Legends Flashback FIRMWARE for adding games to SD card

[Flojomojo]

Here's a custom firmware for the AtGames Legends Flashback you might enjoy.

 

 

BurgerTime, Mappy, Street Fighter, Dig Dug, and their friends not enough for you? Here's the answer -- update your machine so it can load other files from the SD card, without losing the onboard games.

 

1. Back up your settings or save games first if you care about them.

2. Unzip this file and put it at the root of your SD card to perform the update. It will unpack to a 4.3MB disk image file named "arcade_update.img" arcade_update.img.zip

3. Power on, follow the onscreen prompts. Leave the machine on while updating (you only need to run it once), turn it off when done.

4. On your SD card, remove the update file and make a folder called GAME in the root. Put your files in there. No spaces in filenames.

5. GAME ON

 

this message has been brought to you by the firmware fairy

[toiletunes]

Thanks!

[Flojomojo]

Sega Genesis works for sure. There may be ways to get other games working too, since there are NES and arcade games built into this unit.

[atarifan88]

What kind of file/game format does this take? Maybe a better question is what kind of emulator is it (Genesis, SNES, Mame)?

[JeremyR]

Guess I'll be buying one of these tomorrow, then.

[Centrox]

Thanks for the firmware. I had my legends flashback packed up and was about to return it to Walmart. I updated and threw a few random roms on an old 128meg sd card. Here are my results. I'll do some more tests later today and keep y'all updated.

 

2600 roms with a .bin extension show up on list but fail to run.

Genesis/megadrive works. I had the .md extension.

.sfc & .gba did not show up on the list.

 

Please share your findings and I'll do the same with what I find out.

[Bartman72]

I tried NES, pce, gb, & gbc for consoles. For arcade, I uploaded Pacman.as a zip file. Unfortunately, none of these showed up on the screen. But good news is the classic boomerang Genesis controller works fine, and you can use the rewind feature with it, even if it's a bit slower.

 

I threw about 4-5 random Genesis games at it and they worked fine. So I look at this as a really nice Genesis clone with the ability to sideload roms and the 50 games are a cool bonus.

[Centrox]

I changed all my extensions to .bin except for arcade. They all show up but only Genesis works.

 

Here are the systems I tried that failed: NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, COLECO, GAME GEAR, SMS, PCE,32X. I get blank screens and eventually a pop up that says the game isn't working properly.

 

So like Bartman72 said, it's just a Genesis clone. Maybe we will be seeing a total firmware overhaul like the rs97 got. I was really hoping to run some other arcade roms on this device.

Edited November 3, 2018 by Centrox

[TPR]

I put together this review for the console including the new firmware update. My results pretty much match everyone else's. Sega Genesis works... sort of... everything else... NOPE!

[Bill Loguidice]

I'll ask about why the other formats aren't working. I'm pretty sure it only accepts .bins, but it should run the other platforms as well (there's not just a Genesis emulator on there, obviously).

[AtariLeaf]

Nes classic does what atgames shit don't

[TPR]

I'll ask about why the other formats aren't working. I'm pretty sure it only accepts .bins, but it should run the other platforms as well (there's not just a Genesis emulator on there, obviously).

 

I went back after I made that video and tried several different systems with different file name extensions. The only file name extensions that would even be recognizable to show up in the SD Card menu was either .bin or .md. And only the Sega Genesis files with .bin or .md would work. I tried NES, Famicom Disc System, SNES, Atari 2600, and MAME games and I couldn't get anything to load. All I would get is this screen:

 

But Sega Genesis worked fine:

[AtariLeaf]

Why was the sound so god awful horrible in Aladdin in TPR's video? I don't get how nonsense like that gets past "quality control" and yes i put that in quotes for a reason because i dont believe atgames knows what that means

[Bill Loguidice]

Why was the sound so god awful horrible in Aladdin in TPR's video? I don't get how nonsense like that gets past "quality control" and yes i put that in quotes for a reason because i dont believe atgames knows what that means

 

Aladdin is not one of the included games, so it hasn't been tested. And yes, we get it, you're angry about "atgames" stuff.

[bmadgames]

I'll ask about why the other formats aren't working. I'm pretty sure it only accepts .bins, but it should run the other platforms as well (there's not just a Genesis emulator on there, obviously).

I'm curious to know if the other platforms can get working. This would definitely be a must buy for me if the firmware gets updated.

[AtariLeaf]

Aladdin is not one of the included games, so it hasn't been tested. And yes, we get it, you're angry about "atgames" stuff.

 

Not angry. Perplexed, dumbfounded, baffled, mystified. Atgames has been doing this for how many years? It's almost like they took a step backwards this year. Still nothing on those mysterious 9 series paddles yet? Edited November 4, 2018 by AtariLeaf

[Bill Loguidice]

Not angry. Perplexed, dumbfounded, baffled, mystified. Atgames has been doing this for how many years? It's almost like they took a step backwards this year. Still nothing on those mysterious 9 series paddles yet?

 

I don't get why you feel the need to complain about this stuff in a firmware thread. There are plenty of other places on AtariAge to discuss your feelings about this stuff.

[AtariLeaf]

I don't get why you feel the need to complain about this stuff in a firmware thread. There are plenty of other places on AtariAge to discuss your feelings about this stuff.

