Retron77 Compatibility List

[gorfcadet]

I grew up on Atari, but SEGA was my high school years and SEGA made a darn nice pad. The Genesis 6 and Saturn v2 pads are my all time favorites on any system.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Now that the dumper code has been released, it has become clear why so many carts fail. It only supports Atari bankswitching for 8K (F8) and 16K (F6) carts*. So if you look at this list, only 2K or 4K (column SZ) games plus 8K and 16K games using F8 and F6 bankswitching (column BS) will work with the dumper. And some of the F8 and F6 carts will even fail dumping randomly.

 

All games supported by Stella 3.9.3 and using joystick or paddles should work from SD cart.

 

*That means: No carts larger than 4K from Parker (E0), Tigervision (3F), M-Network (E7), lots of CBS (FA) carts and Activision carts using their own bankswitching (FE). Also no 32K (Fatal Run, F4) and 64K (MegaBoy, F0) carts. And no Supercharger (AR).

 

Added my review of the whole thing here.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Thomas Jentzsch

[SIO2]

 

Added my review of the whole thing here.

Nice review. Not sure if I got an odd unit or what but mine does not remember the 4:3 setting. I have to push the button on back of the console every time.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Nice review. Not sure if I got an odd unit or what but mine does not remember the 4:3 setting. I have to push the button on back of the console every time.

That seems to be a common issue for some people. Maybe your Stella settings is already slightly corrupted.

[+stephena]

This issue will hopefully be fixed with a second image I post today. Keep an eye on the main Retron77 thread for more info.

[+Nathan Strum]

Why so few NTSC results in the list? From what I've read in the other threads people are having compatibility issues all over the place. Perhaps this thread needs to be mentioned a bit more prominently?

[iesposta]

Why so few NTSC results in the list? From what I've read in the other threads people are having compatibility issues all over the place. Perhaps this thread needs to be mentioned a bit more prominently?

I was going to ask this exact same thing!

Canada, although not PAL, and others complaining they couldn’t have this shipped to them.

 

Then most of the feedback results are with PAL games.

I was wondering why as well.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Except for physical problems, we know all results now. Only F6 and F8 work.

[+Nathan Strum]

But it would be nice to have it listed like in the spreadsheet, without having to dig through an old, unsorted text file which doesn't include homebrews.

 

Plus there's still the question of some 4K Activision games not working.

[+evg2000]

But it would be nice to have it listed like in the spreadsheet, without having to dig through an old, unsorted text file which doesn't include homebrews.

 

Plus there's still the question of some 4K Activision games not working.

Do you mean of compatible / incompatible games? Check first post for link to google doc. Or maybe I misunderstood what you meant

[+Nathan Strum]

Do you mean of compatible / incompatible games? Check first post for link to google doc. Or maybe I misunderstood what you meant

 

 

I'm aware of the first post. But the spreadsheet in that post is nearly all PAL. My point is that of the 168 entries, only 28 are NTSC. None are homebrews.

 

I don't have a RetroN 77, otherwise I'd test and add my own collection to it.

[mr_me]

Here's a list of cartridges from the following site that have bankswitching other than type f6 or f8.
http://kevtris.org/files/sizes.txt

 

Bump 'n Jump MT7045
Burgertime MT4518
Communist Mutants RA-4001
Decathlon AZ-030
Dragonstomper RA-4400
Escape from the Mindmaster RA-4200
Espial 7-012
Fatal Run CX26162
Fireball RA-4300
Frogger RA-4105
Frogger ][: Threeedeep PB5590
Gyruss PB5080
James Bond 007 PB5110
Killer Satellites RA-4103
Miner 2049'er 7-008
Miner 2049'er Volume ][ 7-011
Montezuma's Revenge PB5760
MOTU: Power of He-Man MT4319
Mountain King 4L-2738
Mr. Do's Castle PB5820
Omega Race 4L-2737
Party Mix RA-4302
Phasor Patrol RA-4000
Polaris 7-007
Popeye PB5370
Q*Bert's Qubes PB5550
Rabbit Transit RA-4104
River Patrol 7-004
Springer 7-006
Suicide Mission RA-4002
Super Cobra PB5320
Survival Island RA-4401
SW: Arcade Game PB5540
SW: Death Star Battle PB5060
Sweat! RA-4???
Sword of Saros RA-4201
Tooth Protectors ????
Tunnel Runner 4L-2520
Tutankham PB5340

Edited July 14, 2018 by mr_me

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The Activision games also exist as F6/F8 versions, so you have to try if your cart works or not.

[Andromeda Stardust]

The Activision games also exist as F6/F8 versions, so you have to try if your cart works or not.

So, some copies work and others don't? Wouldn't that require extensive rewrites to the game to change the bank-switching scheme?

[alex_79]

Why so few NTSC results in the list? From what I've read in the other threads people are having compatibility issues all over the place. Perhaps this thread needs to be mentioned a bit more prominently?

If the compatibility problems are due to the dumper not supporting the bankswitching scheme, there shouldn't be any difference between PAL and NTSC version of a game (In 99.9% of cases both formats of a given game will use the same scheme). If a PAL game on that list doesn't work, don't expect the NTSC counterpart to work either. And viceversa.

