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Flashback X found (in the wild) today!


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On 10/13/2019 at 11:12 PM, Brad_from_the_80s said:

On the FB9 the micro USB is for power only.  It is possible with hardware mod or tapping into a header to establish a data connection and using flashing tools, but the SD card slot and firmware flashing ability makes it easy to produce software-only distributable mods that anybody could use.  There will almost certainly be a way to access and modify the FB X system by either USB or UART.  The FB X may support USB OTG, which would mean the port can be connected to and potentially a user-friendly mod could be built.  But if not then the FB X will be a modding dead end for most except a dedicated few, and most of that modder interest has only been for the Legends and earlier Sega products.  This will be the main driver of whether to spend any real effort on the FB X or continue focusing on the FB 9 exclusively.  And even the FB9 has some real limitations which may or may not get resolved to support further substantial modding.

FWIW, they claimed the PSX Classic was power only on the back micro-USB port, but that was eventually updated to support OTG.  Granted, that upgrade was done via the USB controller port, and the Atari FB's don't have any.

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On 10/20/2019 at 5:52 PM, toiletunes said:

I am interested in the Legends Flashback, if it is able to play added colecovision games. Last year's model could add Genesis games, but not other systems iirc.

I don't have one, but supposedly you can add ColecoVision roms (along with other consoles and MAME) on the 2018 Legends Flashback. See here if you're interested:

 

https://gbatemp.net/threads/custom-firmware-for-atgames-legends-flashback-with-support-for-arcade-games.527550/

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14 minutes ago, ToddL said:

I don't have one, but supposedly you can add ColecoVision roms (along with other consoles and MAME) on the 2018 Legends Flashback. See here if you're interested:

 

https://gbatemp.net/threads/custom-firmware-for-atgames-legends-flashback-with-support-for-arcade-games.527550/

Colecovision doesn't work with the Legends Flashback 2018. Only MAME, "Sega" (Genesis,SMS,GG) and NES.

 

I don't have a Legends Flashback 2019 so I can't tell if Colecovision will be supported to load games from SD Card out-of-the-box. 

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12 hours ago, rmr_md said:

Colecovision doesn't work with the Legends Flashback 2018. Only MAME, "Sega" (Genesis,SMS,GG) and NES.

From the thread I linked to:

You can emulate consoles (with specific romsets, dats are also in the [dats](dats/) directory) by prefixing the name of the roms with `XXX_` and removing the `zip|7z` extension, or using the `--subsystem XXX` argument in the command line, here is the list of available prefix :
* CBS ColecoVision : `cv`
* MSX 1 : `msx`
* Nec PC-Engine : `pce`
* Nec SuperGrafX : `sgx`
* Nec TurboGrafx-16 : `tg`
* Sega GameGear : `gg`
* Sega Master System : `sms`
* Sega Megadrive : `md`
* Sega SG-1000 : `sg1k`

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3 hours ago, ToddL said:

From the thread I linked to:

You can emulate consoles (with specific romsets, dats are also in the [dats](dats/) directory) by prefixing the name of the roms with `XXX_` and removing the `zip|7z` extension, or using the `--subsystem XXX` argument in the command line, here is the list of available prefix :
* CBS ColecoVision : `cv`
* MSX 1 : `msx`
* Nec PC-Engine : `pce`
* Nec SuperGrafX : `sgx`
* Nec TurboGrafx-16 : `tg`
* Sega GameGear : `gg`
* Sega Master System : `sms`
* Sega Megadrive : `md`
* Sega SG-1000 : `sg1k`

No, these are the extensions that fba supports, not what you can actually run. FBA needs some specific tweak to load these systems, and I personally not tried working on this. 

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I'm really late jumping on the AtGames 2019 info party, but thanks for all the info so far, original_gamer!  The game lists are great, and that tip about accessing the AFBX's debug mode even better.  Are there any indicators in the menu showing which platforms the Legends FB 2019's console games come from?  For instance, Disney's Aladdin movie got (different) games for both the Genesis and SNES, and also, I don't know if I can assume that titles familiar from the ColecoVision Flashback must definitely be ColecoVision games.

 

I thank you as well for the video sampling the Legends FB 2019 experience, but since I'm a stick in the mud about getting all the games ordered as they're displayed in the menu, I hope someone eventually uploads YouTube videos showing all the pages in the systems' menus.  That would also answer the question of, for example, whether that typo of "Brave Battle SagE" instead of "Brave Battle SagA" in the manual is actually in the final product's menu.  I'm also curious about how the AFBX menu looks if it actually has 112 games, not 110, as was mentioned in another thread.

 

Incidentally, if you should decide to open up either of your new AtGames systems and peek at their guts, I hope you snap a few photos. ;) I'm always looking for glimpses of plug-n-play motherboard chips.  Did anyone ever pop open any of the 2018 AtGames systems and take pictures?

 

onmode-ky

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On 10/25/2019 at 2:34 AM, onmode-ky said:

I'm really late jumping on the AtGames 2019 info party, but thanks for all the info so far, original_gamer!  The game lists are great, and that tip about accessing the AFBX's debug mode even better.  Are there any indicators in the menu showing which platforms the Legends FB 2019's console games come from?  For instance, Disney's Aladdin movie got (different) games for both the Genesis and SNES, and also, I don't know if I can assume that titles familiar from the ColecoVision Flashback must definitely be ColecoVision games.

