147 replies to this topic

[CPUWIZ]

Albert, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:19 AM, said:

CPUWIZ, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:14 AM, said:

FND opened his, I believe, and you guys forgot about the fact that Bloateddonkey had 2 of them and he sold one on eBay.

I vaguely remember this--was it a masked ROM inside?

Quote

I am betting that there were more than a hundred of these.

This would not surprise me at all. In any case, I think it's a bit misleading to say there were only 10 of these in an auction without definitive proof when there are clearly more.

..Al

Yes, VGA also double checked it by weighing a production run mask ROM version and comparing the weight to A2.

Meanguns is a troll without any kind of knowledge, what do you expect?

[Albert]

I found the thread where FND mentioned he opened the cart and that it was a masked ROM, but I don't think he ever posted an image of it.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...st&p=295918

Given it's a masked ROM, I bet there are a fair number of these out there. "Fair number" being well over the number of copies that are known to exist.

..Al

[Paranoid]

I think if the number were approaching 100, you WOULD see collectors finding them by plugging in regular Atlantis carts.

I think the 10-20 figure is probably more realstic. Look at the entire contest, and it was done on a kind of shoestring. I agree that Imagic would have made a run exceeding the numbers they needed. Maybe making 20 of them. But, those that were left were probably stuffed in some file cabinet somewhere at Imagic HQ, and probably got thrown into a dumpster when they got bought out.

I suppose the numbers accounted for speaks to the fact that there must have been MORE out there then the current information would lead you to believe, though. If there were only 10 distributed, I find it hard to believe all 10 would be in the hands of collectors today.

[homerwannabee]

Here is the thing. Atlantis meant this to be a collectible. It even states this in the paper work. Yes, economically it does not make sense, but businesses have done things that do not make sense economically. Remember, they also were giving away $40,000 in prizes. It also does not make sense to mail out super fancy paperwork with a silver Imagic logo but they did that for the contestents as well. Also one more thing. They were giving this cart away for FREE. If this was a cart that was going to be sold in stores I can understand why they would make a hundreds but if they are giving it away for free why do they have to make a ton of games. I am not really following this logic.

[CPUWIZ]

homerwannabee, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:51 AM, said:

Here is the thing. Atlantis meant this to be a collectible. It even states this in the paper work. Yes, economically it does not make sense, but businesses have done things that do not make sense economically. Remember, they also were giving away $40,000 in prizes. It also does not make sense to mail out super fancy paperwork with a silver Imagic logo but they did that for the contestents as well. Also one more thing. They were giving this cart away for FREE. If this was a cart that was going to be sold in stores I can understand why they would make a hundreds but if they are giving it away for free why do they have to make a ton of games. I am not really following this logic.

Uhm, for one, Imagic never paid up on that contest, AFAIK.

What if, when the bosses saw that the crash was imminent, they just used a bunch of the mask ROM's they had stashed away from the contest to make the remaining Atlantis carts that made it out the door?

Some things like this can not be answered without proof!

[homerwannabee]

CPUWIZ, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:14 AM, said:

homerwannabee, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:51 AM, said:

Here is the thing. Atlantis meant this to be a collectible. It even states this in the paper work. Yes, economically it does not make sense, but businesses have done things that do not make sense economically. Remember, they also were giving away $40,000 in prizes. It also does not make sense to mail out super fancy paperwork with a silver Imagic logo but they did that for the contestents as well. Also one more thing. They were giving this cart away for FREE. If this was a cart that was going to be sold in stores I can understand why they would make a hundreds but if they are giving it away for free why do they have to make a ton of games. I am not really following this logic.

Uhm, for one, Imagic never paid up on that contest, AFAIK.

What if, when the bosses saw that the crash was imminent, they just used a bunch of the mask ROM's they had stashed away from the contest to make the remaining Atlantis carts that made it out the door?

Some things like this can not be answered without proof!

