In theory the ROM chip could be replaced; as I recall the Intel 2716 eeprom chips were pin compatible with those mask ROM chips used in the Atari. The ROM image can be found online easily enough so if you buy a chip and burn it, you could swap out that dead ROM for a working eeprom. Here's the chip you'd need.
You need to double-check the image size, though, as some of the games got big enough that you would need a 2732 chip. Later games even went as high as a 2764 chip, but if I recall correctly, you had to have some bank switching hardware in order to use the larger memory, as there weren't enough address lines for more than a 32 kbit chip.
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You need to double-check the image size, though, as some of the games got big enough that you would need a 2732 chip. Later games even went as high as a 2764 chip, but if I recall correctly, you had to have some bank switching hardware in order to use the larger memory, as there weren't enough address lines for more than a 32 kbit chip. I don't see any extra hardware on your circuit board so that's not the case with your chip.
Of course, you need a programmer for that too, so while it would be theoretically possible to make a replacement chip to fix your game, we've quickly gotten to the point where it's not economically feasible once you factor in the part and the programmer. But if you're so inclined, it would be an interesting exercise.
Back in the late 70's when the Atari came out, I was one of the first to build an adapter cartridge that had a ZIF socket where I could swap chips in and out to play various games. Myself and friends would rent games from the video store, copy them onto disks and burn them into the plentiful chips that were readily available to us.
In theory the ROM chip could be replaced; as I recall the Intel 2716 eeprom chips were pin compatible with those mask ROM chips used in the Atari. The ROM image can be found online easily enough so if you buy a chip and burn it, you could swap out that dead ROM for a working eeprom. Here's the chip you'd need.
[link|https://www.jameco.com/z/2716-Major-Brands-IC-2716-EPROM-16K-Bit-450ns-NMOS-UV-Erasable-and-Electrically-Programmable-EPROM_40002.html|2716 EPROM Memory - Jameco Electronics|new_window=true]
You need to double-check the image size, though, as some of the games got big enough that you would need a 2732 chip. Later games even went as high as a 2764 chip, but if I recall correctly, you had to have some bank switching hardware in order to use the larger memory, as there weren't enough address lines for more than a 32 kbit chip.
Of course, you need a programmer for that too, so while it would be theoretically possible to make a replacement chip to fix your game, we've quickly gotten to the point where it's not economically feasible once you factor in the part and the programmer. But if you're so inclined, it would be an interesting exercise.
Back in the late 70's when the Atari came out, I was one of the first to build an adapter cartridge that had a ZIF socket where I could swap chips in and out to play various games. Myself and friends would rent games from the video store, copy them onto disks and burn them into the plentiful chips that were readily available to us.