[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

yeah bro, PC version looks like shit, I know my fighting games. Im guessing that when it first came out there was like SNES, GB, GG, SMD, PSX and PC. PC was probably thought to be the best version at that time. No way its better than the saturn or midway arcade treasures versions that probably came later.

The pc versions sure looks like it has smaller sprites (but maybe not) Its definitely missing some animation frames. and no char shadows and fucked up music/SFX. Game play and combos look smooth, Ill give it that, and Ive never played it so there is that as well. lets compare!
 

 

 

You can tell that first version is regular mame. look how launched opponents land in mid air. Thats that bootleg proof safety shit I was talking about. MAME version is actually unplayable if you ask me.

EDIT: Saturn version looks best. Jaguar is missing shadows and looks a bit dated. MAT2 looks good at first glance, but I feel like saturn still edges it out. An untrained eye may not catch it, but the blood is not fully on in the MAT2. See the gray/brown sweat on the weaker hits? You cant get to the dipswitches to turn the blood on high (red) on that version IIRC.

Saturn looks slow and choppy and has glitches in this video, but, Im sure its emulation. On a real saturn its smooth.

1. Saturn

2. MAT2
3. PSX

4. JaguarCD
5. PC DOS

Just my opinion bro.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

Im sorry, I meant a "real" atari. 

people said the same thing about the AFB9 and X and I dont see anyone bitching about those anymore. In fact, I see them selling for $100 bucks.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

3 minutes ago, Shaggy the Atarian said:

I might have overlooked it in your posts, but why do you want to buy one? Just as an emulation box?

Yes, and because its an Atari. Same reason I bought the AFB9, X and Branded Pi 3 and even the RentroN77. I like to tinker with shit.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

No way this is the best version. WTF sound is that? Characters look small. No shadows on the characters? I'm sticking with Saturn or MAT2 collection.
 

 

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

Its not that easy to play the arcade version on mame. There was some trickery to thwart bootleggers, and characters land in mid air and its all jacked up. Im pretty sure that the Urth Rage emulator got it working a lot better, but i dont think its still exactly right. Saturn version was a little choppy I agree, still, it was better than the PSX version in my opinion. again, I never played the JagCD, it could very well be the best version, it wouldn't surprise me. There was also the PS2 (and other systems) version for Midway Arcade Treasures 2, I think, I remeber it having issues as well? Cant remember what, the blood effects were jacked up maybe?

Its one of those games, like Mortal Kombat 4, that you have to have the real arcade board. good luck with PR2, there is what, 2 proto boards. Have to go to chicago to play that one.

 

 

 

Did Doc just say "customated"?

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

yeah, man. Im past all that. Someone that doesnt want it can forget about it easily, they arent missing anything. Someone that backed it and waited on the shit show, that must suck, but, thats kind of the risk of backing something unproven, right? I waited until it came out and has been out awhile. That's just me.

not making it at all, might be a great idea, but not much of a direction, really.

That last bit you said makes a lot of sense to me. It could have been better, no doubt. But what can I do about that? Not buy it and ignore it. Which is what I did for awhile. But, recently for whatever reasons, maybe I know tax time is coming soon, Ive been thinking about it. Its out, its not hard to find, and the price didnt go skyhigh. So, I consider that a possible buy for a thing I really dont need. I skipped the drama.

It doesnt always work out, i have all the mini systems, except the TG16 mini. Covid just happened and it wasnt essential. So I figured I would wait. The price went sky high.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

12 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

Serious question. How do you figure that was the best home port?

this is the "best playable version" I'm pretty sure they have PR1 running as well.
Urth Rage | MAME4Rage2 (neocities.org) 

 

I never played the Jag version, never even saw a jaguar CD player in person, but no home port was ever really worth a shit except saturn that I knew of.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

Ive played PR2 quite a bit. It was almost finished. It doesnt crash when playing, its just missing fatality animations and little stuff.
Steve/Stephanie Brownback figured out a whole lot of shit on that game.

imagine playing PR1 PR2 arcade ports and a new PR3 on the VCS? Bonkers. It's a sad alternate reality we must live in.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

Thinking on it some more, what kind of direction should it have had that would have helped? I mean the options are PC, Game Console or Set Top Box? Correct?

It's all 3. Its clearly a PC and configurable and upgradeable. Its clearly a game console because of the Atari Branding with an online store for games. Set Top Box, I mean I hear you can stream a lot of different shit from it.

I didnt follow any of the drama too much, but Im pretty sure this was always the idea. At this point they could "Change Direction" and focus on whatever aspect takes off, if any. What doesnt make sense is you dont need the VCS to do any of those things.

