• Tag Archives 2600

  • Triga Command Joystick

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    ccvag_fall83-069

    Source: Video & Arcade Games – Volume 1, Number 2 – Fall 1983

    This ad is from the Fall 1983 issue of Video & Arcade Games. It is for a joystick called “Triga Command” by Electra Concepts Corp. Before running across this ad I had never heard of this particular joystick or the company. It appears that their claim to fame (or at least what is being touted in the ad) is making the single button a trigger button on the stick instead of a button pressed by your thumb on the base as most joysticks were designed during this time period.

    The ad advertises compatibility with the Atari 400 & 800 computers, Commodore VIC-20, Atari 2600, and Sears Tele-Games (same as the 2600). Of course, having the 9-pin Atari style connector means that it would also work with the Commodore 64 and any other computer or video game system that used the Atari style joystick.

    Given I’ve never heard of the company, the novel feature of a trigger button and a clever (or annoying) name were not enough to launch a successful business.


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  • Sears Tele-Games Video Arcade (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Sears has this weird thing they do where they contract with outside manufacturers to produce items for their store and then sell it under their own brand name. An example of this is Sears’ Kenmore line of appliances. These are actually made by companies like Whirlpool or whoever Sears happens to be contracted with at the moment. At one time they also did this with video games.

    The Sears Tele-Games Video Arcade was nothing more than an Atari VCS (later known as the Atari 2600) with a different name. Not only did they do this with the system, but they did it with a number of the games as well. For example the Atari branded Combat was known as Tank-Plus under the Sears Tele-Games label and Air-Sea Battle was known as Target Fun. The games and systems were exactly the same except for some labeling differences. A very few games were Tele-Games exclusive but of course these also worked on an Atari VCS/2600.

    This ad from a Sears catalog in 1977 shows what Sears had to offer early in the life of the Atari system. These early ads tend to exaggerate the number of games. Atari 2600 games typically had multiple variations. For example, Combat involves driving a tank around trying to shoot another tank (either another player or the computer). There are multiple game variations that change things like the maze layout, bullet behavior and even the visibility of the mazes and tanks. Many ads portrayed these as different games. In this ad it talks about being able to choose from 27 exciting video games with the Target Fun cartridge. Really that’s just 27 different variations of the same game.

    In 1977 the Atari VCS had just been introduced and there weren’t that many games yet. The days of Activision and other 3rd party developers was yet to come. The games in this ad probably represent most of what was available at the time and they include: Speedway II (Atari’s Street Racer), Outer Space (Atari’s Star Ship), Blackjack (also Blackjack under the Atari label), Tank Plus (Atari’s Combat), Race (Atari’s Indy 500), and Pong Sports (Atari’s Video Olympics).

    Sears Video Arcade (Atari 2600), 1977


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  • Romscanner (Atari 2600)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Romscanner game selector

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/170008625992/fuckyeahatari2600-romscanner-game-selector

    You might not think of the Atari 2600 as a system with a lot of hardware expansions but there really were quite a few of them over the years. Some better than others. This particular one is called the RomScanner Command Center and was released by a company called Marjac in 1981.

    The RomScanner is impressive looking but it’s really a fairly simple device. It’s essentially a splitter that plugs into the cartridge port of your Atari 2600 and allows you to insert up to ten cartridges. You can then switch between the games with a simple press of a button instead of removing and inserting another game. To me, it doesn’t really seem like it adds all that much convenience. It isn’t that hard to change cartridges and if you have more than ten you still would have to sometimes anyway. But the real kicker is the price. It was $49.95 upon release in 1981. An online calculator tells me thats roughly equivalent to $143 in todays dollars.

    Other than looking kind of cool, the RomScanner doesn’t offer much. In theory, it limits wear and tear on your system and cartridges but those things are pretty durable and I have yet to have a game or system break. Not related to adding and removing games anyway. In addition, certain odd shaped cartridges wouldn’t fit in this thing. Not a big deal if you don’t have any of those I guess.

    However, if you want one for your collection it won’t be easy to find and you would probably be lucky to pay $49.95 or even $143 today. The original high price and limited utility make these pretty rare.





    📂This entry was posted in Atari 2600 Retro Games 📎and tagged