Atari Flashback Classics for the XB1/PS4

[tripletopper]

I saw Atgames make a "pair of paddles" Atari 2600 controller to the "plug and play" lineup. They already have the proper molds and electronics to make them. Why not make a PS4/X1/NS controller from the same mold.

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Atari-Flashback-Blast-Vol-3-Pong-Retro-Gaming-Pink-857847003868/977751017

 

There’s even more option for the Switch.

 

1) Switch wheels already exists. They could be used instead of paddles for limited radius games like Pong, Warlords, etc.

 

2) Trackballs, Rollers, and Spinners can be used with a Joycon. Put a Joycon in a hamster ball for trackballs, and a cylinder for Major Havok, and a dial for Tempest add buttons, make it ambidextrous by making it flippable 180 degrees. Tempest 4K could use a Joycon Spinner.

 

3) I believe Sentinel was originally a Light Gun game, plus they could use 7800 light gun games, and other companies might want to make light gun games, and ever since they purged CRT TVs, there has no been an accurate light-gun substitute. The best one was the Wii Mote. But that was awful, (but other modern solutions are worse) because it a) had to be set up perfectly, and b) dididn’t know certain factors which would have made it more accurate. A simple, no-fuss-no-muss way to do it is to just take a picture of visible light. A "camera gun". None of this infrared stuff. The machine knows what’s on the screen. If it communicates with the gun, then it can use the picture to tell where the bullet goes. The calbiration can be used to adjust for light in the room. And the only way you can accurately compensate for the screen is to take a picture of the screen. It would understand position, scale, and rotation.

 

4) The paddles and the 5200 controller works because it’s non-self-centering. The only games where self centering works is "digital" arcade game conversions. Star Raiders, Missile Command, Kaboom, and Star Wars all worked better with a non-self-centering stick compared to a centering one. Warlords is tiring with the self-centering, except for the 2nd 360 version, because it wasn’t trying to be the original, but instead an update.

[Lost Dragon]

My best friend just gave me Volume 1 on PS4 for Xmas this year (had the Art Of Atari book off her and 2600 themed wallet and socks in the years previously) as she knows the 2600 was such a key part of my childhood.

 

I'm all over it for the games i never played at the time (and the prototypes)2600 wise and the coin op versions of Centipede, Millipede and Black Widow.

 

2600 Star Raiders was a shock, rose tinted glasses in effect. .

 

But after all these years i finally got my head around Yar's Revenge, something i could never do as a nipper

[romeoteknik]

Will Atari Flashback Classics Volume 3 ever be available at Best Buy or Amazon? Why is Gamestop the only place currently to buy it? I don't see it listed as "Only at Gamestop" so it's not exclusive to them.

[boog]

Finally managed to get a Commander rank on Star Raiders 5200. Took some practice to get used to the clunky keypad controls. You need to clear the enemies as quickly as possible to reach a commander rank, so lots of combat with a damaged ship to avoid the time it takes for repairs. The PSN trophy rarity went from 0.0% to 0.1% so it looks like I'm the first to get the trophy.

 

Still need the Air Raiders and Xari Arena trophies for Volume 3. I'm getting close to the 65 kills in the first 99 shots on Air Raiders, and the PSN rarity is at 0.1% for that trophy so someone has already done it. I still haven't figured out a good strategy for Xari Arena though... can't get past level 9 and the trophy is for clearing level 32.

[+jeremiahjt]

Finally managed to get a Commander rank on Star Raiders 5200. Took some practice to get used to the clunky keypad controls. You need to clear the enemies as quickly as possible to reach a commander rank, so lots of combat with a damaged ship to avoid the time it takes for repairs. The PSN trophy rarity went from 0.0% to 0.1% so it looks like I'm the first to get the trophy.

What skill level did you start on? Can you reach Commander on all of the skill levels?

[boog]

I played on commander difficulty, no bases lost, and I only docked for repairs/refuel a few times... basically only docked for repair if the shields or photons were destroyed. I'd finished with a rank of captain a couple times but had to focus on finishing the game more quickly to bump the rank up to commander.

 

There's a rank calculation formula in the manual:

https://atariage.com/manual_page.php?SystemID=5200&SoftwareLabelID=664&ItemTypeID=&currentPage=29&maxPages=38

 

Commander difficulty has a higher 'M' value and more enemies than the lower difficulty settings. Those are the only factors that add rank points. Play time, energy used, and bases destroyed all subtract rank points. I don't think the easier difficulty settings have enough possible points to finish with a final calculation of 240+.

