264 replies to this topic

[Philflound]

As I mentioned almost 1 month ago, I've had classes, which are finally ending this Wednesday, 8/1. My science Praxis is on 8/4, so after that, I WILL finish the label variations list finally, and will just have to wait for people to supply me with new or missing ones.

As for the Decathlon, it may be something different, but it looks extremely faded, so that may be the cause. Has anyone else ever seen this color?

I'll let everyone know how things go. I think there were only 20 titles I had to finish. It's been a crazy summer, and I'm still looking for a job so far. Though I've been told everyone calls around mid-August. I'll keep you posted.

Phil

[Rom Hunter]

staberinde, on Sun Jul 29, 2007 11:49 AM, said:

I have found this Activision Decathlon with brown (sort of) label, I think it is not on the current list. Unusual?

Yes, it is.

Although I think it is a casualty of too much sun exposure (the colors of screenshot are faded too), it certainly looks weird.

Never seen it before.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:04 AM.

[Philflound]

I've made many promises in the past about finishing this list. I am still around and still kicking. I can't remember what happened during August of last summer that put me off from doing this, but I started scanning more stuff with Space Invaders, where I originally left off.

I've been teaching 6th grade this year, and finally got this past week off. I kept saying I was going to do the list, but then one thing after another distracts me from doing so. There weren't too many titles left, maybe 30 or less. Once I'm officially done, I'll ask people like Rom, Staberinde, and anyone else who's been helping me to fill in the holes. Just know that this project is not abandoned.

Phil

[Rom Hunter]

Great to hear this, Philflound.

A lot has happened on the Atari re-releases front.

Atarimania has been fully updated on that matter.

[Philflound]

Rom Hunter, on Fri Feb 22, 2008 7:26 PM, said:

Great to hear this, Philflound.

A lot has happened on the Atari re-releases front.

Atarimania has been fully updated on that matter.

I see your website has undergone some major changes. It looks good. I'm still looking to put out the website that was going to show exactly what the list has. Need to get in touch with the guy who was going to do it though. It's been almost a year since I did anything for that. Everything up through Superman is now complete. 15 titles to go and counting. I should be done soon, possibly by the end of the weekend, but definitely by next weekend. If you're on the update list, you'll be getting it when I'm done. If you want on, like always, contact me with your email address and you'll get on the list.

Phil

Edited by Philflound, Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:50 AM.

[Rom Hunter]

Phil,

Be sure to update your list on all the Atari PAL releases too.

[Philflound]

Rom Hunter, on Sat Feb 23, 2008 6:21 AM, said:

Phil,

Be sure to update your list on all the Atari PAL releases too.

I update all labels. I don't necessarily label them PAL if they look the same as the NTSC. But every version that is different is listed. Once I'm done with the titles, I'll need to go back and see if any other variations were added in the past year. The PAL variations are the ones that seem to grow the most. The problem I have is that I try and keep it in a relative order. So I would normally shift the versions down. For those who use the list for identification purposes, switching version b, or d or whatever to fit in a PAL version consistent with that year could screw up listings for sale. I may just add any new versions to the end of the list and keep it out of order. Personally, I can't see too many more versions showing up, but you never know.

I just need the Swordquest series to finish the S's, then I'm almost home free. Sometimes just one title will take me an hour to go through all the scans and such. Space Invaders took more than an hour. I spent a good 6 hours yesterday, but at least I know I probably have no more than another 12 to completely finish the titles. Then I'll trickle back and see if anything was added at a slower pace.

Phil

[staberinde]

Philflound, on Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:46 PM, said:

I've made many promises in the past about finishing this list. I am still around and still kicking. I can't remember what happened during August of last summer that put me off from doing this, but I started scanning more stuff with Space Invaders, where I originally left off.

I've been teaching 6th grade this year, and finally got this past week off. I kept saying I was going to do the list, but then one thing after another distracts me from doing so. There weren't too many titles left, maybe 30 or less. Once I'm officially done, I'll ask people like Rom, Staberinde, and anyone else who's been helping me to fill in the holes. Just know that this project is not abandoned.

Phil

Great to hear you are back working on the list. Will be happy to help if i can.

[Philflound]

Quote

Great to hear you are back working on the list. Will be happy to help if i can.

