Preparing for modding your Flashback 8 HD Console I will go over the steps to get everything set up to be able to add/modify the games on your Flashback device. 1. USB Connection
Unlike the Flashback Genesis model, my Flashback 8 HD (as all other variation appear) does not come with a USB connector, or SD-card slot. After doing some digging around, there appear to be numerous Arduino board variations.
So basically we need to add a USB connector to the board. Luckily, this is not
Adding a game to the Flashback 8 HD Some prerequisites:
in this example I'm adding the Double Dragon Arcade ROM from KevinMos3 ( Available at http://atariage.com/forums/topic/154984-hack-project-thread-galaxian-arcade-double-dragon-xenophobe-etc/ ; also note that there is a very nice label he created
you have to have added the USB connector the Flashback
Android Debugger Bridge (ADB)
a bit of patience
First a walkthrough ... There are two key items to remember during this mo
Other than my main Atari 7800 console, the other (retro) console that gets a workout in my household is the Intellivision.
I've always found the controls frustrating, especially the disc. Since I have two systems, I can actually compare what they are supposed to be like since one seems to have the controls working properly. The unit that's a bit more beat up cosmetically is the one that seems to function better. So I'd like to get the main unit we use working in the same way.
Hm, interesting, so it seems I have 90 Atari loose cartridges including some duplicates/variations. For some reason I thought I had more. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of common cartridges here. You have your standard Combat, Air-Sea Battle, Yars Revenge, Defender, Asteroids, Missile Command, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Berzerk, and maybe Adventure. 90% of the people that have an Atari probably have 3 or more of those in their collection. Those are the mainstays. I have the common paddle
So, there is a collection of 24 games that will try to make it past the first hurdle in becoming the best Atari 2600 sport game ever. There are some titles here that will put on a brave face and try to punch over their weight class. Barely 4kb lightweights against some 16kb behemoths? Who will make it past the initial round and get a good chance to claim the title? For the dozens in the forums, and the three following blogs, this is the best in sports entertainment! Let's get ready to ruuu
In order:
Decathlon
Realsports Soccer
Pole Position
Track&Field
Enduro
Realsports Boxing
Tennis
California Games
Realsports Baseball
Winter Games
Decathlon This is the game that I got because I was so hooked on the Hyper Olympics (Track & Field) arcade game. Released in time to take advantage of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, and to cash in with the following of Carl Lewis, Edwin Moses, and I suppose Ken Jenner, this was an excellent game. I ended up saving
Started looking at some of the cartridges I have in storage and snapped some pics. I ended buying a few more carts in the last year and was organizing them a bit differently today. It includes everything except the Atari and Activision sets (which I'll take up some other day). I have some boxed games as well. This is probably half my cartridges?
When I started collecting 7-8 years I quickly honed into the Tigervision and Spectravideo carts, and after so long didn't really get anywhere.
Yes, yet another Activision versus Atari blog entry!
I read DoctorSpud's recently on Robot Tank and it reminded me of how this was Activision's version of Battlezone. DoctorSpud also made a comparison of how Enduro was their take on Pole Position. So I started thinking of how many times that happened. Most of us know of the lawsuit that Atari initiated against Activision and we also know that Imagic was sued over Demon Attack being close to Phoenix. I get it, they paid top dolla
Atari was probably the first company to license arcade hits to complement their own library which they offered on the VCS and soon third-parties followed suit (Parker Bros, M-Network), or in case of some others (Sega, Bally Midway, etc) ended up spinning up their own companies to make and publish these home console versions. It's interesting how Coleco basically went with the arcade-conversions only, which were so prominently displayed on their boxes. As a kid, I remember seeing that and be
So here are my Activision, Absolute and Epyx games. Probably the only complete sets that I have (perhaps M-Network as well). I've always had a particular like for Activision comics and if I'm completely honest with myself I'd say they were best company for the 2600 back in the day. Their titles always seemed to me the more original and were effectively home game exclusives, many of them quite original. I liked how they had the consistent packaging, you got to see a picture of the actual de
Oh my, there has been quite the delay from the preliminary round to the first round. All things considered, these 2600 games have been around for years, so a few months won't matter. So the 12 qualifiers from the preliminary round, join another 20 games for the 32 contenders in the first-round. The match-ups were done randomly, the only restrictions are:
preliminary participants don't get paired together
we keep games from the same company separate in the first round
So the match-
It's funny, I've never gone out of my way to buy boxed and especially BNIB items. Yet I've accumulated quite a few boxes. That takes a couple of bins in storage downstairs. A few months ago I bought about 25 boxed games in a fairly good deal from a local retro store here in Toronto. They gave me about half-price from the individual cost and a lot cheaper than what I usually see on eBay especially for sealed items. It was a spur of a moment thing and have to admit, the thrill of owning them
It is clear that not including the POKEY sound chip was not a good decision. The many "What Ifs" in the Forum and on people's blogs go on and on. It is kinda sad to see games like Ikari Warriors, Ninja Golf, Double Dragon and Summer Games with sound based on 70s technology. Having said, at the end of the day no cares that car engine noises sound better on Forza on the XBOX One, or Gran Turismo or on the PS4. What console buyers care for are the selection of games (arcade ports certainly ent
Here are most of my controllers for the 2600/7800, I have a couple joysticks and a joypad with the TV unit downstairs. The majority are original Atari ones and I didn't realize that I had 3 sets of paddles. I ended up refurbishing a 3-4 CX-40 with parts from Best Electronics. New rubber handle, new button/spring and for a couple of them I changed the contacts. Much cheaper than to get brand-new joysticks and except the usual markings on the rubber handle and scratched buttons, nothing wro
This is something I've been meaning to for the last 3-4 years. I've been slowly collecting all the necessary items but in the last 3-4 months I sprinted towards the end.