 

And I can admit when Im wrong, too. I called the system DOA in these threads a lot in the past. It's not. As long as games come out for it, and they support it, its alive. Even if sales are abysmal. While some of us where right in that it will never sell lots and lots of systems, be in every home, replace your PC, PS5 and Firestick/Roku, it does have new games. Atari Vault, Recharged series, and 7800 rereleases are something. They could just be pumping out old 2600 roms. So, if you are an Atari fan, wanted to buy the new Atari and play some new and old Atari games on it, you can.

And like every other system in history, if you can make a killer app, exclusive-must play game, people will buy the fucking system. (Hey, Atari.... You should have kept Primal Rage... You fucked up big time there. You could have finally released PR2 on the VCS and sold a new PR3 game, like how Killer Instinct 3 and season updates sold XBOXes. I witnessed people travel from all over the world and line up for blocks to play the PR2 game at the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Chicago when the board was finally made public. Where is Gauntlet Dark Legacy or a new version with online multiplayer on the VCS? You need that kind of shit to even dream of competing with the big console companies, and even then Atari would have an impossible task.) vaulted, re-released and recharged games can only take them so far. Im pretty sure they dont even have a studio that is capable of making a fully modern AAA game.

If atari cared, and was smart, while 7800 is nice, like everyone says, that well is shallow. Not a lot of potential games to release digitally. Now, the Atari Arcade games, there are a good amount. They should probably sell the old games in bundles by system. sell arcade titles and move away from the very very old shit. You can totally have all the old stuff on it, i think those games are cool, but not everyone does. Showcase the 90s arcade atari games, if they can. That's where the nostalgia train is at right now.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

Oh man, gun violence makes it all bad for business, but, light gun games are so much fun. Its is such a pick up and play genre that pretty much anyone can play.

AtGames needs to come on with their bitblaster guns already, lololol. My Legends Core is ready.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

I know my harsh ass comes off as arguing, but I agree a lot with you guys. I don't buy a bunch of digital stuff, but I have been known to buy digital versions of things I really like that I already own a physical copy of, I totally get it.

Wanting to play things in HDMI, getting light guns (and all kinds of other hard to set up retro games going), buying shit I don't need. Hating on shit for no real reason. I do it all too.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

now i understand mostly. Im saying if you want to try ALL the 7800 roms on a modern atari with hdmi, instead of the VCS, the Atari Rasberry Pi 3 or the Atari Flahback 9/X/Legends Flashback will also do it. The Legends Flashback is $40. VCS is $300 and you still have to buy the controllers and games. That's a HUUUGE price gap to just try some 7800 roms. you don't need the VCS for that. An old ass PC an emulator worked for years, You can probably play the shit on your phone.

Now, if you want a real 7800 with an av mod, and an HDMI adapter, with a muticart with sd card, I fucking fully get it. Thats a whole different thing. I don't know much about FPGA stuff, but maybe that.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

Leech, and i am fine with that, my point is, its going to be hard to sell people roms for atari games when they are small file sizes, easily found and freely available online, and not overly protected like the big N's roms.

Nall3K, hey these are my half informed, but honest, opinions. You dont have to agree. 

Cash grab is harsh. because they are supporting it, a cash grab they would be gone like squid token sellers lolol. It was marketed towards collectors, im quite sure. I dont know what owning ALL of the Atari systems matters. What does that even mean? Im sure no one owns all of them. 

If your saying buy the VCS so you can play 7800 games with hdmi, i mean, anything can do that. Now legally owning the roms... if you are into that sort of thing, more power to you. The VCS has that going for it. Im old, lolol. Its the same 7800 roms i play on my AFB9/X or Pi3. (Doesnt the Blaze Retro handheld also play 7800, I still need to get one of those.)

Also just because they only sold 15,000 units doesnt mean it wasnt a cash grab, btw. But, there is no way I know their intentions. Just guesses. (just put yourself in their shoes and think how to make money, thats the trick.)

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

well if they were sending me carts in the mail, sure. But these are ROMs.

I do see your point tho. Im not saying its a bad business model, and its activity in the store after launch, so that great. Not saying I wont buy some, I was merely trying to put myself in there shoes. Clearly they said we can sell the old games one by one (nickel and dime). Its how it is these days. Its fine.

why not a dollar a game, why not sell the entire library in a single, why not free with an overpriced system?

I know why, because they thought people might not get them at 4 dollars. thats why.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

1 hour ago, Bill Loguidice said:

 

I think all it would have taken was a system with a clear reason to exist.

In my opinion, the clear reason that this system was to exist, was to sell it to the longtime fans that have been wishing for a new console to buy/collect for many years now. The ones that go out of their way to buy Jaguars for $500 bucks, or all 11 or 12 Flashbacks. lmmfao.

