Jump to content
IGNORED

2 port questions


Atari_Bill

Recommended Posts

I’ve been testing my spare 5200 stuff in prep for adding it to my sell list.  I have a few questions for folks that maybe are more in the know about some of this.  
 

I know there are 4 games (Pitfalls,  Mountain King, Krazy shoot out) that won’t work on a 2 port, but are there any issues with other Activision titles?  I cannot for the life of me get River Raid or Keystone Kapers to work.  When I move them around in the system trying them, they actually display an Atari logo startup with a bunch of garbled characters.  That seems odd. 
 

I actually get the title screen for Mountain King, but it won’t start.  Is that normal?
 

other than the eraser / foil tape tricks, are there any other suggestions to get buttons working again.  Out of 14 sticks I own, I’m only able to get 6 of them completely working.  The rest have various button issues, but control works in all of them.  
 

any thoughts are appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Atari_Bill said:

but are there any issues with other Activision titles?  I cannot for the life of me get River Raid or Keystone Kapers to work.  When I move them around in the system trying them, they actually display an Atari logo startup with a bunch of garbled characters.  That seems odd.

Activision cartridges are pretty notorious for this, and it has nothing to do with the 2 port (except Pitfall, that's a different problem).  It can take a while to get them to properly start up.  In my personal experience, regular use keeps the problem from coming back, but others may have different experiences.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another funny thing I had happen as I’m testing.   I put in super breakout and Joust comes up.   A bit later I put in Joust and get Super Breakout. For some reason someone must have swapped chips at some point.  It’s weird that I must have gotten both of them at some point in the past in the same lot.  Who knows how long ago that was.  I opened them up and switched them out.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use a stsndard 2 port 5200:

 

Never had any problems with Keystone Kapers on my unit.

 

I have a one-cart-game-collection including River Raid: runs without any problems on my unit. (But again not original cart).

 

The four games usually known for incompatibility with 2 port never-ever works.

 

I hooked up a 4-port (which I plan to sell), where these four games runs without any problems.

 

As to repair/maintanance of original sticks, the interior - don’t remember the technical term for it - the circuit-thingy-connections within must be changed with gold-laminated/golden-coated circuits transmitting the external push on the buttons to the signal reading hardware inside the controllers.

 
 

Edited by Giles N
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why don't you just get a 4-port BIOS installed in your unit, that solves the whole compatibility problem involving Pitfall, Mountain King, and K-Razy Shoot-Out altogether, there are guys here on AA who can either do the work (for a small fee) or refer you to someone who can do it, but yes 4-port BIOS are easy to obtain, you just have to find them, and that should be easy, especially knowing that it's no big government secret that lack of full compatibility with all titles is a problem with most 2-port units that don't have one.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Atari_Bill said:

Neither.  Selling off extra accumulation.  This is a spare 5200.  

I see.

 

Then I’d just inform the buyers that these games mentioned don’t work.

(Then no-one will ask for a refund or something).

Edited by Giles N
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...