VintageComputerman
Veteran Member
Do you mean one of these...
Do you mean one of these...
Do you mean one of these...
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Looking for any and all atari stuff and texas insturments ti 99/4a stuff.
- Thread starter igorr
- Start date
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
That's the one. Is this your's? Is it the only one known in existence? Did you get it from me?
--T
--T
If you sold both Arcturus and Killer Caterpillar in that lot, you were the one who got the raw end of the deal. Either of them would have brought the $150 you got for the whole lot quite easily. . .
As to the information on the number of the Killer Caterpillar cartridges produced, that came from one of the cartridge researchers I know who tracked down one of the folk from Exceltek. That guy thought all of them had been dumpstered after the company tanked--he didn't realize that one of them had escaped captivity until my researcher friend sent him a picture of the one he had.
Miner 2049er is actually pretty common--the only side port cartridge that is.
As to the information on the number of the Killer Caterpillar cartridges produced, that came from one of the cartridge researchers I know who tracked down one of the folk from Exceltek. That guy thought all of them had been dumpstered after the company tanked--he didn't realize that one of them had escaped captivity until my researcher friend sent him a picture of the one he had.
Miner 2049er is actually pretty common--the only side port cartridge that is.
VintageComputerman
Veteran Member
The photos are from another website. It seems that there are more than three made, imo.
If you look for websites that list the rarity of these games, it is a 9 out of 10.
The problem with the rarity lists that include TI cartridges is that they often rate rarity by feel--not by actual rarity. Very few of the TI produced cartridges are rare, with the three rarest production cartridges being Computer Math Games III, IV, and I (in increasing order of rarity). III shows up on eBay once or twice a year, IV shows up once every year or two, and I haven't ever seen I turn up (though I have seen a couple of them in friends' collections. There were a lot of near-production prototypes that truly deserve the rare designation though. Disk Manager 3 fits into that category.
The Scott Foresman labeled cartridges include quite a few rare titles: any of the School Management Modules and the three combo game modules (Module A, B, and C). A number of them also had variant labels by a company called Tronics--apparently, not too many were sold via that route, so the cartridges were relabeled with the SF logo labels (white with red text instead of white with blue text). Not all red text modules are rebadged Tronics copies, but most are.
None of the Atarisoft modules are particularly difficult to find, same goes with the Parker Brothers, Navarone, and most of the Funware titles. Video Vegas and Schnoz-Ola are the two hardest of the Funware titles to obtain, and both of them deserve the rare rating.
Most of the Asgard modules are difficult (though a lot of them have been showing up on eBay lately--but the majority of the ones I've seen lately are newly produced pirated copies, not originals). All Asgard titles combined would equal a sum of about 500 cartridges total. I used to hang with the owner, and he only bought one lot of 500 empty cartridge cases from TI to fill with his titles. . .
Several of the Navarone titles were pirated by a dealer in Holland several years back as well--those are easy to recognize as he put them into Funware cases.
DataBioTics titles are almost always uncommon to rare with the exception of a few of the game cartridges and Typwriter, though it appears that these may also be in current production by the same source pirating Asgard cartridges. I don't have sufficient data to be sure yet. . .but I'm working on it.
One note: TI cartridges produced in the European Market for distribution there are much more difficult to find than the US titles--and some of the European titles are unique to Europe (these unique titles would definitely fit into the rare category)
The Scott Foresman labeled cartridges include quite a few rare titles: any of the School Management Modules and the three combo game modules (Module A, B, and C). A number of them also had variant labels by a company called Tronics--apparently, not too many were sold via that route, so the cartridges were relabeled with the SF logo labels (white with red text instead of white with blue text). Not all red text modules are rebadged Tronics copies, but most are.
None of the Atarisoft modules are particularly difficult to find, same goes with the Parker Brothers, Navarone, and most of the Funware titles. Video Vegas and Schnoz-Ola are the two hardest of the Funware titles to obtain, and both of them deserve the rare rating.
Most of the Asgard modules are difficult (though a lot of them have been showing up on eBay lately--but the majority of the ones I've seen lately are newly produced pirated copies, not originals). All Asgard titles combined would equal a sum of about 500 cartridges total. I used to hang with the owner, and he only bought one lot of 500 empty cartridge cases from TI to fill with his titles. . .
Several of the Navarone titles were pirated by a dealer in Holland several years back as well--those are easy to recognize as he put them into Funware cases.
DataBioTics titles are almost always uncommon to rare with the exception of a few of the game cartridges and Typwriter, though it appears that these may also be in current production by the same source pirating Asgard cartridges. I don't have sufficient data to be sure yet. . .but I'm working on it.
One note: TI cartridges produced in the European Market for distribution there are much more difficult to find than the US titles--and some of the European titles are unique to Europe (these unique titles would definitely fit into the rare category)
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
Yes, I had some carts that were nearly duplicates, differing in small labeling details such as text color or font. Some identical versions were badged TI and/or by some other vendor. Then there were different colors of plastic used for the cases, mebbe some other varients, etc. Is there an exhaustive list somewhere?
--T
--T
Terry Yager
Veteran Member
DarthKur
Experienced Member
Here is a link to the only extensive rarity guide for TI software:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~awwatkin/ATARI/LISTS/ti99.html
According to it there is an Atarisoft cart that rates a 9. This would be Robotron: 2084, one of my favorite classic games. I have never some across one and have read elsewhere that there is speculation on whether it was ever produced at all.
The Atari 7800, 5200 and Commodore 64 versions of it are great though and highly recommended.
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~awwatkin/ATARI/LISTS/ti99.html
According to it there is an Atarisoft cart that rates a 9. This would be Robotron: 2084, one of my favorite classic games. I have never some across one and have read elsewhere that there is speculation on whether it was ever produced at all.
The Atari 7800, 5200 and Commodore 64 versions of it are great though and highly recommended.
igorr
New Member
Thanks for the great site for ti games.
SOOO, does anyone have a new set of joys??
SOOO, does anyone have a new set of joys??
In the case of Robotron and Super Storm for the TI, the code was completed (according to the guys who actually did the coding) but the cartridges were never released. I know of one individual who claims to have ROMs containing the final code, but I've never seen them run so I can't confirm it as genuine. . .and he won't let anyone else try to mount the ROMs he has to read them out and test it.
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That is the only reasonably good rarity list on the net for the TI. I've provided a lot of input to Bryan over the years. He is also the person who has the only copy of Killer Caterpillar I've ever seen as a cartridge (it is relatively easy to find as a disk file). He is highly focused on game cartridges though, so all of the utility cartridges get left out of his listings.
Bill_Loguidice
Veteran Member
It's a shame that people hoard like that. That's a more common practice then it should be. Those people tend to think that if they release a ROM/Image into the wild, it will devalue their possession of an original. I totally disagree with that, and frankly there's a greater good to be had anyway.
DarthKur
Experienced Member
I couldn't agree more. There is no logic to it whatsoever. There are several instances on just about every platform where the ROM's have been available for a long time yet the original copies still regularly sell for great amounts of money. It all boils down to plain old greed and selfishness.