Atari Superman

Thank you for this thread! I don't have any contributions right now, but I do have a request. Could you/the community please confirm which OEM controllers are supported? I've received conflicting info about driving controllers and keyboard controllers and would appreciate some clarity!

Speak for yourself Although _mad_ is a strong word. I'm disappointed with the lack of full compatibility with their own catalog. I was going to buy this to retire my aging original hardware. But if I can't play all my old games, including Indy 500 and Star Raiders, then this won't solve my problem. ^^^ ATTENTION ATARI: USE CASE ^^^ It's baffling that a device would be designed for a very specific target market -- someone who (a) has cartridges, (b) is still playing them (c) in the living room and (d) doesn't care about homebrew compatibility, which, as far as I can tell, is only me -- and then have it not address the very specific needs of this market. Of course we need driving controllers. Of course we need a keypad. If we didn't need these, we'd already have a Flashback and a crappy joystick and wouldn't be buying a 2600+.

You know what requires no hardware tweaking? An Atari 2600. The Xbox I used to have, and the PlayStation I used to have, both worked flawlessly out of the box. Glad you're happy with your purchase. If you had my experience, I imagine you'd feel similar to me.

I've been through two. One works marginally better than the first, which I did return. Unless a high percentage of these boxes have manufacturer's defects, I'm gonna assume that the problem isn't the hardware. Rather, it's that the system was inadequately tested. I live in NYC, the same as the Atari people do. I have no sort of exotic setup at home. Just Time Warner broadband Internet with a vanilla factory wireless router supplied by Time Warner. I connect with a physical patch cord from the VCS directly to the Internet. The VCS loops indefinitely over download/install/restart every single time a new update comes out. Glad it works for you. It doesn't work for me.

Mine has been a black hole of despair and disappointment. The VCS doesn't appear to have been adequately tested across network environments, and based on the comments in the forums, it either works for you or it doesn't. I fall into the "doesn't work for me" category. I can't get it to update itself, for one thing. And if it doesn't update itself, it becomes a brick. You have to buy extra hardware like an external keyboard, assuming you don't already have one, and maybe your task will involve installing Windows (literally) and changing BIOS settings manually before you get the box into a usable state. Until the next update. The controllers are dodgy af for any kind of paddle game, and they don't withstand the rigors of normal twich-style play. I've had to buy three joysticks now because they keep breaking. By comparison, with my original Atari setup, I'm still using my original joysticks from 1982. You can't run Stella on it without external peripherals. You can't access difficulty switches, etc. And apparently no attempt has been made to bring licensed games from the 2600 library back to the console, such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Defender, Superman, and E.T., to say nothing of the Activision library, for example. Which I guess is fine, because there's no Kaboom! without better paddles. I'd say about 33% of the time, the software freezes and crashes for me in the add-on libraries of arcade games and 2600 games, requiring a manual reset. The people who seem to enjoy the VCS the most are very comfortable tinkering with hardware and software. That is absolutely not me. I want it to turn on and play Atari. This rarely happens. And when it does happen, a controller breaks. I went through two units, both with more or less the same problems, only the second one had issues less frequently. Clearly I wasn't meant to have this. After a while I stopped even trying. Give me a cartridge dumper like the Retron 77 any day. The VCS was an expensive frustration.

The Retron is currently the best possible way for me to have Atari in the living room without putting a strain on my aging vintage equipment. I don't like messing with adapters, modifying electronic components, or jury-rigging unstable workarounds. I just want to play Atari in the living room like I've wanted to do since I was 8. The various Flashbacks have sucky controllers and don't include licensed games like Pac-Man, which I love and you can hate all you want. The new VCS is an unending source of frustration and disappointment. It never updates itself properly without requiring me to flash the BIOS every gd time, and after all that I'm still no closer to Pac-Man. As a way to play the 2600 library, it is suboptimal by every measure. I wish the Retron had a better paddle solution. I wish it supported driving controllers and keyboard controllers without some stupid-looking gearhead jumble of multiple dongles and cables and adapters. I wish the controllers in general were more robust. But they are better than the Flashback controllers, and I'm happy for what I'm getting and not fixated over what I'm not getting, which I suppose makes me the exception to the rule around here. Emulation isn't the same experience, but it's close enough, and if the options are emulation or no Atari once my 2600s and CRTs inevitably bite the dust, I will take emulation gladly.

The original hardware is my preference, too, but mine is reaching the end of its life expectancy along with my CRTs. At some point these are going to give up the ghost. I don't want my ability to Atari in the living room to go with them.

