Draxxon

I don't typically resurrect dead threads, but researching the AFB8Gold hack I ran into this and found it interesting. I wonder what people think nowadays? Here is my 2 cents. Atari Flashback 2 is real hardware, but who the hell has time to solder a cart port??? Its easy to say "it is the best", but, not w/o that cart port it isn't. And at this point in time, they super old now. Some became brittle, and like many say, they aren't HDMI. Its real, and its not emulation, and that is huge. But realistically, the 9 and X can play 8bit, 7800, lynx now, so the 2/2+ doesnt even belong in the conversation anymore. The AFBX has no SD Slot and it doesn't need it. OTG is fine. Cluttered cable adapter, but its fine. I prefer the flashdrive over the sd card. The AFB9 never did get overclocked. The X can run at 1.2Ghz. Stella 6.X got added to both, you can play galagon and mappy and newer games, but they run super slow. The AFBX can connect to a Legends Ultimate Arcade cabinet. The 9 cannot. Thats something that I dont think people even considered back then. The Xs shell is an atari fans wet dream. The 9 looks like dollar store shit. these are just my opinions after the dust has settled and the X is a couple years old now.

I know I'm four of five years late to the party, but hunting for AtGames products during the holidays has become somewhat of a strange tradition in our family. Hoping to find an upgraded flashback or a new portable wasn't to happen this year. And while at first, I laughed at the idea that Menards was having the 2017 AFB8GAE for 40 bucks this year for Black Friday, I instantly realized I didn't already own one and it seemed like a fun item to hunt for at a great price and stopped scoffing at the idea pretty instantly. Keep in mind I am 40+ years old and have never shopped on Black Friday. I rushed into Menards, and of course it was impossible to find, because it's a damn hardware store. I finally asked a worker and he shows me around a dozen of them. I'm super stoked to find them not sold out and he tells me they have sold maybe four all day. It is like 2pm and they opened at 6am. I realized pretty quickly that I'm an old weirdo and no one cares but me. LOL. But, I'm still happy. My endorphins are still real, so whatever. I got home, spammed it all over the forum, and am still doing so. And here is what I think. When I opened the box, I was greeted with an HDMI cord right on top. Nice! Because my OCD would force me to go out and get another HDMI cord to dedicate to this system. I am not used to that with the non-gold flashbacks. Next, it has the best lineup of built-in games. it is lacking Frogger and Space Invaders, but so are the other units, because the 2600 versions were swapped with ports. So, we aren't missing anything here. The wireless joysticks are sweet. I am a wired joystick diehard, and I own a lot of AFBs, but none of the Golds units with the 2.4Ghz wireless joysticks, they are cool. There is no SD Cards slot and no OTG support. but that's okay because I have the AFB9 and AFBX. At this point in time, I have added so many 7800 and 8bit games to those units that I rarely play 2600 games on them, so it was nice to get back to 2600 only with the AFB8. There are a lot of solid titles on the console (130 total) and it seems that with a USB port and ADB you can add a few more. Which is arguably more fun than actually playing video games if you ask me. The side mounted HDMI port is wonky, the power adapter isn't micro-USB, so definitely can't lose or break that sucker. The UI is snazzy, but a little clumsy to navigate. It's a one button joystick and I'm a pro gamer, so no deal breaker there. It took a couple minutes to learn the menu. Emulation quality is decent. It reminds me more of the AFB9 than the AFBX, smoother. Rewind operates a little differently here too, it just jumps back 7 seconds, instead of being able to rewind your entire game so far. I can handle that with 2600 only games, though. Paddles work as well as they are going to work here out of the box, which is also a plus. I then realized that Aquaventure, Saboteur and Yars' Return are all one here. Plus, a lot of other cool stuff like Adventure II and Atari Climber. Not that it's hard to play those games, but with the "new" carts coming out at such an absorbent, money grabbing amount, I thought I should go share this sale in the thread about those game's "official" releases. It seems to me you could sell these for $80 and double your money. Or pick up two and sell one to offset your purchase and get one for free-ish. I checked online yesterday and there really weren't any Activision Editions floating around. I see they are popping up on Ebay at right under $100 now. One guy has ten of them. I wonder from what dusty storage building they came from and how many Menards got. I wonder where the hell all the woodgrain AFBPs are. Maybe next year?

Black Friday deal at Menards, $40 bucks. Sale runs until Dec 5th.

any chance you would show off your in game menus and user interface?

These are on sale for $39.99 at Menards until Dec. 5th. They have Aquaventure, Saboteur and Yars' Return on them. Just an FYI.

