Harmony cart "THANK YOU!" thread

[Galaxian]

Truly genius and brilliant, whoever built this must have been some kind of Atari GOD!

 

Atarius.... God of all things cool.... That could work...

Edited October 5, 2010 by Galaxian

[Brian O]

I created an account here just to say THANK YOU for the Harmony Cartridge. I received mine last night and it worked like a champ. Sure, my wife and friends think I'm a nerd, but I don't care!

[yell0w_lantern]

We'll be using the Harmony Cart tomorrow night for our Halloween Party where there will be Atari in the house and lightsaber fighting out back!

[slackerwithin]

Yes. I got my car a couple weeks ago. I'm still amazed. I love it. Thanks for all your hard work.

Put me down for the 7800 version please.

 

Thank You.

[slackerwithin]

Yes. I got my cart a couple weeks ago. I'm still amazed. I love it. Thanks for all your hard work.

Put me down for the 7800 version please.

 

Thank You.

[Amazin]

I too would like to thank Batari and all people who have worked on Harmony. The cartridge is fantastic, I got it yesterday here in Brazil. Batari was very honest, didn't overcharge me on shipping (something that, sadly, many many americans are doing on eBay when selling to international buyers), and the product is fantastic.

 

It worked flawlessly on my Dynacom Dynavision Atari 2600 clone. Haven't tested it on the official Polyvox 2600, but it should work there too.

 

Thanks, thanks again!

 

Carlos/Brazil

PS: Let me know when/if you develop a NES Harmony that mimics all kinds of MMCs ! You'll hit gold !

[abaudrand]

I've been using the harmony cartridge for the past month and it's a real pleasure for homebrowing game.

BIG THANKS FOR THIS WONDERFUL TOOL, can't wait newt upgrades.

[Sdw]

I've had mine for almost exactly on year now (bought one of the production samples, so I got in early! ) and it is indeed a wonderful piece of hardware.

If only all other retro systems had such cheap, professional and easy-to-use solutions, my homebrew development would be so much easier!

[dwane413]

I asked for the Harmony cartridge for Christmas and got to open it Sunday. The first five games I put on it were Frogger (Starpath), Lady Bug, PackRat (Fast Eddie Hack), Hack 'Em and Reindeer Rescue.

 

Some of the other games that I've played on it are Stay Frosty, Go Fish!, Bump 'N' Jump & Toyshop Trouble.

 

Thanks to everyone who made this cartridge possible. It's great. I'm very happy with it.

 

Indeed many thanks for the Harmony Cart. De Deluxe version looks very good. Nice manual and label. And I like the Harmony Cart label on the SD-cart as well.

 

This is the one thing that was disappointing. A special label on the SD card was the biggest factor in deciding I wanted the deluxe edition Harmony Cart. I don't really need a USB cable or a printed manual, but after reading the message quoted above I wanted the special SD card, but mine came with a regular Kingston label. I'm still pleased with it though.

 

Thanks to all the game programmers too. I enjoy the homebrews.

[+batari]

I asked for the Harmony cartridge for Christmas and got to open it Sunday. The first five games I put on it were Frogger (Starpath), Lady Bug, PackRat (Fast Eddie Hack), Hack 'Em and Reindeer Rescue.

 

Some of the other games that I've played on it are Stay Frosty, Go Fish!, Bump 'N' Jump & Toyshop Trouble.

 

Thanks to everyone who made this cartridge possible. It's great. I'm very happy with it.

 

Indeed many thanks for the Harmony Cart. De Deluxe version looks very good. Nice manual and label. And I like the Harmony Cart label on the SD-cart as well.

 

This is the one thing that was disappointing. A special label on the SD card was the biggest factor in deciding I wanted the deluxe edition Harmony Cart. I don't really need a USB cable or a printed manual, but after reading the message quoted above I wanted the special SD card, but mine came with a regular Kingston label. I'm still pleased with it though.

 

Thanks to all the game programmers too. I enjoy the homebrews.

