and I'm curious about what I've got. So if there's any other info I can provide, I'd be happy to post it, and I look forward to any feedback I might receive. Thanks!

[Crazy Climber]

Yarrr matee!

[BDW]

YEEEAARRRGHHH!

[Crazy Climber]

brandondwright, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:04 PM, said:

YEEEAARRRGHHH!

Arrrr...Plus one for yee scalawag...arrrrrr!!!

[Supergun]

Crazy Climber, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:13 PM, said:

brandondwright, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:04 PM, said:

YEEEAARRRGHHH!

Arrrr...Plus one for yee scalawag...arrrrrr!!!

In case your not understanding what they are saying, these guys are telling you that the
item is not a proto, but rather a pirate. Sorry for the sarcasm.

[Crazy Climber]

Supergun, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:22 PM, said:

Crazy Climber, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:13 PM, said:

brandondwright, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:04 PM, said:

YEEEAARRRGHHH!

Arrrr...Plus one for yee scalawag...arrrrrr!!!

In case your not understanding what they are saying, these guys are telling you that the
item is not a proto, but rather a pirate. Sorry for the sarcasm.

Yarrr, no plus ones for you

[BDW]

Crazy Climber, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:13 PM, said:

brandondwright, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:04 PM, said:

YEEEAARRRGHHH!

Arrrr...Plus one for yee scalawag...arrrrrr!!!

ARRRGH, a swig of grog to yee, aaarrr!

[Crazy Climber]

brandondwright, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:33 PM, said:

Crazy Climber, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:13 PM, said:

brandondwright, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:04 PM, said:

YEEEAARRRGHHH!

Arrrr...Plus one for yee scalawag...arrrrrr!!!

ARRRGH, a swig of grog to yee, aaarrr!

Arrrr...Avast Ye matee! Hornswaggled yee Atari games

[Cebus Capucinis]

Well I dare say these ruthless scalawags will surely hang for their crimes against the glorious Empire, and I am certainly the Leftenant to give them the what-for!

[Crazy Climber]

Cebus Capucinis, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:48 PM, said:

Well I dare say these ruthless scalawags will surely hang for their crimes against the glorious Empire, and I am certainly the Leftenant to give them the what-for!

Dude!!? It doesn't count unless you put a Pirate icon after it...

Example "Yarrr"

[BDW]

Cebus Capucinis, on Sat May 15, 2010 8:48 PM, said:

Well I dare say these ruthless scalawags will surely hang for their crimes against the glorious Empire, and I am certainly the Leftenant to give them the what-for!

YeEEEARRGH, Damn brits, we shall not stop until we are at the bottom of Davie Jones's locker, YEEAARRGH!

[Cebus Capucinis]

There's no little Admiralty hat though!

I can't even find one...

[Rurouni_Fencer]

LOL! Very subtle, guys, but freakin' hilarious! Thanks for all the replies - I wasn't counting on anything special..

Now, what do you guys recommend? Burn the chip upon an E.T. cart and watch the collective flames burn purple with pure evil, or just bury it with the rest o' me stolen treasure..??

Edited by Rurouni_Fencer, Sun May 16, 2010 1:09 AM.

[Crazy Climber]

Rurouni_Fencer, on Sun May 16, 2010 1:08 AM, said:

LOL! Very subtle, guys, but freakin' hilarious! Thanks for all the replies - I wasn't counting on anything special..

Now, what do you guys recommend? Burn the chip upon an E.T. cart and watch the collective flames burn purple with pure evil, or just bury it with the rest o' me stolen treasure..??

Yarrr, meake yee cannon loads with it

[Shantai]

Yoo ho ho! and a bottle' o' Rum, it be a false treasure ye gots matey!

[Cebus Capucinis]

Even if it is just a pirate on in-house copy and not an actual proto I still think it is cool! I would collect these if I had space!

[hhwolfman]

Cebus Capucinis, on Thu Jun 3, 2010 10:53 AM, said:

Even if it is just a pirate on in-house copy and not an actual proto I still think it is cool! I would collect these if I had space!

All ye needs, is a small one of these. Arrrrrrr

[SoulBlazer]

It never ceases to amaze me how many pirates have been found that were made back in the day. As a kid, I never heard of it, nor would I have even had the means or tools to do it. I thought piracy was limited to computers up till the Playstation (at least in the USA)

[ls650]

I taught English in Jakarta, Indonesia for a year back in 2004. I could go to shopping malls and walk into what looked like perfectly legit stores that specialized in pirated software. You'd walk around in a store laid out like a bookstore and see color photocopies of the covers of various software/games for PCs, Macs, Playstations, etc. You could then write down the number of the item you were interested in and walked up to the 'techies' at the checkout counter to order it. If they didn't already have a copy ready to sell, they would burn you a copy of the pirated disc while you waited for about 15 minutes or so. And these copies actually had labels and color print inserts for the CD jewel case. This was all done in the open in a modern shopping mall with clothing stores, jewelry stores, electronics, etc. The cost of a disc was the equivalent of maybe 10% of the MSRP for the original software.

Amazing to see - it really blew me away. I'm not at all surprised that lots of pirate carts were manufactured on the cheap and sold in Asia.

Edited by ls650, Thu Jun 3, 2010 5:00 PM.

[Osbo]

SoulBlazer, on Thu Jun 3, 2010 1:20 PM, said:

It never ceases to amaze me how many pirates have been found that were made back in the day. As a kid, I never heard of it, nor would I have even had the means or tools to do it. I thought piracy was limited to computers up till the Playstation (at least in the USA)

As a kid, all I played was pirates!! I never saw an original game! This was in south america by the way.

[jhd]

SoulBlazer, on Thu Jun 3, 2010 1:20 PM, said:

It never ceases to amaze me how many pirates have been found that were made back in the day. As a kid, I never heard of it, nor would I have even had the means or tools to do it. I thought piracy was limited to computers up till the Playstation (at least in the USA)

In 1984 or early 1985, I vaguely remember seeing a schematic in an electronics magazine for a device to dump Atari 2600 cartridges to cassette tape (persumably so they could be pirated). Unfortuantely, I don't remember the details as I had sold my Atari 2600 by then and I did not pay too much attention.

This is the only example I ever recall seeing of a device to pirate cartridges. Certainly none of my friends or I would have recgonized an EPROM burner if we fell over it, much less had any idea how to make use of it.

[Wickeycolumbus]

jhd, on Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:11 PM, said:

SoulBlazer, on Thu Jun 3, 2010 1:20 PM, said:

It never ceases to amaze me how many pirates have been found that were made back in the day. As a kid, I never heard of it, nor would I have even had the means or tools to do it. I thought piracy was limited to computers up till the Playstation (at least in the USA)

In 1984 or early 1985, I vaguely remember seeing a schematic in an electronics magazine for a device to dump Atari 2600 cartridges to cassette tape (persumably so they could be pirated). Unfortuantely, I don't remember the details as I had sold my Atari 2600 by then and I did not pay too much attention.

This is the only example I ever recall seeing of a device to pirate cartridges. Certainly none of my friends or I would have recgonized an EPROM burner if we fell over it, much less had any idea how to make use of it.

Yep, here is the article

www.digitpress.com/library/techdocs/atari_game_recorder.pdf

[PAC MAN FEVER]

yo ho its an 80s pirates life for me

[Corby]