KevinMos3

I like the changing sky. That's a nice touch. I also like the difficulty better. I can survive at least long enough to want to try again. :-)

Cute graphics and very interesting concept. I tried playing it on the Saint SD Cart, but could not get it to work. I also could not get it to work on the AgaCart. Emulation seems to be the only way to play right now. Have you been able to test on real hardware with one of these SD card carts?

Definitely not accessible by this ^. If it was omitted by oversight, that is definitely something worth a firmware update... (along with a few other things previously mentioned, like fullscreen/4:3 switching, custom bezels and background music from SD card instead of just the handful of bezels in settings and single background tune option). Also, the last updated firmware made the emulation slower than the previous one. edit: Oh, and a major bug present in the Atari Flashback 9, but not in the Genesis Flashback is TV compatibility. The Atari Flashback 9 sound goes out every time a new game is loaded or you go back to the menu and I have to unplug/replug the hdmi cable. This happens on 2 out of the 3 TVs I currently have, so it can't be that rare of an issue. Again, this does not happen on the Genesis Flashback, only the Atari Flashback.

Agree. Not sure what would be the best way to adjust the difficulty, but right now it's immediately too hard. It needs to let the player get better while increasing the challenge, but with it so hard at the start with an immediate game over, I'm not having enough fun and not having a chance to improve before it's over. It's got a lot of great ideas and looks like it'll be a fun game. The fun just isn't there for me yet due to difficulty. Maybe one option could be instead of 1 hit death, give the player a health bar. That way we get a chance to miss some obstacles and learn from mistakes before the game is over.

I said that backwards. I meant moving around vertically to stay out of the enemy's horizontal path. There was a small run carts using an older rom produced by an AA member, but those aren't available now. I plan to eventually have carts produced, but I'd like to get Pokey music into the game first.

Yes, there are gameplay tactics that work similar to the arcade with this version, the 2600 version, and even the SMS version. Moving around to stay out of the enemy's vertical path to make them move up/down toward you gives you a chance to attack before they do. It's been discussed before, but finding the posts can be difficult, so it doesn't hurt to discuss it again. :-) I prefer to play the 7800 version using mostly kicks and jumpkicks, with an occasional punch, headbutt, or elbow for variety. I do use the reverse-jumpkick, but only when it's most advantageous in regard to my position on the screen. If you only use the reverse-jumpkick, it can get kinda boring. I've wanted to make a youtube tutorial video of this and the 2600 versions for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it. In the 7800 version, the enemies have 2 modes: they are either trying to get behind you, or they are pursuing you. If they are trying to get behind, they don't attack. If they are pursuing, they WILL hit you unless you strike them first. You don't have to knock them down to break their pursuit. You can dissuade them from pursuing by landing an attack, or just by moving around a bit. Also, to make your 7800 experience more like the arcade, you can play this rom.

Thanks! This worked.

This is my setup (2600-daptor instead of Stelladaptor), but I cannot for the life of me get it to work. How on earth do I get the 2600-daptor to work with paddles? Autosense doesn't seem to work. None of the toggle settings seem to work. I thought it would be pretty simple since it seems paddles is probably the most popular reason to buy a 2600-daptor (I bought the D9 version which is supposed to work with nearly everything). I'm extremely frustrated at this point. I also tried with my Windows PC in case there was an issue with Stella settings on the Retron 77. [edit: Can't get paddles to read on the PC either. (Works in Windows now, but still not Retron 77). end-edit] I'm using the latest Stella 6 on my PC and the beta2 Stella 6 build on the Retron 77. I know the paddles are good. They work great on real hardware.

Pole Position was the 1st game I owned for the 7800, since it was a pack-in. It's the game that made me immediately fall in love the 7800. I've always loved it, but in a list of my two favorites, it doesn't make the cut. (For whatever reason, I read the topic to be our two favorite games... I guess the title is oddly worded). I think I played through this one on an emulator for the original Xbox utilizing save-states. I remember having a lot of difficulty with some of the jumps in the sewer. No bosses. Not sure about number of space stations. I think the Lynx version has 23, but I could be wrong. I would guess the 7800 just loops forever, but I don't know. I think in some ways the 7800 version is better than the arcade, since the arcade was actually unfinished if I recall correctly. The Lynx version is my favorite, and I HAVE to get a couple more ppl to play co-op so we can have someone play as the snotterpillar. I was actually getting pretty close to completing the Lynx version just the other day, but I went to pause and accidentally pressed the Option 1 button at the same time, resetting my game. I couldn't believe I did that. The only time in my life that I accidentally reset the Lynx.

I can also test on real hardware. I have multiple Lynxes, and multiple ways to test. Side note: PRGE is looking good so far this year (I hated not being able to go last year). So I look forward to meeting any of you who can come.

Commando and Midnight Mutants are probably my 2 favorites on the 7800. Commando plays so smooth, is always fun no matter how many times I play, and the music is great. I think it's probably the best of any home console port, and definitely a showcase title for the system. Once I discovered the underground prisons several years ago, it totally renewed the game for me. Midnight Mutants because of the more complex gameplay, world, and graphics. I was always craving more NES type games at the time, and there were not many on the 7800. This was one I could show friends to surprise them and kinda brag on the 7800 a bit. There are other notable mentions, like Ikari Warriors (which really needs a Pokey), Xenophobe, Tower Toppler, and Scrapyard Dog, but in the case of the latter, it looks good but is a bit too difficult to compete with Super Mario. Now, I really enjoy some of the more simple arcade ports, but back when the 7800 was still on the market, I just really craved games with multiple levels, bosses, and an ending. Games like Food Fight, Joust, Centipede, and Xevious were always fun though.