 

I thank you as well for the video sampling the Legends FB 2019 experience, but since I'm a stick in the mud about getting all the games ordered as they're displayed in the menu, I hope someone eventually uploads YouTube videos showing all the pages in the systems' menus.  That would also answer the question of, for example, whether that typo of "Brave Battle SagE" instead of "Brave Battle SagA" in the manual is actually in the final product's menu.  I'm also curious about how the AFBX menu looks if it actually has 112 games, not 110, as was mentioned in another thread.

 

Incidentally, if you should decide to open up either of your new AtGames systems and peek at their guts, I hope you snap a few photos. ;) I'm always looking for glimpses of plug-n-play motherboard chips.  Did anyone ever pop open any of the 2018 AtGames systems and take pictures?

 

onmode-ky

Here are a few pics of the inside of the FBX and of the outside for size comparison. I love the smaller footprint.

 

The update installed without a problem. Everything that ran on the FB9 appears to run on the FBX. (Plus paddle games!) 

 

Wish List for next year:

 

Power indicator light  (Hey, the 2600jr had one)

Color/BW switch (So it is possible to turn the shields OFF in Phaser Patrol)

A newer version of Stella

 

Ron

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35 minutes ago, original_gamer said:

Here are a few pics of the inside of the FBX and of the outside for size comparison. I love the smaller footprint.

 

The update installed without a problem. Everything that ran on the FB9 appears to run on the FBX. (Plus paddle games!) 

 

Wish List for next year:

 

Power indicator light  (Hey, the 2600jr had one)

Color/BW switch (So it is possible to turn the shields OFF in Phaser Patrol)

A newer version of Stella

 

Ron

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It’s so small and cute. But, I agree with your wishlist, although I would be 100% happy with just the last two - bw switch and better Stella. 

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1 minute ago, atarifan88 said:

Same version of Stella as the FB9 means it doesn't run any different games with the exception the paddles work on it (allegedly).  I'll wait until they upgrade Stella to run some of the more recent homebrews...

I can confirm the paddles DO work. Tried my vintage paddles as well as the paddles from my FB7. I did have to plug the joystick into the right port to navigate the menu.

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My conclusion is: close, but missed the mark for some confounding reason: B&W switch and Stella 5 or 6. I mean, why not? I suppose it will do most of the games...(eeyore face)

 

Edit: I read the from Bill in another thread the main issue was there was not enough time to collaborate and make changes from the basic hardware of the FB9, which was also 5 switch with Stella 3.9. Peculiar the path it has taken, though. I suppose the games they've included, officially, just never needed Stella 5 or the B&W switch as an in-game button and the big round buttons were a big, but early, departure anyway.

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On 11/5/2019 at 10:47 PM, original_gamer said:

Here are a few pics of the inside of the FBX and of the outside for size comparison. I love the smaller footprint.

Thanks for those photos, especially the ones of the system board!  I looked up the part numbers printed on the chips on either side of the processor, and that PE937-15E appears to be a 256-MB (!) DDR3 SDRAM chip from SpecTek.  That's quite a step up from the 2-MB SDRAM that the FB5 had in 2014.  The chip on the other side of the processor, which has what I think is "9FU1G8F2AMGI" printed on it, well, I couldn't find any datasheets on it, but some Chinese pages say it's a 128-MB NAND flash memory chip.  That seems reasonable, since the "1G" in the part number likely means 1 Gb, which is 128 MB--but without some real source yet, I'm not putting that part in my records for now.  To use the FB5 again for comparison, that used a 4-MB NOR flash memory chip.  Of course, the actual storage space taken up by the FBX's game ROMs plus emulator is probably nowhere close to filling 128 MB; I'd guess there were some manufacturing- or cost-related reasons for using chips with that much storage.

 

Incidentally, you posted in another thread that you saw the 2019 Atari Flashback Portable at retail earlier this week.  Can you get more specific in terms of which day?  To my knowledge, you're the first person to see the new portable available in a store, so I'd like to use your date in the system's "first known date publicly available" field in my records.

 

onmode-ky

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On 11/9/2019 at 1:27 AM, onmode-ky said:

 

 

Incidentally, you posted in another thread that you saw the 2019 Atari Flashback Portable at retail earlier this week.  Can you get more specific in terms of which day?  To my knowledge, you're the first person to see the new portable available in a store, so I'd like to use your date in the system's "first known date publicly available" field in my records.

 

onmode-ky

November 5th

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On 10/11/2019 at 8:40 PM, ACML said:

Heard of Retron 77?  

 

Retron 77: With upgraded community SD card image firmware

 

1)  Runs Stella 6 so you can play Space Rocks and recent home brews

2)  Has SD card so you can have unlimited games, plays all home brews

3)  Has Stella 6 interface so it looks like your on a PC

4)  Works with stock CX-30 paddles

5)  Has cartridge slot so it play many original cartridges

6)  Has a first rate joystick w/10ft cord

 

No brainer

 

 

 

 

1) Stella 6 is great

2) With the hack the flashback X also runs unlimited games

3) Stella 6 is great but a PC text interface is not great for sitting on a couch 8-10 feet away from a TV. TV interfaces should be graphics-based, not text-based.

4) Retron-77 doesn't work well with paddles out of the box. From what I understand you need an OTG cable, the community firmware, and a controller adapter like the 2600-daptor for paddles to work well.

5) All it does is dump the cartridge temporarily to play the dumped rom, so you might as well just load the roms, unless for nostalgia you want to pop the cartridges in.

6) I've heard mixed things on the joystick, including that the one included int he box is not as good as the one you can buy separately.

 

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