[What do you think of the Atari 2600+ at the moment...]

I’m hopeful. My video modded 7800 is my main goto system with sd cart to play my games and the new non-compatible game releases. 
 

For now, the 2600+ sits, boxed, with my other shelved systems with hopes of being able to play my favorite games someday.  

 

I do have a, basically new, retron 77 that will be going out the door for the same reasons. 

With that stated , I love the new games like Mr run n jump and berserk. Keep ‘em coming. 

 

 

[Has anyone perfected the controls for the 5200, or is it useless?]

On 4/3/2024 at 6:59 PM, Goochman said:

The games that wont work well are the ones programmed for the 5200 controller "analogueness" - Gorf IIRC on real hardware didnt work well with the Masterplay joystick that self centered.  I imagine a number of 5200 games wont work well with the Mini controller due to this.  I almost wouldnt have advertised 5200 compat since everything be had on the 800 side.

Been staring at my 400 mini for the past week. Have't found some time to sped with it yet.

Sooo.... am I understanding that games that work with the masterplay will play fine ?  ... or is there lag? Asteroids , Space Invaders come to mind. My play on the 5200 has mostly been limited to the "digital" control games that I could play with the Masterplan. Although, the 8 bit line has many counterparts that are similar, if not, the same game.  My first computer was a 400 back in the day when I was in High School so I think this is uber cool.

 

[Nuon Tempest 3000 reprint coming]

9 hours ago, cubanismo said:

I don't consider the games fuzzy or blurry. Tempest 3K is, IIRC, because it runs at half-res and Minter made an artistic choice to do some sort of anti-aliasing (Maybe just bilinear filtering for the upscaling, I don't know). I think it's the same thing he went for with the VLM-2, where he wanted no visible pixels (http://minotaurproject.co.uk/vlm.php), and I think the VLM generally runs at half res or less too, and hence also looks blurry, but again, not because Nuon is blurry, rather because the author preferred it that way.

 

Iron Soldier 3, FreeFall 3050 A.D., Ballistic, Merlin Racing, The Next Tetris, and Space Invaders all look as crisp as they do on other systems (Crisper in the case of IS3).

Interesting. On my 3 Nuon system they are not crisp (Toshiba and Samsung units) with component video. I have the same Space Invaders collection as well as IS3 on my PS1 running under S-video and they are all much cleaner. I am not the only one who has noticed this.

 

 

[Nuon Tempest 3000 reprint coming]

??

[Nuon Tempest 3000 reprint coming]

On 3/25/2024 at 3:25 PM, UHATEIT said:

With regards to Tempest 3000, I didn't think it was all too great, it was very blurry and not crisp like Tempest 2000,

I wonder why the games were blurry on the Nuon. The dvds looked great… but the games always looked like I was playing them in composite video. 

[Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1 REV2]

11 minutes ago, HatNJ said:

The 2600+ doesn't have SD card slot

Good point. USB port or some other means. 

[Why did you buy the 2600+?]

I bought mine with hopes of running my games in HDMI format. My large 2600/7800 collection is like 90% boxed (many titles stilled shrink-wrapped) and it is somewhat overwhelming to be honest. So I am hoping that someday I can play using something like my Cuttle Cart/Harmony cart off a menu like I do now. I'm an exception, I'm sure, as my boxed collection of carts will stay boxed. The only exception is many of the newer home-brews stay next to my system.. but that's getting to be annoying as well. However, most of those won't run on the emulated 2600+ software/hardware. For now my 2600+ stays boxed next to my other units with high hopes. I'll continue to use my A/V modded 7800 for all things from that era. I do want the system not to have any paddle lag. I am a big fan of the paddle games on the 2600 (Still play Kaboom and Super Breakout on a regular basis). Being 60 years of age, I just can't train my brain-to-hand reflexes to match the lag I experience.   