 

Edited July 15, 2018 by alex_79

[Thomas Jentzsch]

So, some copies work and others don't? Wouldn't that require extensive rewrites to the game to change the bank-switching scheme?

After checking AtariMania, it looks like I remembered wrong. All Decathlon and Robot Tank versions from Activision use FE. But there exists an F6 Decathlon version from HES. That must have been converted.

Edited July 15, 2018 by Thomas Jentzsch

[alex_79]

NTSC Space Shuttle exists in both FE and F8 version. PAL and SECAM known dumps are FE.

Edited July 15, 2018 by alex_79

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Thanks, that was the one I had in mind.

[Zaltran]

Here is a list of NTSC that I have tested that worked with the update that stephena released. Unfortunately I can't seem to figure out how to attach a spread sheet to this post so here they are:

 

Air Sea Battle, Asteroids, Atlantis, Barnstorming, Basketball, Bezerk, Bowling, Boxing, Breakout, Carnival, Casino, Centipede, Chopper Command, Circus Atari, Commando Raid, Combat, Cosmic Ark, Crackpots, Deadly Duck, Defender, Demon Attack, Demons to Diamonds, Dig Dug, Dodge 'em, Dolphin, Donkey Kong, Dragonfire, Eggomania, Encounter at L5, E.T., Fantastic Voyage, Fishing Derby, Football, Freeway, Frogger, Frogs and Flies, Front Line, Galaxian, Golf, Grand Prix, Haunted House, Home Run, Human, Cannonball, Ice Hockey, Journey Escape, Joust, Jungle Hunt, Kaboom, Kangaroo, Keystone Kapers, Kool-Aid Man, Krull, Laser Blast, Lock-n-Chase, Mario Bros., M.A.S.H., Math Gran Prix, Maze Craze, MegaForce, Megamania, Midnight Magic, Millipede, Missle Command, Moon Patrol, Mouse Trap, Ms. Pac-man, Name this Game (octopus), Night Driver, Othello, Outlaw, Pac-man, Pele's Soccer, Phoenix, Pitfall, Pole Position, Porkys, Q-Bert, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Racquetball, Realsports Football, Realsports Soccer, Realsports Tennis, Realsports Vollyball, River Raid, Seaquest, Skeet Shoot, Sky Divers, Sky Jinks, Slot Racers, Sneak'n Peek, Solar Fox, Space Attack, Space Canyon, Space Cavern, Space Invaders, Space War, Spider Fighter, Stampede, Starmaster, Star Fox, Star Raiders, Star Voyager, Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, Street Racer, Super Breakout, Swordquest fireworld, Swordquest Earthworld, Tank Brigade, Tank-Plus (combat) 27 telegames, Target Fun 27 telegames, Tennis, Towering Inferno, Trick Shot, Turmoil, VanGuard, Venture, Video Olympics, Video Pinball, Yar's Revenge, Warlords, Word Zapper

 

The following did not work:

 

decathalon, infiltrate, gunslinger (bad cart?), realsport boxing, robot tank.

[+stephena]

The first and last are FE bankswitching, which will not work currently with the dumper. The others are standard Atari schemes (4K, F6, etc), and should work.

[+Muddyfunster]

ill update the google doc in the next day or so. Also if you want access to the sheet to edit, please ask, happy to oblige!

[Zaltran]

Here is a list of NTSC that I have tested that worked with the update that stephena released. Unfortunately I can't seem to figure out how to attach a spread sheet to this post so here they are:

 

here is an excel file now that know how to attach...

r77 test carts.zip

Edited July 16, 2018 by Zaltran

[tremoloman2006]

Love this thread! If I want to add to the list, should I just post the results here?

[alex_79]

By looking at the comments and release notes included in the source code by Hyperkin (I don't have the skills to actually understand the code), it seems to me that the presence of a cartridge in the slot is detected by watching the state of input pin A7 on the WT51F104S MCU, which is expected to be LOW if a cart is plugged and HIGH otherwise. This makes me believe that the detection relies to the fact that pin 24 (Shield GND on the official Atari service manual) is connected to pin 12 (GND) inside the cart.
In that case, the problem is that there are a few carts that don't have those two pins connected, most notably the Harmony/Melody but also some Activision carts and probably others.

Someone who is able to inspect the code (and maybe also trace the board) is required to confirm this, but in the meantime I'm curious to know if anyone tried the Harmony in single image mode (with simple 2k and 4k games) and if it's detected or not.

[SIO2]

@alex_79

 

Someone said that they keep a cart handy and insert then remove it to get back to the menu without turning the Retron 77 off. I wanted to try this with the new image that Andrew (Hyperkin) released. It works and, it had a side benefit for me. My system was not remembering the 4:3 setting and since the new Hyperkin image didn't include Stephena's fixes it seemed I would need to press the 4:3 switch each time. What I discovered is that when hot swapping or in this case just inserting and removing a cart causes that 4:3 setting to be saved.

 

Since the dumper is rather limited I think I will be using more roms than carts so, I was thinking about building a cart with just a momentary push button (reset) switch on it that I could leave in the cart slot. Should that switch just short between A7 (pin 1?) and pin 12 then?

Edited July 19, 2018 by SIO2