Yes, It is the Activision 8 Gold for $39.99. They had about a dozen left at the store I went to on the Northside of town. I didn't check the westside. It seems to me you could easily flip these Activision editions and make a decent profit, maybe double your money pretty easily. But, I'm lazy, and a broke mofo, lol, so I got just one for me. I guess I need to solder a USB port onto this sucker now??? Thanks for the heads up BTW @No Quarter, you're awesome, buddy. At least I got to go out on black friday and get an AFB that I didn't already own. I saw it in 2017 at target for like $80 ??? bucks all the time and really wanted it, but I never pulled the trigger. For the last few years I have enjoyed hunting for AtGames products during the holidays. I was really bummed that this year I wouldn't be able to. This was the next best thing, Im' excited to get an AFB8 and finally tinker with it. AtGames, you're off the hook this year. You better get it together for next X-Mas! lol.

here is a mockup i made recently. I think that a vader flashback would be sweet.

secret quest and some other games use the black and white switch. to activate black and white switch it is a button combination now, like hold up and hit select, maybe? I forget. i was just talking to someone about mounting a usb port on the system, i think that can be done with a mod. etsy has the small 3d printed carts. i dont care for them, but people do like them. some around here have gotten them. if atgames would release the source code, i think we could solve the "other controllers support" mystery. If you hook it up to a legends arcade cabinet with the Arcade Play Link feature you can use the extra buttons on the legends arcade control panel. I built a custom joystick that exploits player 2s port as extra inputs for player 1. as far as i know, we arent getting any new flashbacks anytime soon. Brazil company TecToy just recently sold the AFBX and it had a hard wired power cord, so, no more otg support im guessing. I think your ideas are solid, but we have to find work arounds because the X is as good as its going to get, i fear.

That's really nice looking. You nailed it!

i see the activision edition (no paddles) for $65 online.

Thats really nice looking. You nailed it. The switches look great and the new holes you had to make are pretty clean. the only thing that i can see that would be neat is to cover the entire front with the black vinyl and somehow print the old style logo on it???? job well done, man!

if these are in store in town, i might get one. you know, you save money, you save big money, when you shop Menards, lol. BTW, happy Thanksgiving, dude! @rocketfan, you can hack the AFB8, you know.

That tabletop amidar is pretty cool. Ive never seen it before.

Of course, they could tweak and polish them all a little bit and call them "final/finished/official versions".

Did someone say Atari Flashback games? ATARI_FB.rar

not "real" atari games, huh? lol.

I only recently learned of breakers and breakers revenge because it was a built in game on my AtGames Legends Core. I had never seen it before. It is pretty great so far. Thanks for sharing these print ads, really cool stuff.

aliexpress has pads for $20. No boxes. Maybe they are factory rejects or bootlegs? The SNK logo at the top of the pad looks painted out, reviews seem okay and they have the logo. Retro ARCADE Mini Video Game pad Game controller Handheld for NEOGEO for SNK mini Game Console|Gamepads| - AliExpress

I have been playing World Heroes Perfect and Breakers all day with the pads. Those analogues really take a while to get comfy with, but the pads are solid. I even broke out the HDMI and hooked it up to the TV. While video out is not absolutely perfect, its far from a deal breaker. The changed button layout works out for fighters. Which works out for me, lol. Ill have to break the capture card out and get some footage.

NeoGeo Mini is $60 on amazon right now. Amazon.com: NEOGEO Mini International : Video Games This is the model I have (international). I enjoy it, I'm sure you guys here already know the pros and cons. I feel $60 is a decent price. I think it would make a cool holiday gift for the NeoGeo fan who doesn't have one, or has one of the various other versions. I will say a little if you aren't familiar with them. The build quality is very nice. The buttons and stick control well. I played mine a lot really and it still works like new. The video out is micro HDMI and a little hazy. Video out is the main flaw. I did mod mine. I used the 80 games prebuilt pack with mostly fighters. There is a way to run a Flash Drive and all the NeoGeo games with custom bios. i think stock it has 40 and the other minis have more games out of the box. If you are a tinkerer, this device is a little tricky to mod. For me, this was the hardest of the mini classics to mod. You can hook up two SNK pads via usb C. It does NOT take batteries or have a built in battery. thats the other flaw, micro usb power only. Audio is decent. Screen is decent. The responsiveness and emulation is decent. At $60 bucks, you can't beat it if you don't already own the arcade stick pro. controllers dont come with this pack. I do own 2 of them, I feel they are decent, but as you guys probably know the d-pad is not the same. I believe the old d-pads were better. there are issues with the button placement (its not the same, lol), but I never owned a neogeo back in the day. Some people may truly hate the layout, and I understand. Still, they are solid controllers. You just may need to practice and learn them, depending on how much you are used to the original pads. Im not saying that these pads are better than the old ones or great or anything, just that they are not cheap-o feeling in hand. Add a power bank to the mix and its fun in the car and on trips.

i see that the channel file had the number "1" in it. I also see that when the fix gets to channel: 1 on the red screen, the screen turns blue when it fixes itself.

Cool, I put the video on youtube, and linked to the files in your post. Hopefully we can help some other people. Thank you for sharing. Glad to hear you got it working. BTW, the custom firmware mod is here: Atari Flashback Nexus (Community Project) - AtGames Flashback and Portable Consoles - AtariAge Forums