@jgkspsx If it does support OEM controllers, and if that includes keypads and driving controllers, I will be buying multiples of this thing.

5. Please sell a pair of paddles without the multicart. So I can get my 4-player Warlord on.

1. Keyboard controller, please. For Star Raiders. 2. Driving controller, please. For obvious reasons. It's no use if Indy 500 is technically compatible but unplayable because of lack of controllers. 3. Please, paddles, don't suck. 4. Is there OEM controller support? So I can supply my own paddles, keypads, and driving controllers. The site says that the + controllers are compatible on an original 2600, but I'm not sure if that holds the other way around.

My replacements arrived. All three are bad. Let me just stress that last point. All three of the replacement cartridges do not work.

I would just like a product that works. By works, I mean it (1) doesn't crash/black screen every other time coming out of a game, (2) updates itself without my having to flash the BIOS, (3) doesn't knock out my home WiFi netwok, (4) connects properly to social features, and (5) receives timely, helpful customer support. When you can't be reasonably sure that you'll receive a functional VCS, your product doesn't work. When out of the box your console is incompatible with Spectrum WiFi in NYC, probably the same internet that Atari has, your product doesn't work.

Yeah it's unreal. Hope that gets sorted for you soon. Ironically(?) the one thing that seems to work fine on my bad box is Chrome.

leech, you are correct. Just hooked up a different VCS to my network, and it's working perfectly. The one I had to threaten them to send me is defective. They currently don't seem to want to believe that, and I don't know what else I can do to convince them except maybe go after the money I gave them. Their customer service is responsive enough unless they owe you a refund or a replacement, and then it's close ranks, obfuscate, and stall and hope that the customer goes away. I get the sense that every sale counts with these guys and they can't afford to lose too many of them. The Atari brand deserves better. Once this finally gets sorted out, I do look forward to playing this thing. And I can say no wrong about the RetroN in the meantime. If anyone's on the fence, don't be. It's been the closest thing to Atari in the living room than actually wheeling out the Atari.

I also suspect that there's some sort of network tug of war going on and that it might be related to the black screening, which happened for the third time tonight. Also the classic joystick controller has gone unresponsive inside the Options > Controls menu of two different arcade games in the Vault, Pong and Black Widow, if I'm remembering right. The first time it happened was on Tuesday, and I just attributed it to user error/frustration. But it happened again tonight, so I'm ruling out user error. Atari contacted me today and asked me to delete the Vault cache(?) under System > Storage > Other Saved Data. But since the controller locked up and then the unit black-screened after I deleted this file, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it didn't work.

