Atari VCS Clean and Test

[scottydu81]

i picke up a vader model, and it generally works ok, except it seems to take about five minutes of switching cartridges out before it works consistently. when i first fire it up, the game shows for a second, but then it either goes all black, or it is a scramble of colors and such.

any advice on fixing?

[doom2metallica]

i have a atari 2600 and alot of games like pac man and space invaders but the atari dose not work whare do you get the spray

[joshbot360]

How do you hook a 2600 to a modern LCD HDTV?

Is there any adapter to use it with Composite cables?

[nibauAntunes]

wow excellent man! treat her well;)

[NESAtariSegaNerd]

That white thing on the bottom is a spider egg pouch... I found a whole family + eggs in my Atari 400.

[TheBillbot]

Hey MN12Bird, should I get a 2600 Jr, or a Flashback 2 ?

[TeamRocketReviews]

@thedevlinlee I have one and it works like a charm...

[TeamRocketReviews]

I'm a looking for an Atari 2600. I've never owned one, what version should I buy? I'm thinking either one of these 4-switch systems, or maybe a later six switch. Which version is the most common?

[MN12BIRD]

@TeamRocketReviews The 6 switch are actually the earlier models and then they went to 4 switch woody and then the 4 switch vader all black on the front. Then of course the Jr is the smaller one. The 6 switch are harder to find and I would recomend a 4 switch anyway for your first.

[thedevlinlee]

boy sound like me but fixing ten nintendos

[P5ychoFox]

I love a good dirty vid :)

[JarrodDrover123]

i was waiting for you to open it up and there be like a spiders nest in it

[BoldNewTradition]

No HDTV???

[RetroGamerr1991]

You can use a nail brush. It works a lot better than a sponge for tight places and stuck on grime.

[an1man1ac54l1f3]

Are those contacts on the cartridges supposed to be exposed all the time?

Last Summer a friend gave me a copy of Combat for the Atari 2600 (which I haven't been able to test due to not having an Atari 2600 as of yet), and the contacts aren't visible as standard! Where they're supposed to be poking out I see a barrier inside.

[MN12BIRD]

@an1man1ac54l1f3 Yeah it depends on the game, who distributed it and the year it came out. I think these are later releases so they don't have the spring loaded trap door thingy inside the cart.

[james42519]

i do this with like all the systems i get. wish could get a gamebit for gaemcube and snes. i know those need to be cleaned.

[topsyandpip56]

I have a feeling its going to atarileaf? 

[pablopares]

Great work!!!

[Kbrusky15]

Is that real wood?

[mcrosco1]

I think gamester81 but i bet be has a woody

[mcrosco1]

I love a good pitfall myself every so often. LONG LIVE ATARI!

[prulcan]

When i got 2600Jr i was impressed how clean it was almost perfect and works like new. And my has still warranty seal intact. Jr. Pac Man is a great game and has 7 different mazes.

[nightbirdds]

Gotta love those old Atari's. Built like tanks. They really don't make them like they used to.

Oh, when whoever it is that's supposed to get it gets it, could you let us know? I may not be subscribed to them yet.

[MN12BIRD]

@nightbirdds When he gets it and shows it I'll fav that vid so you can see it.

[topsyandpip56]

@MN12BIRD I bet I know who it IS going to... haha, I'll keep my mouth shut.

[ultimateshadowx9]

Damn, my Atari died for some reason, and I lost the power plug XP

[Skibicks123]

I really wish i could repair machines as good as you, Jake, but my Atari VCS Jr's buttons on the system no longer work because the circuit ribbon came loose beneath the buttons when i tried to open it to fix it. I need some information on how to fix it!

[MN12BIRD]

@Skibicks123 Yeah the Jr has bad switches man. I dunno about the ribbon it's been awhile since I've seen inside a Jr but the ribbon could be hard to repair if it's broken.

[Skibicks123]

@MN12BIRD The circuit ribbon is in no way damaged, when i opened it so i could fix it, i wanted to clean the buttons but the ribbon beneath the buttons became so loose that it fell out.

[Zynt453]

You sir, have a good eye for selecting mint condition video game systems!

