Classic Game Room - ATARI 2600 CARTRIDGE DESIGNS review

[penguinblack]

just yesterday I noticed that the cartriges that were made by coleco were put in rightside-up rather than other companies where you put them in upside-down

[watarukannuzuki]

4:47

I never realized Activision cartridges were interlocking. Damn, now I wish I hadn't gotten rid of my 2600 games. Can't believe I never realized that before.

[IblisLucario64]

i wish i grew up in this era

[Ennosetsu]

That and the great graphics on Imagic games make me collect all of them.

[Parody42]

Those cheap and light carts you were talking about without the pics (like Air Raiders) were made by Mattel and were far cheaper then you think. They're actually old Intellivision cartridge cases with a modification (that weird box on the bottom making the cart look chunky) so it could fit properly into the 2600. :)

[mobobber]

Activision games are defiantly the best! There designs may not have good pictures, Mark, but it's usually just an animation of the actual game.

[SteelSkin667]

3:55 I read "Fapper" for a second o_o

[Ahalo1222]

Why are the pictures upside down.

[ragensi]

This is the same reason I enjoy collecting Sega Genesis carts. There isn't nearly as much variety in cart design butit has the same feeling with the differences in EA and Accolade carts.

[gillianorley]

Parker Bros. games are ridged for your pleasure.

They are made "easier to grip and pull out."

[chupathingy99]

3:30 those are actually Intellivision carts with extenders on the bottom to accommodate the 2600's wider port.

[jejaynes13]

Hopefully I'll be getting a Atari 2600 this friday!

[ochick1]

@jejaynes13 I hope you are enjoying it now :D

[jejaynes13]

@ochick1 I am! :D 

[DiabloArcade]

Just got my Atari (beacuse old one was broken) -> for $50 bucks, Atari, tv connection, (original 6 switch woody btw) - controller - ac adapter (for wall :D) and 4 games (defender, combat, warlords and zaxxon!)

[TheOdysseyKid]

Those cheap ones I call "Intellivision wannabees"

[RIPmyers]

I still have my atari from the 80's and have over 70's games still.

[creepingnet]

The M-Network Mattel carts (Air Raiders, Super Challenge Football for example) look to be re-purposed Intellivision console cart shells. The whole design just snaps together, the PCB snaps into the lower "adapter" bit that allows the cart to fit the atari, and the top part is just an INTV cart shell that snaps onto the lower adapter part.

[medicwheat69]

classic game carts are like classic cars...style, substance, and individuality..

unlike modern sports cars or video games...cookie cutter, all the same...no WOW factor

[toot1231]

Atari is awesome...

I wish we still used cartrages there way cooler looking and dont scratch up..

[TheMadPsychoFox]

It would be very odd if consoles today had different sized and shaped discs. Imagine Square shaped ones, ones with handles, discs that could be folded in half. Perhaps that's the future of gaming!

[DarkerSuper]

Game including "Coleco" in their name were manufactured explicitly for the Coleco Gemini, a clone of the Atari 2600 by off-shelf parts. After the Coleco Expansion Module #1 was deemed to not infringe pattens, Coleco took advantage of the situation to create a standalone version and create their own games. The SEGA games were sold in the United States under the Atari, Colecovision, and Intellivison before SEGA entered the market, much like Nintendo's Mario and Donkey Kong. Almost leaned something

[GlitchesHereFirst]

now the xbox360 dies in 5 years and less and the atari is like wow im like 40 and i still work same with disk

[majorramsey3k]

The Air Raiders cartridge was an Intellivision cartridge that had an extra extension put on the end to make it fit. Hold one of them an an Intellivion cart together and you'll see what I mean right away.

[CHRISTAYLOR010495]

on the cartridges manufactured by ATARI, you see a number which tells you which came before the other.

for example combat is CX2601, which means it's the first.

asteroids is the 49th by ATARI bearing the number CX2649 and so on ....

[CHRISTAYLOR010495]

you know on the 2600 cartridges licensed BY ATARI, there will be a number on it telling you which one was made before which. for example combat is CX2601, which means it is the first 2600 game made.

asteroids was CX2649 meaning it's the 49th game licensed BY ATARI.

just thought i had to point that out

[uwright22]

atari catridges gotta catchem all

[thereymon333]

on the coleco game paks its very ironic a nintendo game with a sega game o_0

[TheOdysseyKid]

If they can get along with each other, there's hope for the future.