I've always wanted to build my own MAME-type home arcade and have a bunch of games ready for me to play with. I knew I wanted to use MAME because I've been using since it was first released eons ago.
The monitor
I also knew that I was going to use a LCD monitor; at leas
I can't say I have a very extensive 7800 collection. These are the loose carts that I own. That's probably true for most folks since it's library is a lot smaller than the 2600. I've come into the 7800 market only in the last 2 or 3 years, after I bought a 7800 console from Best Electronics. The reason was for me to get was to get something with a working AV mod since my attempts on an Atari Jr were poor. In fact, the only Atari consoles I own now are two 7800s. I ended up buying a coupl
So which game is truly the best sports game on the Atari? Which is more innovative? Truthful to the sport? Best graphics? Most accurate controls? And more importantly, is it fun? I've listed 44 games that should be consider. I've skipped all the Pong variants, boardgames, and pretend sports or variations. No Steeplechase, but there is Trick Shot and Skeet Shoot. No crazy Math Grand Prix, no Fishing Derby, no Wall Ball. I was going to limit myself to games that I owned, but thanks to t
Like many folks here at AA, I've been playing video games for a long time and had the opportunity to experience Atari games when they were new back in the early 80s. Over the years, I ended playing many of the games, their arcade originals, the computer variants, seeing them in catalogues and reading about them in magazines or books. For a few years in the 80s, I was in place were Atari cartridges were a rare sight and the only common games that folks would play at home (if they were lucky) w
Seems a bit odd posting about Intellisivision on the AtariAge blog, but it's one of the things I also collect. What started my collecting of Atari (again) was the Intellivision. I never owned one when I was a kid and to be honest, I didn't know anyone that actually had one as well. I did see them in the stores and usually played the demo games. NASL Soccer was very impressive to me at the time with its 3D-like view and a scrolling playfield. There were a lot of things about the Intellivisio
A couple of weeks ago was able to buy a bunch of sealed Atari 2600 games locally in Toronto.
All of them in pretty good condition. Most seem to have Zellers price stickers on them as well. Funny, I do remember how the Activision titles were pricier in comparison to the Atari and their own in-house knock-offs. Zellers, Consumers and K-Mart were the main sources of cartridges for me in 89-91.
When I got these at home, I noticed that I had some repeats although none of them were actua
So here we are in the final! It was an action-packed semi-final where we saw two great bouts. The finalists are: Enduro (Activision) vs Super Football (Atari) Both finalists had to deal with some tough opposition, especially in the later rounds. Enduro had to deal with a preliminary round and there was quite the discontent that such an illustrious title had to even qualify for this tournament. Going against one of its predecessors, Night Driver, proved to be a good warm-up for Enduro.
What a tournament it has been we have seen some upsets (Atari's Golf, Imagic's Trick Shot, and Activision Skiing) and some unexpected games make it into the latter rounds (RS Volleyball, HES' My Golf). We had quite the quarter-final with potentially some controversial wins. Our four semi-finalists are Enduro (Activision), My Golf (HES), Pole Position (Atari) and Super Football (Atari). It's certain that most 2600 collectors and owners would have a copy of Enduro or Pole Position, while
And then there were eight! We're down to outstanding games any of which could be anyone's favourite sports game of all time. It was an exciting round of 16 and now we move on. The four bouts are:
California Games (Epyx) vs Enduro (Activision)
Decathlon (Activision) vs My Golf (HES)
Pole Position (Atari) vs Pete Rose Baseball (Absolute)
Super Football (Atari) vs Track&Field (Atari)
There no underdogs in this round, all solid performers who made it this far on merit. 1.
So over the last few days, quite a few cartridges started making their way into my collection. I did one major batch/rush over a couple of days to get as many as I could. Just because I'm basically doing reproductions by adding these new labels, I decided to keep the costs reasonable as an additional challenge. Basically keep each cartridge under $10 (Canadian). I was able to do this with the only exception being Robot Tank which ended up being $14. Everything else was from $2 to $10. With
So we're down to 16 great sports games on the Atari 2600. It was an exciting first round. Some great match-ups coming up:
BMX Airmaster (TNT Games) vs California Games (Epyx)
Enduro (Activision) vs Winter Games (Epyx)
Decathlon (Activision) vs Skiing (Activision)
Tennis (Activision) vs My Golf (HES)
Pole Position (Atari) vs Realsports Boxing (Atari)
Realsports Volleyball (Atari) vs Pete Rose Baseball (Absolute)
Super Football (Atari) vs Summer Games (Epyx)
Track&Fi
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