Which 5200 to get

[chriswhit]

I'm a collector of all video games and systems. My home is full of atari, nes, sega and many others. I dont have a 5200 yet but am going to get one by xmas time. I noticed there is one with two joystick ports and one with four. Which one is better and do they both work with the 2600 cart adapter? I will probably get both styles anyways as I have one of every 2600 versions that were released in both Atari and Telegames. I want to make sure I get a version of the 5200 thats compatible with the cart adapter first. Also does anyone have any recommendations for the 5200 games? I've never played any of them or even seen a 5200 in person so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[bb_hood]

I'm a collector of all video games and systems. My home is full of atari, nes, sega and many others. I dont have a 5200 yet but am going to get one by xmas time. I noticed there is one with two joystick ports and one with four. Which one is better and do they both work with the 2600 cart adapter? I will probably get both styles anyways as I have one of every 2600 versions that were released in both Atari and Telegames. I want to make sure I get a version of the 5200 thats compatible with the cart adapter first. Also does anyone have any recommendations for the 5200 games? I've never played any of them or even seen a 5200 in person so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

 

Unless you are going to play 4 player games I would suggest getting the 2-port version. It doesn't use the stupid switch box that connects both the power and rf output. In my experience it much easier to hook up.

[ninermaniac]

I don't know what it is but I like my 4 port better. Probably because of the few 4 player games but my suggestion is the 4 port. You can always make the switch box and it is pretty cheap to do so. Not that technical in how the switch box works. You will need a regular RF switch to make it work but it's worth it to me.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Agreed with niner. The 4-port I just got on ePay a couple days ago was really awesome. I was pretty daunted by the RF box and thought it wouldn't work, but 2 simple plugs and it started up great. I don't really get why people are put off by the RF box thing.

[Videogamecollector123]

Get the four port one. I love mine and it works alright and my switchbox works great. I wouldn't get a two port because it has differences in the cartridge slot that make it incompatible with some 5200 games while making is compatible with the 2600 adaptor. There are also a few four port 5200's that have asteriks in their serial numbers, that means they are four port motherboards, but they have had the cartridge slot changes in order to make it compatible with the adapter, these 5200's have the same compatability problem as the 2 port.

[chriswhit]

Get the four port one. I love mine and it works alright and my switchbox works great. I wouldn't get a two port because it has differences in the cartridge slot that make it incompatible with some 5200 games while making is compatible with the 2600 adaptor. There are also a few four port 5200's that have asteriks in their serial numbers, that means they are four port motherboards, but they have had the cartridge slot changes in order to make it compatible with the adapter, these 5200's have the same compatability problem as the 2 port.

thanks for the info it will help me a lot in my choice

[atariksi]

Get the four port one. I love mine and it works alright and my switchbox works great. I wouldn't get a two port because it has differences in the cartridge slot that make it incompatible with some 5200 games while making is compatible with the 2600 adaptor. There are also a few four port 5200's that have asteriks in their serial numbers, that means they are four port motherboards, but they have had the cartridge slot changes in order to make it compatible with the adapter, these 5200's have the same compatability problem as the 2 port.

 

What are the signal differences in the cartridge slots?

What's an example of a serial number of 4-port that's like a 2-port cartridge slot?

[82-T/A]

I'm a collector of all video games and systems. My home is full of atari, nes, sega and many others. I dont have a 5200 yet but am going to get one by xmas time. I noticed there is one with two joystick ports and one with four. Which one is better and do they both work with the 2600 cart adapter? I will probably get both styles anyways as I have one of every 2600 versions that were released in both Atari and Telegames. I want to make sure I get a version of the 5200 thats compatible with the cart adapter first. Also does anyone have any recommendations for the 5200 games? I've never played any of them or even seen a 5200 in person so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

 

Kind of off topic, and not to throw a wrench in your quest to get every game system known to man (yeah, I've been there before too), but they made many, many licensed Atari VCS knock-off systems. One of the ones that I have which isn't Atari or a Sears unit, is the Coleco Gemini. I THINK it's identical to one of the Sears Telegames II units (don't quote me on that), but it's basically just an Atari 2600. I wish I had it in the box, but don't. It has what looks like Atari 7800 pro-line pad controllers. Basically something that looks like what came with the Coleco Vision I guess.

 

I dunno if you're interested in it, but I'm probably going to put it up on eBay in the next couple of days (selling almost everything, including an Atari 5200 4-port and Atar 5200 2-port system boxed...)

[4Ks]

Get the four port one. I love mine and it works alright and my switchbox works great. I wouldn't get a two port because it has differences in the cartridge slot that make it incompatible with some 5200 games while making is compatible with the 2600 adaptor. There are also a few four port 5200's that have asteriks in their serial numbers, that means they are four port motherboards, but they have had the cartridge slot changes in order to make it compatible with the adapter, these 5200's have the same compatability problem as the 2 port.

 

 

Compatabilty problems? You mean there are some games the 2-port and the * 4-port can't play?

[chriswhit]

Get the four port one. I love mine and it works alright and my switchbox works great. I wouldn't get a two port because it has differences in the cartridge slot that make it incompatible with some 5200 games while making is compatible with the 2600 adaptor. There are also a few four port 5200's that have asteriks in their serial numbers, that means they are four port motherboards, but they have had the cartridge slot changes in order to make it compatible with the adapter, these 5200's have the same compatability problem as the 2 port.

 

 

Compatabilty problems? You mean there are some games the 2-port and the * 4-port can't play?

a four port can play all 5200 games but doesn't work with the 2600 adapter. The two port works with the 2600 adapter but not all the 5200 games. I don't know which games are incompatible though