should i buy a 7800?

[airsoftmodels]

i know that this is a loaded question, of course i should buy a 7800, this is the 7800 thread on atariage.

 

but i just wanted to say that after playing asteroids on a 7800 emulator, i have fallen in love with this system.

 

why/how is the asteroids so much better on 7800 compared to the 8 bit, which i already own?

 

i noticed that b&c has/had reconditioned 7800's for $75 without joysticks (don't need em) and 1 game.

 

that seems more than fair compared to ebay prices.

 

finally, there didn't seem to be a difference between 3D asteroids (prototype) and asteroids. is the cart version

 

the same as the rom dump? anyway thanks for listening.

[+Mitch]

Same game, they just changed the name a couple of times during development.

 

Mitch

[Andromeda Stardust]

Get one. And if you are remotely a fan of Pacman, I would also highly recommend getting a 7800 Pacman Collection cart from the AA store to complement your purchase. Homebrew was the main reason I decided to jump on the 7800 bandwagon.

[Thekng123]

get one. and get the pal controller, the ntsc one sucks and cramps your hands.

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

Same thing as Stardust said. I highly reccommend getting the Atari 7800. Of course as it's a 2 in 1 system with backwards compatibility with the Atari 2600. But the homebrew market is very impressive. Bob Decresenzo has made some amazing games for it. And I would highly suggest browsing around at the Atariage store and looking through all the repros. They will blow your mind.

[SoundGammon]

3D Asteroids probably came from the old Intellivison commercial where George Plimpton was comparing Star Strike to the 2600 version of Asteroids.

 

And at the end he says: "After Star Strike, Asteroids leaves me feeling kind of flat".

 

If you play the 7800 version in a dark room with the brightness level set just right on the tv, it does have a 3D look to it!

Edited August 21, 2015 by SoundGammon

[+sramirez2008]

Get one. The homebrews are amazing (Astro Fighter in on the way). May want to keep a eye out for a Starplex controller. Makes playing Asteroids even more like the arcade.

[DracIsBack]

the GCC guys who designed the 7800 and a lot of the initial games humorously referred to it as "Meatballs in Space"

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

Yep I totally agree. Asteroids was one of the reasons i wanted the 7800. If you haven't already done so then have a look at Space Duel and Asteroids Deluxe also,very awesome home brew ports to enjoy. The bright spot to all of this is there's so many home brews you can catch up on and lots of good ones coming.

 

If you haven't yet bought the hardware you could buy one from http://electronicsentimentalities.com/ where for a few more bucks they'll install an AV/S Video mod giving you an amazing looking picture. I recently bought the hardware and had this all done from them for around $100.00 If you do decide to grab the hardware be sure to look into this for your controller needs. http://www.edladdin.com/Seagull-78-ec-2-001.htm

Edited August 22, 2015 by PhoenixMoonPatrol

[Andromeda Stardust]

I got mine from Best with the AV composite mod. Oh, and I have one of the Euro controllers. It's not that great either. There is a mod online to convert NES controllers to 7800 standard. If you don't have the technical skills to make one yourself, I'm sure a forum member could hook you up. I don't recommend eBay as people tend to over charge for the controller mods. The stock 7800 controllers originally used 620Ω resitors which Radio Shack did not carry so I used 560Ω instead and it works great. I also built a homebrew arcade stick too...

Edited August 22, 2015 by stardust4ever

[+xucaen]

I bought a refurbished 7800 from Best and I tell you it is mint condition. I love it! I had no problem building a collection of 7800 games all still in shrink wrap! Don't wait - get them while they are still cheap because soom they will be hundreds of dollars like the Jaguar.

[airsoftmodels]

i have not yet heard back from B&C regarding buying one of their refurbed 7800's. On your suggestion xucaen, I checked Best and they are out of stock.

 

on a side note, games on the 7800 seem to be quite a bit easier than I am used to on the atari 8 bit.

 

for example, asteroids, donkey kong, and pole position are all more playable for me than I am used to.

 

is this documented? has anyone else noticed this? or am I just imagining it?

[SIO2]

Just one 7800? Surely you will want one for every room.

[Andromeda Stardust]

i have not yet heard back from B&C regarding buying one of their refurbed 7800's. On your suggestion xucaen, I checked Best and they are out of stock.

 

I picked up my "AV" modded 7800 from Best last year. Amazing picture to say the least. Pity they are sold out, but "New Old Stock" doesn't stick around forever. I finally got around to retuning the NTSC color on the 2600 side. Hue was a bit off as had drifted over the years but that was easily remedied.

 

Pity they don't offer 5200 consoles either as I may get one someday but I'm kind of scared to pick one up on eBay. The achilles heel is really the controller and Best has a fix for that albeit a bit pricey. I believe most games that rely on analog joystick mode can optionally use the trackball so a digital joystick has it's place. And I do have the technical skill to built my own off a schematic. See the links in my sig. I still need to design a proper Robotron controller for the 7800...

Edited August 24, 2015 by stardust4ever