The Atari 2600+ is live for preorders!

[desiv]

9 hours ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Its been talked about.

Here's an interesting concept...

Instead of releasing carts, perhaps consider releasing one cart that has WiFi.
Then customers can digitally buy games via your digital game buying site (here on AA most likely).  And they can switch games (either from a built into the system ROM or from the website or ? that would send the game of choice to the cart.) 

 

That wouldn't rule out single game carts too, for those that want them.  But it would be a kind of multicart/digital fulfillment model???

 

Just one of my crazy ideas...

And just to point out, absolutely NONE of my crazy ideas has ever been put into production, for what I am assuming are VERY GOOD REASONS!! 

[zzip]

1 minute ago, desiv said:

Here's an interesting concept...

Instead of releasing carts, perhaps consider releasing one cart that has WiFi.
Then customers can digitally buy games via your digital game buying site (here on AA most likely).  And they can switch games (either from a built into the system ROM or from the website or ? that would send the game of choice to the cart.) 

 

That wouldn't rule out single game carts too, for those that want them.  But it would be a kind of multicart/digital fulfillment model???

 

Just one of my crazy ideas...

And just to point out, absolutely NONE of my crazy ideas has ever been put into production, for what I am assuming are VERY GOOD REASONS!! 

Why have a cart system at all in that case?   The new VCS is better suited for digital rom distribution.

[desiv]

27 minutes ago, zzip said:

Why have a cart system at all in that case?   The new VCS is better suited for digital rom distribution.

One: Note my last line:

Quote

And just to point out, absolutely NONE of my crazy ideas has ever been put into production, for what I am assuming are VERY GOOD REASONS!!  

And two:  In case someone wants the 2600+ instead of the VCS...  People have differing tastes... 

Edited October 12, 2023 by desiv

[+jgkspsx]

On 10/11/2023 at 12:26 PM, Ben from Plaion said:

This is a good point. Pardon my ignorance but does Stella have decent crt filters we can activate?

More important than scanlines is the phosphor setting - without it a number of games are unplayable.

[Dr Karnov]

Nice video with some footage of the 2600+

[Dionoid]

6 hours ago, Dr Karnov said:

Nice video with some footage of the 2600+

...and good to see Amoeba Jump's title screen playing on the right there! 😉

[+littaum]

I got a chance to play with the 2600+ as well at PRGE.  Here are some basic thoughts:

 

- Build quality of the system overall is quite good, especially when you compared it to the original 2600/7800 setup in the PRGE free play area or even my own childhood 2600.  The 2600 style joysticks had a nice solid feel to them, especially compared to some of the older original 2600 joysticks that have gotten a bit mushy with age. Power switch and color/black white are a bit firm (not too firm that you need both hands to switch it, nor does the console itself move when you switch it, I might be a bit too finicky in my description), but I think that is a personal preference (and certainly better than it being too loose).  If you don't have a custom-modded 2600 or 7800 hooked up to an original Commodore 1702 CRT monitor, it won't be a bad alternative for playing most of your original library.  

- My own main question coming in was positively answered - if you have a 7800 controller (in my case, a Retrogameboyz 7800 game pad) it will work with both buttons.  In some games (like One-on-One or Motorpsycho) it would be needed, since those games either use both buttons or the single button it uses is not the same as the 2600 button (which I guess is .. GCC's fault for not anticipating this 40 years ago? )  The one game I know by heart on the 7800 for "feel" was One-on-One, and the game felt "right" to me - Dr. J can pass by Larry Bird and do a satisfying dunk.

- Commando 7800 plays, but it was too noisy in the convention to hear if there were any funky effects concerning Pokey (and I mainly remember Ballblazer for the Pokey sound, which I did not bring, my back was already aching carrying around my big box of cartridges around the convention).  I'm guessing however it behaves on the emulator would also behave the same here.