You already are. I'm using your labels for many of the PAL ones, especially those end labels with the P. I'm trying to get this finished. Have most of the V's in front of me, which should take a few hours. It's finally going to happen after all this time. I can't think of how many years I've been a part of this. When John first had this list going in the mid-1990s, I was a big contributor. But anyone can write anything. I thought it better to have the physical proof with scans. I'm sure there are people out there creating phoney labels or variations, but if I can rely on good sources who are trustworthy, along with several people owning a variation, then it would be good. Of course, if I physically have it in my hands, then there is no doubting it. I bought the majority of my games from garage sales or people I knew bringing in their old systems when I used to have my store. Back when I did most of my buying, Atari wasn't considered anything, and most people had no clue about anything (pre-Ebay). I haven't found much in the wild for the past 8 years pretty much. Anyway, you'll get your update soon. Once I'm done, I'll put a summary response here as to where I'd like this to go. My website source still hasn't gotten back to me, so I may ask someone else to try and host a site and help me build it for all to see.
Phil

[Rom Hunter]

Philflound, on Sat Feb 23, 2008 1:42 PM, said:

Sometimes just one title will take me an hour to go through all the scans and such. Space Invaders took more than an hour. I spent a good 6 hours yesterday, but at least I know I probably have no more than another 12 to completely finish the titles.

I know exactly what you're talking about.

Hang on, Philflound.

You're doing a great job.

[Philflound]

Actually I made a decision to tweak the list a little when I'm done. I'm down to 10 titles, which shouldn't take too long with a few that don't have much in the way of variations.

I'm going to give the boxes a little more detail. I saw that many don't have "Made in" or "Printed in" written on my list. I'd like to give credit to the USA. I see too much Made in China and need to be reminded that there was a time when many things in the US were actually made here. I made a joke the other day to my wife when we went to Chinatown in NY. We walked in a Chinese store and I picked up a few items and said to her, "look, everything is made in the USA". Of course they weren't, but it was funny to think the Chinese would sell US made stuff and we sell stuff made in China.

The other thing I'm going to note with the Atari made boxes is the standard flap vs glued flap. I've noted these on the ones I've seen, but I'm going to write in standard flap for all boxes that aren't glued. I'm doing this in case there are glued flap styles I don't know about. People looking at the list may think they have the listed box, when in fact they hold a variation. So if standard flap is pointed out, and they are holding a glued flap, they can contact me with the scan and I can add a legitimate variation.

When I'm done, I'm considering starting a new thread. 11 pages long, people may not bother looking at what I'm saying, and I'd like to put a list of stuff I need scans for. Also, I was going to ask for more information in general. Many times I'd like to know if there is a Rev written on the flap of a box, the size and pages of manuals, and other little tidbits. I wish I had access to everything so this list would be complete, but like John said some 13 or so years ago, this is a work that requires many to input. Also, once the Atari section is complete on my part, I'll be moving on to the Intellivision and Colecovision lists I'm creating. I began the Intellivision list a long time ago. Talk about variations. I didn't get too far, think maybe 5 or 6 titles, but I'm also doing overlays besides the carts, boxes, and manuals. It's a task that may seem time consuming, but the limited number of titles will help keep the project managable.

Anyway, it's been a thrill working on this list, and I hope many of you collectors can use it. It's great to be informed what's out there. Rom has done a great service with his site. Having all those other companies is great for those who'd like to expand. I'm trying to keep things limited to 99% of US released titles, even though there may be PAL versions on the list of those titles. If at some point in the future, maybe a few years down the road, the list seems complete and I'm bored, I may expand into some of the more popular foreign titles. But with no real access to foreign carts, I don't have a feel for going in that direction. Be back in a few.

Phil

[Philflound]

I'm almost finished, just 4 titles to go. Hopefully can finish by the end of the weekend, but definitely by Monday. Anyway, I wanted to note that working on Video Olympics, I discovered a 4th box type. The first is the book opening which the original games came in. The second is a standard flap where both top and bottom flaps of the box tuck inside the box. The 3rd is the flap that is glued to the back of the box, once unglued will tuck into the slot. Usually leaves 2 dots of paper on the back of the box. The 4th new one is what I'm calling the tab flap. It is similar to a cereal box. Both top and bottom flaps are glued, but once the top is unglued, it leaves the residue on the other flap on top, not the back of the box. The top flap tab then tucks into the flap part underneath, like I said, similar to a box of cereal. I'm trying to remember if there were any other boxes that were similar to this. This sort of creates a problem because I thought to look at the back of the boxes on the scans to see if it was not glued. The one good thing is that there is a small semi-circle at the top of the standard flap that is used to help open the lid. But I believe this is only on some of the boxes. So I still have sort of a dilemma. I can see the semi-circle and determine that it is a standard flap, 2 circular glue marks to determine it is a glued flap, but for those that don't have either, it then can possibly be a standard or a tab. I do have tons of boxes, so it will help sometimes, but there are a lot out there I don't have. So once again I'll be requiring the help of my fellow collectors out there.

