The PTG-2600

Hi folks! Today i'm going to show you a very, very rare Atari 2600 clone called the "PTG-2600". This game console is almost as rare as unicorn poop (i wrote "almost"....grin) as it was released only in Europe as i got mine from Spain (more than 10 years ago) and recently one was auctioned in Italy.

I have recycled both antennas and the RF switch box (came originally with the game console) since i was never gonna used them since this console has A/V output. I don't remember how many games are built-in but i suspect approx. 127 or 128 as this clone is pretty much another NICS, Akor or SystemA TV-Boy and also Mega Boy, Wonder Boy or Master Boy (ooohhh..boy!).

Here's some pictures of the box:

And here's some pics of the game console:

A bit bigger than a TV-Boy but has an advantage over any TV-Boy's:A/V output!

But if you live in North America (i'm in QC, Canada) like me, than you are screwed if you don't have a multi-regional TV or PAL/NTSC monitor because this will happen since it outputs a PAL signal (and we in North America have NTSC):

As you can see, in these last three pictures, i'm using the RF output as i tried with the A/V output and only had a blank screen with garbage noise in the background (output broken ? Nope! See why later on). So when using a PAL or SECAM game console/system here in North America (and also Japan), the vertical keeps rolling and the color is gone.

BTW, if you ever use the RF output on this console, you will need to select channel 23. But let's go back to the A/V ouputs. On my first try, i had only a blank screen and garbage noise as sounds but i find out that both outputs were wrongly labeled, meaning that Audio on the PTG-2600 is Video and that Video is Audio! See here:

What kind of engineer made those outputs ?!?! SHEESH!!! Think he didn't had coffee that day (heh!). So A/V outputs works! But please try to remind to swap cables if you even get a PTG-2600. So now here's some pics of selected games:

Lock 'N' Chase

Q*Bert

Tom Boy (aka Pitfall)

Video Pinball

Pac-Man

Donkey Kong

Super-Ferrari (aka Enduro)

And i can't end this blog without showing the guts of this console!! Pictures time!!

Seems that a company called "Cheer" made these game console and that the PCB model is PB-S054.

Now this is interesting, if you check the TTL chips (logic decoding circuit) and the two main chips (the all-in-one chip 3289 and the game chip 12802P) have 1991 and 1992 years imprinted on them (example: on the 3289 chip, the print "9237AA" means 92 for 1992 and 37 for the 37th week) so this means that those were released at the end of 1992 or during 1993.

And this last picture tells something else. If you unscrew the upper plastic part, it reveals that the PTG-2600 comes from a plastic mold of a Famicom clone! A Famicom cartridge fits perfectly...talk about recycling! (or rather less costly production is more like it...HA!) If anyone has a Famicom clone which has the same casing, please do send me a picture!

And now before i type my end sentence (EOL = End Of Line - A Tron reference), here is the scan of the manual ...err...actually a manual sheet:

Abeedee..abeede...abeedee...EOL folks! =)