- There were few surprises when it comes to 2600/7800 compatibility.   Ben Jones from Atari and I sat down and went through my box of games (I brought along games that were originally listed as either failed or unknown) and he was able to update the list .. and several other individuals had brought games to test as well.  I'm sure an updated list will be provided.  I think the only "surprise" was that M-network baseball was not expected to work but it did.  

- Since it does use cart dumping capabilities, specialty carts that don't fit the existing supported bank switching schemes (Concerto, Harmony Encore, PlusCart, Pitfall II, Mountain King) did not load, and the Starpath Supercharger had been known to not work either.  Realsports Boxing still has the strange display due to the bad bankswitching reading (which was already known).

- Keypad support was a no-go, so Star Raiders or Basic Programming is currently out.  

 

My lone pic is of it running Edtris since it was something of a novelty: 

 

 

[Dr Karnov]

31 minutes ago, littaum said:

I got a chance to play with the 2600+ as well at PRGE.  Here are some basic thoughts:

 

- Build quality of the system overall is quite good, especially when you compared it to the original 2600/7800 setup in the PRGE free play area or even my own childhood 2600.  The 2600 style joysticks had a nice solid feel to them, especially compared to some of the older original 2600 joysticks that have gotten a bit mushy with age. Power switch and color/black white are a bit firm (not too firm that you need both hands to switch it, nor does the console itself move when you switch it, I might be a bit too finicky in my description), but I think that is a personal preference (and certainly better than it being too loose).  If you don't have a custom-modded 2600 or 7800 hooked up to an original Commodore 1702 CRT monitor, it won't be a bad alternative for playing most of your original library.  

- My own main question coming in was positively answered - if you have a 7800 controller (in my case, a Retrogameboyz 7800 game pad) it will work with both buttons.  In some games (like One-on-One or Motorpsycho) it would be needed, since those games either use both buttons or the single button it uses is not the same as the 2600 button (which I guess is .. GCC's fault for not anticipating this 40 years ago? )  The one game I know by heart on the 7800 for "feel" was One-on-One, and the game felt "right" to me - Dr. J can pass by Larry Bird and do a satisfying dunk.

- Commando 7800 plays, but it was too noisy in the convention to hear if there were any funky effects concerning Pokey (and I mainly remember Ballblazer for the Pokey sound, which I did not bring, my back was already aching carrying around my big box of cartridges around the convention).  I'm guessing however it behaves on the emulator would also behave the same here.

- There were few surprises when it comes to 2600/7800 compatibility.   Ben Jones from Atari and I sat down and went through my box of games (I brought along games that were originally listed as either failed or unknown) and he was able to update the list .. and several other individuals had brought games to test as well.  I'm sure an updated list will be provided.  I think the only "surprise" was that M-network baseball was not expected to work but it did.  

- Since it does use cart dumping capabilities, specialty carts that don't fit the existing supported bank switching schemes (Concerto, Harmony Encore, PlusCart, Pitfall II, Mountain King) did not load, and the Starpath Supercharger had been known to not work either.  Realsports Boxing still has the strange display due to the bad bankswitching reading (which was already known).

- Keypad support was a no-go, so Star Raiders or Basic Programming is currently out.  

 

My lone pic is of it running Edtris since it was something of a novelty: 

 

 

Wow! Thanks for the detailed write up.

 

That pretty much all sounds good to me, especially since I bought Commando 7800 the other day!

[m.o.terra kaesi]

certainly has been answered but can't find it in the history:

 

Aspect ratio 4:3 is possible to be set? Easily?

 

Next review will be interesting to see the new paddles in action. Thanks so far!

[Albert]

12 minutes ago, m.o.terra kaesi said:

Aspect ratio 4:3 is possible to be set? Easily?

Yes, there's a switch on the back that lets you choose between 16:9 and 4:3. Personally, I will use 4:3. 
 

  ..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

5 minutes ago, Albert said:

Yes, there's a switch on the back that lets you choose between 16:9 and 4:3. Personally, I will use 4:3. 