Edited January 7, 2019 by boog

[boog]

I've been playing the Vita version recently and just wanted to rave about how great it is. All 150 games from volume 1-3 for only $20. Tate mode for the vertical arcade games, touch screen for keypad controls, and the emulation is solid. The game selection menu crashed on me a couple times, but they actually released an update patch last week to fix that issue. My only minor gripe is that the leaderboards aren't shared with the PS4 volumes. Best version of the game... same features as the Switch version at a much lower price.

 

A couple of really tough trophies repeated from earlier volumes... finishing Xari Arena is beyond my skills. The PSN trophy list shows that a lot of people already have the platinum on Vita though. Hooray for trophy hackers!!

[Gamemoose]

I've been playing the Vita version recently and just wanted to rave about how great it is. All 150 games from volume 1-3 for only $20. Tate mode for the vertical arcade games, touch screen for keypad controls, and the emulation is solid. The game selection menu crashed on me a couple times, but they actually released an update patch last week to fix that issue. My only minor gripe is that the leaderboards aren't shared with the PS4 volumes. Best version of the game... same features as the Switch version at a much lower price.

 

A couple of really tough trophies repeated from earlier volumes... finishing Xari Arena is beyond my skills. The PSN trophy list shows that a lot of people already have the platinum on Vita though. Hooray for trophy hackers!!

Thanks for the impressions! I've been debating this ever since I heard about it.

[Flojomojo]

I've been playing the Vita version recently and just wanted to rave about how great it is. All 150 games from volume 1-3 for only $20. Tate mode for the vertical arcade games, touch screen for keypad controls, and the emulation is solid. The game selection menu crashed on me a couple times, but they actually released an update patch last week to fix that issue. My only minor gripe is that the leaderboards aren't shared with the PS4 volumes. Best version of the game... same features as the Switch version at a much lower price.

 

A couple of really tough trophies repeated from earlier volumes... finishing Xari Arena is beyond my skills. The PSN trophy list shows that a lot of people already have the platinum on Vita though. Hooray for trophy hackers!!

 

My Vita has been languishing in a drawer for a long time. Maybe this is, along with the adapter so I can charge the thing with a standard cable, will be enough to get me to drag it out. I do like that machine.

[Atariboy]

I still want to grab this to keep my Activision and Capcom collections company on my PSTV.

 

I wish the Taito Legends compilation had made the compatibility list. Would love to have Space Dungeon on my PSTV.

[Atariboy]

Played Monte Carlo on the PS4 for the first time and tied 1st place on the leaderboard in my first race. One of the best games on Volume 3 and it's neat to share the top spot, but I wish the leaderboards were healthier. While it's probably wishful thinking for a collection that goes towards the more obscure portions of the Atari library, I'd be much more happy if I was down around 40,000 after my first virtual quarter (As would the companies involved).

 

Does anyone know if there's a way on Monte Carlo/Super Bug to enable the d-pad to steer in a manner like the analog stick does (i.e., the up direction steers your vehicle towards the top of the screen and so on)? Just left/right steering isn't too useful with the d-pad and while very playable with the analog stick, it's a bit too easy to accidentally drift into a diagonal direction and hit the wall when you're close to it.

 

And lastly, I like the look of the scanlines in these collections, but only on certain games. On games with dark backgrounds like 2600 Centipede, I'm especially fond of them. But other games like the 2600 version of Miniature Golf, I find the look much less pleasing. A game specific scanline toggle would be nice to see rather than the universal setting that exists now.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Atariboy

[boog]

We're tied for 1st on the PS4 Monte Carlo leaderboards. There definitely isn't much competition though... top scores aren't very high on the Vita version either.

 

PS4 volume 3 was patched since I last played and the arcade Baseball leaderboards are now working. Just have to play a 1 inning game on default settings and your runs scored goes on the leaderboards. Doesn't have to be a shutout since I just won 6-1 and I'm now at the top of that leaderboard...

[JeffVav]

Does anyone know if there's a way on Monte Carlo/Super Bug to enable the d-pad to steer in a manner like the analog stick does (i.e., the up direction steers your vehicle towards the top of the screen and so on)? Just left/right steering isn't too useful with the d-pad and while very playable with the analog stick, it's a bit too easy to accidentally drift into a diagonal direction and hit the wall when you're close to it.

 

Afraid not. The car has more than 8 directions it can go in so a d-pad implementation wouldn't give you the full range.

[Atariboy]

Thanks Jeff.

 

I was thinking that might be the reason after I had posted that, but couldn't remember for sure without checking first if there were more than 8 discrete directions that I could steer in.