For Christmas this year, as a present to myself, I bought an Atari VCS from atarivcs.com and a RetroN 77 from hyperkinlab.com. I placed both orders on Friday afternoon, December 31. On Tuesday, January 4, the RetroN 77 was at my door. I've been playing it happily ever since. The Atari VCS? Problems all the way down. Here for your entertainment are my conversations with Atari VCS Support. ME Wednesday, January 5: Hi, I’m writing about order #xxxx, which was placed on Dec 31. The status on the site says “Awaiting Payment” but payment was sent instantly at the time of purchase through Klarna. Please advise. Thanks — Atari Superman ATARI Friday, January 7: Hello Atari Superman, Thank you for contacting us. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused. Unfortunately, our system didn't automatically process the payment made by Klarna at the moment the order was placed. I have manually submitted the order and our warehouse will now process your order. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Wednesday, January 12: Hi, thanks for the info and for taking care of that stuck order. Now it looks like it might be stuck on “Awaiting Fulfillment” status. Did you know when it might be shipping out? The confirmation email said within 72 hours. Thanks again ATARI Thursday, January 13: Hello Atari Superman, We hope you are well. We apologize for the delay in our response. Our warehouse team has processed your order and has queued your order for shipment. We will get in touch with you as soon as we have the tracking number. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. Thursday, January 20: Hello Atari Superman, We hope you are well. Our warehouse team processed and shipped out your order on January 14. The UPS tracking number for your package is: xxxxxxxxx However, your package is showing no progress of delivery and our warehouse will be filing a claim to UPS. We should have an update on the status of your package in the next couple of hours and if needed our team will ship out a new package to you. We appreciate your patience and understanding. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Thursday, January 20, 11:59 AM: Thanks for the update. I really appreciate you being proactive about this. Please let me know when you have more info. If I don’t hear back I’ll be in touch. Thanks again — Atari Superman [The next couple of hours pass.] Thursday, January 20, 5:30 PM: Hi again, do you have any new details on this order? ATARI Friday, January 21, 9:15 AM: Hello Atari Superman, Thank you for your response. Our warehouse team was informed by UPS that the package is scheduled for delivery on Friday, January 21 between 10:30 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Friday, January 21, 2:32 PM: Hi xxx, this has not been delivered. According to the tracking number it was never out for delivery. I can confirm that the UPS truck has been to my building — a delivery was left for my next-door neighbor — but no delivery was made for this order. Will need this problem to be solved and will need an accurate tracking number. Thanks — Atari Superman ATARI Monday, January 24: Hello Atari Superman, We apologize for the inconvenience. We have sent a request to our team to get an accurate update on your order. We should have more information for you in the next 12 hours. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Monday, January 24: Hi xxx, I’m sorry, but this has gone past being an inconvenience. This is not going to be good enough. I need a new order to be shipped out immediately, with a valid tracking number. If somehow two orders arrive, I will return the second one. This has gone on long enough. I have an email that says the order will be shipped within 72 hours. It has been weeks. The time has come for better answers. Please place the new order and send the new tracking number. Thank you — Atari Superman Tuesday, January 25: Hi, I need an update today or this order gets canceled. ATARI Tuesday, January 25: Hello Atari Superman, We hope you are well. Our warehouse team has processed and shipped out your order. The UPS tracking number for your package is the following: xxxxxxxxx Once again we apologize for all of the inconvenience caused. Best regards, Atari VCS Support. ME Tuesday, January 25: Got it, xxx. Thanks for your help. [The Atari VCS arrives on Tuesday, February 1. I don't get a chance to set it up until Saturday, February 5.] Saturday, February 5: Hi, I have connected the Atari VCS to my TV. If I go to General Settings > Update, it says that Operating System needs an update. When I try to update it, I get "Downloading New Update 1/4" for about 1 second, and then I get "Update Failed. An error occurred while checking for update. Please try again. Version - 20210826.135839.production Build - P#1205" It gives me a Retry button, but retrying the update just keeps giving me the exact same error no matter how often I click it. I have noticed another very strange issue with the wireless connection. The VCS seems to be "attacking" my 5G network. I have a 2G and a 5G network on the same router. Whenever I try to go to the VCS store, for example, the 5G network "overloads" somehow...it just gets knocked out. This happens whether I'm connected to the VCS over 5G or 2G. My other devices, including my computer and phone, which are also connected to 5G, are kicked off the network and can't get back on. The network vanishes completely from the list of available networks on the Atari VCS as well as all other devices. I must manually restart my router to get the 5G network back. ATARI Monday, February 7: Hello, Thank you for your message. Let's first address the update issue, please manually flash the box with an OS image from a USB stick. It can take a bit of time to download and write the file to the USB drive but is otherwise a very straightforward process. Please follow the instructions in the Google Document inside this folder: xxxx The file listed as "atari-flasher" is the OS image, just right click it and hit download, then follow the steps in the document to flash the VCS. Once done, let us know your version. Kind regards, Atari VCS Support ME Monday, February 7: Hi xxx, thank you for the info. The atari-flasher process seems to have cleared up the update problem. My current version is 20211014.083614.production Build - P#1271 with no new OS or firmware updates listed. There were updates to all four factory-installed software apps, which I downloaded and installed, again apparently without issue. However, the issue where the VCS seems to knock out the 5G WiFi network for all devices has persisted. The network is restored only by manually rebooting the router. Even if the VCS connects on 2G, as long as the 5G network is available, it will be knocked out for all devices. Any ideas? — Atari Superman ATARI Tuesday, February 8: Thank you for continuing to help us diagnose your issue. In order to understand your network connection can you please reply back with the following information so we can send more details to our engineers: 1. Who is your internet service provider? 2. Can you run an internet speed test via this link- xxx 3. Make and model of your router? 4. Can you take a screenshot of the following: System->Network->Wifi and System->Network->Ethernet Once you complete the speed test please take a screenshot and attach that screenshot and one of your system information to this email thread. We will wait to hear back from you. Atari Support [I do all this and send the requested information back. At this point I realize that I have not yet played the VCS. All my free time has been spent trying to get it to work.] ME Tuesday, February 8: Hey xxx, I just got done playing the VCS for the first time since hooking up the box. I am using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi. I was in VCS Vault for about 30 mins. When I quit the game to go back to the OS, the screen went completely black. I had to restart. I’m feeling like this unit has some serious issues and would like to replace it. [Actually I got the black screen of death twice on Tuesday night, both times when trying to exit VCS Vault after more than a couple minutes.] ATARI Wednesday, February 9: [No response.]