 

Personally, what I'd really like to see... an FPGA based Atari 2600/5200/7800 unit along the lines of what Analogue does. A unit that plays original carts and is 100% compatible with all games, including ones not made or supported by Atari (3rd Party, home-brews, and SD carts). C'mon Atari... you can do this!! 🙂

 

Fingers crossed for the Atari 400 mini. 🙂

[Atari 2600+ Beta Update 1.1 REV2]

Any word when the next "official" firmware release will be?

Will it be as easy as downloading from my Mac to a SD card and inserting it? 

 

[Analogue Pocket Lynx Adapter Now Part of $99 Package]

Is there a guide to button mapping when using the dock?

 

I am using a 360 controller with the updated d-pad. Seems to work well. I’ve discovered the flip controls feature by accident… right shoulder button. 
 

[Checkered Flag just got Awesome]

Im not a SW developer, so I ask this with hesitancy....

 

Any chance something of the sort could be done to support the jag spinner controls?

 

Re-release the cart. Or provide a rom.

 

 

[New Jaguar Rotary Controller Box (1-29-24)]

Got my box yesterday. That was fast. Thanks. Excellent service. 
 

Looks very nice and compliments my collection. 

I did notice a couple of games mentioned on the box that I didn’t realize supported the rotary controller. 
 

Is there a complete list somewhere? 

 

[New Jaguar Rotary Controller Box (1-29-24)]

On 1/29/2024 at 8:41 AM, Machine said:

After 6 years and a few grand later, I finally have a box that I can call finished. 🤩

I have always liked the previous boxes, but I could always find some minor details I wanted to improve on.

With this box, I am going to call it finished. The latest box has a more glossy finish. I have also reduced all 3 sides by 1/4 inch. 

 

I will have a few complete boxed rotary controllers for sale next week. 

After that, I will sell a few "DIY" kits with the new box and a NOS controller(these will have everything you need to build your rotary controller. Soldering 3 wires is required)

I should have enough left over in a few weeks to sell empty boxes if anyone is interested.

Living with OCD is tiring and expensive.  🤪

 

I’d like box if you have any left. 

[Team Pixelboy News Bulletin - December 25th 2023]

Just saw this.

 

Many thanks and Happy New Year

[THE BIG CHRISTMAS 2600+ GIVEAWAY COMPETITION!]

I always wanted to see Archon for the 2600. 7800 would be nice as well, but I want to see want can be done on the 2600. 
 

I also think it may be possible to see M.U.L.E. 
 

cybermorph type game on the 7800. 
 

Some sort of toys to life games for the Atari 7800. Use Atari properties like Bentley bear, centipede, a yar, the dot from adventure, etc and …. a big ask here… Nolan Bushnell as a character as well. 🤔
 

one can dream eh?

[FXPAK Pro Setup Questions/Issues]

Ya, I think you are correct. 

Guess I’ll re-engage krizz. 

[FXPAK Pro Setup Questions/Issues]

I've had this cart for 2 years (FXPAK Pro) now and am finally getting back to it.

 

Background...

Ordered the Everdrives directly from Krizz (during one of his Black Friday sales) soon after I ordered my Analogue MD and NT systems. When I finally got my Analogue systems I got the MD stuff all working. The Everdrive Works great on the analogue MD and I couldn't be happier. However, the SFPAK Pro is giving me issues. 

 

I had it working (partially) on my SNES and then found out I needed some extra files for the enhanced chips found in some of the games. I was able to find about 4 or 5 of those. But now I can't get the cart to load or even recognize when there is no SD cart in the slot like it use to.  I was chatting with Krizz about this in email exchanges when Russia invaded Ukraine. Krizz mentioned that my SD card slot may be defective and said I could ship it to him. But I never sent it back as I figured he had bigger things to worry about. 

 

Soo.. what I am wanting to do, is to find someone who has the SD card and FXPAK Pro setup properly and working that could guide me through the process.  I found a YouTube video, and I think I have done all that properly... but I'm no IT guy and am on a MAC, so I am not sure. I have tried multiple SD cards and still nothing seems to work. 

