Atari 2600 Jr. - any known compatibility issues?

[eddhell]

Long time lurker/buyer on here, but I've never had much to post.....

 

I saw a topic on here before about "best Atari console" for widest compatibility with the extensive cartridge library the 2600 has....here's my question:

 

Are there any known cartridges that absolutely DO NOT WORK on the 2600 Jr.? (NTSC, I'm in USA)

Cartridges only, not worried about Supercharger tape games....(unless it's on a Harmony Encore cart, etc..)

I'm getting ready to move to a new house, will have to store most my collection in totes (and will be somewhat inaccessible), and I need to leave out one physical system to test carts on. I have 7800, 2600 6 switch (later model), 2600 4 switch, and this 2600 Jr. (which is the one I left out for testing before)....but do most the homebrews work on this Jr. model? (I never had any physical homebrew carts to test with, but in case I buy some...need to know)

 

[SS]

I have two NTSC Juniors and neither of them will work with a "Kool Aid Man" cartridge. This is a known common issue although, according to a few responses in that other thread, apparently not ALL Juniors have this same incompatiblity problem.

[ubersaurus]

Yeah, my NTSC junior plays nice with Kool Aid Man. I haven't had any issues with any game I've thrown at it.

[ApolloBoy]

I have two NTSC Juniors and neither of them will work with a "Kool Aid Man" cartridge. This is a known common issue although, according to a few responses in that other thread, apparently not ALL Juniors have this same incompatiblity problem.

 

Some 7800s have the same issue, IIRC it's the TIA revision that Atari used for a time.

[+nanochess]

The M-Network games typically jump outside of the cartridge port because some weird tolerance in Atari 2600 Jr. case.

[eddhell]

now that you guys mentioned it, I remember reading about that 'kool-aid man' problem on some models....i'll have to try that one specifically and find out if mine "plays nice"

[eddhell]

I was going to use my 7800 as the all around tester - it works fine on 7800 carts but it acts funky with some 2600 carts (might be one with the TIA thing....)

[+Psionic]

There's a full list of known TIA incompatibilities listed here.

 

In addition to the titles given there, I've recently found that the game Entombed seems to have issues as well.  The left side counter for the "make/breaks" has partially corrupted score digits on both Junior models I own ('86 Taiwan small rainbow & '89 China large rainbow).  I should note that both of my consoles also have the known problems with the score counter in Kool-Aid Man, Spider Fighter, and Thunderground.

 

Does anyone  except @ubersaurus own a Jr. that doesn't have problems with the titles listed?  They happen whether using a Harmony or original cartridges.

 

[ubersaurus]

On 3/10/2023 at 12:55 PM, Psionic said:

There's a full list of known TIA incompatibilities listed here.

 

In addition to the titles given there, I've recently found that the game Entombed seems to have issues as well.  The left side counter for the "make/breaks" has partially corrupted score digits on both Junior models I own ('86 Taiwan small rainbow & '89 China large rainbow).  I should note that both of my consoles also have the known problems with the score counter in Kool-Aid Man, Spider Fighter, and Thunderground.

 

Does anyone  except @ubersaurus own a Jr. that doesn't have problems with the titles listed?  They happen whether using a Harmony or original cartridges.

 

I'm not sure what the error looks like, but mine seems okay? I didn't notice any graphical issues.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I've got a semi recent story to add on TIA oddness in regards to 7800s.

I had a 7800 sent to me with an older composite upgrade installed that had bad jail bars in the composite output. I replaced it out with a UAV and while it was better the jail bars were still present?! It was the TIA causing this and it was an IMP branded TIA.

 

The second story was actually in a Sears Video Arcade II console. It seemed to work fine but I noticed that the ladder rungs in both Pitfall! and Pitfall! II were shifted over several pixels to the right from where they should have been?! It also prevented the player from being able to use the ladders as I recall. Figured out it was the Synertek TIA that was in the system. Replaced it out with a spare AMI branded one from somewhere and that took care of that issue. Now what is even more odd about this?

 

I later had a 7800 come to me for services with a bad TIA (Trigger controller issues), and the ONLY replacement I had was that synertek one I'd pulled like a year earlier from that SVAII console. As this 7800 was needed mainly for just playing 7800 games I decided to go ahead and pop it in there to at least get the triggers and controls working properly again. I also decided to give Pitfall! and Pitfall II a test on that 7800. And would you believe it... the ladders were fine and worked correctly?!

 

My point is that yes some of the TIAs have bugs and various issues, but it also seems that the rest of the revision of the hardware they are paired with can also cause these issues to manifest. Again, that synertek didn't like the SVA II it came out of, but a year later had not problems being in a 7800 and seemingly working correctly at that point.

 

[+Psionic]

On 3/22/2023 at 4:45 PM, ubersaurus said:

I'm not sure what the error looks like, but mine seems okay? I didn't notice any graphical issues.

 

Interesting.  So your unit has no issues with any games whatsoever, including Cosmic Ark and Journey: Escape?  What's the serial number and where was it made?

[+x=usr(1536)]

The one and only game I have found compatibility problems with is the final demo of Lady Bug Arcade: leaving the attract mode running, it will crash as soon as the ladybug eats the first letter in 'SPECIAL' during the demo.

 

Note that this happens when running it from a Harmony Encore.  On the 7800 via a Concerto, it works fine, for whatever that's worth.

[ubersaurus]

On 3/25/2023 at 10:17 AM, Psionic said:

 

Interesting.  So your unit has no issues with any games whatsoever, including Cosmic Ark and Journey: Escape?  What's the serial number and where was it made?

X104 827894

[Tempest]

I remember my jr having problems with Millipede back in the day.  It wouldn't move to the next level after the first bonus level.  The only way around this was to die during the bonus level, then it would continue.