Well the fact that no one has come out and said that they found an Atlantis 2 cart using the plug in technique would leave me to believe that this is not the case. Also how do you know they had a bunch of mask ROMS. Remember that they were giving these carts away for FREE. Their would be no point in making extra masked ROMS. Yes I know that the prototype for anything is going to cost a lot of money and the ones after that are extremly cheap. But the point is that these were never meant to be sold and only giving away to the special number of contestants who had entered the contest. Even if the extra amount of carts is real cheap there is no point in making extra. That is what makes this game so different, is that it was never meant to be massed produded to sell. You know we do have an example of a company that held a similar contest. That would be Nintendo with their NWC. Again this cart was not meant to be sold and used only as a contest cart. So nintendo only made 90 gray carts and 26 gold carts. This would not make sense CPUWIZ in your book but Nintendo did it anyway. Why because like the Atlantis II contest the cart was free. I can not emphasize this enough, because the cart was given away for free different rules apply here.

[CPUWIZ]

homerwannabee, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:32 AM, said:

CPUWIZ, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:14 AM, said:

homerwannabee, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 3:51 AM, said:

Here is the thing. Atlantis meant this to be a collectible. It even states this in the paper work. Yes, economically it does not make sense, but businesses have done things that do not make sense economically. Remember, they also were giving away $40,000 in prizes. It also does not make sense to mail out super fancy paperwork with a silver Imagic logo but they did that for the contestents as well. Also one more thing. They were giving this cart away for FREE. If this was a cart that was going to be sold in stores I can understand why they would make a hundreds but if they are giving it away for free why do they have to make a ton of games. I am not really following this logic.

Uhm, for one, Imagic never paid up on that contest, AFAIK.

What if, when the bosses saw that the crash was imminent, they just used a bunch of the mask ROM's they had stashed away from the contest to make the remaining Atlantis carts that made it out the door?

Some things like this can not be answered without proof!

Well the fact that no one has come out and said that they found an Atlantis 2 cart using the plug in technique would leave me to believe that this is not the case. Also how do you know they had a bunch of mask ROMS. Remember that they were giving these carts away for FREE. Their would be no point in making extra masked ROMS. Yes I know that the prototype for anything is going to cost a lot of money and the ones after that are extremly cheap. But the point is that these were never meant to be sold and only giving away to the special number of contestants who had entered the contest. Even if the extra amount of carts is real cheap there is no point in making extra. That is what makes this game so different, is that it was never meant to be massed produded to sell. You know we do have an example of a company that held a similar contest. That would be Nintendo with their NWC. Again this cart was not meant to be sold and used only as a contest cart. So nintendo only made 90 gray carts and 26 gold carts. This would not make sense CPUWIZ in your book but Nintendo did it anyway. Why because like the Atlantis II contest the cart was free. I can not emphasize this enough, because the cart was given away for free different rules apply here.

I bet the Nintendo carts have EPROM's in them. Anyone want to prove me wrong on that?

[Albert]

CPUWIZ, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 12:52 PM, said:

I bet the Nintendo carts have EPROM's in them. Anyone want to prove me wrong on that?

I bet you're right.

..Al

[homerwannabee]

Here is some revelant information. There is no way there was more than 250 Atlantis 2 carts given to the contestants. How do I know this? Because if you look at the first page that the letter came with you will see that the contestant also was supposed to recieve snorkling gear and a T-Shirt. The display stand I have states that 1,000 T-Shirts would be given away and 250 Snorkling gears would be given away. My letter is almost the same and also mentions the snorkling gear and T-Shirt. Meanguns stated that in his auction 60 people nation wide got over 900,000 points(not too sure where he came up with this number?). I believe that scoring over 900,000 points gave you a special run-off to go to the finals. This is where I get my 60 high end. Also interesting note is 250 is one fourth of 1000 and 60 is almost a fourth of 250. I believe that the Cartridge was considerd by Imagic to be more important than the scuba gear. Main reason being that they listed it first and than called the game a collectible.
Here is the link to 5th ghosts scan of the first page that explains this.
http://www.atariage.com/common/image.html?...tisLetter_2.jpg


Here is a link a pictue of the display stand the states that there were 250 snorkling sets
http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...st&id=63962

Edited by homerwannabee, Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:43 PM.