 

Would like your advice. Can contact me via PM. 

 

Much appreciate any help.

 

 

[Atari 2600+ Compatibility Testing at PRGE!]

14 hours ago, Albert said:

I played several games on an original 2600 using the new paddles and they worked great once I put my television into "Game" mode.  It's so nice to have smooth, jitter-free paddles!

I'm not sure when it will happen, but we'll likely create a separate compatibility list for homebrew games, and might host it here on AtariAge.  I'm still in Portland myself and won't be home until the weekend, but we'll get an initial list together soon.

 

 ..Al

Don’t get me wrong. 
 

the paddles worked. It appears there is some lag in the gain control they use to emulate them. My testing demonstrated some (for lack of better description term “inertia”) lag combined with over compensating when spun fast.  It clearly reads the paddles as the jittery OEM paddles demonstrated this. I would like to have an OEM Atari next to the plus to compare properly. Do some proper comparisons and documenting both quantitive and qualitative data. A list of games that boot up and play is nice, but do they play the same? that is the question. 
 

FYI.. night driver appears ok as it isn’t such a twitch game like kaboom. I tried that and it’s ok. 
 

I’ll admit, I’m an outlier for the main audience I’m sure. I grew up before video games and the Atari was my true love. Played the heck out of it.  Still do. 
 

BTW:is there a way to “fry” 

[Atari 2600+ Compatibility Testing at PRGE!]

I had high hopes for the paddles working. They feel sluggish on breakout. A possible dealbreaker. I doubt I could play kaboom like I feel it should be played. Kaboom and super breakout are 2 of my all time favs on the 2600. Kaboom and super breakout should be the benchmark by which all paddle support in emus should be evaluated 

 

Tried playing with the new paddles and older OEM. Both with similar results. In fact, the older paddles did exhibit jittery behavior. 
 

Things I am not sure of working are the starpath games (multi load as well as single load games) and the cuttle cart. The newer melody board carts don’t work according to Albert. 

I should have tried some of the champ games since I bought the new turbo and elevator action games at the show. Duh!?!

 

Your mileage may vary… but from my chair the system didn’t perform as needed. 

[AtariAge + Atari Q&A]

 
 

As a child of the “Atari Age” before the internet, I wish you the best Albert. I thank your passion to make AA what it is today. 
 

I'm excited for the future. 

[PRGE 2023 Intellivision attendees & exhibitors wanted]

I’m attending. Will be sharing a booth with a friend. 

[Atari Jaguar Rotary Controller Boxes]

 

2 hours ago, Machine said:

Price is gonna be around $12 each. Shipping is what might stop this project. Looking at USPS, priority is $17. 

 

Seeing the price for just a normal controller($40 or more), wish I would have bought more back when they were half that.

 

 

I’ll still take one. 

[R.I.P. Pelé]

I met Pele in the late 70s at an exhibition soccer match.

 

I still remember buying the game at a Best store in Sacramento. Played the heck out it with my friends late into the night. 
 

still recall the rainbow fire work effects when a score happened. Pretty cool for the time IMHO. But I was easily amused back then.

[Screenshot of "The Core", the lost homebrew from 2001]

Awe yes, I remember this well. I was one who got a refund. 
 

I truly believe had good intentions. Life events got in the way. 
 
Thanks for the memory lane trip.

[It took 29 years, but I think I finally kinda 'get' and like Cyber Morph]

Cyber morph is a vey good game from that era. I always thought it could use a bit more polish, but yeah, it had some great gameplay. As far as air cars… eh,  hmmm.. I wouldn’t bother.

 

I played through cybermorph again on the Atari 50th. I like the controls options on there much, much better. Still had fun after all this time. To me it has a nostalgic Logan’s run, Space 1999 feel to it. 

[How many of you have the "Full Set"]

Full set years ago.

I also have a test cart and a dev cart/board (it's a big board) with the ST floppies and the cable connector. Never used it. It came with the dev manuals as well. interesting historical item.