*carts start fighting*

Well.....maybe not.

[angelpichu1]

are you going to reveiw all those games?

[rejectofsoul24]

Imagic and INTV are the coolest designed carts, but they are a pain to stack on top of each other

[TortureBot]

Nice vid. I have over 250 different Atari 2600 games.  What a killer classic system to collect for.

[maiki60fps]

The did not design everything all right, for instance the artwork is upside down and on the wrong side of the carts - just plug in 2600 cart in the system and next to it Sega Genesis game and you get what I mean... why this is not mentioned in this video is a question...

[JLMBfreafin]

i thought he was going to say "The only thing missing is the Atari version of Cosmic Carnage"

[Spazmify]

I love your videos, thanx so much for doing this dude!!!! :D

[MrTURBOJOHN]

I've emulated the atari 2600 just to play the games, I'm not going to buy one

And I found out that these games ocupy like 3KB of memory

WHAT THE FUCK, did they really need a cartridge with the size of a hard disk drive to store 3KB?

I know that it wasn't the most technologyc shit, but LOOOL

[DanJ30]

@MrTURBOJOHN Things weren't quite so advanced then.

You could fit the whole 2600 library on one Playstation CD, LOL!

[MrTURBOJOHN]

@DanJ30 I think even a 20 MB n64 cartridge could store all of them

[TortureBot]

@MrTURBOJOHN Well, the chips available to store the game program at that time were physically larger than what you'll find today & held only a tiny fraction of the capacity available today. The little pcb the chip was on had to be a certain size because of the technology restraints of that time and since it had to plug into the cart port. Also, they likely went overkill on the plastic casing size 'cause they thought those chips would be really fragile, when in fact they are pretty durable.

[yukikohateaafea]

enjoy watching this complete version regarding that film in avatz,net change , to .

[nerfbrothers1220]

how do you take the plastic top off?

[MattTheSaiyan]

For some reason I consider the cartridge design used by "US Games" to be very evil.

[jci10]

You are missing the very unique, double-ended xenox games. They were essentially two cartridges molded into one *long* cartridge.

[FuzzyScotsman]

Ahhh memories, you know i never ever thought about the cartridge designs until i watched this, i had a fair few different types if i can trust my memory, silver seems to stick out in my mind along with the plain black typed ones with no pics.

My atari got thrown to some some dark corner though when i got my sega mastersystem so alas i have no way of going back and while nostalgia is a wonderfull thing i dont think i could bring myself to pick up a 2600 again

[Tamanozke]

Thexder is an amazing game.

[Somnambul33tor]

this is the most boring youtube video ive ever watched. i cant believe i sat through 3 minutes of this borefest zzzzz who the hell cares about the design of a 30 year old game system??

[orbitoverthesun]

@Somnambul33tor troll come on i enjoyed the video

[ignaciojork]

@Somnambul33tor o rly!

[jarnovanderwerff]

@Somnambul33tor 25177 people to be exact

[123kissfan]

The ones at the 3:25 mark they're made by Mattel and i call the deform-Os due to them looking deformed.

[NancyToday]

Interesting designs.

[Amaranthus616]

i have a double edged one somewhere. two in one cartridge but it had two ends..it was like two cartridges were joined at the top by a circle

[johnwx777]

Back in the day there was no official case licencing,so everyone came up with their own desings.Nowadays things are much more strict in this regard.

Personally the cases with silver and color covers are my favorite.

[bleachzeldakid]

WTF

so COLECO was manufacturing SEGA and NINTENDO games for the ATARI 2600?!?!?

[CAEStudios]

they should make one that looks like a sword so it looks like a sword is in your atari and you can pull it out and fight with it when lord karnage and his army of wind squids come knocking at your door

[MetallicMushroom]

@CAEStudios

way to whore it up

[deadlygroove1]

@CAEStudios I don't know, Lord Karnage is hardcore, I don't know if he can be beaten. Wind Squid is no joke either. :D

[ArcaneDigital]

those weird cartridges look like tombstones

[wingedmario64]

I really gotta get an Atari 2600

[ScDrPain]

@wingedmario64 I suggest you get one, you can get one and a whole lot of games for the ammount of 1 modern day game :)

[Amaranthus616]

@ScDrPain even less than that, i got my atari 2600, 2 paddle joypads, 2 normal joupads and about 30 or so games for £35. and it all works too

[Mrnintendo64guy]

@wingedmario64 theyre addictive

[StickPeopleAndPuff]

GOTTA CATCH'EM ALL!!! ATARI CARTS!!!!

