Basically, I ordered both Pole Position and Missile Command from amazon, both of which arrived today. They were both listed as working.

It was a lie.

Pole position will not load at all. But Missile commamd is stranger. It loads the game, but instead of giving me a title screen it jumps straight into the gameplay screen. And then it freezes.

I know that there are no problems with the system itself because my other games work just fine.

So I'm wondering. Can any of you guys help me? Because if I can't get them to work I'll just send them back.

Thanks in advance.

Your best bet is to contact the seller and see about getting your money back.

Did you clean the contacts?

yeah clean the contacts before anything. since its different to open a 2600 game you can try 91% alcohol on q-tips. if that doesnt work open the cart and scrub the contacts until they are silver with a green scouring pad. i guarantee that will make the game work. despite what folks say, taking the gold plating off the contacts doesnt harm the game. in fact they boot up first time everytime. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFRERD1hafA
check that video

Yep, you do need help if you have 2600 different games. (trollface)

Isn't it somewhat normal for 2600 games to have such little memory that they don't even have a title screen?

(at least so I heard, until a box turned up for the infamous rare game Air Raid, people couldn't even be sure it was the correct title for the game)

I'm pretty sure that missille commamd is supposed to have a title screen.

@Everyone, thanks for your help guys. I will try cleaning the game with alcohol. Any specific suggestions about what to use?

@ogo79, this is probably gonna sound silly, but whats a scouring pad?

EDIT: I almost forgot, is there a way to safely remove the outer casing of the cartridge so that I can clean the game inside?

I use a cleaning kit from NES repair.com. It basically has 2 solutions and a cleaning cloth, and it does a great job of getting corrosion off the contacts IMO. I'm not sure how to open up a 2600 cartridge but you may find some help on You tube or the internet. I bet if the games are cleaned they will work fine.

@Mr.Arcade: A scouring pad is one of those metal type sponges that you get from a store in the cleaning isle usually by the sponges. Generally they are used to clean pots and pan when food gets baked on and a normal sponge wont get it off.

There is no title screen for Missle Command on the 2600.

There is also unfortunately no way to open the cartridges without cracking them open. For some of the 2600 games released (depending on the company) you are able to reach the game board contacts from the outside — for example, Activision games — but the games released by Atari are not among them. So i think you're out of luck, unless you don't mind cracking the games open and then gluing the cases back together. Although, just so you know, 2600 games can be run fine with just the chip outside of the housing — my copy of Yar's Revenge has been that way for almost 30 years and still runs fine.

You're better off trying to get your money back, or just getting other copies of the games. 2600 games are so cheap (for the most part) that i can't imagine that you shelled out too much for those two, which are both very common games.

Maybe your console is messed up or something.

you can try your best to follow the lines in the middle of the casing with a screwdriver until it separates, but you will need a screwdriver to take apart the game anyways. since youve never did this try it with a less desirable game first. although you will have to puncture the sticker/label to open the cart, if you kind of prime it with something smaller than the actual size screwdriver youll need to open the game (i used a smaller screwdriver to start the holes) and make the hole bigger as you go, you will be able to get the hole done with a clean cut without leaving any sticker left peeling away that would leave "rough" edges around the hole. if you do it clean it will look like the game came that way with a hole in the middle of the sticker. i did that with my genesis game genie because i clean all my carts. it has 4 little screws going around each corner of the sticker. i cut it clean and when you look at it you see the 4 little silver screws and you cant tell there was ever sticker covering the holes. i sometimes look at it and kind of get a kick out of it because the job came out so clean.

Remember that I have a copy of both Dig Dug and Centipede which work fine.

I took apart the games and the Atari and cleaned them and all of the contacts, and the games still do not work.
Also Combat came yesterday and does the same thing as missile command.
I came to the conclusion that my Atari was not recognising certain games, so I will probably have to get a new one.
Well I appreciate the help guys, I've tried everything I can.