£1 Retro Rufurb - My First Atari - Refurbishing A Classic Light Sixer 2600

Here's a fun video I threw together while refurbishing an Atari 2600 "Light Sixer". I won this console and a copy of Combat on ebay for just £1! (+ about £7 for the postage. These things are heavy! :P). I think it was listed badly as the auction title simply said "atari" and nothing else and the description said no more than it was being sold for spares/repair/untested. Turns out it works perfectly and just needed some love.

The Atari 2600 was a bit before my time and I wasn't even born when this thing popped off the production line! I grew up with consoles like the Sega Mega Drive and Super Nintendo so this is my very first Atari. I'd never even seen a 2600 in real life until this thing arrived in the mail. I think it's one of the coolest looking systems I've ever seen!!

Music,
From the Flight Of The Navigator soundtrack (an awesome 80s movie!)
Track by Alan Silvestri - Robot Romp

Thanks for watching!

[dpepinmarquette]

Just refurbished my heavy sixer today. I found it in my storage and man was it filthy. I am amazed at how good they look with a little love. Now I just gotta find the power cord.

[MarkTheMorose]

Good job, it looks brand new. I probably got my first VCS (it wasn't called the 2600 yet, your '2600' is really a VCS too!) around 1981. I wish I could remember more dates of when I got my first console and computer, but I never kept diaries.

[echopark]

2600 Woody was my first console I ever played my father gave it to me when I was 3. I was giving a boxed one later in life but the box has seen better days. Its amazing how new it looks! I may have to start restoring some of my stuff. Plus love the music

[realFoxBox]

I have a light six switcher that I got for free from my friend in Canada. She didn't want it and it was just collecting dust. It had to be refurbished as every power adapter I had would not power it on and would in fact trip safety switches on the power supplies indicating there was a power short. After taking it apart I found that the board was covered in nicotine residue from years of exposure to smoking. The reason for the short was a staple had gotten into the system, and was stuck to the contact points on the power jack due to the nicotine, causing a short. After some deep cleaning I got it to work properly and now use it to play my favorite Atari game, Dig Dug!

[RetroGameTech]

@Polaventris Just the console and game. The Video cable is attached internally to the 2600 so that almost always gets included by default. Mega Drive controllers are compatible so that's what I use for gaming and a generic 9V PSU does the job for power :).
They're not that common here in Scotland either but they don't seem to cost very much either. It's strange.

[crazyjorge]

That is INSANE! It looks like it just popped off the production line!

[gabbogabbo]

A thing of beauty. Its so relaxing to clean up an old console.

[SwissArmyTin]

Oooh, I haven't heard the Flight of the Navigator theme in ages! And you did a wonderful job at restoring the Atari. I envy you at how great you are at taking grubby old consoles and fixin' them up looking and working like new

[RetroGameTech]

@thomas3120 Thanks! It was surprisingly easy to get looking good again. Just a bit of soapy water and a quick wipe with a WD40 oiled rag. I really love the look of the old Atari consoles.
A couple of things I was surprised with were how little is actually inside a 2600. It's mostly just empty space in there! And, all these years seeing pictures of the 2600 I always thought that was a real wood strip on the front, lol, oh well.
Tempted to the composite mod. Or maybe I should just leave it stock?

[bytor]

Excellent job. Love the wood effect on it. Great vid as always.

[RetroGameTech]

@SkidRowRadio It's still sitting half complete in my cupboard. It'll get finished eventually. I just always seem to find another more interesting project to start. :P

[TheBladeJunker]

Cool intro music choice, fits the tone and one of my favourites. OMG I knew it, yours has a piece of paper taped to the shielding too. Wow looks as good as the day it was made. :)

[RetroGameTech]

@robster604 Haha, well it is covered in the book. Although I think that's the 4 switch version. I do have a portable project planned though. Got another LCD screen on it's way ;-)

[RetroGameTech]

@stuffiwrote Well I never said it was :P. But, since you've mentioned it, the film was released in 86 and is about a boy who goes missing in 78 and can time travel. Also the 2600 was in production or being sold by Atari in one form or another all the way from 77 into the early 90s. But to be honest I just really liked the cheesy track and thought it went quite well with the vid. I was also too lazy to do a voice-over that day :P

[wisteela]

Great work. I didn't know the control panel came out.

[SireSquish]

Would you consider doing a video where you show the actual cleaning steps? I still have my 30+ year old Atari 2600 and it needs the same kind of love for sure.

[RetroGameTech]

@TheBladeJunker Lol, one of my favourite movies as a kid. I've been looking for an excuse to use this track for a while :P.
I think the paper might have been something to do with quality control. Mine seems to have 2 coloured Xs drawn on it like QC pass marks.

[PychoFox]

Beautiful job mate, amazing what a bit of Mr Sheen does to that wood panelling :)

[ruisantos]

That thing looks as good as it rolling out of factory. Great work!

[kevinsaturday]

Fantastic mate, I'm always glad to see these things going into the right hands :)