Atari 2600
Clones and 3rd Party Add-On Equipment

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A lot of people tried to capitalize on the 2600 gaming phenomenon.  Here are some 3rd party clones of the 2600, and some 3rd party add-on equipment.

Columbia Home Arcade - This is a clone of the Atari 2600 that was briefly marketed by Columbia House Home Game Club.  Notice the controllers on this system.  They combine the joystick and paddle into one unit.

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Sears Telegames Arcade - This was an Atari 2600, manufactured by Atari, that was sold at Sears.  It is exactly the same as an Atari 2600 unit, except for the color scheme of the case, and the lack of the word "Atari" anywhere on the system.

Kee Games System - This was another Atari 2600 knock-off system marketed by Kee Games.  The name "Kee Games" ought to be familiar to long-time Atari users, as several Atari arcade games were released under the same name.

Coleco's Gemini Game System - This is a clone of the Atari 2600 that was briefly marketed by Coleco.  Notice the controllers on this system.   They combine the joystick and paddle into one unit.

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TV Boy - A handheld VCS with 129 games built in.  It hooks up to your TV, and it is small enough to hold in your hand.   There are ports for plugging in joysticks.

It is believed that these appeared on the market in 1994 or 1995.  I saw one of these on eBay in early 1998, but I have not seen one since.   These were mainly marketed in Europe.

Megaboy - Similar to the TV Boy.  This one does have a built in screen.  I have very few facts on this system.  I do not know if the 2600 games are actually played on the built in screen, or not.  The screen could be a status window, or something else.

Does anyone have any info on this system?

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Gameline Master Module by CVC - This was a hybrid cartridge/modem unit.  Owners of this device subscribed to an online service.  Cartridges were downloaded over the telephone line into the Master Module.

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Starpath Supercharger - This was an add-on device that improves the Atari 2600 memory, graphics, and sound capability. By plugging the Supercharger into a 2600 and connecting its cable to a standard cassette tape player, games could be "loaded in" to memory. The Supercharger unit contains 2K of ROM, but more importantly it adds an additional 6K of screen RAM to the 2600, which was a huge improvement over the 2600 128 bytes of screen RAM.

Colecovision Expansion Unit #1 - This box plugged into the expansion connector on the front of Coleco's Colecovision console.  It allowed the Coleco system to play 2600 games.  Connectors for 2600 joysticks were on the front of the unit.

Needless to say, Atari didn't like this, and they sued.   In December of 1982, Atari filed a $350 million suit against Coleco for their patent infringement of the 2600 game adapter for the Colecovision.   Coleco answered the suit with a $500 million counter-suit alleging violations of Federal Antitrust laws.  In April of 1983, Coleco settled out of court with Atari, and agreed to pay royalties on the sales of the "Expansion Unit #1" devices.