If they can nickel and dime you to death by selling you your old 7800 games all over again for $3 dollars a pop, then that's cool too. It takes zero effort.

Any new games that cost money to make need to go on Steam as well, so you know, lots of users can see and buy them. Which means its purpose is not to sell you exclusives, so, that isn't the reason either.

Money Grab. That's obviously the clear reason @Bill Loguidice, but they can't say that. I think that's why all the attacks on its NOT REAL ATARI!!!! Because that is exactly its purpose and what it has going for it. That's why the extra attention to the case. You mess around with it for a year, or two or three if your lucky, and then it goes into storage or on a shelf next to a Jaguar, IDK man. It's a "modern, playable shelf piece", if it needs a label, lol.

This is all coming from my collector side. Again, who it was aimed for and its purpose, I think. As a gamer, IDK, get the new controllers and use them on steam if that's possible, you don't need the VCS at all. Save some money and still get to experience the games and controllers, right? And I think this is the actual breaking point of all the drama. Collectors who have been waiting for a new console to collect will love it, gamers who want to actually, you know, play the games, won't need it, or see any value in it whatsoever. I can see both sides, I wonder why others can't.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

The biggest issue with the VCS is, what's gonna happen when I stick the entire 7800 library on it, that's probably bad for business, right?

I also wonder how AtGames is going to feel seeing the Flashback Menu and UI running on other devices, I bet they DGAF.  
(Bill did get kind of quiet tho, didn't he? Hahaha.)

 

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

31 minutes ago, zzip said:

IMO this fact this makes it the most pleasant computer system Atari in any incarnation has ever released.

I would agree with this as well. We have been treating the AFB9/X as a computer. We have gotten around retroarch and can run full emulators and executables now. We are limited by it. Its a tiny cheap SBC, but not so cheap anymore. You cant find them for $30 dollars easily nowadays.

We are ready to port our community project to another system, just as is it. We want Atari ST and possibly Jaguar support. We want keyboard and controllers with multi button support. It's going to happen. But what will we use for the base? Pi4? MiSTer? VCS? something else? IDK yet. But I like the idea of using an actual Atari for the base so we don't have to design a case.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

16 minutes ago, zzip said:

you can make it do virtually anything you'd like.

You don't say... lol. Actually that has been coming up a lot in my PMs lately.  

I kind of have a knack for taking Real Ataris that are sub-par and making them more fun. But, we aren't going to mess with the RetroN and I don't think the Atari Pi is going to be able to do what we want it to. The VCS just might.

So the question now is, find a cheaper, more powerful computer as the base of the project or mod the VCS because it is a Real Atari?

(Now you see why this thread caught my interest, the whole point of using the VCS is because its an Atari, we could use anything, really. But, if AA members feel its not real, then, that kind of goes out the window doesn't it?)

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

27 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

 

I think all it would have taken was a system with a clear reason to exist. Again, the Amico has plenty of issues of its own, but their goal/mission/value proposition (right or wrong) has always been abundantly clear. Even something like an Evercade can justify its existence far more than something like a VCS. The VCS is low end commodity hardware with nothing unique about it. And really, that latter part (low end commodity hardware) is no big deal - system power is not the end-all-be-all with this stuff - it's again that whole reason for the product existing. Atari never had one. Of course, none of that matters now. It's not a going concern for all but a select few individuals. The most interesting thing about it has been and will continue to be the discussions.

Bill, you know I love my Flashback, 1000% times more than the RetroN77. We just added 25 TURBO BASIC XL 10-Liner games to it today. The fucking Hyperkin sucks, and its not a real Atari system. In what universe is the Hyperkin not a crap ass knock off 2600 clone console that needed hacked? Just my opinion. I have heard for years how AFBs aren't real Ataris. Please understand that I wanted to jump in a conversation, that apparently I didn't know what I was talking about or the drama behind. I can respect that, in turn, respect my perspective and what I was really trying to say.

I don't think having a clear direction makes anything more or less "real". Maybe more accepted, and more successful, but not more "real".

So Atari is a shadow of its former self, I get it. Not the same people involved, I get it. Its just a branding name that gets licensed out and a logo gets slapped on stuff, I get it. People see these systems as sub-par, I get it.

As a collector, I don't get it. As a fan, you typically get everything, even the sub-par stuff. Maybe its completionist collector thinking?

Someone swindled Curt Vendel? That sucks. Well then he should have got a lawyer and went to court. Or he trusted the wrong people, IDK anything about it at all. And, I understand that he can no longer be with us.  No offense, IDK WTF any of that has to do with me and my Atari collection? So the company that rented the atari logo and slapped it on the VCS are douchebags??? That sucks, but it doesn't have shit to do with me. It's not going to stop me from buying one.