[Shawn Sr.]

CPUWIZ, on Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:52 PM, said:

I bet the Nintendo carts have EPROM's in them. Anyone want to prove me wrong on that?

100 Percent correct. NWC = EPROMS, 4 of them IIRC.

[homerwannabee]

Ok there are still some holes in this. I did update that Mr. Mystery is not one the ten I listed.
But there are still some questions.
Here they are
1. Did FND sell his cart to Marco?
2. Does Bloated Monkey still have his cart and if not who did he sell his too?
3. Since Wonder007 cart source does not want to be Identified. Can I atleast assume that it is one of the 10 listed since he comes from Atariage?
4. Does anyone else besides 5th Ghost, Meanguns, Myself, and Mr. Mystery have the Docs?
5. Does anyone else have the box or atleast the box sticker?

So if you can help at all with these 5 question. It would be greatly appreciated

[Wonder007]

For question #3, the person's name does NOT appear on your list..

[MattG/Snyper2099]

#5 Someone else must have the box with the sticker because there has been a picture of it on the net for over 5 years.

[ataridolomite]

Hi all,
There is apparently more of us than I thought...I can't believe I found you guys. I was in the contest and always wondered what happened to all the winners. I still have the Defend Atlantis T-shirt and Box with Atlantis II sticker. Sadly, my cart got replaced with an original Atlantis somewhere along the way. I am pretty sure I still have the Imagic letter also. They did a write up of me in my small town paper during the contest. I'm not some crazy guy looking for attention I really was in the contest and it was a big highlight of my childhood. I saw the auction on Ebay and emailed him telling my story today also. Gimme more details..who else was in it?

[homerwannabee]

Guess questions 3,4,5 have been answered very cool
As far as I know there are 3 original owners. You, Meanguns, and some mystery guy that Wonder007 knows about.

Edited by homerwannabee, Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:42 PM.

[Wonder007]

I told the mystery guy to say something about his Atlantis 2 stuff on the forums....hopefully it will happen... Unless I get the stuff from him

Edited by Wonder007, Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:41 AM.

[ataridolomite]

homerwannabee, on Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:37 AM, said:

Guess questions 3,4,5 have been answered very cool
As far as I know there are 3 original owners. You, Meanguns, and some mystery guy that Wonder007 knows about.

This is way cool..I posted this to some PM's from last night..Nice try guys, I would have done it too..Here's my story and I added a couple of things.

Hi,
Thanks for the email and the welcome. I doubt I would ever sell any of these items..if anything I want my cart back<G>I found out only about 3 years ago that it wasn't Atlantis 2 after carrying it around since the contest. I saw a post, I think it was on AtariAge actually, about Atlantis 2 and it sparked all those memories. I bought an Atari off eBay and plugged the game in and was devastated. All these years I thought I had it with me and it was the original Atlantis. If memories serves me there wasn't a different label on the cart. More than likely the cart ended up in our yearly yard sale. Someone in Northwest Georgia got a Atlantis 2 probably for 50 cents. Almost makes you cry<G>.

I did find the newspaper clipping last night in case anyone wants a good read..No jokes about my hair though it was the 80's..The snorkeling gear disappeared but it wasn't anything special anyway. The T-shirt is MINT and has never been worn or washed. I need to find my docs now, I think they are in a box in the garage. Found the box last night with Atlantis II sticker on it. Anyone that can trace their cart all the way back to NW Georgia..that was mine..Todd.

[Marco]

homerwannabee, on Tue Nov 21, 2006 11:38 PM, said:

1. Did FND sell his cart to Marco?

No.

