The Atari 2600+ is live for preorders!

[Blinky]

11 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

It looks like FFF8 and FFF9 are tested before

The problem is that the hotspot FFF8 isn't triggered for the test.  If the FFF8 hotspot was triggered for a scan it would  have detected a FFF6 hotspot access.

 

The dumper probably assumes the first bank it scans was triggered by a FFF8 hotspot and that it doesn't need to trigger and scan it again. The mistake with that assumption is that in case of a 16K rom the first bank selected was triggered by FFF6 hotspot.
 

 

 

 

 

[Electric-Dreams]

On 9/28/2023 at 5:09 PM, donjn said:

Sound great, why don't you start and create the thread? hehe

Done. 

 

 

I don't have much free time, like many of us, but it's worth a little effort. I'll try to add more as soon as I can.

 

Your turn now.
 

[82-T/A]

Man, I am psyched... I cannot wait to get my new 2600+. I have two huge tubberware bins of my 2600 games, just waiting to see the light of day again.

[Dr Karnov]

4 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

Man, I am psyched... I cannot wait to get my new 2600+. I have two huge tubberware bins of my 2600 games, just waiting to see the light of day again.

I'm psyched too.

 

I had 14 x 2600 carts but since pre-ordering the 2600+ I've bought about 30 more!

[PowerDubs]

It would appear Amazons #'s have reset- 

 

On Sept 24th-   Atari 2600+ sales  'in past month' - U.S. 2k+ | CA 600+ | UK 700+ | DE 1k+ | FR 200+  

 

Today- U.S. 1k+ | CA 500+ | UK 400+ |DE 500+ | FR 100+  

[Dionoid]

24 minutes ago, PowerDubs said:

It would appear Amazons #'s have reset- 

 

On Sept 24th-   Atari 2600+ sales  'in past month' - U.S. 2k+ | CA 600+ | UK 700+ | DE 1k+ | FR 200+  

 

Today- U.S. 1k+ | CA 500+ | UK 400+ |DE 500+ | FR 100+  

I guess that means that there was a sales spike right after the 2600+ became available for preorder on Amazon, which was just over a month ago. So the numbers make sense, as ‘in the past month’ is a sliding window.

Edited September 30, 2023 by Dionoid

[BIGHMW]

On 9/28/2023 at 7:32 PM, jgkspsx said:

Better fix your 2600 Jr.

I already have that planned. This Wednesday she goes out to get the needed repairs

[Dionoid]

On 9/22/2023 at 11:29 AM, Ben from Plaion said:

- Will the new cartridges ("Berzerk Enhanced" and "Mr. Run and Jump") sold in Europe be PAL50, PAL60 or NTSC? All 4 carts arriving with the Atari 2600+ are NTSC format.

As an Atari 2600 PAL cartridge collector from Europe, I’m sorry to hear that the games arriving with the 2600+ are NTSC only.

Is Atari considering PAL versions for future 2600+ games which are released in Europe, so these games can also be played on original PAL Atari 2600 consoles?

Edited October 1, 2023 by Dionoid

[Ben from Plaion]

20 hours ago, Dionoid said:

As an Atari 2600 PAL cartridge collector from Europe, I’m sorry to hear that the games arriving with the 2600+ are NTSC only.

Is Atari considering PAL versions for future 2600+ games which are released in Europe, so these games can also be played on original PAL Atari 2600 consoles?

Yes I realise this. I'm not sure how to proceed. Needs some thought.

 

One thing I could do is in the next manufacture run to make a few dozen PAL versions of the standalone games (MRaJ and Berzerk) for anyone like yourself and offer to swap your NSTC version - I'll make sure to add a P sticker on the back of the cartridge.

[Zoyous]

17 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I'll make sure to add a P sticker on the back of the cartridge.

That's really kind, but of course... Flash forward to Youtube a couple of decades from now... a video with a thumbnail of a Youtuber making an outrageously excited (and slightly desperate) expression holding up a cartridge with a "P" sticker on the back. "Check your Berzerk cartridge - it may be worth hundreds of dollars if it has this P sticker! Only a few dozen exist!"

[Dionoid]

2 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

One thing I could do is in the next manufacture run to make a few dozen PAL versions of the standalone games (MRaJ and Berzerk) for anyone like yourself and offer to swap your NSTC version - I'll make sure to add a P sticker on the back of the cartridge.

PAL versions would be really nice. Adding a "P" sticker on the back of the cartridge would be the finishing touch 

 

I assume 'Mr. Run and Jump' was created as NTSC game, so probably no PAL rom exists yet. To be able to play the (future?) PAL version of this game both on the Atari 2600+ and an original PAL Atari 2600, I think it needs to be converted to PAL 50Hz (not 60Hz) so the Stella emulator inside the Atari 2600+ automatically recognizes the dumped rom as PAL game and uses the correct PAL palette.