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

1 minute ago, GoldLeader said:

 

I definitely Love my RetroN77,...

 

And to my knowledge Hyperkin didn't rip off Curt Vendel for $90,000+ before his death, didn't try to rip off the folks who made the joystick for it, didn't claim to be the  "Real" anything, didn't call it a VCS or a 2600, nor muddy the waters on what they were trying to sell with trickery and "For Illustration Purposes Only added after the  fact, or crowdfund it changing goalposts and ripping off engineers all the while dragging a once beloved company name and iconography through the mud whilst suing anyone they could for any reason they could...

 

And no offense,  If you think all the hate (For THIS company) comes from the release of a console (Oh wait!  an Unconsole), you're right!  You don't get it. 

I haven't touched my retron77 at all. It really doesn't have anything going for it. Just my opinion.

 

And no I don't get it, and apparently I don't fully understand the thinking behind it. I've seen all this before with the flashbacks, so im going off of that. I don't pay any attention to hoopla around stuff to much. If something comes out for sale, I'll most likely collect it.

 

TBH, I don't know anything about any of that drama, at all. I'm merely going off all the people that say its a case with an Atari logo slapped on it. You're taking things to a whole 'nother level. If these are the issues with the VSC, why the Hell are people bitching about price, available software and the authenticity of the case?

[The Atari VCS Controversies Thread]

I just wanna say, things change over time. Companies change and are bought and sold all the time.

 

About the whole, nothing is "real" Atari anymore... I understand the thinking behind it, but, I don't get it. It's not like some Atari Jaguar Duo or Panther console is going to come out. We aren't going to get that 3D cosmos handheld. While I even understand why a purist looks down on a flashback, but now the VCS too?  This is as "real" as its going to get. 

I wonder... what kind of Atari system must come out for hardcore fans to accept it as "real". I don't believe shitting on the VCS is gonna help make that to happen. Like someone at the "real" Atari headquarters somewhere in 1993 is going to say "HEY! These AtariAge people in the future HATE the fucking VCS, maybe we should make a "REAL" console!"

Here is how I personally feel about current consoles:

 

1) Atari VCS (As Real as its going to get)

2) Atari Flashback X (Real Atari, but they are "fake" plug and play systems)

3) Atari Pi 3 from Microcenter (The case is Real Atari, but it's a Pi)

4) RetroN77 (Not Real, but still widely liked here at AA???)

I don't own the VCS yet, but at some point I will get one.

just my thoughts, carry on.

[Couch Compliant Logo]

On 11/5/2021 at 2:54 PM, -^CrossBow^- said:

Another thought is that the actual modification on the joystick is essentially wiring in a small PCB that routes the combinations + button press to do the functions. That PCB could be installed into any controller and wire in the same was as it is on the standard CX40. In fact, I've got a client wanting me to install this into a SEARS Arcade II controller if I'm able. So if you could get just the part that needs to go into the controller, then any controller that has been modified with the PCB inside it and an extra button installed could be made to work. After all the modification on the 2600 doesn't limit it to that controller only. You can still use a normal controller but then you would also have the option to use a modified controller that would work with it when you wanted.

 

can you use an atari flashback p1 joystick to take advantage of the extra buttons?

[The Official NEO-GEO Thread!]

Just some updates on the Atari Flashback NEXUS project. It has NeoGeo Pocket/color support and FinalBurnAlpha and Neo support. But, you are limited to the one button joystick. so, not a lot of 1 button neogeo games.

Just remembered. i lied earlier, i did own a neogeo pocket and color with a couple games for a short while.

[The Official NEO-GEO Thread!]

This is my youtube
Atari Flashback Nexus - YouTube

As far as videos of me playing, There are a few out there. Most recently was the Shang Tsung's Fight Night MK1-4 tournaments at the Galloping Ghost arcade in Chicago area (Before Covid). I've been mostly retired since tekken tag 1. Not much youtube in those days before EVO. People used to trade VHS tapes of us players, I don't have any of those anymore.

World Heroes was awesome. I wish SNK showed it more love.

[The Official NEO-GEO Thread!]

 

This is one of my favorite SNK games. It was one of the few original XBOX titles I owned for that system when it was new. (Tao Feng was another that was exclusive.) Not gonna lie, I am a bigger Street Fighter/Capcom fan than KOF/SNK. That's why I like this game. 

 

(Tiny Controls are hard, lolol. But they do work. I couldn't get the Raging Demon "Shun Goku Satsu" to go off. I do know its Jab, Jab, Forward, Short, Fierce, with 3 meters, LOLOL. I need more practice on the tiny controls!!! I think maybe you need to be low on life on this game as well.)