TwoShedsWilson

Not the same thing as you're asking for. The pocket can cover a lot of platforms giving it a wide enough appeal that there is a big enough market for it. The Polymega is trying to do the same thing and there's no reason at all why it couldn't do the less-loved Atari stuff, but hardware components for say the 5200? Not likely. There just isn't a big enough pool of people that want something like that and I would count myself in that pool. Ask yourself why nobody has even done a viable controller alternative for the 5200? Sure some small run adapters and such, but nobody has thrown the money into design and production of an actual non-DIY controller for retail. The best I would expect to see from the Polymega and Atari is the 2600/7800 module and maybe some of the other platform stuff on the digital storefront if that ever launches.

Something new for the 7800. Maybe try your hand at a vertical shooter along the lines of R-Type or the 700 shooters on the SNES/TG16. Flex what the system can do with sprites and maybe a sound chip.

I just re-ran it about 1/2 an hour ago and now I have them.

I haven't tried to do anything with it yet and I would guess it's probably limited, but this does exist: https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/vcs-game-maker

Nobody was talking about that?

I get them not wanting to be stuck with a bunch of unsold inventory, but it would be nice if the window was a tad bigger for these things.

I've wanted to build a 5200 "arcade" cabinet ever since I got my wife's old system from when she was a kid. Most of it is pretty easy, just figuring out the woodworking aspect, but those controls fry my brain. I am not an electronics wizard by any stretch of the imagination and i don't even know where to start. Basically I want to make an arcade-style control setup that incorporates two-player controls and a trackball if at all possible. I don't have a clue where to start. I'm not in anything resembling a rush for this, it's a long-term project that I plan to do in my limited free time. Not sure if analog or digital sticks would be better. Basically for the controls I am a blank slate and anything anyone could offer to get me started would be amazing.

Okay... not sure what the whole rant above is about. So I'm going to ignore it and move on. This looks pretty cool and given the witchcraft people have been able to perform with the VCS in recent years it's probably possible. Hopefully this happens someday.

You have the coolest job.

Hope this helps.

I guess I see this as why would Atari want to pay to run a site that allows people to dump on them and criticize what they're doing? They wouldn't. They also don't want liability for anything posted here (edits of existing roms, ports of old games, opinions) that might not belong to them or that might draw negative attention. They also don't need an official platform for unsolicted ideas that if they do happen to do something similar user X can then scream "that was my idea!" I can think of a lot of reasons Atari would want the AA assets, but not a single one why they would want the community aspect. Hopefully I'm wrong and this is the start of something new and better, but not holding my breath on it.

Right there with you on the feels, but this is just a low-effort attempt to fart out something that's no better than a ton of other solutions beyond being able to plug in 7800 cartridges too. I REALLY wanted this to be something and it just isn't (for me anyway). I'm glad you and others are exicted. Don't let me ruin it for you.

This is exactly what I was hoping for when I first saw this. I wouldn't even care if they didn't fix a thing. Just be 98% hardware compatible with HDMI and I'd have already put in an order.

For the same reason eBay sellers will mark used hardware as untested. They know it's broken, but now they have deniability. Too many untested would come across as a complete amateur move. "Please buy our system, we coudn't be bothered to test more than six games." Even as it is, assuming they are actually untested, it's still a very weird list. You can seriously test Custser's Revenge but not Pitfall II or Burgertime?

I read it more as "untested looks better than a whole lot of not-working."