One thing I will do in the near future is take a picture of all 4 versions and put it on the list of comparisons. I can use the Video Olympics as an example.

And who said this task was going to be easy?

Phil

Edited by Philflound, Sun Feb 24, 2008 2:31 AM.

[Philflound]

I'm finished. At least with having scans of all titles for the most part. I'm going to start a new thread outlining the list, what I need, and how to go about updating it.

Phil

[Miss 2600]

gamme, on Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:24 PM, said:

The other thing had to do with the Coleco carts.

I have a Donkey Kong with a cartridge back that has "Made in Hong Kong AE" and the label has "Printed in Hong Kong".

I also have a Donkey Kong with a cartridge back that has "Made in U.S.A." and the label has "Printed in U.S.A.".

I am wondering if variations exists, say, where no "Made in xxx" at all is on the cart back, but the label has "Printed in Hong Kong".

All of mine that do not have a "Made in xxx" on the back of the cart have "Printed in U.S.A." on the label.

The Mouse Trap has Printed in Canada written in French on it, but the back of the cart is a "Made in U.S.A." cart.

It's my turn to revive an old thread! I just got an upgrade to my Donkey Kong cartridge (it has a much nicer label) but, when comparing them, I see that one says "Made in Hong Kong" on the back while my old one says "Made in U.S.A." All my other Coleco carts say "Made in U.S.A." except Carnival which doesn't have a "Made in..." marking. I'm assuming then that the Hong Kong one is more rare, but maybe that is not the case. Is the "Made In Hong Kong" variation just for Donkey Kong? There was a link about this on post #228 of this thread, but it no longer works.

[Philflound]

Miss 2600, on Sun Feb 27, 2011 8:14 PM, said:

gamme, on Wed Aug 23, 2006 6:24 PM, said:

The other thing had to do with the Coleco carts.

I have a Donkey Kong with a cartridge back that has "Made in Hong Kong AE" and the label has "Printed in Hong Kong".

I also have a Donkey Kong with a cartridge back that has "Made in U.S.A." and the label has "Printed in U.S.A.".

I am wondering if variations exists, say, where no "Made in xxx" at all is on the cart back, but the label has "Printed in Hong Kong".

All of mine that do not have a "Made in xxx" on the back of the cart have "Printed in U.S.A." on the label.

The Mouse Trap has Printed in Canada written in French on it, but the back of the cart is a "Made in U.S.A." cart.

It's my turn to revive an old thread! I just got an upgrade to my Donkey Kong cartridge (it has a much nicer label) but, when comparing them, I see that one says "Made in Hong Kong" on the back while my old one says "Made in U.S.A." All my other Coleco carts say "Made in U.S.A." except Carnival which doesn't have a "Made in..." marking. I'm assuming then that the Hong Kong one is more rare, but maybe that is not the case. Is the "Made In Hong Kong" variation just for Donkey Kong? There was a link about this on post #228 of this thread, but it no longer works.

Go to www.videogamevariations.com and you can see everything I have under Coleco as to what is out there. There is much more than you think with the cart/label variations for Coleco. Also, the current thread is

http://www.atariage....t/page__st__350

This is where everything is currently being put. Donkey Kong needs to be updated though since I found a new variation. Sad part is that I need to compare the new variation with the others I have in my inventory to see how rare this variation is. Again, rarity is based on what I own or what I see is out there based on listings or other collectors. When I discover a new variation, I consider it a R(are) automatically, since my inventory has been vast over the years and if this is the first time I'm seeing it, then it can't be common. On average common games that are 99% in a lot of games such as Pacman, Combat, Asteroids, etc., I've had anywhere from 50-200 copies over the year, so with those titles, I can confidently say what is common, uncommon or rare with variations. Uncommon titles that are in many lots, but not always, probably a 50/50 chance of acquiring them, I've probably owned on average between 25-50 copies of each of them, maybe more, so again, my accuracy will be pretty good as to what variation is common, uncommon or rare.

Coming across rarer titles is more determined by what I see and what I've owned. Many rare titles though don't have that many variations, since they are rare and were probably not out there too long to even warrant changing the cart/label. So most rare titles will have 1-3 variations and will be listed as C(ommon) or U(ncommon) as to its variation. Feel free to join in the conversation on the other thread. Thanks.

Phil