Atari Flashback Portable!

[atarifan88]

The Atari Flashback Portable will not be out until some time in November.

 

Hopefully this means they will get some work done on improving the game compatibility for the SD card...

[Bill Loguidice]

 

Hopefully this means they will get some work done on improving the game compatibility for the SD card...

 

It does not mean that, unfortunately. It's locked down already.

[Bill Loguidice]

It looks sweet, but I doubt it will play most of the DPC+ Atariage homebrews.

 

It plays nothing with special chips or multi-loads. It's also unfortunately not fully compatible with a portion of the original library. You have to think of the SD card as a bonus to the built-in games. Many key titles work off of SD, but several key titles don't.

[Flojomojo]

It's also unfortunately not fully compatible with a portion of the original library.

 

Someone said it wouldn't run Berzerk. Was that person just peaking metaphorically, or was this game incompatible with your test unit?

 

I'm still going to get one ... a dedicated Atari handheld is too fun to pass up. Just this morning I was procrastinating with my orange Gopher Genesis, which is more good than bad, even with the sound problems.

[Bill Loguidice]

 

Someone said it wouldn't run Berzerk. Was that person just peaking metaphorically, or was this game incompatible with your test unit?

 

I'm still going to get one ... a dedicated Atari handheld is too fun to pass up. Just this morning I was procrastinating with my orange Gopher Genesis, which is more good than bad, even with the sound problems.

 

That someone was me. No one else has a test unit as far as I know. Berzerk runs, but for some reason you can't fire reliably. Most of the time the shot is stuck to the player. While there was a chance of some more tweaks being made, only some minor stuff was addressed before the unit was finalized. It's still a very good handheld, but I'm certainly frustrated that it won't run all of the original library.

[Flojomojo]

OMG IT'S TOWEROFDOOMGATE ALL OVER AGAIN

 

I'll still get one

[onmode-ky]

and Toys R Us (for a brief monent) ............

[video clip snipped for brevity]

Thanks for posting that overview of the system! However, it's unfortunate that you repeatedly refer to AtGames' Atari Flashbacks as being built on NES-on-a-chip (NOAC) technology, which is not correct. The original, 2004 Atari Flashback is the only one which used a NOAC; specifically, it ran on a Novatek NT6578 chip. The Flashback 2 and 2+ (2005 and 2010, respectively) used a 2600-on-a-chip implementation, named "Michele," developed by hardware engineer Curt Vendel (who was not an Atari engineer, as you said in the video; he owns his own firm, Legacy Engineering, which brought the original Flashback concept to Atari and developed the FB1 through FB2+ for them). AtGames' Atari Flashbacks 3, 4, 64 (looks like your collection is missing this one, by the way, from 2013), 5, 6, and 7 all run on an in-house ARM architecture implementation called "Titan." For the most part, they run original Atari 2600 program binaries through an emulation layer (the FB1, FB2, and FB2+ can not be referred to as emulation, since the FB1 ran ports (to NES architecture) and the FB2/2+ ran 2600 binaries natively). Frogger and Space Invaders are, as you noted, not the 2600 games, but they are not the original arcade code running through emulation, either. Instead, for contractual reasons, those two are ports to the ARM architecture (that is, rather than being run by an emulation program like with the true 2600 games, they are running directly on the Titan chip itself).

 

As Bill L. has noted earlier, AtGames' upcoming Atari Flashback Portable will actually use a next-generation version of their Titan chip.

 

I have more to say about the FB7, but since this is the topic for the Portable, I'll post those thoughts in the main FB7 thread. For now, though, I'd like to ask if you can verify two things for me with your FB7:

 

- holding down Start + Select while powering on the system boots it into the debug mode

- the debug mode reports "Titan" at the top of the screen

 

These two attributes have been true for the FB3 through FB6. Can you check whether they still hold true for the FB7 (and post your findings in the FB7 thread)?

 

Just this morning I was procrastinating with my orange Gopher Genesis, which is more good than bad, even with the sound problems.

Hehe, it depends on the game, and where you are in the game.

 

onmode-ky

[Inky]

 

Rite-Aid, Walgreens, Dollar General, etc., are all on the latest list I've seen.

 

Employee discount, here I come!

[WildBillTX]

 

It plays nothing with special chips or multi-loads. It's also unfortunately not fully compatible with a portion of the original library. You have to think of the SD card as a bonus to the built-in games. Many key titles work off of SD, but several key titles don't.

 

Then that means it wont play games like Pitfall II or Space Rocks. And there's no firmware upgrading? Still thanks for keeping the price low.