[keshaz12]

You're dog was THE best part of your review!

Nice review!

[jimbox114]

The ones made by Matel look like an Intellivision cart with an adapter on them to work on the Atari. They do suck. I never knew activision games locked together. There was a game i found with a really funky design, Planet Patrol. Xonox double sided games were unique as well. Nice review

[ignaciojork]

things you only find in 80 years: @ 05:22 is written in the cartridge warning "to be used ONLY with the joystick controls"

you guys YT generation born in the second half of 1990 will not ever understand what was exchange of cartridges in the house of people who have never seen in life and make new friends will not know the feeling of nostalgia I'm going through now almost made me cry of miss those times

[deathtsunami]

on you can review game cartridge designs

[maddmaxstar]

Your cheap oddball skinny carts are manufactured by M Network(Blue Label)/INTV(White) and are usually ports of Mattel Intellivision games. The cart design is exactly the same as the carts for the Intellivision but has an extra plastic lip around the base to adapt them to the 2600.

Honestly, while some of the games where quite good, I always hated them because, while every other Atari game is easily stackable, INTV games just had to @#$% everyone up. Maybe that's their master plan.

[DemaV7]

i have got a blue Demon Attack Cartrige with Demon attack written on the cartrige from xante. do you know if this is just some 3rd party cartrige?

[Wexfyf]

Not to sound like a jerk... But you left out 20th Century Fox cartridges.

[MarNieCo]

i think the difference in looks of cartridges of 2600 games is due to the unlicensed games made for the console in other words, Official Atari licensed Games were all put in the same cartridge shells by Atari, but manufacturers that ignored atari and manufactured unlicensed games had to be creative and create their own shells...

[soapmanone]

activision...not suprised, activison has never dissapointed me

[anakinseviltwin]

I would call the oddly shaped cheap ones "tombstone" cartridges

[NinjaKiller112]

"Grippy Things" your so proffesional.

[CyanProductions]

I believe you mean "You're".

[unhappy4life9]

@CyanProductions CUM SLURPEE!

[alece1382]

And you spelt professional wrong.

[deadline27]

@alece1382 you spelled "spelled" wrong

[alece1382]

@deadline27 I don't believe I did. "Spelt" is past tense.

[SpeedyRaven2000]

@alece1382 You SPELLED "spelt" right, but spelt is a type of wheat.

Don't take this seriously, I just wanted to make that joke.

[alece1382]

@SpeedyRaven2000 Hm, you're right. Spelled just sounds wrong to me.

[Amaranthus616]

@alece1382 i think it was an intended joke

[lolwutroflcoptah]

@alece1382

and you spelled "spelled" wrong

[sludgeworldorder]

@alece1382 Spelled, not spelt.

[Dickstart7]

I like cartiges!

[Blo0daXe]

Me too. You don't need to think about the fucking CD loadtime, it's bullshit. I hope that games will go back to the cartridges cause we got small USB units that got up to 18 GB storing space, so why not go back. XBox 360 and PS3 games has about 600-900 MB of content in the CDs.

I say go back to cartridges, and fuck the CD loadtime!

[mattakudesu]

@Blo0daXe you realize how expensive that would be to manufacture those? cds are just a piece of plastic with dots in it, the flash drives youre talking about would cost a hell of a lot more to make.

[Blo0daXe]

But no, you may be on to something there.

[Amaranthus616]

@mattakudesu and not to mention buy...asnd honestly...hardly anyone has the money to buy over expensive things...games are already way expensive...if they any more money demanding gaming will die cus noone will be able to afford it anymore...its enough expensive to buy games as it is

[DeltaPhi79]

The PS3 uses overly high capacity Blu-Ray discs... Like we really NEED them...

[scarmulletpart3]

You think 50 gigs is too big? Soon they'll introduce 200 Gig Blu-ray discs....because PS3 games will need them. MGS4 Used an entire dual layer Blu-ray disc (50 gig) and they still had to stifle the game.

