WaverBoy

Why won’t the paddle dial work? So bloody maddening. The powers-that-be just can’t get it right.

Here’s the guy’s original in-depth video review of the Bliss-Box:

Still wondering about controller input lag, especially where the paddle function is concerned, would love to see more thoughts on that. Also, has anyone here tried different OG controllers using the Bliss-Box, like perhaps the Atari 2600 or 5200 trakball controllers, or the 2600 paddle controllers?

So, do the controllers suffer from input lag, or not? Gen X Grownup shows himself playing a round of Kaboom with the firmware update, with paddle sensitivity set to low, and he gobbles up all the bombs with ease and says it works really well.

This should be a good version. It ain’t. They’ve had plenty of chances. And it’s no Retron 77, as you can’t put superior custom firmware on it and load ROMs from an SD card.

If Analogue would release a nostalgically designed woodgrainy FPGA console that covered the VCS, 5200, 7800, and 400/800, I’d be a happy man. They could call it the Analogue Av. And then, of course we’d need swanky new 2.4G wireless joysticks and paddles from 8BitDo. The ultimate Atari setup. I bet they’d sell out in no time flat.

Being better than a Flashback console still doesn’t make it good. 7800 support or no, it’s still a low-end emulation-based romdumper that’s non-upgradeable to custom firmware.

It’s really not though. It’s another low-end romdumper. And unlike the R77, you can’t upgrade the firmware to a far superior community build and you can’t run ROMs from an SD card as a convenience and/or game compatibility workaround.

This hunkajunk? It’ll only make the original console more valuable I would think.

I’ll go one better and make it a 2600/5200/7800 console with two cartridge slots, and if SD cards are accepted then we can have it play 400/800 games too.

This would be fine IF all bloody games worked (they don’t) AND if the emulation is perfect (is it?) AND if paddle controller performance is at least up to the OG console (is it?) AND if multicarts would work (they won’t). It’s just another low-end piece of junk romdumper. There have been many attempts at an Atari 2600 HDMI-friendly console, and all of them have come up short. How bloody difficult can it be? Very bloody difficult, apparently. What we want, “Atari”, is an FPGA console that looks like (or is sufficiently nostalgically reminiscent of) the original woodgrain console that doesn’t rely on software emulation/rom dumping. SD card compatibility would be nice, but as long as multicarts work I’m good. And if “Atari” won’t give us that, I wish to hell that Analogue would.

It’s not junk at all if you put the community build firmware on it.

I have a Ranger joystick plugged into the front left controller port. I have a set of rebuilt Atari paddles plugged into the 2600-daptor at the rear. Everything was working perfectly fine with this setup. Now it’s not. After I select a game with the Ranger and hit Reset, twisting the Player 1 paddle knob opens the settings menu and hitting the button moves the cursor between sections of it. And, I reflashed the SD card with completely different updated firmware and it still does that. I’m a bit stymied.

Ok, something weird happened—everything was working perfectly with a joystick in the left controller port and my paddles hooked up in the back via the 2600-adaptor. I could select my paddle game with the joystick, hit reset, and then twist the dial and press the button and presto, great paddle gameplay. Last night I went to play Kaboom and I selected the game, hit Reset, then twisted the paddle dial and a settings menu came up. Clicking the paddle button moved the cursor between the settings. Same result for all paddle games. I deleted all the files from the SD card, reflashed it with the latest Stella update and added my games folder back, and same result. Anyone know what might have happened and/or how I might be able to fix?

Ok, I now have the Retron 77 Stella analog paddle sensitivity set to 83%, which is perfect, and seems to match the feel of the original VCS + paddle. I can now play KABOOM! again without feeling like a complete loser. The default setting is too sensitive. I now have a pretty effin’ sweet HD Atari VCS setup, with the best and most accurate joystick and paddle controls EVAH! Many thanks to all in the community who helped make it possible, from you here at Atari Age to Bradley Koda of Best Electronics!

Thank you!

