A few questions!

[Trebor]

Actually to someone like me it is not obvious at all. Why will Pitfall 2 not work on the 7800? That's a shame, because I was looking forward to playing it eventually (my goal is to get every notable/good Atari game for the 2600/7800 after a while, but if something is not compatible, what's the point?)

 

The actual Pitfall II cartridge works perfect on the 7800. It doesn't work on a Cuttle Cart 2 (CC2), because the CC2 is a multi-cart/flash cart that does not contain the sound chip present inside the Pitfall II cartridge and emulation of it is missing.

 

If/when you find a Cuttle Cart 2 for sale, it usual goes for an outrageous price as they have been discontinued for years. I think some of the more recent sales on ebay placed it in the $400 range.

 

On the upside, the Harmony cart is a 2600 multi-cart/flash cart using an SD card that works perfectly fine on the 7800. It supports Pitfall II via emulation of the DPC and does an excellent job. It is VERY reasonably priced and highly recommended; specifically and personally, the deluxe edition. Standard edition is fine too.

 

There is a Harmony 2 (H2) cart in the works, it may come out this year, which will be for the 7800 games, but will of course support the 2600 line as well.

 

Again, the number of games, from the hundreds of 2600 titles, that do not work on some 7800 systems is extremely small.

 

"Games that may not work include Robot Tank, Decathlon, Space Shuttle, Time Pilot, Kool-Aid Man and the Supercharger."

 

Just to be clear, a flash cart/multi-cart allows the entire library of games for a particular system to be loaded and selected via an on-screen menu system. It is an excellent way to preserve your collection or/and test a game before buying it to know for sure if it is something you would want in your collection.

[desiv]

The actual Pitfall II cartridge works perfect on the 7800. It doesn't work on a Cuttle Cart 2 (CC2), because the CC2 is a multi-cart/flash cart that does not contain the sound chip present inside the Pitfall II actual cartridge and emulation of it is missing.

Exactly..

That's the setup I have currently.

My 7800 with the CC2 plugged in, and the PitFall II cart sitting next to it, for when I want a game of that.

Works fine on the 7800..

 

desiv

[Bixler]

Oh, I'm sorry -- maybe I misread the post. Thank you for the clarification!

 

The more I browse this forum in my (unfortunately, extremely limited) spare time, the more I cannot wait to pick up the system from Best Electronics and a CRT from my local Goodwill or thrift store.

[gorfcadet]

Trebor mentioned Best Elect carrying a Sega/7800 cord to get both buttons to function properly on the 7800. Anyone know where I should look on the site?

[Trebor]

Trebor mentioned Best Elect carrying a Sega/7800 cord to get both buttons to function properly on the 7800. Anyone know where I should look on the site?

http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/quickguide.htm

 

[mmervine]

Hmmm....I have no problem with Pitfall II on my 7800...

[gorfcadet]

Strange, I emailed Best about the cord and he told me it doesn't support 2 button 7800 games. My question is then, what is it good for? Sega pads already work on most Atari systems as a 1 button controller. Strange.

[ApolloBoy]

It might be for the ST as Genesis controllers don't really work on an ST.

[ColecoGemini]

Pitfall 2 works just fine on the 7800. It doesn't work from the cuttle cart 2 on a 7800. But an original cart, or running the rom from a harmony cart works just fine.

 

Out of the thousands of existing original and homebrew 2600 games, there are very few that have compatibility problems with certain revisions of the 7800 motherboard. They are:

 

2600 Space Shuttle

2600 Activision Decathlon

2600 Robot Tank

2600 Starpath Supercharger

 

 

And that's a it. Atari added a timing circuit to the board because of problems with their own 2600 version of Dark Chambers. But there is a capacitor in that circuit that, if removed, makes every one of these games compatible, except 2600 dark chambers.

 

Or, if you don't want to mod your 7800, just get a Harmony cart. It makes all of the games compatible, even on the suspect 7800 motherboard revisions.

[desiv]

I thought the issue with Space Shuttle was related to the missing pause switch?

 

The 7800 has a reset button, not a switch..

That game wanted a switch..

 

Desi

[ApolloBoy]

I thought the issue with Space Shuttle was related to the missing pause switch?

Not really, Space Shuttle uses the same bankswitching scheme as Decathlon and Robot Tank do and that's why it's incompatible with some 7800s. It's very easy to fix though, it just involves clipping out a single capacitor.

[desiv]

This is what I was referring to:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/39885-interchangable-games/?p=516989

 

desiv