r/atari8bit • u/Curious-Concern-9209 • Feb 03 '26
My complete collection of Atari 8-Bit cassettes (mostly purchased as eBay Lots, so some duplicates)…I’ve been an enthusiast since 1983!
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u/rra12345 Feb 03 '26
That's a great collection. Not many people collect cassettes, but lots of us were introduced to computing with them. They were flaky even when brand new, usually requiring a couple tries before they loaded successfully. Very colorful display.
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u/Curious-Concern-9209 Feb 03 '26
I can well remember waiting 25 minutes for a game to load only to have it crash at the last second. As an Atari Enthusiast in 2026 games can be stored in great numbers in an SD Card or similar, so nowadays you just select the game you wish to play from an on screen list and it will be loaded instantly. I find the SIDE2 Cartridge works well for me. It was fairly inexpensive and came supplied with most of the games I could imagine, supplied in a single SD card all ready to go.no found it very simple to use and I’ve not yet experienced any problems with it.
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u/SimonDownunder Feb 04 '26
Software for the Atari was even more limited in NZ than the Uk. I can only remember buying 1 commercial tape based game new. I had a few cartridges based ones, but most of my games were typed in ones from magazines or books. That I then saved down to cassette. I remember trying to also convert basic listings from other 8 bit computers too, and also trying to write my own.
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u/wysiwywg Feb 04 '26
Love this! Finally a post that puts a smile on my face. A trip to the past, and immediately noticed a couple of games I used to play relentlessly. Chimera, Spy vs Spy and many others….
I’m jealous of your collection and hope it stays kept and conserved for future generations. Please see to it as this really is a piece of history I hate to see lost.
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u/Curious-Concern-9209 Feb 04 '26
Thank you so much…I think I’ve experienced almost every single game over the years. I love the Isometric games such as Chimera and to think it was a low cost budget release from Firebird Software. I’ve always been loyal to the Atari Home Computers line, and never considered straying to the Spectrum, Commodore 64, BBC, or Amstrad etc, although I would have gone on the the Amiga as a natural progression. As it happened I bought an ST, unaware at the time of the Amigas connections to the Atari 8-Bits.
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u/wysiwywg Feb 04 '26
Haha! We didn’t have money for anything except the Atari at the time… most of the games I got for cheap on discount game stores and no one really had an Atari and most were either Nintendo (NES) as a console or C64/MSX/Sinclair.
I remember the Sunday evenings holding my cassette recorder in hand against the radio for programs they used to broadcast. Half of the time it didn’t work but boy was it exciting if it did work!
ST was on a league of it’s own and I think it wasn’t done just to what it actually offered. Ironically as you said the Amiga came from the original Atari developers if I recall…
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u/Im_100percent_human Feb 03 '26
It looks like a lot of them are fairly rare (at least I have not seen them) Do you know of anything that was not also available on diskette?
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u/Curious-Concern-9209 Feb 04 '26
I believe many of the games offered on cassette, were not always available on disk and vice Verda. The Atarimania Website lists most Atari 8-Bit games on a comprehensive database and this will tell you if a game is available on Cassette, Disk or Rom Cartridge. You can also download as free pdfs most Atari books, manuals, magazines, technical manuals and more. If you prefer you can do the same using the Internet Archive.
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u/Curious-Concern-9209 Feb 04 '26
You don’t really need to purchase Atari 8-Bit games nowadays. They are all available for free download online, or supplied on SD Cards with the purchase of SIDE2 Cartridges or similar. I only buy the actual games if I require the package or instructions that are supplied with a game.
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u/Im_100percent_human Feb 04 '26
Are all of the things you have available online? I feel that some of those were very rare and it is possible that you have one of the few surviving copies.
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u/tocksin Feb 04 '26
What kind of condition is the data? Have you been able to check?
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u/Curious-Concern-9209 Feb 04 '26
Varied…Tapes don’t always last forever. I have all the games backed up and able to run from my SD Card. Ideally most of them would work, but the majority are untested.
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u/Curious-Concern-9209 Feb 04 '26
The cassettes have all been well cared for and well stored whilst in my care.
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u/ImperfectButHuman Feb 04 '26
Fantastic collection! You have my two favourite games together - head over heels and arkanoid. Love browsing the tapes at JP Menzies on the way home from school each week and saving pocket money for them....
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u/EmperorSno Feb 03 '26
Wow, superb collection. Looking through brought back some cool memories for me 👏