Probably the most superfluous switch on a console EVER!  

[LatchKeyKid]

20 minutes ago, Albert said:

Yes, there's a switch on the back that lets you choose between 16:9 and 4:3. Personally, I will use 4:3. 
 

  ..Al

That is the aspect ratio of a Retro Gamer. Not as stretched or smoothed as 16:9; an elegant aspect ratio from a more civilized age. 

[+MrZarniwoop]

2 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

That is the aspect ratio of a Retro Gamer. Not as stretched or smoothed as 16:9; an elegant aspect ratio from a more civilized age. 

Until some clever homebrewer makes a 2600/7800 game intended for 16:9 aspect ratio! How about a side scrolling shooter?

[Jstick]

42 minutes ago, Albert said:

Yes, there's a switch on the back that lets you choose between 16:9 and 4:3. Personally, I will use 4:3. 
 

  ..Al

Question: Is 4:3 output as a 16:9 signal with black bars filling the space on the side, or is an actual 4:3 signal the tv would have to scale?

[Albert]

29 minutes ago, Jstick said:

Question: Is 4:3 output as a 16:9 signal with black bars filling the space on the side, or is an actual 4:3 signal the tv would have to scale?

It's a full 16:9 signal as far as I'm aware. I doubt it would work otherwise. 
 

  ..Al

[Bakasama]

Here’s the guy from the previous video testing the paddle controllers and a paddle game.

 

 

[Ben from Plaion]

12 hours ago, littaum said:

I got a chance to play with the 2600+ as well at PRGE.  Here are some basic thoughts:

 

- Build quality of the system overall is quite good, especially when you compared it to the original 2600/7800 setup in the PRGE free play area or even my own childhood 2600.  The 2600 style joysticks had a nice solid feel to them, especially compared to some of the older original 2600 joysticks that have gotten a bit mushy with age. Power switch and color/black white are a bit firm (not too firm that you need both hands to switch it, nor does the console itself move when you switch it, I might be a bit too finicky in my description), but I think that is a personal preference (and certainly better than it being too loose).  If you don't have a custom-modded 2600 or 7800 hooked up to an original Commodore 1702 CRT monitor, it won't be a bad alternative for playing most of your original library.  

- My own main question coming in was positively answered - if you have a 7800 controller (in my case, a Retrogameboyz 7800 game pad) it will work with both buttons.  In some games (like One-on-One or Motorpsycho) it would be needed, since those games either use both buttons or the single button it uses is not the same as the 2600 button (which I guess is .. GCC's fault for not anticipating this 40 years ago? )  The one game I know by heart on the 7800 for "feel" was One-on-One, and the game felt "right" to me - Dr. J can pass by Larry Bird and do a satisfying dunk.

- Commando 7800 plays, but it was too noisy in the convention to hear if there were any funky effects concerning Pokey (and I mainly remember Ballblazer for the Pokey sound, which I did not bring, my back was already aching carrying around my big box of cartridges around the convention).  I'm guessing however it behaves on the emulator would also behave the same here.

- There were few surprises when it comes to 2600/7800 compatibility.   Ben Jones from Atari and I sat down and went through my box of games (I brought along games that were originally listed as either failed or unknown) and he was able to update the list .. and several other individuals had brought games to test as well.  I'm sure an updated list will be provided.  I think the only "surprise" was that M-network baseball was not expected to work but it did.  

- Since it does use cart dumping capabilities, specialty carts that don't fit the existing supported bank switching schemes (Concerto, Harmony Encore, PlusCart, Pitfall II, Mountain King) did not load, and the Starpath Supercharger had been known to not work either.  Realsports Boxing still has the strange display due to the bad bankswitching reading (which was already known).

- Keypad support was a no-go, so Star Raiders or Basic Programming is currently out.  