 

The "quick and dirty" way to convert a game from NTSC to PAL50 requires these steps:

• Change colors from the NTSC palette to match the PAL palette as close as possible (PAL has less colors, but in general this is no problem). As the PAL palette is darker than the NTSC palette, most NTSC colors match best to a somewhat brighter PAL color.
• Make the total #scanlines go from 262(NTSC) to 312 (PAL), which usually means to add 25 scanlines during vertical blank and 25 during overscan.

 

When no other code-changes are done, this "quick and dirty" converted PAL version will run 17% slower than the NTSC version, have larger top/bottom borders and slightly compressed graphics. But still very playable IMO.

 

[edit: Instead of a "P" sticker on the back, adding a "P" to the serial number on the front label will also do. I already Photoshopped it in below 🙂]

Edited October 2, 2023 by Dionoid

[Giles N]

@Ben from Plaion

 

Any updates on how the compatibility with 7800-cartridges, - the ‘untested’, prototypes and homebrews -, works, or will work (or not)?

 
Or any approximations as to how the work proceeds (will it eventually get around to a very high % rate of compatibility through software updates and refinements, or will some things just have to be for another run, or another retro-unit entirely)?

Edited October 2, 2023 by Giles N

[MarcinJ]

20 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Yes I realise this. I'm not sure how to proceed. Needs some thought.

 

One thing I could do is in the next manufacture run to make a few dozen PAL versions of the standalone games (MRaJ and Berzerk) for anyone like yourself and offer to swap your NSTC version - I'll make sure to add a P sticker on the back of the cartridge.

This would be great! I was surprised a bit that Amazon in Germany is selling cartridges without warning that they are NTSC. 
By the way, judging by your long weekend, I guess that the developers of the Atari 2600+ are based in Germany, oder?

[desiv]

48 minutes ago, MarcinJ said:

I was surprised a bit that Amazon in Germany is selling cartridges without warning that they are NTSC. 

To be fair, the target platform is the 2600+ with it's HDMI, so the PAL/NTSC thing is less of a concern for a lot of their target users...

But I agree, a note that these are NTSC versions would be good for those who will notice the difference and/or want to play them on PAL original hardware.
 

Reminds me (for some reason) of when I went to London and toured the Globe theater.  Saw a Henry V DVD in the gift shop and bought it.
It wasn't until the flight home that I even thought about NTSC/PAL...
But apparently at the Globe, they know their audience better than that and figured the people who wouldn't think to ask/check probably want NTSC. 
(I do wonder if they had both on the shelves and I just happened to pick the right one???)

[Dionoid]

2 hours ago, desiv said:

To be fair, the target platform is the 2600+ with it's HDMI, so the PAL/NTSC thing is less of a concern for a lot of their target users...

But I agree, a note that these are NTSC versions would be good for those who will notice the difference and/or want to play them on PAL original hardware.

But has it been made clear enough that the 2600+ is the target platform for these games?

 

Looking at both 'Mr Run and Jump' and 'Berzerk Enhanced Edition' on Amazon.de, I see that "(Atari 2600+ cartridge)" is appended to the product title. So that would indicate that the 2600+ is the target platform.

However, the box and cartridge labels clearly show "Atari 2600 Video Game Cartridge".

 

So it shouldn't matter if you play these games on an 2600+ or an original PAL 2600 console, right?

...then again, the original Atari 2600 console was discontinued in 1992, so I don't think I've got a strong case here 

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by Dionoid
changed my post as I found out about the "Atari 2600 Video Game Cartridge" on the boxes of the new 2600+ games

[Blinky]

23 hours ago, Dionoid said:

PAL versions would be really nice.

I wonder if we can reprogram the cartridges flash chips using a dumper/linker.

2 hours ago, Dionoid said:

However, the box and cartridge labels clearly show "Atari 2600 Video Game Cartridge"

 

Didn't the old games have the same issue? but I agree it would be nice if there would be some indication on the package like "For best experience play on (any)  Atari 2600+ or Atari 2600 NTSC console"

Edited October 3, 2023 by Blinky

[Dionoid]

20 minutes ago, Blinky said:

...

Didn't the old games have the same issue?

...

The old Atari 2600 games which were sold in Europe were all PAL format. Except for Atari's (red label) Mouse Trap, where they shipped the NTSC version of the game. But by that time the 2600 was end of life, so no-one cared about quality control

[desiv]

13 minutes ago, Dionoid said:

But by that time the 2600 was end of life, so no-one cared about quality control

To be fair, the 2600 is still end of life... 

