7 replies to this topic

[swlovinist]

I acquired a strange Atari 8-bit cart. It appears to at least be pre-production. Any additional info would be great on this. I have posted a small video of this on youtube.

Edited by swlovinist, Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:56 AM.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

It's a normal production cartridge. Several companies used DEICO shells and (EPROM) PCBs for their A8 titles.

[swlovinist]

I am curious then why does this cart look different than every other Pitstop cart that I have searched for?

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[PingvinBlueJeans]

swlovinist, on Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:34 AM, said:

I am curious then why does this cart look different than every other Pitstop cart that I have searched for?

Game publishers often switched suppliers back then, mostly for cost reasons. I can think of several A8 titles by several companies that have two or more completely different cart variations (Congo Bongo by Sega comes to mind). I don't know much about Epyx specifically, and I don't collect Atari 8-bit software extensively, so I don't have a clear answer in your case. I've never seen a copy of Pitstop like that either, but that doesn't mean much.

I can tell you, as I mentioned earlier, that a few companies used DEICO as a supplier. I have a few Sierra On-Line cartridges that look exactly like yours (DEICO board and shell, square label pasted on the back of the cart), and at least of one of them came from a sealed retail box.

Beyond that, I have rarely seen a prototype that had dot-matrix printed labels on the EPROMs (they're always hand-written). From what I can see, your cartridge also appears to be the final version, not any kind of beta. You may have an uncommon variation, but it's not a proto.

[orpheuswaking]

I can't see the video, you have a picture?

[Mayhem]

Can't say for A8 titles, but I think I have three different shells for my Epyx C64 carts, so I guess it sourced them from different places.

[djpubba]

I have two completely different style PitStop carts too.

[swlovinist]

djpubba, on Wed Nov 10, 2010 11:42 AM, said:

I have two completely different style PitStop carts too.

Thank you for your input folks. I know that you would have an answer for me.