Atari Flashback Portable!

[+doctorclu]

Mine has Space Invaders.

[Hyperboy]

Horse shit!! Those mother f*@$ers!

 

Sent from my non beer holding hand.

[+MrBlackCat]

WTH?! I just go the same email... two days after saying my pre-order would be cancelled on 12-15-2016 if it hadn't shipped.

Grr... I don't mind delays, but poor organization I try not to support.

 

MrBlackCat

[+doctorclu]

Hehe... so I was wanting to see if this was out in retail stores.

 

Last Friday I hit Toys R Us, Flashback 7 with boxes and boxes, not the Portable.

 

Tried to call a Toys R Us in Dallas to see if they could look up they inventory in other stores. I did this trick back in 1999 when I was looking for a Atari Jaguar. Just so happened Toys R Us did not have any Jaguars left, but Kaybee (rest their soul) did.

 

Call up Toys R Us and eventually get a person after a minute or so.

"Hello and how can we help you at Toys R Us?"

"Well, I wanted to see if you have a game system in stock?"

"Ok, and what game system is that?"

"The Flashback Portable with the Atari games on it."

"Ok, let me get you to someone that can help you find that."

 

I'm put on hold for half a minute.

 

"Thank you for calling Toys R Us, how can I help you?"

I give the same question again as the previously given information was not passed on. A pet peeve on mine.

 

Person on the other side of the line mentioned something about Ken dolls.

"Umm, not Ken dolls, it is a game system. Check this out in your search... A-T-A-R-I." I realized who was talking to. We are now getting into the generation after the generation that were the kids of the generation that played Atari for the first time. Feel old yet?

 

"I'm going to need to get some help checking on this, please hold." And I sat there for a minute and realized I was still down the street at a restrarant from the Toys R Us. I could walk over to the store, ask a clerk at the service desk to look it up and it would faster.

 

It was then that my wife showed me on her phone that the Toys R Us website listed the Flashback Portable as available after November 30th. Explained a lot. Then I came to this forum, saw that Atgames had it on their site (and I noticed that in a quick search) heard good reports on the quickness of their shipping, placed my order last Friday and here I am with a Flashback Portable.

 

I'll always have a soft spot for Toys R Us. Collected my action figures and Atari games there growing up. I had a BLAST when TRON Legacy came out collecting a new line of toys. It was actually my last adventure with my old Toys R Us before they moved to a new location.

 

But here on November 16th till the end of this month Toys R Us is not the answer. Maybe afterward. For now, buy from Atgames.

Edited November 16, 2016 by doctorclu

[Hyperboy]

AtGames is out of stock and Toys R Us can lick my sack!

 

Sent from my non beer holding hand.

[Keatah]

There are probably lots of homebrews that still need to be added/tested. Note that the FB unit will display things in the order in which you added them, so rewriting the whole card is probably best when you want to update your ROMs.

 

Maybe a short/fast format is best, because of the way FAT directory organization works. Dunno don't have one of these units yet.

[Kokovec69]

My Toys R Us order was canceled as well and no one has stock.

What a fiasco!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Preorders are only as good as the toilet paper they're written on (or cloud) if the retailers can't fulfill them.

[Flojomojo]

My Flashback Portable arrived today!

Be careful with that screen! You'll pop your eyes out!!

 

Apart from the different onboard ROMs, it doesn't seem like there's much different between the two variations we know about. Both will run the software set from the compatibility page.

[+MrBlackCat]

Seeing as just MONDAY I received the email notification from Toy-R-Us that my pre-order would auto-cancel on December 15th if it could not be fulfilled... I am guessing they received notification the Atari Portables would not be received by December 15... AtGames must have run into bigger production problems than expected.

 

MrBlackCat

Edited November 17, 2016 by MrBlackCat

[Flojomojo]

Maybe a short/fast format is best, because of the way FAT directory organization works. Dunno don't have one of these units yet.

There doesn't seem to be a small limit to the number of characters in a name, it's not like it needs 8.3 format like a DOS file. It is picky about uppercase and lowercase letters.

[BillLoguidice]

Be careful with that screen! You'll pop your eyes out!!

 

Apart from the different onboard ROMs, it doesn't seem like there's much different between the two variations we know about. Both will run the software set from the compatibility page.

 

I obviously work for these guys and even I get frustrated at the craziness sometimes. For the record, these are technically not in wide release until the very end of this month (November). It appears there are some non-final versions in the sales channel, though. These have the old box art and old ROM list, but are otherwise identical. If you're fortunate enough to get one of these pre-release units, I'd actually argue it has a nicer game selection.

[BillLoguidice]

By the way, I received my "final" unit today, and it's the same Space Invaders style box and old ROM set as well. I'm not sure when the new style will hit the retail channel (trying to work that out now), but presumably that will be what hits wide the end of this month.

[+doctorclu]

Be careful with that screen! You'll pop your eyes out!!

 

Apart from the different onboard ROMs, it doesn't seem like there's much different between the two variations we know about. Both will run the software set from the compatibility page.

 

Beautiful little unit. And SD card support? Just awesome.

[+doctorclu]

Wow, saw above that Atgames was also out of stock? Dang! Glad I jumped on this.

[+doctorclu]

By the way, I received my "final" unit today, and it's the same Space Invaders style box and old ROM set as well. I'm not sure when the new style will hit the retail channel (trying to work that out now), but presumably that will be what hits wide the end of this month.

 

Do I have the proto or retail unit with the one I have?

[BillLoguidice]

 

Do I have the proto or retail unit with the one I have?

 

Space Invaders and Jungle Hunt equals earlier unit. If those games are not present on the box or on the system, then you have the final. The hardware is identical, just the ROM list (built-in games) is different. Apparently it was a mix-up at the overseas factory.

[Flojomojo]

You're kinda lucky, "arcade" Space Invaders can't be sideloaded via SD card like the VCS games you're missing.

[Keatah]

Why not?

[BillLoguidice]

Why not?

 

It's the Space Invaders coded for the hardware (same one on the console Flashback), so it's the new port, not the original. There's no readily available ROM for that. It might work in theory if someone were to rip it and run it from the SD card as a bin, but I don't think anyone has sourced it.

Edited November 17, 2016 by BillLoguidice

[Flojomojo]

But the VCS true believers like us like the Atari version better anyway. 112 VIDEO GAMES

[atwwong]

Got the rejection from Toy R Us too! Good thing I ordered from AtGames before they ran out of stock...

[Keatah]

But the VCS true believers like us like the Atari version better anyway. 112 VIDEO GAMES

 

Believe it or not. I prefer the original VCS version (with 112 variations) over the arcade or most other implementations. I suppose it's because it's the first version I played as a kid.

 

My gramma made a big stink over this game and got it for my birthday and all that.

[+doctorclu]

On the the compatibility thread we found some of the Berzerk hacks offered better playability.

 

Glad I got the earlier unit since the new Space Invaders is pretty cool, and I like Jungle Hunt. Actually sorry to hear Jungle Hunt did not make the final cut. But then you can just side load no problem.

 

Joust works!

[Flojomojo]

Believe it or not. I prefer the original VCS version (with 112 variations) over the arcade or most other implementations. I suppose it's because it's the first version I played as a kid.

 

My gramma made a big stink over this game and got it for my birthday and all that.

I totally believe it. It's the better game!

 

The "112 VIDEO GAMES" always baffled me until I could lay my hands on an instruction manual to see the GAME SELECT MATRIX. Perhaps I wasn't very imaginative as a child, because I JUST COULDNT UNDERSTAND how you could enter your initials into Asteroids without a keyboard. How did they do it???