[Ben from Plaion]

1 hour ago, desiv said:

To be fair, the 2600 is still end of life... 

Ouch!

[Dionoid]

1 hour ago, desiv said:

To be fair, the 2600 is still end of life... 

I'd like to think it's still on life support

[protomank]

As brazilian, I would say PAL-M is the best of the two worlds. Because our electric system was mostly based upon the american one, we use 60Hz, but we adopted PAL because we follow most of europen standards. So, the right speed with no slowdowns due to bad, or no conversion, and better colors. That mix is whty we mostly do not care about devices being PAL at all here, most TV systems sold locally since the 90s, supported both colors standards, and even 60 or 50Hz.

In some cases we even remove the PAL conversion circuit from our consoles, because that adds noise to the image. But is very nice that Atari 2600 gets a lot of conversion to PAL60 to get more accurate colors after all those years

[Ben from Plaion]

On 10/2/2023 at 7:13 PM, Zoyous said:

That's really kind, but of course... Flash forward to Youtube a couple of decades from now... a video with a thumbnail of a Youtuber making an outrageously excited (and slightly desperate) expression holding up a cartridge with a "P" sticker on the back. "Check your Berzerk cartridge - it may be worth hundreds of dollars if it has this P sticker! Only a few dozen exist!"

Lol If only.

[Ben from Plaion]

On 10/2/2023 at 8:23 PM, Dionoid said:

PAL versions would be really nice. Adding a "P" sticker on the back of the cartridge would be the finishing touch 

 

I assume 'Mr. Run and Jump' was created as NTSC game, so probably no PAL rom exists yet. To be able to play the (future?) PAL version of this game both on the Atari 2600+ and an original PAL Atari 2600, I think it needs to be converted to PAL 50Hz (not 60Hz) so the Stella emulator inside the Atari 2600+ automatically recognizes the dumped rom as PAL game and uses the correct PAL palette.

 

The "quick and dirty" way to convert a game from NTSC to PAL50 requires these steps:

• Change colors from the NTSC palette to match the PAL palette as close as possible (PAL has less colors, but in general this is no problem). As the PAL palette is darker than the NTSC palette, most NTSC colors match best to a somewhat brighter PAL color.
• Make the total #scanlines go from 262(NTSC) to 312 (PAL), which usually means to add 25 scanlines during vertical blank and 25 during overscan.

 

When no other code-changes are done, this "quick and dirty" converted PAL version will run 17% slower than the NTSC version, have larger top/bottom borders and slightly compressed graphics. But still very playable IMO.

 

[edit: Instead of a "P" sticker on the back, adding a "P" to the serial number on the front label will also do. I already Photoshopped it in below 🙂]

Thanks for the information

 

I checked the standalone game files I have.

 

All 4 cartridges (10in1, 4in1, Berzerk, MRaJ) had all NTSC game files.

 

Berzerk Enhanced did also got PAL50 and PAL60 files. I'm probably going to start a manufacture run of more carts soon and will ask for a few of these two formats to be made. If anyone here on Atari Age wants to swap out a NTSC Berzerk Enhanced for either of these 2 PAL formats I can sort.

 

Excellent suggestion on the Cart Label with the P on the end of the CX number. Only thing is print runs for boxes and stickers is usually 1000 units and clearly I wont need that many. So we might just have to deal with the white on black P sticker!

[Ben from Plaion]

On 10/3/2023 at 12:25 AM, Giles N said:

@Ben from Plaion

 

Any updates on how the compatibility with 7800-cartridges, - the ‘untested’, prototypes and homebrews -, works, or will work (or not)?

 
Or any approximations as to how the work proceeds (will it eventually get around to a very high % rate of compatibility through software updates and refinements, or will some things just have to be for another run, or another retro-unit entirely)?

No further tests on 7800 carts as of yet.

 

My understanding is that all software, dumper and mainboard can be updated via a software update. I certainly do not want to change the 2600+ hardware at all unless something critical comes up, I'm not a big fan of hardware revisions. I'd love to keep manufacturing the same unit for years, lets see. Software of course is kind of fine to have revisions.

[Dionoid]

27 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Berzerk Enhanced did also got PAL50 and PAL60 files. I'm probably going to start a manufacture run of more carts soon and will ask for a few of these two formats to be made. If anyone here on Atari Age wants to swap out a NTSC Berzerk Enhanced for either of these 2 PAL formats I can sort.

That sounds excellent! You probably want to go for PAL50, because PAL60 will not display the correct colors on the Atari 2600+. The reason is that the Stella emulator (by default) will autodetect PAL60 as NTSC.

What do you have in mind for the swapping process? Send the NTSC cartridge to Atari (UK? USA?) and get a PAL version back? I think shipping costs will be reasonable when only sending the loose cartridge.