MrFish

I didn't say anything about lag. I was specifically referring to @swlovinist's comments and review concerning control "issues". He didn't mention anything about lag, but rather issues being able to control certain games, wherein he was able to substitute alternate controllers and play the same games without any issues. Yes, I understand the value of using a CX40-inspired stick; but it seems their choice of locating buttons on the ring might not be the best. I'm looking forward to seeing some other reviews and opinions. I know they'll be plenty of other takes on some of the issues being discussed here.

I don't know; you seemed pretty unhappy in your review when you weren't able to use the controller provided for more than just one or two games. I know I'd find it disappointing if I paid for a controller and it didn't work as it's supposed to with the system; that's just throwing money away, as it constitutes a certain portion of item's price. Also, everybody doesn't have a suitable USB controller just laying around; I say "suitable" because every USB controller is not good for retro games. I find many gamepads difficult to use with these older games that were designed for joysticks.

Agreed; but I think a lot of the people reviewing these are not so into the 8-bit computers enough to know some of the differences. I suppose the developers could give up the information; but I don't see that happening soon, if at all. Yes, the disk version uses a redefined font, whereas the cart version just uses the default system font. Also, the disk version has a title screen (although not the best I've seen for a First Star game; their title screens for some other games are a bit nicer). Same with the disk version of Bristles; you get a nice title screen there. No title screen on the cart version. This is somewhat common. Carts didn't always have room for title screens to be included.

Yeah, I'd forgotten about there being multiple versions of Rockball posted. I have this version that was on an ATR. Maybe it's the proto? [Edit] It's different from the XEX I posted above, shown by a file compare. Rockball (2).xex I hadn't seen that before (I see someone has already responded and provided a thread about it now). Here's the only 8-bit binary from that thread. zaxxon32k8bitver.xex

Ah, I see. I'll be interested to hear some of those other reviews then. That's too bad. My initial impression of the controller is that it may be a weak point for the system. People (including myself) had doubts about the unique positions of the extra buttons (particularly the ring buttons) possibly being an issue for accidental triggering; and it seems those doubts are being confirmed by the GenX guy's experience so far. He had suggested redefining particular functions away from buttons that were being more easily triggered by accident; but this is hardly an ideal solution (and apparently not possible with the built-in games). To me, the problem is an indication that there may not have been enough testing done with the controller. It seems like a slick idea - to put buttons on the ring -- but in practice it might not function so great. As we all know, the controller is an important component for a game system. Having to bring our own controller lowers the value of that part of the system. Hopefully something can be done without too much trouble for the control issues you've experienced; but if they are hardware issues, they aren't going away easily. I suppose firmware changes could make the extra buttons less sensitive, in order to remedy the problem the GenX guy is experiencing. We'll see how things go.

Actually, it was more the habit in the 80's to employ crocheting and knitting against cheating companies that turned their computers into game consoles. Sewing didn't become so fashionable in this regard until the mid-90's.

Which reviewer would that be? I don't recall anyone else mentioning control problems. I just remember the GenX guy saying he was occasionally hitting some of the extra buttons unintentionally.

I have these three. Rent Wars.xex Rockball.xex Looney Tunes Hotel (5200).xex I don't believe there are executables of these available; and Xenophobe is kinda of a "no, no", because it's still being sold at Video61, and returning money to @Fandal for his rescue purchase (thousands of dollars paid on the Ebay purchase). I'm guessing you mean an executable of the disk version of Zaxxon? If so, here it is. Zaxxon (Disk).xex Any of the rest you mention, I would look on the Homesoft Atari site first, because he ( @nobody ) converts a lot of cartridge games to XEX for convenience. In fact, you might be able to request him to convert the other ones you need.

It is an XEGS gray controller gone beige. I got confused based on some former discussion about it, where someone had thought it was a beige controller that was specifically made.

OK, thanks for trying these out. They need to fix that issue (firmware update, etc.).

Yeah, I saw that in your review, which is why I thought about the cartridge version. So far, you seem to be the only reviewer having control issues with TheCX Stick. I'm wondering if there might be issues with the particular one that you got?

Wait, I may have gotten some bad information about that. It may very well be an XE gray stick that's yellowed (further research needed). Regardless, one that would be manufactured using the case color from the The400 Mini would be cool.

Maybe because they're rare and you haven't seen one before? This was a real Atari product for the 400/800 machines. I think they look great!

Here's the ROM version, in case it doesn't like the CAR version I posted above (they are different file types, other than just the extension). Blue Max.rom

The full user manual (38 PDF pages - English) for The400 Mini is now available from Retro Games' Support Page. The400 Mini - User Manual [Edit] Includes special information on how to use it for the following, additional fun features: seizures, repetitive-motion injuries, eyestrain, motion sickness, and electric shock. Sorry, no information on chord choking (strangulation, swallowing, etc.), poking your eyes out, or concussion injuries by hurling at or slamming on a friend's or loved one's head.

Thanks!

Also, try running a few PAL, extended memory only games. Pang [PAL, 320K].xex Yie Ar Kung Fu [PAL, 320k].xex Bomb Jack 1.5 [PAL, 320k].xex

Try running the cartridge version of Blue Max to see if it works. Blue Max.car

Yes, but I'm wondering, why not this too?

I wasn't refuting anything you said: I was agreeing and adding some comments to it. Yeah, I'm glad they have their own places here. I think they were provided, partly, so they could have somewhere to talk about their machines other than on the competing Atari platform forums.

AtariAge is one of best retro gaming/computing forums, if not the best, in the world (65,091 members, 5.4m posts). They basically cover everything. Subforums help keep things a bit more sane than they would be otherwise. The400 Mini needed a subforum, otherwise the threads would have been strewn all over the place (and, in fact, already were before the subforum existed). None of the Atari 8-bit computer models have their own subforum. So, in a way, we're separating it out here as something different anyway.

Could be possible that all options aren't there yet in the prototype that he's reviewing (on the hardware side, pieces were missing: front USB, USB-C power). Sure, he just got the prototype recently, but I doubt that thing was just built as recently, since the production units were shown very soon after that. So, hopefully we'll see more options than that in the production units to be shown on reviews soon.

Here's the list. 01. Airball 02. Asteroids 03. Basketball 04. Battlezone 05. Berzerk 06. Boulder Dash 07. Bristles 08. Capture the Flag 09. Centipede 10. Crystal Castles 11. Elektraglide 12. Encounter! 13. Flip and Flop 14. Henry’s House 15. Hover Bovver 16. Lee (Bruce Lee) 17. M.U.L.E. 18. Millipede 19. Miner 2049er 20. Missile Command 21. O’Riley’s Mine 22. Star Raiders II 23. The Seven Cities of Gold 24. Wavy Navy 25. Yoomp!

OK, have at it, you mad man, you.

By comparison, you could probably accomplish more toward that end with your cell phone than with any number of Atari computers.