Andromeda Stardust Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 ^^I know FAT formatted drives have a limit to how many files you can stuff in the root directory. Found that out the hard way with an old 750Mb Zip drive. My downloads kept failing and I thought the disk was broke. Nope, too much stuff in root! BTW, this was bitd (2005) when a 750Mb Zip disk was $25 and flash drives were still $1 per megabyte. I was the only I knew who could see that a portable USB ZIP750 drive plus a disk was cheaper than a 128Mb thumb stick and held six times as much junk. Too bad it was soon to be obsoleted. Ten years later however the cost of flash storage has dropped 3 orders of magnitude to less than a buck per gigabyte! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevnaguy Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 So far Bed Bath and Beyond is the best place to get them 39.99 plus you can take another 20 percent off using their coupon. Mine had plenty in stock, nowhere else in town had them. I want that flashback sign now 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 My discount code from Bed Bath & Beyond finally appeared. Looking forward to putting this through its paces when it arrives. If anyone else does their mobile signup for a 20% discount that can be applied to online purchases, expect to wait the full 24 hours before it arrives. They say it could take up to 24 hours, but judging by my timing, everyone probably has to wait a full day before they're sent it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 I want that flashback sign now "At your fingertips?" That big rubber joystick seems designed for your whole hand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmbe Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Looks like GameStop won't have them until 12/31/16. http://www.gamestop.com/electronics/atari-flashback-portable-ultimate-classic-portable-player/133612 I'm bummed because I have $50 in gift cards to use on it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 I got one this morn at a BBB in Dallas on the tollway. They had a small supply right up front. Looked like around a dozen. I didn't read this thread carefully enough to figure out the coupon though.I'll read more about the compatibility as I go, but I didn't really buy it for that. Just fun to have the first retail Atari 2600 portable!I also found these for $20 each (sorry about the flip will fix if I get bored. They are 2 10' replica arcade cabinets with LCD style versions of Pac and SI) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Some time ago Activision requested AtariAge remove their ROMs from the database. The cart scans, screenshots, and other info are still there however. Don't bother with trying to fix stuff that ain't broken. Efforts to tweak ROMs to be compatible with known broken emulatiors could be better spent towards more constructive endeavors. My two cents... Yes on 2nd thought, ROM's should never be modified. Not that it is sacrilege or anything like that. But it is the emulator's responsibility to run dumped code exactly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 So the Flashback Portable is getting out there and I thought I would share all my favs in one file. These come from various places. Some were suggestions we came up with here, others were roms or hacks I hunted down. If a game did not work I tried older versions to see if they worked better and so on. Not a complete collection, just some of the cooler ones I've found to play on the Flashback Portable. So in this collection you will find: The Dig Dug arcade hack. The Omega Race Joystick Hacked version Pac-Man 8k V2 (that is unbelievable! Loved it!) BunnyBerzerk (which is one of the few hacks with flawless firing I've found so far). The Mr. Roboto hack, which has the firing flaw but I work with it since Mr. Roboto is played. Some demos (Doctor and Ascend) The Wizard of Wor arcade hack (which is awesome with only a few screen flaws). Varying other hacks for Pac-Man, plus some vintage roms. But a lot of game hacks. The best version of Flappybird (V0) was included. Rough but some gameplay there. Cybearg helped created the tweaked version of Fix It Felix which is not done but nicely improved. He made it where Felix is in the window, where the pie is more visible, and color contrasts of character to background. There is a strange space displacement going on in the emulation which is why the bricks don't line up yet. But what has been tweaked is already fun and looking much better! If you know of other arcade versions we could add to this, or want to share a favorite collection of your own, I'd certainly like to try it. In the meantime, my fun collection for you all for the holidays. Till of course I share a later collection. This is nice. I renamed the ROMs to work with the AFBP and dumped everything into the big file at the start of the Compatibility List thread. I crack myself up. The "big file" is 2.2MB in size. