Atari Flashback Vader - Pi conversion

[nicknickuk]

Hi all

 

I have recently finished my Atari Flashback Raspberry Pi conversion. I have based it on the look of the Atari 2600 Vader edition.

This is an Atari Flashback 6 with a Raspberry Pi 3b+ inside with Retropie.

I removed the Flashback buttons and replaced them with arcade style buttons.

I used black snakeskin style vinyl wrap to cover the brown wood effect front panel.

I removed the old Joystick ports and added USB ports.

 

 

 

I cut a hole in the back to add an HDMI port.

Another hole was cut to add a Micro SD card reader so I can easily remove the SD card without opening up the whole case.

 

 

 

I wired the Pi board to the power button and a white power LED.

 

 

 

 

Hot glue, super glue and lots of filing was used for the project.

The Pi board is currently sitting loose in the case as not a lot of room to bolt it in, but it is very secure as it is.

 

 

 

 

I have converted an Atari Flashback 7800 joystick to work via USB by using a convertor.

Also connected, an 8Bitdo wireless controller.

 

 

Just for effect......I messed around with a couple of "free" retro wallpaper backgrounds and stuck my Flashback in the middle, which came out well.

 

 

 

[Draxxon]

Thats really nice looking. You nailed it. The switches look great and the new holes you had to make are pretty clean.

 

the only thing that i can see that would be neat is to cover the entire front with the black vinyl and somehow print the old style logo on it????

 

job well done, man!

 

 

[nicknickuk]

Thanks, Draxon. Yep I had considered that. I have plenty of vinyl wrap, just need to find somewhere that supplies an Atari logo sticker or something.

22 hours ago, Draxxon said:

Thats really nice looking. You nailed it. The switches look great and the new holes you had to make are pretty clean.

 

the only thing that i can see that would be neat is to cover the entire front with the black vinyl and somehow print the old style logo on it????

 

job well done, man!

 

 

 

[Draxxon]

here is a mockup i made recently. I think that a vader flashback would be sweet.

[nicknickuk]

That’s really cool. I do like the Vader theme, it adds a modern darker touch keeping the old retro style.

[Draxxon]

any chance you would show off your in game menus and user interface?
 

Edited November 26, 2021 by Draxxon

[nicknickuk]

I will do. It is Retropie but am just in the middle of rebuilding the image so not ready just yet, so watch this space....

[nicknickuk]

On 11/26/2021 at 9:31 PM, Draxxon said:

any chance you would show off your in game menus and user interface?
 

This is my loading screen I created for when my Raspberry Pi is booting up into Retropie.

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by nicknickuk

[nicknickuk]

Finally finished the user interface on Retropie. I used the box art from another theme but created the rest myself including the background etc.

 

 

[akator]

You did awesome work on this.  It looks amazing.

 

I'm sure you considered adding USB to 9-pin to adapters (Stelladapter, 2600-dapter-D9, etc.) to make it compatible with original controllers.  Of course that's not necessary since there are so many Bluetooth and USB options, but it could be a cool option if you ever made another one.

[nicknickuk]

On 12/8/2021 at 11:31 AM, akator said:

You did awesome work on this.  It looks amazing.

 

I'm sure you considered adding USB to 9-pin to adapters (Stelladapter, 2600-dapter-D9, etc.) to make it compatible with original controllers.  Of course that's not necessary since there are so many Bluetooth and USB options, but it could be a cool option if you ever made another one.

Thanks, Akator. Glad you like. I have a DB9 adapter attached to the Atari flashback controller so I can just plug it into the USB port when I use the joystick but I mainly use the Bluetooth 8bitdo controller. It’s a good idea of yours to add the adapter into the console although on this particular project there might not be enough room left inside.

[vieiraandre]

On 11/26/2021 at 4:41 PM, Draxxon said:

here is a mockup i made recently. I think that a vader flashback would be sweet.

With SD slot on cartridge opening and hardware based on a pi+retroarch or some kind of nes classic mini (even the chinese clone)... Android sux.

Edited February 6, 2022 by vieiraandre

[the4thman]

That Vader flashback is gorgeous! You did an amazing job.

These are really cool projects. 

[SpyhunterUK]

PM me if you would you consider doing another one of these ready for my pi3b?  if not i will have to do it myself   This is AWESOME MATE!!!

[suspicious_milk]

I don't like RPi's nor am I a fan of the Flasback series.  I think I just clicked this post to be silently triggered 😝😜

 

But, damn.  That's just freaking awesome.  🤘🤘🤘

 

Greater than the sum of its parts.  Glorious.

[SpyhunterUK]

well, i have bought a rpi (my 4th) and an old atari flashback that I will rip apart to case my rpi AtariPi   I'll send images afterwards.

Thanks for the inspiration