I always loved this game and thought of it as a showcase title. I appreciated it's length, since it didn't have a way to save the game and I typically played in a setting that didn't give me a whole lot of time (riding the bus, sitting in the airport, on a plane, etc.). It's really disheartening to hear about all the cut content. I wouldn't have guessed. I really wish the sources of all the extra content existed, but I'd imagine all that is long gone.

I got to spend some time with it on real hardware this weekend. Here are a few things I noticed. Looks gorgeous. This may have been brought up before, but this level needs some way of moving on when the ball gets stuck in this center corridor, essentially creating an game over. I left it alone bouncing around this center area for about and hour and a half just to be sure something wouldn't happen to save me from having to reset the game. Maybe a random trajectory change after so much time passes, or even a way to self-destruct would be better than being eternally stuck. I don't remember what address the Concerto uses for Pokey, but I don't get the music with the 7-16-19 rom. There is a good bit of slowdown in some levels when you acquire and use the lasers. It's not game-breaking or anything, but it's there. I remember the Arkanoid that was being worked on several years ago played great in emulators, but on real hardware it was too slow to play. This one never reaches that level of slowdown, but I wanted to mention it since you said most of the testing was done in A7800. I found myself holding the button down the entire time when playing with the joypad. Maybe it would be better to reverse this and default to the faster speed, with the button used for slowing down the paddle for those rare times when you might want more precision. Edit: Happened again on this level. Stuck with ball going in same pattern forever. Not even the lasers could save me. Their shots don't make it past the bottom row of blocks. I'm thinking a random trajectory change every so often (or something) is definitely needed. Here's a quick clip of the ball going in same path. It'll do this forever (still doing it as I type this). I'll have to reset the game. IMG_0860.m4v Twice in a row on the same level... Different ball pattern, but same stuck. Have to reset again. IMG_0861.m4v

Every time I press Up or Down, the biker freezes in place and the road stops moving. There's no way to get moving again, even with reset. I have to re-load the ROM to start over. The only way I see acceleration is by holding the button.

How do we access the TV Type (BW/Color) switch? I've not seen it documented and I've also tried many controller combinations. Features I'd like to see added to both the Atari and Sega Flashbacks from 2018 is the ability to add our own overlays/borders and menu music to the SD card. This could be as simple as pointing the emulator to prioritize a config on the SD card if present and if not, read the internal one. Then we could add an ogg file to a designated folder and place PNGs in a folder for overlays. The other thing I believe needs an update is that the Atari version suffers much more slowdown after applying the current firmware update. The scanlines are much nicer, but I wish I could go back because of the slower emulation with the update.

I posted this question quite a while back but never got an answer. Was there a way to access the TV type control (BW/Color) on the Flashback 9 or 9 Gold? There was no documentation for it that I could find and some games require it, including some games included on the system (Secret Quest for example). If there was not a way to access this control, it still needs to be added in an update which leads to a second question: Now that we are so far along in the year, will AtGames still support last year's models with updates, or will they forget about all of us customers of previous years?

They did that last year. Both the Atari Flashback and the Genesis Flashback were excellent with very good wireless controllers. I use them regularly. The Genesis Flashback is my preferred way to play Sega CD games. Its controller could be more like the original, but it works great - responsive, no lag, good d-pad (including diagonals), and they got rid of the screw on the battery covers.

I'm glad to see your continued work on this. However, IMHO you HAVE to do something about that music. Whenever I want to try a rom, I have to put the volume on mute or turn it WAY down. I know you said you lowered it, but it's still very overpowering. There are a couple of things I seem to be missing. Where is the map? Are there collisions yet? I hear a sound when I hit a car, but I don't see any effect. If I press up or down, it causes me to stop and I've not been able to get it to resume. What are the controls?

Midnight Mutants Commando are two of my favorites on the system and a must have for a 7800 selection, but the 7800 library is so small that I'd really like to see all its games in a collection / on a Flashback. I realize some ridiculous licensing issues for 30-year-old games would prevail, but if the game selection didn't include at least "most" of the library, it wouldn't really grab my interest... (I don't think, but who knows. I've bought stuff I thought I wouldn't care for before).

Are you thinking of getting a pre-assembled joypad? Because as jeremiaht said, it's $36.95 for the entire kit. That includes the cord because the cord is already soldered to the boards. All you use of the original controller is the shell, D-pad, and buttons. The longer cord that's part of it is really nice too. The original cord was way too short. I'm not going to install the 2nd kit I bought, at least for a while. I like being able to compare the 2, and I'll probably just keep the 2nd kit as a backup in case the original controller eventually needs it.

I bought two Joypads from Best Electronics back in 1995 and they still work fine. I went ahead and ordered 2 of these gold upgrades though and installed one of them a few days ago. The upgrade works fine, but it's not as much of a difference as I expected. The buttons are a little more clicky (which is nice), but the joypad doesn't feel much different. I haven't spent much time with it to test diagonals and such against the original yet, but I may get some time this weekend to compare the two.

I'm curious. What does the cartridge look like?

The Flashback HDs display with black bars on each side so that the game portion of the screen looks 4:3. With that hdmi-to-AV converter, the screen gets squished horizontally (the whole screen including black bars). Yes, I have that converter. To view full screen on a CRT, you’d have to have the option to stretch the image horizontally, either on the Flashback, converter, or TV. Most CRTs don’t have that option, unless yours has a hidden service mode. Even then, the adjustment is probably not enough.

Can you attach the bin here? I'm not able to download from the site. My provider has it blocked as a malware site. Update: I was able to use my phone to save it to google drive and download from there. Uploading the bin here may still be helpful to someone else though. I'm always interested in racing games. Your Sunset Rider was looking promising and I was hoping to see it progress. This one looks interesting as well, but that sound is very jarring.