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What Makes the
"Super Games" Super?
If you are a 7800 collector of any repute, you've undoubtedly amassed some titles that are branded "Super Games" on the spines of Atari released boxes. One may ask oneself, "Gee. self... I wonder what makes a "Super Game" super?" The answer may surprise you.
NOTHING!!!
  That's right! It was just a marketing ploy. Some folkies have thought it had to do with game memory, computer ports, super fancy schmancy games, bank-switching, graphics, but all of these titles under the "Super" moniker all hail from different origins and and have different tech specs. The smallest Super Cart was 32k with no RAM. The biggest were Winter & Summer Games with 128k and 16k RAM. Hat Trick is an arcade game. Karateka is a terrible computer port. Desert Falcon is an original IP, etc. See? Nothing consistent. Funny enough... some of the "Super Games" are the worst in the library. Here is some double speak Atari published on the back of the 7800 console box that is probably responsible for the mystery.
(Interesting to note: Sky Fox was never released and Touchdown Football was never marketed as a "Super Game"... probably a good move)
The Complete List of "Super Games"
Hat Trick
Desert Falcon
Impossible Mission
Karateka
Ballblazer
One on One Basketball
Winter Games
Summer Games
If you want to see how inconsistent the "Super" moniker is with actual tech specs, here is an interesting list of "cart hardware types". You can see that none of the Super Games on this list are really comparable with each other. Thanks to NIKON and Dan Boris for this list.
Atari 7800 cart hardware types
by Dan Boris (10/10/03)
In the process of researching 7800 carts I discovered that there a quite a few variations of
the cart hardware. This list documents what I found in the cartridges I have, but it's possible that
some carts may have been made in more then one type. The type numbers below are totally
arbitrary and have no special significance.
Each cart in the list lists the name, type, ROM chip part number, and jumper setting.
Type 1: Standard ROM cart. PCB CO24926-xxx
Type 2: Standard ROM with resistor in series with +5V. PCB CO24926-xxx
Type 3: POKEY cart. PCB C026461. These carts also have 3 hardwired jumpers
Type 4: Supercart without RAM IC. PCB C100339. These carts have 8 soldered jumpers
Type 5: Supercart PCB board with only a ROM and U2 (74LS02). PCB C100339
Type 6: Small style Supercart with no RAM. PCB C300595. No jumpers
Type 7: Supercart without RAM IC. PCB C300565. These carts have 6 soldered jumpers
Type 8: Supercart with all IC's. PCB C100339. These carts have 8 soldered jumpers
Type 9: Supercart with all IC's. PCB C300565. These carts have 6 soldered jumpers
Centipede - Type 1 - C30048-001A
DigDug - Type 1 - C300048-003A
Ms. Pac Man - Type 1 - C300038-007A
Pole Position II - Type 1 - CO28408-01
Xevious - Type 1 - C028410A-38
FoodFight - Type 1 - C028404-38
Joust - Type 2 - C300049-006A
Robotron - Type 2 - C300049-009A-01
Ballblazer - Type 3 - C300049-015A-01 W1:1-2 W2:1-2 W3:on
Real Sports Baseball - Type 4 - C300514-034A W1:off W2:on W3,W4,W5,W6,W7,W8: off
Donkey Kong - Type 5 - C300050-048A W1:on W2:off W3:off W4:on W5:off W6:off W7:on W8:on
Donkey Kong Junior - Type 5 - C300050-049A W1:on W2:off W3:off W4:on W5:off W6:off W7:on W8:on
Hat Trick - Type 5 - C300050-029A W1:on W2:on W3:off W4:on W5:off W6:off W7:on W8:on
Mario Bros - Type 5 - C300050-050A W1:on W2:off W3:off W4:on W5:off W6:off W7:on W8:on
Mat Mania Challenge - Type 6 - C300051-063A
Midnight Mutants - Type 6 - C300051-089A
Ninja Golf - Type 6 - C300051-070A
Scrapyard Dog - Type 6 - C300051-079A
Barnyard Blaster - Type 7 - C300051-059A W1:off W2:on W3:on W4:off W5:off W6:off
Crack'ed - Type 7 - C300051-036A W1:off W2:on W3:on W4:off W5:off W6:off
Dark Chambers - Type 7 - C300051-037B W1:off W2:on W3:on W4:off W5:off W6:off
Crossbow - Type 8 - C300048-044A/C300051-044B W1:off W2:on W3:off W4:off W5:on W6:off W7:off W8:off
Jinks - Type 9 - C300051-057A W1:off W2:on W3:on W4:off W5:off W6:off
Tower Toppler - Type 9 - C300050-056A W1:off W2:on W3:off W4:on W5:off W6:off
Winter Games - Type 9 - C300051-031A W1:off W2:on W3:on w4:off W5:off W6:off
Look at all that nerd shit, there... wowza.
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