 

We're tied for 1st on the PS4 Monte Carlo leaderboards.

 

You've got a new score to beat.

 

I actually did it once earlier, but it didn't upload for some reason. I tried again later and managed to repeat my slim victory and got it posted to the leaderboard.

 

Monte Carlo is an addicting game. Code Mystics did a commendable job making an overhead racer like this play well on a gamepad. I figured a game like this would be about as playable as Super Breakout with an analog stick is, but I'm happily way off the mark.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

I wonder if there's some sort of bug or hack a few have taken advantage of on volume 1 on the PS4. I had apparently not yet played Lunar Lander on this collection until tonight, and noticed that the top Lunar Lander high scores are extremely high and are something like 2,700 points.

 

By comparison, the world record score last I heard just topped out around 2,000 points a few short years ago. It's hard to picture multiple people somehow blowing that away by a huge margin with a finite 750 units of fuel to work with. 

 

I thought perhaps the leaderboard didn't care what the game settings were, so I upped my fuel to the maximum amount and did a game. But I received an error saying that scores can only be posted when using the default settings (As it should be). Are people somehow adding more credit to up their fuel levels like you can on the arcade cabinet (A feature I've never been able to do on a commercial compilation)?

Edited September 8, 2019 by Atariboy

[boog]

Congrats on hitting 490 on Monte Carlo Vita! Been trying to at least tie but no luck yet. Also noticed that you've taken 1st on tracks 2-8. Pretty sad that you're the only score on a couple of the tracks... of all the Vita owners, no one else has played them??

 

I did manage to get 1st on Black Widow. I never use the stage select/starting bonus on games that offer it... feels like cheating to me... so getting 1st when starting at level 1 was an extra challenge.

 

Are you playing Lunar Lander on 'Command Mission'? The PS4 version has a trophy for scoring 800+ in that mode, so that's the mode that trophy hunters would be playing. Scoring may be higher for the harder mode? Or people may be hacking scores just to get the trophy?

 

 

[Atariboy]

Thanks, and good job on your Black Widow performance.

 

I haven't tried out that difficulty level yet on Lunar Lander, but will give it a try. Would be handy if replays were a thing on these and you could download someone's run off the leaderboard and view it to see how they did it (Like how Game Room on the Xbox 360 worked), since it's hard to see several people figuring out how to hack an Atari compilation with bigger fish to fry. There's probably a reasonable explanation that I've just not figured out yet for the extremely high scores.

 

I wish more people would try out and appreciate Monte Carlo since it's such a nice game and Code Mystics did a good job adapting modern controllers to it. Someone on the PS4 version has dethroned me at least on several of the track variants that I've mostly only ran once and at least on one of the courses, put in a very solid time that I haven't quite topped after a couple of attempts to regain it (Track 3, I think). So at least we're not alone in enjoying it. 

 

I want to actually learn the alternate courses and put in reasonable performances soon on tracks 2-8. My times are basically what a racecar driver would call an exploratory lap and aren't anywhere close to being fast performances.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Command Mission is hard. I didn't bother finishing either attempt to see if I could post a score, but getting more than two successful landings is going to be rough. 

 

It's definitely not the secret to success for blowing away the world record with 2,700-2,800 points though. The points system is the same as the default settings. Just takes an awful lot more fuel with each landing and the risk just above the ground is high since it's very hard to keep the lander horizontal with the ground when making adjustments to line yourself up.

[Atariboy]

Command Mission actually isn't too bad.

 

The rotational momentum took some getting used to. But all you have to do if you're rotating your ship right is to slightly counter thrust to the left to stop your ship from rotating (And vice versa of course when going the other direction). It becomes pretty easy after 10 minutes of practice. 

 

And unlike at default settings where I never use it since it instantly burns up 100 units or so of fuel, I'm using the abort landing button frequently with the increased gravity of this mode. It instantly kills your horizontal speed which is handy when you're directly above the landing spot you've picked out. And it of course stops your downward ascent at the same time and slightly sends you upward. You can easily burn over 100 units of fuel just to stop drifting horizontally on this mode since the gravity is so strong. 

 

Where as I may of needed over 500 units of fuel to get it on the ground without using the abort command, I'm able to do it in about 250 or so with strategic use of it. 

Edited September 12, 2019 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

The holder of the top spot on the Lunar Lander leaderboard on the PS4 has been talking to me a bit. Definitely a legitimate score and a YouTube video I've watched to hone my skills before of a world record run in MAME on Lunar Lander actually ended up being his. 