 

My lone pic is of it running Edtris since it was something of a novelty: 

 

 

I have to say that you bringing a big box of games that were untested on the compatibility list to the Atari PGRE stand was a thoughtful and kind gesture that was greatly appreciated.

 

It was fun checking through the carts with you and getting the percentage of games that work higher.

 

Still work to be done on games like m network and some others but I go home from PGRE happy and cautiously optimistic about the 2600+.

 

Thanks again.

[Ben from Plaion]

40 minutes ago, Bakasama said:

Here’s the guy from the previous video testing the paddle controllers and a paddle game.

 

 

This guy was cool, but sucks that one of the paddles was misbehaving, we replaced it shortly after his video with another set and I'll investigate what's actually happened with the dodgy one.

Edited October 16, 2023 by Ben from Plaion

[Ben from Plaion]

9 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

Until some clever homebrewer makes a 2600/7800 game intended for 16:9 aspect ratio! How about a side scrolling shooter?

This!

[+MrZarniwoop]

8 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

This guy was cool, but sucks that one of the paddles was misbehaving, we replaced it shortly after his video with another set and I'll investigate what's actually happened with the dodgy one.

I tried Kaboom this morning at PRGE with a 2600+ and the paddle was dodgy. I hooked the new paddle up to a real 2600 across the aisle and it was still a bit dodgy.

[Jake67]

49 minutes ago, Bakasama said:

Here’s the guy from the previous video testing the paddle controllers and a paddle game.

 

 

Feeling my body cringe when he pulled out the cartridge without turning it off first. Among the fond memories I have Atari game playing with my mom when I was kid, the other strong memory was to always turn off the Atari before swapping cartridges. 

 

The jittery controller was a bit disappointing, although hopefully explained with a bad paddle. If nothing else, I’d simply like the 2600+ to be able to play paddle games without a problem. 

[Ben from Plaion]

3 minutes ago, MrZarniwoop said:

I tried Kaboom this morning at PRGE with a 2600+ and the paddle was dodgy. I hooked the new paddle up to a real 2600 across the aisle and it was still a bit dodgy.

Yeah a guy came up to me today and said the paddle was dodgy so I got the factory test cart out and that particular paddle was jittering around the scale whilst the other paddle was solid. Sucks but these things happen

[protomank]

9 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

Until some clever homebrewer makes a 2600/7800 game intended for 16:9 aspect ratio! How about a side scrolling shooter?

 

It would be cool to make a game that already predicts in the graphics, that those will be stretched to 16:9 format. Like the games for 3rd and 4rt generation do not display very well in square pixels, needing a conversion to 4:3 or 8:7 format, as it were made for wider pixels. An interesting prospect for devs

[Ben from Plaion]

7 minutes ago, Jake67 said:

Feeling my body cringe when he pulled out the cartridge without turning it off first. Among the fond memories I have Atari game playing with my mom when I was kid, the other strong memory was to always turn off the Atari before swapping cartridges. 

 

The jittery controller was a bit disappointing, although hopefully explained with a bad paddle. If nothing else, I’d simply like the 2600+ to be able to play paddle games without a problem. 

Ha yeah, people like really react when I just was pulling the cart out with the power on.

 

Thing is with the P1 paddle I did check the stability of both paddles many times throughout PGRE and it was always fine, but then I think some kids where a bit rough with them this morning. Something to note and investigate anyway. 

[Jake67]

40 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Ha yeah, people like really react when I just was pulling the cart out with the power on.

 

Thing is with the P1 paddle I did check the stability of both paddles many times throughout PGRE and it was always fine, but then I think some kids where a bit rough with them this morning. Something to note and investigate anyway. 

“Damn kids! Get off my lawn Atari 2600+!!"

 

I’d be terrible as a host at an event like this. I’d be hovering over kids and ready to swipe the controller/paddle from their hands at the slightest hint of mistreatment... totally forgetting how I used to abuse them when I was a kid.