[privateers69]

I would think with an entry point such as a SD port, it could be cracked and new software made for it.

[Bill Loguidice]

I would think with an entry point such as a SD port, it could be cracked and new software made for it.

 

You can add new software with the SD card slot, so why do you need to crack it? It would be easy enough to test Atari 2600 games on it that way.

[Bill Loguidice]

 

Then that means it wont play games like Pitfall II or Space Rocks. And there's no firmware upgrading? Still thanks for keeping the price low.

 

Correct. And yes, depending on the time of year it should be in the $25 - $50 range.

[privateers69]

 

You can add new software with the SD card slot, so why do you need to crack it? It would be easy enough to test Atari 2600 games on it that way.

Talking about updating the software/firmware

[Bill Loguidice]

Talking about updating the software/firmware

 

It's custom hardware and software, so it's probably way too much trouble for the effort. I'm not aware of any previous such system from AtGames being hacked other than running more games on the built-in emulator (it was the ColecoVision Flashback if I recall). It's also very picky about what it displays from the SD card. It has to be a .bin for instance.

Edited September 22, 2016 by Bill Loguidice

[Flojomojo]

There were clever things you could do with the Genesis portable -- mainly inserting custom screenshots in the ROM directory of the SD card. See http://segaretro.org/Arcade_Ultimate#MDB.DAT... I never bothered to do it myself, but would happily use someone else's file if only I could download one.

 

Hacking the firmware isn't going to happen, this isn't an Android or iOS flashable computer, it's a system on a chip covered in epoxy. What we get will almost certainly be all we can do with it.

[privateers69]

Oh well, it was wishful thinking then..

[Asaki]

Hmm, I'm starting to wonder if I should just wait to see what they release next year.

[Moo]

There were clever things you could do with the Genesis portable -- mainly inserting custom screenshots in the ROM directory of the SD card. See http://segaretro.org/Arcade_Ultimate#MDB.DAT... I never bothered to do it myself, but would happily use someone else's file if only I could download one.

 

Hacking the firmware isn't going to happen, this isn't an Android or iOS flashable computer, it's a system on a chip covered in epoxy. What we get will almost certainly be all we can do with it.

Oh man, I wanted that so much when I had the portable genesis. I googled if there was a way to do that but couldn't find a way. Now I know too late. Don't have it anymore.

[Flojomojo]

Oh man, I wanted that so much when I had the portable genesis. I googled if there was a way to do that but couldn't find a way. Now I know too late. Don't have it anymore.

There's another one coming out real soon now, you could always get it again. The 2016 model supports savegames for the 3 Sega role playing games included. Otherwise it's the same thing that you had before, off-key music and everything.

[Moo]

Nah, I'm gonna get a psp soon, I can emulate it with saving, savestates, and better sound emulation. I'm glad they added saving tho.

[MrBeefy]

Always wanted a portable atari. Cant wait to mab one. Sucks i have to wait till november.

[MrMaddog]

I'll be honest, I would buy this just to be able to play 2600 games with a gamepad like a lot of retro gamers would want. Yes you could use a Sega gamepad on a Flashback, but having Game Select/Restart on the controler itself is a good thing. Plus having a B&W button means Secret Quest is finally playable! And the SD card means I can also play the 2600 games I alread own in cart form (minus Pitfall2 though).

 

As usual, best time to buy anything from AtGames is during the holidays at dollar stores when the prices are reduced. I still have to get the Intellivision Flashback but it's only availble from the company at full price. I'll wait for next year's Genesis model when they get the sound working right...

[Andromeda Stardust]

And the SD card means I can also play the 2600 games I alread own in cart form (minus Pitfall2 though).

As someone who collects physical homebrew, I can assure you this isn't the case for lots of games. A lot more than Pitfall II and DPC+ homebrews are confirmed not working. Many games with 4k ROMs or vanilla bankswitch without extra RAM or coprocessor, bitd or otherwise, still refuse to work.

[Moo]

Sounds like it's better to get a psp and memory card and play a 2600 emulator then. PSP's can be had for about 60 including shipping and a memory card can be had for under 10 dollars if you don't mind a memory card duo micro sd card convertor. Otherwise a 8 gb one is 20 dollars most of the time, but if you just play 2600 then you won't need one that big.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Sounds like it's better to get a psp and memory card and play a 2600 emulator then. PSP's can be had for about 60 including shipping and a memory card can be had for under 10 dollars if you don't mind a memory card duo micro sd card convertor. Otherwise a 8 gb one is 20 dollars most of the time, but if you just play 2600 then you won't need one that big.

Does Stella on the PSP play Space Rocks? I have heard that Wii version does not...