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordRayken Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Hi Guys. I finally found one last unit tonight in a Bed Bath And Beyond. Over the past week or so, Ive been in a bunch of stores. They're always sold out. So I got the only unit I could find. The display and sound on mine seem weird. The display has an annoying polarized effect when looking dead on. If I hold it slightly to the left or right the screen looks good. But looking straight on, it hurts my eyes. The sound is good and loud but makes a humming noise an other noises, like ther's a short or something. Sometimes it clicks and clacks like there's a hard drive in there. Are they all like this, or did I get a beat one? Other than that, it seems great. The controls and buttons are precise. It has a quality feel to it. I read some complaints about the sound being cheap or tinny. Aside from the hum and clicks. To me, it sounds as good as my NDS. The sound certainly isn't as good as your NDS, and the screen is in fact very low quality and cheap. It's kind of hard to properly game on it for long if you look at it dead on, unfortunately. I don't think they considered this. It's what you get with a 40 dollar product, I assume. The humming doesn't sound right, though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Picked up a Flashback Portable at Bed Bath and Beyond tonight. Like others here got the system for $32 after the 20% coupon. Now I can retire my early release model with the Taito games. Hope to buy others as they get cheaper and try some hardware hacks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Picked up a Flashback Portable at Bed Bath and Beyond tonight. Like others here got the system for $32 after the 20% coupon. Now I can retire my early release model with the Taito games. Hope to buy others as they get cheaper and try some hardware hacks. Could you imagine finding something like this in 1982? When $32 would be like $12.70 in 1982 money? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toiletunes Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I got worried about the production delays and went the ePay route. It arrived today. Happy day. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I got one this morn at a BBB in Dallas on the tollway. They had a small supply right up front. Looked like around a dozen. I didn't read this thread carefully enough to figure out the coupon though. I'll read more about the compatibility as I go, but I didn't really buy it for that. Just fun to have the first retail Atari 2600 portable! I also found these for $20 each WP_20161201_001.jpg (sorry about the flip will fix if I get bored. They are 2 10' replica arcade cabinets with LCD style versions of Pac and SI) What brand name are those Pac and Space Invaders LCDs? They look fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Yes on 2nd thought, ROM's should never be modified. Not that it is sacrilege or anything like that. But it is the emulator's responsibility to run dumped code exactly. Word on the street is that the Flashbacks aren't emulators. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Never seen anyone suggest that the Atari line from AtGames wasn't utilizing emulation. You're thinking of their Sega Genesis systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Never seen anyone suggest that the Atari line from AtGames wasn't utilizing emulation. You're thinking of their Sega Genesis systems. That's right. The Atari stuff uses an in-house emulator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Word on the street is that the Flashbacks aren't emulators. What are they if they're not emulation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Word on the street is that the Flashbacks aren't emulators. The word on the street is incorrect. Only the Flashback 2 (from over 10 years ago) was an Atari-on-a-chip. Everything else with the Flashback name is emulation. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I'm willing to bet that the portable's emulator can be updated. Not unlike a DSLR. Put a specifically named firmware file on the SD card, and then work through a button combination or hidden menu. Alternatively, it could be done like older Garmin GPS units, connect to USB/PC and run a program. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 You're thinking of their Sega Genesis systems. Probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I'm willing to bet that the portable's emulator can be updated. Not unlike a DSLR. Put a specifically named firmware file on the SD card, and then work through a button combination or hidden menu. Alternatively, it could be done like older Garmin GPS units, connect to USB/PC and run a program.Those things are engineered to be reflashed. Not so with this thing, unless you wanted to get tricky with it like the NES Classic hackers who inserted code in a way beyond my abilities. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 I'm willing to bet that the portable's emulator can be updated. Not unlike a DSLR. Put a specifically named firmware file on the SD card, and then work through a button combination or hidden menu. Alternatively, it could be done like older Garmin GPS units, connect to USB/PC and run a program. Not in this case. There's no ability to overwrite anything via SD card or any other standard method. It's locked down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Not in this case. There's no ability to overwrite anything via SD card or any other standard method. It's locked down. Which means AtGames probably doesn't plan on providing updates to existing customers. Kinda sucks because I know of at least one of my games I made doesn't display correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxglove9 Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 What brand name are those Pac and Space Invaders LCDs? They look fun. They're from "The Bridge Direct" http://www.thebridgedirect.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillLoguidice Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Which means AtGames probably doesn't plan on providing updates to existing customers. Kinda sucks because I know of at least one of my games I made doesn't display correctly. This is correct. Unfortunately, as with almost all plug and plays, the only way to get updates is to buy next year's model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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