With the awesome community build firmware, the 2600-daptor and associated cables, and rebuilt paddles from Best Electronics, the Retron 77 is a great HD Atari VCS/2600 setup that is only missing a good wireless controller solution and a way to start/restart/change games without having to walk up to the console. Analogue, the Pong ball is in your court.

I’m in the Advanced Settings, but I can’t figure out how I get to the Devices/Ports tab using the joystick...?

It’s been quite a while since I used a pair of Atari paddles, especially ones that aren’t remotely jittery, so I must have just plum forgot how sensitive they were. Well, here’s looking forward to Stella and her most generous adjustable settings helping me improve my KABOOM! scores! And thank you so much for your D9 gizmo!!!!!

I figured it’d be in Settings, but I just wanted to say the sorcery bit ? Thanks for the hot tip sir! Soon as I get back from my girlfriend’s I’ll get right on that. If I can get the paddle sensitivity setting dialed in correctly, then I’ll have a pretty sweet Atari HD setup, marred only by having to walk back to the console every time I want to start a fresh game or change games.

What sorcery is this?

Finally got my Retron 77 wood grain special, two Troopers, two Rangers, a pair of insanely rebuilt paddles from Best Electronics, and the D9 2600-daptor. My findings: don’t bother with the Ranger controllers. They’re garbage and I’m going to sell mine. The paddles are useless, because on one setting, they’re too sensitive, and on the other setting, the sensitivity is better but the wheel is still too small and the rotation direction switches to backwards on the better sensitivity setting (WHY, Hyperkin, WHY???) so it STILL makes it difficult to play. Hyperkin almost got the Trooper joystick just right; the control is accurate, there’s two fire buttons for flexibility, the cord is nice and long, and they rounded off the bottom corners which help ergonomically. However, the stick itself is hard plastic instead of rubber like the originals, so it’s (even) less comfortable in the hand, but that’s not a dealbreaker. Best Atari joystick on the market overall at the moment that will work with the original console. For paddles to work properly (they’ll work if you plug them into the controller port but they’re jittery, gee thanks a lot Hyperkin for your shitty code), you’ll need a 2600-Daptor D9, a split USB host OTG cable with USB power, a USB A male to USB B male cable, and a pair of powerfully refurbished paddles from Best Electronics (don’t even bother with anything else). Then plug a joystick into player one controller port, plug the paddles into the 2600-daptor D9, plug the D9 into the B male end of the A-to-B USB cable and the A male end into the split USB host/power cable, plug the male microUSB end of the split cable into the Retron 77, plug the male end of the microUSB power adapter, and plug the adapter into an outlet, and now you’re all set for HD Atari goodness. Of course, none of this rigmarole would have been necessary had Hyperkin been competent enough to not screw it up. Also, even with the paddle workaround it feels like the sensitivity is still too much, like you should be able to turn the paddle further for the same amount of movement which would make it easier to be more accurate. Now I need to track down a trakball controller, as Best is out of their refurbished ones, but they still sell their refurb kits at least.

No, we need an SD card slot just like the Super Nt and Mega Sg, for the many of us who have moved on from dusty cartridges but still want the authentic playing experience (except for the fuzzy CRT and dusty cartridge part ?).

Yep, that’s why I got while the gettin’ was good, aw yeah, so glad I did, the new one is butt-ugly, thanks again for the heads up guys!!

Jesus I hope Analogue decides to give us a retro-stylishly designed Analogue Av FPGA console for Atari VCS/5200/7800/400/800/1200XL games, with 8BitDo stepping up and releasing the following 2.4G wireless controllers: a joystick/spinner combo controller, a joypad/paddle combo controller like the Hyperkin Ranger (one of the few good ideas Hyperkin had), and last but equally important, a trakball controller, large like the original 5200 model so that it fits sturdy in the lap. They also need to figure out an analog joystick solution for the 5200, and a way to play two of the best games on that system effectively: Robotron and Space Dungeon, which both require the dual-joystick holder. If an Atari solution such as all the above would be offered, I’m predicting it would fly off the shelves and into the homes of us Atari nuts.