Cheers,
Marco

[homerwannabee]

Ok Here are my revised questions
1. Who did FND sell his cart to?
2. Does Bloated Monkey still have his cart and if not who did he sell his too?
3. Does anyone beside 5th Ghost, Mean Guns, Myself, ataridolemite, and Mr. Mystery have the docs?
4. Does anyone else have the Box or atleast the box sticker?

[CPUWIZ]

homerwannabee, on Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:32 PM, said:

Ok Here are my revised questions
1. Who did FND sell his cart to?
2. Does Bloated Monkey still have his cart and if not who did he sell his too?
3. Does anyone beside 5th Ghost, Mean Guns, Myself, ataridolemite, and Mr. Mystery have the docs?
4. Does anyone else have the Box or atleast the box sticker?

1. IIRC, Rick bought it.
2. He had two of them, he kept one, the coxed one was sold on eBay.

[homerwannabee]

CPUWIZ, on Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:25 PM, said:

homerwannabee, on Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:32 PM, said:

Ok Here are my revised questions
1. Who did FND sell his cart to?
2. Does Bloated Monkey still have his cart and if not who did he sell his too?
3. Does anyone beside 5th Ghost, Mean Guns, Myself, ataridolemite, and Mr. Mystery have the docs?
4. Does anyone else have the Box or atleast the box sticker?

1. IIRC, Rick bought it.
2. He had two of them, he kept one, the coxed one was sold on eBay.

Thanks big time on that one Also, Dino was the person who bought Bloated Monkey's cart off ebay

Edited by homerwannabee, Wed Nov 22, 2006 2:14 PM.

[Rick Weis]

1.i think CPU could be right. i'm not real sure, it was too long ago

Rick

[Crazy Climber]

ataridolomite, on Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:29 AM, said:

homerwannabee, on Wed Nov 22, 2006 12:37 AM, said:

Guess questions 3,4,5 have been answered very cool
As far as I know there are 3 original owners. You, Meanguns, and some mystery guy that Wonder007 knows about.

I did find the newspaper clipping last night in case anyone wants a good read..No jokes about my hair though it was the 80's..The snorkeling gear disappeared but it wasn't anything special anyway. The T-shirt is MINT and has never been worn or washed. I need to find my docs now, I think they are in a box in the garage. Found the box last night with Atlantis II sticker on it. Anyone that can trace their cart all the way back to NW Georgia..that was mine..Todd.

Hey man, welcome to the site.
Do you have any pictures? I believe you but a picture is worth a thousand words
By the way, I would like to read the newspaper article, I love reading stuff like that.
Thanks man -

[ataridolomite]

Quote

Hey man, welcome to the site.
Do you have any pictures? I believe you but a picture is worth a thousand words
By the way, I would like to read the newspaper article, I love reading stuff like that.
Thanks man -

No problem..I totally understand. Don't worry these aren't some affiliate links or anything. It's the only place online space I have right now..Here's the pics..I still haven't gotten around to looking for the docs yet..No drooling over my 80's haircut..lady killer..I tell ya. Enjoy =) Todd.

http://images.auctio.../55755/todd.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis1.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis2.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis3.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis4.jpg

Edited by ataridolomite, Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:50 PM.

[CPUWIZ]

ataridolomite, on Thu Nov 23, 2006 6:49 PM, said:

Quote

Hey man, welcome to the site.
Do you have any pictures? I believe you but a picture is worth a thousand words
By the way, I would like to read the newspaper article, I love reading stuff like that.
Thanks man -

No problem..I totally understand. Don't worry these aren't some affiliate links or anything. It's the only place online space I have right now..Here's the pics..I still haven't gotten around to looking for the docs yet..No drooling over my 80's haircut..lady killer..I tell ya. Enjoy =) Todd.

http://images.auctio.../55755/todd.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis1.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis2.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis3.jpg

http://images.auctio...5/atlantis4.jpg

Wicked, what does the back of your shirt say?

Here is mine...

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