The first 80 or so Deluxe editions came with a specially-labeled SD card. These were black plastic cards that I got in bulk for a good price and were well-suited for the black SD labels. After these ran out, I was unable to find bulk SD cards in black plastic, only blue. Also, the cards cost much more and the black labels didn't look good on the blue cards. Also, the SD labels were hand-cut and it proved to be a royal pain to accurately cut, remove the backing and adhere to the card. If I can find black plastic SD cards again, I will look into die-cut labels and reissue them as a value-added extra for a few dollars more. Edited December 23, 2010 by batari

[Pong]

Harmony is great, but the Nintoaster is better because it supports sliced bread!

 

Okay, no- the Atari 2600 still wins. Winter Games proved that.

[dwane413]

The first 80 or so Deluxe editions came with a specially-labeled SD card. These were black plastic cards that I got in bulk for a good price and were well-suited for the black SD labels. After these ran out, I was unable to find bulk SD cards in black plastic, only blue. Also, the cards cost much more and the black labels didn't look good on the blue cards. Also, the SD labels were hand-cut and it proved to be a royal pain to accurately cut, remove the backing and adhere to the card. If I can find black plastic SD cards again, I will look into die-cut labels and reissue them as a value-added extra for a few dollars more.

 

Thanks for explaining it and thank you so much for making these cartridges. I had wanted a Cuttle Cart 2 a few years ago, but didn't want to pay the going rate on eBay. So now I'm glad to finally have a Harmony cart.

[George35]

Once again my old Atari has taken a back seat to my modern system. While my Wii collects dust, my 7800 with Harmony cart gets played every night! Excellent product! It still amazes me that a 33 year old game system is still alive and well!

[A.J. Franzman]

 

Your Atari 7800 is a back-seat driver?

[Desfeek]

Got my Harmony cart earlier this week. I had been working on my ROM collection while I waited for it to ship, so I ripped it open and within 10 minutes I was playing every NTSC ROM I can get ahold of. Then I realized my TV supports PAL60 and nearly died with excitement. Thank you Batari, and everyone else involved with this!

[A.J. Franzman]

All NTSC TVs "support" PAL60. The colors will be different, that's all. AFAIK only homebrews exist in PAL60 format anyway, and every one of them that's available in PAL60 is also available in NTSC (which will show the correct colors on your North American console and TV). So there's no reason why you would ever need to run a PAL60 game.

 

Whether your TV works with true 50 Hz PAL (without rolling the screen) is a different story. There are a few original games that were written to use PAL's extra scanlines, and though attempts have been made to convert them to NTSC, they haven't been completely successful. Also, several homebrews and "demoscene" demos are only available in PAL.

[draw]

Thanks a lot, batari & all other folks involved in creating this marvellous cartridge.

Received my 2 pieces yesterday and got them 'armed' and ready to fire this morning after having had a nice & funny breakfast reading the comics from the "oregonian" you (incidentally? make it a habit!) wrapped them in

Been waiting quite a while to finally play "Montezuma's revenge" on my 2600 You made me a happy man!

 

All the best for 2011 everyone.

[YoYo]

Thanks so much to everyone involved in making this amazing cartridge. Being able to play just about every Atari game ever made, and having them all on one cart is just plain awesome. You guys rule!

[Cap5750]

Ordered the cart on Wednesday, it shipped on Thursday (I think) and I got it tonight when I got home from work.

 

The first thing I noticed is that their newspaper uses the same fonts and section name as ours here. HAHA!

The cart looked like it had been cleaned, yet I still couldn't help but wonder what it had been in a previous life. Most likely, it was a combat, but who knows?

 

While I've had an Atari out for quite some time, it's rarely been used. In fact, it was disconnected from the TV and unplugged (though there was a Seaquest cart in it).

 

So I wanted to try a few games with a little bit of time I had. I tried:

 

1. Space Invaders. One of my faves. I used to be able to flip this on a single man without thinking about it. I didn't think I'd do that since I haven't played the game probably since I did the marathon gaming session over 4th of July a couple of years ago. Still, I didn't expect to lose a guy in the first 10 seconds either. But I did! Yikes! I did horrible only scoring 3000 or so points.