Remind me to look you up if I'm ever out for retro systems lol

On a more serious note, great video as always, that is one beautiful Atari :)

[mista1two]

Gold plated 2600 ftw

[MegaBRICKBUILER]

oh ok thank you

[macintoshgermany]

Atari81.

[wolfy40oz]

When I opened up my six switch it had a piece of paper taped inside with I think the number 10 lol. Nice cleanup!!! Should polish with some wd40. I did that to my scratched up sega master system and it looks great. Didn't take the scratches away but the shine camouflages them.

[MN12BIRD]

@wolfy40oz Oh cool. Shine it up. Yeah I've opened a few Ataris and I think they all had some weird paper taped inside.

[Blurredman]

Did you know, your Union Flag is backwards.

[MN12BIRD]

@Blurredman Yeah I know theres a mark or something on the otherside so I keep it like that.

[Blurredman]

@MN12BIRD That's the joy of it, you can turn it upside down and inside out and it will be correct. as long as the top left red diagonal stripe is to the far left of the white diagonal stripe :)

[Lachlant1984]

Wow, that's a real work of art, such an amazing design, it looks amazing now you've cleaned it. This one I see wan't made in North America, am I to understand quite a number of these systems were made in Hong Kong as this one appears to be?

[MN12BIRD]

@Lachlant1984 I'm no expert on these back in the day but I think the early ones are made in USA but most of the later ones are HK.

[gustoThegangsta]

@MN12BIRD what`s up with the receiver you have there!!! It has a lot of lamps (transistors) on the top. Please let me see that thing. It looks like something from Frankenstein!!

(it`s the second device beneath the ps3!

[MN12BIRD]

@gustoThegangsta Yeha that's my tube amp you can see it some older vids.

[SomedaysDreamersBC]

you used the SNK shirt )c=

[jose5080007]

I picked up an atari 2600 and I found spiders in it

[MaximumRD]

LOL I feared when you popped it open a family of baby Spiders would rush out!

Fortunately pretty clean inside. Interesting inside, pure simplicity but awesome gaming goodness. Looks beautiful.

[MN12BIRD]

@MaximumRD Yeah it was really clean inside. Funny thing is all the Ataris I open have some strange peice of paper with some number written on them taped inside. I wonder what those numbers are for?

[suxatguitar1]

@MN12BIRD I noticed that too, I would have thought some kid just jammed it in somehow :P Weird.

[MaximumRD]

@MN12BIRD I did a bit of googling but so far no definite answer on the slip of paper other than it seems a LOT of people find this either hand written numbers or rubber stamped. Some say it might have something to do with the assembly line workers putting that in there to represent where they left off in the assembly process but other than that I cannot figure it out.

[RetroGamerr1991]

@MN12BIRD Manfuacturing date. There's a way to decode it. It has to do with the week of a certain year probably in 1983.

[DvdXploitr]

I am getting rid of my Jaguar monday....someone offered me a Sega CD X for it (and i got a bunch of Genesis games already)

[kolton535]

The Atari came out nice.. I do that to all my systems too (that i can take apart) and they usually come out nice.

[DragonUltraMaster]

That's...AMAZING!!

Such an old console in so good shape :)

[gabbogabbo]

Great job man, I HAVE to do this to my two 2600s and I have a lot of games to clean aswell. Other then compressed air how would you clean the cart slot on the console??

[MN12BIRD]

@gabbogabbo Take an old credit card, cut it in half length wise. Pull a felt wipe over the end of it and soak that in alcohol and push it into the slot.

[thomas3120]

really nice job :) looks brand new

[UNSCdropout9]

@MN12BIRD seems fair enough

[TheBoeing144]

Its a beaty i want it!

[UNSCdropout9]

@MN12BIRD Are you ever going to tell us who you're going to give it to? Or are we going to have to find out on our own?

[MN12BIRD]

@UNSCdropout9 If you know who he is you'll see when he gets it right? I'll tell ya what when he gets it and if and when he shows a video of him getting it I'll favorite that video so anyone can see it.