TPR posted his video here. And it's not a need, it's a hobby.

[toiletunes]

I like the Legends Flashback. HDMI, with 50 games, no filler (Meatloaf Rotation etc), SD slot showing potential, compatible with Genesis controllers, and under $50.

 

Other opinions will vary, and that's ok.

[Swami]

 

I went back after I made that video and tried several different systems with different file name extensions. The only file name extensions that would even be recognizable to show up in the SD Card menu was either .bin or .md. And only the Sega Genesis files with .bin or .md would work. I tried NES, Famicom Disc System, SNES, Atari 2600, and MAME games and I couldn't get anything to load. All I would get is this screen:

 

 

You probably did this, but just to check, did you try loading MAME games as a zip file, like they would come from a typical download site? I'm also wondering if it operates like a Raspberry Pi RetroPie OS, where the NES and MAME files may need a separate folder with some specific name. I don't suppose you can see how the file system is organized on the Flashback memory, where the included games are stored. Seems odd, but maybe the Genesis roms are in a default folder, so they are the only ones that work without a specific folder location. If this is the case, it is probably something Bill would have to find out for us.

[phoenixdownita]

Unless it's just a directory naming thing (aka "AtGames unofficial jailbroken fw the missing manual") it seems like AtGames messed up its own JB FW release ....

.... I like flojo but I seriously seriously doubt he is the author of the JB FW, I do believe he's been chosen as the conduit for the unoffical release of it here on AA (not sure about anywhere else the PR dept reaches).

I mean .... attention to details ... oh yes you can tell me "it's not something you should rely on to drive your purchase decision", except Bill made it clear many times that it will be "supported by other means"

I'm sure as soon as the unlocked firmware is available it will be posted here on a new thread in AtariAge, just like the superb Atari Flashback Portable FAQ and game collection thread.

Officially, the SD card slots in the new products are just there for firmware updates, but obviously they can/will have other uses.

On the Atgames website the description says "SD Card Slot for Downloadable Games." That sounds to me like it should work with roms right out of the box with no firmware updates necessary.

https://www.atgames.us/products/atari-flashback-9

It won't, but the firmware will become available.

Any official Legends Flashback firmware updates would likely hit by mid-year 2019.

Perhaps Bill's use of the word "official" suggests that "unofficial" firmware is possible.

[TPR]

You probably did this, but just to check, did you try loading MAME games as a zip file, like they would come from a typical download site?

 

I did, yes.

[JeremyR]

What I wonder is that why the sd card support on this (and the FB9) are done unofficially and requiring a new firmware, while it's out of the box on the portable flashback?

[Bill Loguidice]

What I wonder is that why the sd card support on this (and the FB9) are done unofficially and requiring a new firmware, while it's out of the box on the portable flashback?

 

You would think the same rules apply across products, but, unfortunately, they don't. As long as whatever additional functionality is possible gets out there, that's a win for the community that values such options.

 

I do hope more custom firmwares get developed as well. There are opportunities there to change up the menus, add additional functionality, etc. I know just from this board that people are working on that very thing, so hopefully that goes smoothly for them.

[rbn]

I don't have a Flashback Legends unit (yet), and I only took a very cursory look at the FW image...but it looks like maybe there's libretro/retroarch in there, with cores for Genesis, Mame2003 and fba...

[Core]
genesis_plus_gx_no_sprite_limit=disabled
genesis_plus_gx_audio_filter=low-pass
genesis_plus_gx_lowpass_range=60
genesis_plus_gx_volume=100
mame2003-plus_skip_disclaimer=enabled
mame2003-plus_skip_warnings=enabled
mame2003-plus_sample_rate=48000
mame2003-plus_external_hiscore=enabled
fba-cpu-speed-adjust=100
fba-aspect=DAR
fba-diagnostic-input=None
fba-hiscores=enabled
fba-samplerate=48000
fba-sample-interpolation=4-point 3rd order
fba-fm-interpolation=4-point 3rd order

Has anyone tried putting a mame2003 or fba ROM image for one of the built-in arcade games on an SD card, using the same name as the built-in? rallyx.zip, for example...curious to know if the Legends Flashback can "recognise" a ROM image on an SD card that it already "knows" internally.

This looks an awful lot like parameter.txt...

MACHINE_MODEL:rk30sdk

MACHINE_ID:007

MANUFACTURER:RK30SDK

MAGIC: 0x5041524B

ATAG: 0x60000800

MACHINE: 3066

CHECK_MASK: 0x80

KERNEL_IMG: 0x60008000

#RECOVER_KEY: 1,1,0,20,0

CMDLINE:console=ttyS2,115200 androidboot.selinux=disabled earlyprintk init=/init initrd=0x62000000,0x00800000 root=/dev/rknand_rootfs rw rootwait mtdparts=rk29xxnand:0x00000800@0x00000800(misc),0x00004000@0x00001000(recovery),0x00000800@0x00005000(boot),0x00000800@0x00005800(resource),0x00002800@0x00006000(kernel),0x00007000@0x00008800(rootfs),0x0001E000@0x0000F800(rom),0x00005000@0x0002D800(emulator),-@0x00032800(data)

-rbn