[DeltaPhi79]

And no doubt ALL because we're so into eye candy that we HAAAAAAD to have ultra high graphics and HD content. Doesn't matter how long the game is nowadays. If it doesn't like like it's out of real life, we won't touch it. :\

[usernameover9000]

2 month old comment and whatnot, but an xbox 360 game is somewhere around 6-10 gigs.. a normal xbox game still is like 1.2gigs or somewhere around there, and the biggest external usb flash drives out there right now are 64gig, although a couple months ago i saw some 120gig ones that were leaked, but those are thumb drives.. you can probably fit an external flash HDD in an atari cartridge and clock in about 220-320 gigs of flash memory

[Kerrsch]

@usernameover9000 ps3 has 50 gigs!

[scarmulletpart3]

Cartrages are much more expensive to manufacture, even flash based ones like a thumb drive.

[Caztro72]

Don't forget the XONOX double ender games! I have the one with Ghost Manor and Spike's Peak! Two games placed on either end of one cartridge casing!

[PlaystationMasterPS3]

we need little plastic things like the on the actavsion carts on cd cases

[bigtarget9]

the ones you dont like are intelivision games with a adapter

[winwolf06]

The M-Network games are the ones he doesn't like, but those were the strangest ones (IMO)

because the cases were so close to the Intellivision games of the time.

[jupreindeer]

Was going to say the same thing, Velveteen. I even thought he had reviewed at least one of them. Though, if he actually never acquired one, I can fully understand. A) It's porn and not G rated entertainment. B) It's very bad porn, regardless of the title.

[nuke583]

0_o

[golga14]

What game was that to the right of G.I. JOE?

[animefanclay]

Zaxxon

[Optimuspot420]

Why nothing about the Seares Atari clone?

[Segadude3000]

its the same thing, Atari just gave Sears the rights to it

[parablepoetry]

all the games look identical these days because they are dvd's-so no shit

[VelveteenBombshell]

'EY! WHY WEREN'T THE "Playaround" DOUBLE - SIDED CARTRIDGES INCLUDED? NOW THAT IS INNOVATION!!

[menono58]

I want the GI Joe game!

[highart2003]

Octagonal games. I got a VHS copy of American Grafitti years ago and it came with a free soundtrack cd that was in the shape of a diner waitress. Other than that I've never seen an odd shaped cd/dvd.

[natenaterson]

I actually like the artwork on the Activision carts more, because you can see what the game itself looks like. For example, Pitfall!

[TiMMYSQUibbLES]

Anybody remember the 2 in 1 carts? I had a baseball/football cart that was about 8 inches in length. 1 cart on the bottom and to play the other you would have to pull it out and spin it 180. It looked like 2 carts glued together at the top title section.

[phreakindee]

Yeah, I was gonna say, no double-ender carts shown... I have a couple of those with Chuck Norris games on them

[HaloScreamerLoverR95]

My favorite one was when you went around kicking red robin hoods XD

[Markolore]

The music playing around 3:30, is that from God Hand?

[Alblasker]

NOTE: The catridge design shown around 3:50 -- Those particular catridges can't fit into the Atari 7800!

[TMRProg]

If my memory is correct, those game cartridges were made by Mattel and were made to resemble Intellivison cartridges, which was Mattel's video game system.

[1981Myname]

AcitVision was always the best Atari game developer... their games are awesome...

[theTF2sniper]

u mean activision?

[1981Myname]

Well yea... unless there is an AcitVision ofcourse... :P

[1981Myname]

Coleco?? Wasn't that a game system on it's self.... I've never had or seen Atari ''Coleco'' Cartridges... and I thought I'd seen them all by now...hm.

[marceloyanez111]

the ones you hate are intellivision cartridges with an extension

[AgaMbadi]

Dude, you make me unashamed to be a nerd. I thought I was the only one out there who appreciated the subtleties of Atari cartridge design. I used to stack all of my games together and marvel at how many I collected. They were as much like baseball cards as they were videogames.

[analassasin2010]

octagonal PS2 games, lol

[desertman123]

i want a classic system older than the PS1

[IcarusMoonsight]

Need to add a few Spectravision carts and a Xenox double-ender. :)

[tigerboy1227]

those cheap ones remind me of intellevision ones

[scorpionatthepc]

You also forgot telesys carts

[stewie17]

this guy is awesome

[SnapCraft316]

BEST: Activision. Not only for the stacking, but the background color most likely has something to do with the game. (Barnstorming=Barn Red, Plaque Attack=Pink Gums)

Runner-up: Atari staple

WORST: M-Network. These are just modded Intelivision carts! Disgusting! Cheap! To long too stack straight up and down in most boxes.

