boggis the cat

I just checked and EB Games as well as Mighty Ape have almost all of the range. The paddle controllers and 4-in-1 isn’t available, but that seems to be a stock issue elsewhere. Presumably we are getting PAL versions? I didn’t think to check that. No indication on the Berzerk re-release except the Australia / New Zealand importer is printed on the bottom of the box.

The pack-in cart didn’t initially work properly for me, power cycling the 2600+. I tried it in an old 2600 and eventually got all the games to work on that system, then the cart worked in the 2600+. I am unsure about the root cause.

The 7800 ‘PAUSE’ is the 2600 ‘B/W-COLOR’ switch. It toggles on each press - so from COLOR to B/W, then B/W to COLOR etc. Functionally the same.

Atari do sell the CX-40 standalone. Not the paddle controller, though. AtGames have a section on their website where they list accessories. They seem to never be in stock, though. Maybe just haunt EBay?

Perhaps there is someone who can make new cardboard cases using the old graphics. Just add a ‘Reproduction’ mark somewhere to ward off the scammers. I found new old-stock 2600 games being sold out of Venezuela a few years back, and bought quite a few. Shrink-wrap and everything. Some utter spoon in Customs here decided that they would check one of these brand new carts (Pole Position) by hacking the box apart with a box-cutter. ‘Inspected by a massive pr*ck’.

I thought that the main clock rates were different between the NTSC and PAL systems? They are for the 8-bit computers.

Some others have said that the contact force of the tines in the 2600+ cartridge slot is weaker than the original machines. If so, then that could cause some issues.

My 10in1 cartridge didn’t work at first. I tried it in a real 2600 and it worked, then it started working in the 2600+. Unsure why, but my suspicion is slightly janky contacts. Most of the old carts I tried worked (PAL carts, as that is what I had to hand) and I suspect the non-working are the janky behaviour on a real 2600 ones.

Yes, they did. They also had a manual insert. Those are important as there is no other documentation on the games. Unfortunately the new Atari seem to consider a manual to be a ‘premium’ item, so there isn’t one included with the Berzerk re-release or the 10-in-1 or 4-in-1 with the paddle controllers.

I had no issues with the 4-in-1 on PAL (NZ manufactured) and NTSC (probably Hong Kong) ‘Vader’ units. The 10-in-1 pack-in with the 2600+ was very finicky to get working on the 2600+, but worked on the real 2600s after a couple of attempts. Not sure if it’s the switches and/or the contacts. The 2600+ has pretty weak wipers in the cartridge slot, and I have had to clean carts that work OK in the real 2600s. Incidentally: I paid NZ$400 for my first 2600 back in 1982, and paid NZ$230 for the 2600+. The inflation-adjusted amount for 1982 at today’s rate would be NZ$1800. So I guess the build quality might be a bit reduced.

I also first thought of E.T. E.T. would be a great idea for the publicity alone. If I recall correctly, Spielberg was very positive about the game at the time, so obtaining the rights to re-release may not be that difficult if approached correctly. The unfortunate bugs that made it too difficult and the timing ruined the chances for it to be properly appreciated. For the 7800, any of the good ports would be worthwhile if the rights can be had. (Basically the stuff that had to be removed from the store here.)

The 4-in-1 that comes with the paddle controllers works fine on older ‘Vader’ age 2600s - both PAL and NTSC. U3 looks like a voltage regulator, and appears to be driving the 74x logic.

I picked up one of those units to get the paddle controller. It worked OK on my PAL 2600, with wrong colours of course. Travel range seemed quite limited, but was centred. it is just a potentiometer and switch, so really should work with old hardware.

As mentioned above, your options are to change the pots in the original paddles (swap out the 1 MOhm with 10 kOhm) or modify the board: https://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2019/10/15/hardware-mod-to-support-standard-paddles-on-atari-flashback-9-and-9-gold/ I have done both, and the paddle modification was much easier (gave that FB9 to my sister). Go for that if you can get original paddles easily, and buy decent potentiometers (I gave a link to suitable ones in an earlier post — they have to survive a lot of rotation, so cheap Chinese stuff is not a good idea). Otherwise, unless you are good with soldering tiny resistors, find someone locally who works on cellphone repair or such and can easily do the work. My suggestion is to use 430 kOhm resistors as the 510 kOhm (suggested in the guide linked above) didn’t work well in my FB9. I haven’t swapped them out yet, because mental health is important.

You need to use diodes to prevent this. I haven’t gotten around to building the buttons in to a joystick yet, and just used a set of five push buttons to map out the ‘special’ options. Diodes are necessary to prevent any inadvertent operation as you note.

They’re not compatible, unfortunately. The joysticks seem to come ‘locked’ to certain frequencies, so you may find that another device is interfering with it. I got a second FB9 for my sister, and found that her P1 was terrible on her system. Swapped it for the P1 that came with mine, and it worked much better. (Slight degradation for the swapped P1 on my system, but I prefer the old wired joysticks anyway.)

Hi. Sorry for the late reply. I don’t get on here often. I misread the first post and thought it referred to the Flashback 9 type of joysticks. Those are fairly obvious to modify. I haven’t seen the IR variants — the FB4 I had years ago I sold on and never inspected the innards of the joysticks — but you should open both up and compare the two boards. Most likely there will be a few components missing on one board (the P2), and of course the buttons. If you modify the P2 board to be like the P1 then you should be able to swap it in. Unfortunately the components will most likely be tiny surface mount resistors. If you haven’t done any soldering before then it’ll be a bad idea to start with this project, due to the high risk of failure.

My copy arrived yesterday (new delivery speeds due to Covid-19), and looks good. I have to bust out a real 7800 to play it on, and haven’t got around to that yet.

Unlikely to. Serial comms typically use only four pins, and they save a couple of cents by not wiring up unused pins. You could buy two joystick extension leads then splice them together.

The newest ‘official’ firmware fixes this bug. Try installing it.

Finally ordered a copy of this. It’s a pity it hasn’t sold as well as hoped for.

The red part is a programming interface (ISP). This is used to flash the firmware in the factory. The yellow part is probably an I2C bus, or a serial port. Neither can be used for what you want to do. Piggy-backing on the J2 USB is probably the best option. If you buzz out the circuit you might find a via or other convenient soldering point.

Hi. I just did this mod today, using 510k resistors. It does indeed stop shy on the left edge. Gah! Anyway, as this is a difficult process (I think I invented several new swears), I would suggest going with 430k or even 390k. After measuring the resistors taken out, which are 5.1k, it appears that the engineers went with a straight scaling for the replacement: 5.1k are designed to work with 10k pots in the paddles, therefore they are suggesting 510k for the standard 1M pots. This doesn’t quite work, so drop that resistance from 510k — judging by where the ‘left’ (high resistance) position runs out, my estimate is drop to 430k. [Series is 510k, 470k, 430k, 390k ... 470k may do it, but go for 430k I reckon.]

Hi. I missed this post, sorry. It is possible to change a P2 to a P1 by changing some resistors and adding the required buttons. Another option is modding a standard joystick to give you the extra buttons. If you still want to work on this, reply letting me know if you want the wireless or standard mod and I’ll dig out the information.

I’d be interested in buying one when they come available. Just a thought on the scarcity of POKEY chips: perhaps use the PokeyONE (or similar) in the post pre-order units? The full capabilities of the POKEY aren’t required by the 7800. Or maybe give buyers options to have just a socket, a real POKEY, or the PokeyONE.