[nanquan491]

No offense intended, I'm just being honest... but I cannot wrap my mind around why anyone would be interested in such prehistoric computer era junk as the Atari "VCS" (or any other extremely outdated console). Just looking at some of the videos here on YT at some of the games on it makes me wanna puke they're so horrible primitive and bad. What the heck is the attraction here, especially considering the modern computer age we all live in?!?!? Again, sorry, no disrespect intended!

[MN12BIRD]

@nanquan491 Well yes there's a huge retro gaming community here on youtube and in general retro gaming has made a huge comeback. It's mainly just nostalgia. People love the games they grew up with or remember playing when they were kids. Some people don't find most new games to be all that much fun and don't care about how realistic the graphics are. I enjoy both. Fun games are fun games doesn't matter how old they are to me.

[nanquan491]

@MN12BIRD Hmmm... yeah ok, I guess I can understand that! Thanks for the thoughtful answer and for not thinking I was trying to flame you!

[RJTamm93]

@MN12BIRD Well, I can understand the love for things such as the Genesis and SNES and NES. Fact is though, most games pre 1986 are just so primitive and basic in design that the only way you can really stomach them is nostalgia. Not to mention that most games on the 2600 had at least spiritual successors or just better versions of the games later on as well. I love old games, but there's a limit to what I can be interested in.

[flynnz]

@nanquan491 I like all types of games, but the older games that run on an Atari are much more of a challenge then most of the newer games today. The addiction with these older games really can't be matched in the same way with newer stuff. Back then it was you and your score, no continues, no codes, no FAQS. no regenerating health.....that is why people keep coming back to these games, because they are a true challenge and most of all crazy fun. You should really widen your palette in gaming.

[nanquan491]

@flynnz While I can respect your opinion, I can't really agree with it. I am not speaking from a perspective of some "graphics whore" addicted to shooters. So setting aside the graphics issue, the games themselves are just extremely simplistic and primitive. Frankly I find no compulsion to play frogger over say Starcraft II, I mean it's not even close to being in the same category, both in terms of challenge, excitement, complexity and fun and satisfaction. So I must totally disagree with you.

[nanquan491]

@flynnz It's like comparing chess to running around and spinning a hoop with a stick.

[flynnz]

@nanquan491 lol ok dude I get it, you don't like older games. Not sure what your point is in letting everyone know is.

[flynnz]

@flynnz hey I hear ya. Really does seem like you might be limiting yourself, but hey to each their own. Just remember there wouldn't be TONS of gamers playing these games if there weren't something to them.

[SpazticGamer]

@nanquan491 The real glory of all this old "junk" as you put it is it started the era we all live in Today. Without the innovations and trials we wouldnt have evolved to what we are now. Granted there has been quite a few bumps that had to be surpassed. Now I was a young kid in the 90's so im not basing my interest off of nostalgia but for the knowledge i gain. I still love The genesis and n64 tho those were the 2 systems i really remebr playing as a young child.

[MaximumRD]

@nanquan491 It's all about retro gaming, nostalgia and remembering simpler times. Easy pick up and play games we remember from our childhood. There are many that do not "get it" but remember there is a huge community into retro and classic gaming. I have a killer PC, I can play the latest games on it but I can still play 2600 games and have fun. Do not try to hard to wrap your head around it, some people like old movies, old cars, collecting stamps, VHS tapes or 8 track tapes. To each his own.

[MegaBRICKBUILER]

cool snk shirt where did u get it?

[MN12BIRD]

@MegaBRICKBUILER The dude at Toyratt retro gaming store gave me that when I was there.

[snake2006]

Taking the 2600's clothes off. Gotta pimp that console out.

[Standard420247]

Does that piece of old yellow paper with the number 5 written on it come stock? >.>

[MN12BIRD]

@Standard420247 Yeah I swear every time I open an Atari there's some weird piece of paper taped inside with some random scribble on it.

[Standard420247]

Whatever happened to luke? I had to make a new account and resubbing is not easy from memory not sure if he still has a channel or not, any help from anyone appreciated

[MN12BIRD]

@Standard420247 lukemorse1 is the one.

[Standard420247]

You need a shave mate lol

[Frame0fMind]

saw on of these in a goodwill one time i didnt know what it did

[TheGeekplayer]

can i buy one, or really anything u have

[Ch4rlz4rd]

Nice! Hope he likes it!