Runner-up: IMagic

[delfmeek]

This was a great video covering the different styles of Game cartridges for the Atari 2600. Great Job!

[madhatter5353]

Nice vid and thoughts. Activision, Parker Bros and Imagic games rocked.

[dantegamer7191]

did you actually new that there was a Atari that was lunched about the 1994 our oldest

and its called Atari jaguar

[martynsj]

Dude, you know you're not supposed to put beer in your Cheerios, right? (in response to dantegamer7191)

[lurkerrekrul]

You forgot Tigervision cartridges. They were made out of white plastic too. If I remember correctly, they'd also interlock with Activision and CBS carts.

[DarkTemper2]

Neat and interesting video. However, I did see an Atari game(at least I think it was Atari) in a store that had kinda of a handle on it that you pulled on to get the game out... I thought it was an interesting design for a cartridge.

[steveasat2]

DT2, that was probably an Odyssey2 cartridge. Those things were built to yank.

The Coleco carts were repurposed cases from the Colecovision. Likewise the blah Mattel carts.

Interesting to contemplate the variations in design (and stickers) in chronological order. Activision and its best-in-show design were the first non-Atari design, and I think Imagic came next.

[MyK460]

Hi I am a video game and system collector

Like your video but you have not mentioned

the usgames cartridge that name this game came in it had a odd shape kind of like a paper

bag rolled at the top look up usgames name this game to see what i mean i had to bring this up because it is one of my favorites

[notyoursavior78]

He mentioned US Games. He showed Towering Inferno. Also US Games was actually put out by Quaker Oats. When I found that out, I was quite surprised.

[micale66]

wow he says that the ones made for like burger time and tron where the worst they are my favourite

[coolninjatvprod]

when you put a 2600 game in a 7800 do you just press power because on the 2600 you go to push reset so how exactly you play a 2600 in a 7800

[ltquinn49]

There was a reset button on the 7800, plus a select and pause button.

[ISSI7681]

At 3:15 the grips look like grips on an Atco

8-track.

[VideyoJunkei]

Commavid carts are VERY long compared to all of these here-they really "stick out" :*)

[DivPax]

BEST...PUN...EVER!!!

[lemonlimestiv]

demon attack is still fun!

[Rickyrolled]

Do you know where i can get blank atari 2600 cartridges without label and i do not mean flashcarts i mean a permanently cart that i can make a a2600 game and burn permanently?

[VoidKeeper]

I wish I had money to buy so many retro systems and retro games :(

[DivPax]

If you go to yard sales or car boot sales you can get cheap games for the snes, nes, mega drive, atari and so on.

[VoidKeeper]

It would be easier if I lived outside of Portugal :\ , gaming started late here, the genesis was the first console to actually be sold nationwide, I never even had heard of the SNES when I was a kid, there ARE some in portuguese auction sites, I guess it wasn't sold much. Atari will be the hardest to get. Maybe when I get enough money to spare :P

[DivPax]

Oh, see I live in the UK where they are less rare, my bad.

[VoidKeeper]

no problem ^^

[ericaesop]

dude there not that hard to find, i got a boxed atari 7800 for 50$usd =]

[ethen24]

The only thing I don't like about the Activision carts is that the labels tend to get blotchy stains on them and it starts to look ugly...

[skuzzbunny]

yeah, get two cartridges of each game, in case you wanna play them more than once!)

YaY Thexder!D

[randompersonn1]

the coleco 1s were made for the coleco gemini.... an atari 2600 clone, much like the expantion model #1 4 the colecovision

[gshowguy]

About your least favorite cartridge design-- those would be the Mattel cartridges, right? (I never owned a 2600, unfortunately. :-()

[majorramsey3k]

Yup, they were basically just modified Intellivision cartridges.

[yellowdart137]

man, these clean up really well. after sitting for 15 years i dug mine out last night.

[VectorOmega]

Can you review Playstation 2 box art designs in your next review? Danke!

[notyoursavior78]

Yeah I really liked the Parker Bros. carts for some reason. They just seemed really cool. Spiderman and Popeye are two other examples.

[VidCat23]

The Fact that companies that became big enough to release consoles like Nintendo and Sega started by releasing games on the Atari makes it epic!

[CenturyGamer]

"The Fact that companies that became big enough to release consoles like Nintendo and Sega started by releasing games on the Atari makes it epic!"

Yea. They were grinding their teeth for money at the time, lol. In the real early 1900s, Nintendo made cards in Japan.