 

So I have a lot of work and learning to do if I'm to at least get in the same zip code as him. I'm still confused though why the world record score in MAME (Which he holds) and the record on the arcade cabinet are only a bit over 2,000 points, but on PS4 it seems that 3,000 is attainable with a perfect run. 

 

On the Vita version of Atari Flashback Classics, I view a bit over 2,000 as about the limit. I could see a better optimized run than mine saving enough fuel to get in a couple of extra landings and get 500 or so more points above my score, but from my point of view there's definitely not enough extra for 6+ more landings.

 

So I'm still as confused as ever, but at least I know it's not some mistake like a prepatch build that mistakenly allowed leaderboard postings with altered game settings to allow more fuel, which can't possibly be matched now. 

Edited September 23, 2019 by Atariboy

[negative1]

16 hours ago, Atariboy said:

The holder of the top spot on the Lunar Lander leaderboard on the PS4 has been talking to me a bit. Definitely a legitimate score and a YouTube video I've watched to hone my skills before of a world record run in MAME on Lunar Lander actually ended up being his. 

 

So I have a lot of work and learning to do if I'm to at least get in the same zip code as him. I'm still confused though why the world record score in MAME (Which he holds) and the record on the arcade cabinet are only a bit over 2,000 points, but on PS4 it seems that 3,000 is attainable with a perfect run. 

 

On the Vita version of Atari Flashback Classics, I view a bit over 2,000 as about the limit. I could see a better optimized run than mine saving enough fuel to get in a couple of extra landings and get 500 or so more points above my score, but from my point of view there's definitely not enough extra for 6+ more landings.

 

So I'm still as confused as ever, but at least I know it's not some mistake like a prepatch build that mistakenly allowed leaderboard postings with altered game settings to allow more fuel, which can't possibly be matched now. 

where is this video, the highest i've seen is for 2170 on mame. is there one showing a higher scoring game.

 

later

-1

[Atariboy]

If you're referring to how there are a couple of Lunar Lander scores around 2,700 points on the PS4 version of Atari Flashback Classics Volume 1, I'm not aware of any video.

 

It sounds like the MAME run you've viewed on YouTube is the same video I was talking about. 

 

Since I'm sure you're a good Lunar Lander player, any ideas what's possibly going on here to let the MAME record holder blow away his MAME score on the emulated version of Lunar Lander on the PS4, Negative1? The settings are the same for both situations to my knowledge. Game 1 without the rotational momentum, without the heavy gravity, and with the standard 750 units of fuel in the tanks. 

 

I don't understand it. He seemed friendly and willing to share his thoughts on what's obviously a favorite game of his, so perhaps I'll see if he'll clarify and explain why the difference is even possible. 

Edited September 24, 2019 by Atariboy

[negative1]

11 hours ago, Atariboy said:

If you're referring to how there are a couple of Lunar Lander scores around 2,700 points on the PS4 version of Atari Flashback Classics Volume 1, I'm not aware of any video.

 

It sounds like the MAME run you've viewed on YouTube is the same video I was talking about. 

 

Since I'm sure you're a good Lunar Lander player, any ideas what's possibly going on here to let the MAME record holder blow away his MAME score on the emulated version of Lunar Lander on the PS4, Negative1? The settings are the same for both situations to my knowledge. Game 1 without the rotational momentum, without the heavy gravity, and with the standard 750 units of fuel in the tanks. 

 

I don't understand it. He seemed friendly and willing to share his thoughts on what's obviously a favorite game of his, so perhaps I'll see if he'll clarify and explain why the difference is even possible. 

Nope. I'm average at that game. But that's why i'm interested in seeing higher scores for it, and finding out how

they do it. Because that would help improve other peoples games. If you find anything out, please post it.

 

later

-1

[Atariboy]

Did no reprint ever happen for the Switch collection?

 

I was going to buy it and put it away for the future when I buy a Switch since appeared to be $20 at GameStop, but I had forgotten that GameStop lists products and prices even when they have none to sell and this was out of stock. 

 

I was under the impression a rerelease and wide release outside of GameStop had been confirmed for this and Atari Flashback Classics Volume 3 a long time ago.

[Atariboy]

Popped in volume 2 today for the PS4 and discovered what I think is the first game that hasn't been emulated to my satisfaction in these Atari collections from Code Mystics. Something is terribly off with the audio in Night Driver for the Atari 2600. 

 

It surprises me since I know for certain I've played it on another platform before and it sounded as it should (I'm thinking it likely was the all-in-one collection for the Vita). I even deleted it and tried it unpatched just to see if something inadvertently got broken with an update, but it still sounded poor.