WaverBoy

...that will let me load ROMs from a microSD card? I’ll get one as soon as I’m able to do that. Also, we really need a trakball solution here.

Only ever buy paddles from Best Electronics.

I think I’m going to concentrate on upgrading my other old game consoles to HD first, and then by the time I come back ‘round to the Atari VCS perhaps we’ll finally have a near-perfect solution, like the RetroUSB AVS, Analogue Super NT, and Analogue Mega SG.

Bummer — I hope they can work the bugs out eventually!

Hadn’t heard of that — just looked it up and it looks exactly like what I’ve been looking for, once the Atari 2600 expansion module is available. I’m assuming/hoping that all OEM Atari controllers will work with it? And, I really hope 8BitDo blesses us with 2.4GHz wireless Atari 2600 controllers. I love the basic all-in-one design of the Hyperkin Ranger gamepads; if only they were WIRELESS!

That mod looks awesome. I’m not handy with DIY though, I’d need to hire someone to mod my stock woody 4-switch with that kit.

That woodgrain one is pretty sexy! Thanks!!!

I just snagged a pair of 8BitDo M30 2.4GHz wireless controllers for my soon-to-be-delivered Analogue Mega SG console and I was of course hoping that they would work flawlessly with my Atari 2600 but apparently that’s not the case. Has anyone found a simple ready-made adapter that works nice and easy?

So instead of the RetroN 77, I’m thinking of getting a Harmony cart and an A/V modded 2600 with S-video out and then convert it to HDMI externally, to ensure full controller compatibility. I’m seeing consoles on eBay labeled as a Ben Heck A/V mod with composite and S-video out, and a UAV A/V mod with composite and S-Video out. Is Ben’s mod the same as the UAV mod? And I hear that S-Video doesn’t play well with LCD TVs — is there a good way to convert the S-Video to HDMI? Or should I just give up and go with the RetroN 77 (juiced up with updated community build firmware of course) for a crystal clear picture and SD card ROM loading? Decisions decisions...I’m dying to get my Atari 2600 HD solution squared away, and I welcome any and all input 😊 Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Not sure — it does look a little funky but I’m sure it would play fine

If I could buy one already put together in a box, then we’d have something. But I’d still prefer a dedicated Atari machine along the lines of the AVS and Mega SG, styled as an homage to the original VCS woodgrain console.

(I dearly hope there’s another run for those 5200 controllers!)

Has anyone heard any rumblings about a proper FPGA console for the three classic Atari consoles? We’ve got them for all the other beloved classic consoles, but for Atari we’re still dealing with often dodgy clones based on emulation (although the RetroN 77 does appear to be much better than the norm for these things). Oh what I wouldn’t give for a nice Analogue Stella Deluxe which has cores for the 2600, 5200 and 7800, with two cartridge slots (I’m presuming the 2600 and 7800 carts can share a slot), all needed toggle switches for 2600 purposes, and lovely matching 2.4GHz wireless joysticks and paddle controllers from 8BitDo, and wireless 2.4GHz 5200 controllers perhaps along the lines of this awesome design:

Anyone have any luck yet in getting Atari paddle controllers to work properly on their Retron 77? I’m still on the fence over this one. If paddle compatibility has been sorted, I think I might bite. I want to pick up one of Best Electronics’ refurbished paddle sets with their fancy new pots and have all my Atari paddle concerns be over and done with.

What I want is no bezels, not custom bezels. I want the full 4:3 picture to fill the screen from top to bottom and have black bars on the sides only.

Also, for the Flashback X, is it possible to get rid of the border bezels entirely and just have it look normal 4:3 with black bars on the sides? If not, that’s kind of annoying.

I’m trying to decide which route to go, RetroN 77 or Flashback X. After some initial investigation of this forum and various YouTube reviews, it looks as if both of these systems can be loaded up with ROMs if you update the firmware, with the RetroN 77 much easier to update than the Flashback X which requires multiple steps and additional hardware. Looks like the joystick controllers that come with the RetroN 77 are of better quality than those that come with the Flashback X, and there is also a new Ranger gamepad controller for the RetroN 77 which contains a thumb stick-style joystick and a built-in paddle dial that is a bit stiff but controls the onscreen action very smoothly. OEM Atari paddle controller support on the RetroN 77 appears to be non-functional unless you run it through additional hardware; with the Flashback X it appears to be somewhat functional but jittery, judging from a YouTube review I saw, but that might be because the reviewer’s paddles needed to be cleaned/adjusted. Anyone know if the Atari 2600 trackball controller or driving controllers will work on either of these? Thoughts anyone? So far I’m leaning toward the RetroN 77, but I’d love to hear more arguments for or against either system from the passionate fans and experts here. And neither of these systems support Sega Genesis controllers, correct? Which means that neither the 8BitDo wireless Genesis controllers nor Krikzz’s wireless Genesis controllers will work... will we ever have a perfect wireless controller solution for the Atari 2600?

If I get this installed in my 5200, will it be compatible with my Sony 4K TV? I hear that the Sophia 1 had compatibility issues with TVs as opposed to VGA monitors, so I’m really hoping this new model fixes that.

I’m a bit late to the party here! I just found out about the Retron 77 and it looks like it might be the answer to my HD Atari dreams. So, if I buy the system and update the firmware with the latest community build, I can load as many ROMs onto the SD card as I want, yes? And, is there full proper paddle controller support now? If I use the new Ranger gamepad paddle dial to play Kaboom!, will it work well just plugged into the Retron 77? Or what’s this about running it through an additional adaptor to make the paddle control more accurate?

Looks like the ES mod boards are in stock on their website: https://electronicsentimentalities.com/Assembled Mods.html

Defender is a shooter, though, not a platformer. And yeah, in my article I names Space Panic as a relevant precursor to the platform game, but not a platform game itself. So Space Panic isn’t really a platformer after all... Back to Donkey Kong then!

Crossbow, would you be able to mod my four-port Atari 5200 with the ES kit if I order one from them? And is it also possible to mod it so that I don’t have to worry about the funky power/game switch thingie and huge power brick and can just use a regular power adapter instead? I’ve been dying to bring my 5200 up to at least 1985-level technology.

I’m wondering — are there any industrious geniuses out there who would let me hire them to mod my four-port Atari 5200 with this Sophia board? And which resolution should I get for a Sony 4K TV? And is it possible to mod the 5200 using whatever cables/devices are available so that there is one port coming out of the console that carries both audio and video, that I can convert to HDMI using a special cable or some other gizmo? This is the last console of my childhood for which I haven’t found an HDMI solution, as not only are there no FPGA clones available for it like there are for the NES, SNES and Sega Genesis, there are no clones available at all, not even a regular emulation-based clone like the Retron 77 for the 2600 (I do hear that’s actually a good clone once you update the firmware with the latest community build and I am hot to pick it up).

I tracked the dev down on Twitter, asked if he could update his PSP emulator to include support for the second fire button, and lo and behold, he did!

PSP 2000 with CFW and 64GB micro SD card + adapter is still the way to go for retro emulation on a handheld. Android emulation sucks because of input lag; I have no issues with that on my trusty PSP. And GBA games seem to run fine for me, so I have no need of a GBA + Everdrive. I guess I'll have to live with not being able to play Space Rocks and a few other homebrews and ROM hacks on my PSP until Android emulation can be achieved with little-to-no input lag.