 

2. I wanted to see one of the homebrew games that I had only seen on my laptop. I fired up one of the multicart games that came with the cart and just randomly chose one of the games. I had no clue what I was doing at first, but quickly picked up what I was "SUPPOSED" to do, but had a terrible time doing it. I think the highest I managed to get was just over 700.

 

3. Finally, there was a hack that I always wanted to see on the original hardware and that was Berzerk VE. While the original 2600 version is fun, nothing beats actually hearing "The humanoid must not escape!". Evil Otto and company kicked my butt as I managed to only get a few thousand measly points.

 

And a couple of other observations:

 

1. What's happened to my reflexes over the past couple of decades?

 

2. I was using an original Atari joystick. I don't remember these sticks ever being as uncomfortable as it felt tonight. I think I'll be grabbing one of my other favorite sticks (Gemstick or Epyx 500XJ) and see if those are a little more comfortable.

 

Anyway, thanks for the cart! It certainly is (and going to be) a lot of fun!

[+wood_jl]

Thank you, Batari!

 

I got mine today, as well (Monday). I can't believe I waited this long. It makes playing the 2600 SO EASY!!! No dragging tubs of carts out of the closet. That's enough of a chore to have limited my 2600 time - all that packing and unpacking.

 

I also (almost simultaneously) got an S-video hookup on the 2600. Along with the Harmony Cart, it reminds me of the old Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ads.....TWO GREAT TASTES THAT GO GREAT TOGETHER. Suddenly, my 2600 seems almost modern in convenience and clarity of display. I absolutely love it!

 

The Harmony device itself is a small wonder. Along with accommodating my laziness, such benefit in not cramming carts in and out of the machine. The SD card is so handy (and easy) to pop out for more ROMS, but you can fit a lot on there. The design of the menus and the display generated by the Harmony cart are fantastic. I am completely impressed with the unit, and the design is perfect. Batari is obviously a guru. The Atarimax products, the Sdrive, and now, the Harmony Cart: mind-bogglingly excellent, and the fact that such excellence is available, that plugs into an antique Atari and rocks in the 21st century - is quite mind-boggling in of itself. THANKS, BATARI!!! Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch to say that products like this change the world, but it's changed MY world!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

2. I wanted to see one of the homebrew games that I had only seen on my laptop. I fired up one of the multicart games that came with the cart and just randomly chose one of the games. I had no clue what I was doing at first, but quickly picked up what I was "SUPPOSED" to do, but had a terrible time doing it. I think the highest I managed to get was just over 700.

Which game was it?

[Cap5750]

2. I wanted to see one of the homebrew games that I had only seen on my laptop. I fired up one of the multicart games that came with the cart and just randomly chose one of the games. I had no clue what I was doing at first, but quickly picked up what I was "SUPPOSED" to do, but had a terrible time doing it. I think the highest I managed to get was just over 700.

Which game was it?

 

Niterider. I played it again just a short while ago (to figure out which game it was ) and doubled my score with 1,513.

 

You know, that's another thing I always loved about the Atari. Sure the games were simple with crude graphics and sound. But, when you have 5 minutes before leaving for work like I did this morning, you could always think..."Yeah...I could get a game of Kaboom! in before I go!".

[ScumSoft]

I just placed my order for one, and am eagerly awaiting with much glee and anticipation

I joined a little over a year ago with the idea that I would learn how to program the 2600, well.. I still don't have a very good grasp on it but I am chugging away.

[ScumSoft]

Alright! My cart showed up just a little while ago. Very impressive, thank you for such a great product!

It has already showed me a few glaring errors in my games draw routines that seemed to look fine in stella.

 

Great product! this is going to make programming oh so much more fun.

Edited February 28, 2011 by ScumSoft

[Pilsner73]

Great product, glad I bought it.