The Atari 2600+ is live for preorders!

[+HatNJ]

Thanks for heads up just pre ordered

[adamchevy]

I went to the Want to Buy section and posted a want add listing for a UAV modded 7800.  I then saw on Atari's website that there new 2600+ console supports the 7800.  Thats awesome! I didn't know that until today.  Pre-Ordered!

 

Without looking through all of the various forums and discussions, does anyone know if the 2600+ supports the Concerto or Harmony Encore?  Also, has anyone tested Trak Ball support?  I really love playing Centipede with a Trak ball for each player.  

 

Since AL maybe has some pull with Atari now, I would love if they would release a remastered version of the CX80 and release it with all of the wonderful TrakBall modded games on a single cart.  I'll bet it would sell amazingly well for say $69.99.  While we are dreaming maybe it could be Wireless??!!  In that case you could use 8bitDo adapters and charge $99.99.

[nopaybob]

On 10/17/2023 at 11:35 AM, Dr Karnov said:

Some more 2600+ hype (starting at 3:22)

 

 

At 3:38 He switched the 2600+ on and then inserted the cartridge, what the heck?

[Dr Karnov]

10 minutes ago, nopaybob said:

At 3:38 He switched the 2600+ on and then inserted the cartridge, what the heck?

The previous video had the fella hotswapping carts without turning the machine off. Something about how the cartridge dumper works I guess.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

When you switch on the console, it boots the OS and then waits until a cart is dumped. The dump is then provided to the Stella emulator which starts the game. If the cart is unplugged, the emulation gets stopped and the console waits for the next dump.

[+littaum]

37 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

The previous video had the fella hotswapping carts without turning the machine off. Something about how the cartridge dumper works I guess.

 

They recommended doing this when switching cartridges since that is a design feature - if you power off, insert cartridge, then power on, there is extra time involved booting the system up overall. 

 

 

[Absalon]

If you are used to the switch-on-and-instantly-start-the-game of the real 2600 than this booting screen feels like a loong time to wait 😅

[Ben from Plaion]

14 hours ago, Video said:

Just a heads up, the paddle controller is back up for preorder today on amazon. I ordered a second one, still no minus game variant though.

 

Anybody want a paddle, get it now.

 

* not sure why preorders should have limited numbers, but anyhow*

We're probably going to bring to market a solus paddle set after the launch stocks of the 4in1 pack are sold through. 

 

Pre-orders are capped at certain retailers for physical hardware and accessories as manufacture and delivery times are minimum 3 months.

[Dr Karnov]

The 4 in 1 has been continuously available on Amazon UK, along with everything else due for release on 17th November.

 

I wonder if they will announce anything else for pre-order before the 2600+ comes out.

 

They've hinted at a 7800 / 2 button controller and more carts but I've not seen anything concrete yet

[Dalton]

14 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

When you switch on the console, it boots the OS and then waits until a cart is dumped. The dump is then provided to the Stella emulator which starts the game. If the cart is unplugged, the emulation gets stopped and the console waits for the next dump.

How the carts with internal 4024 counter works with Atari 2600+ (32 in 1, 128 in 1 and so on)? Does the switch really cuts off the voltage for the cart and the counter switches to the next game as it should?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

4 hours ago, Dalton said:

How the carts with internal 4024 counter works with Atari 2600+ (32 in 1, 128 in 1 and so on)? Does the switch really cuts off the voltage for the cart and the counter switches to the next game as it should?

I have no 2600+ yet, but the power switch only makes sense, if it really powers off the console. And then the multi carts should react, no?

[+remowilliams]

And so, at some point in the not too distant future most still available references to the Atari 2600 will state that it should be left on while changing cartridges...  😄

[scelbi8h]

19 hours ago, littaum said:

 

They recommended doing this when switching cartridges since that is a design feature - if you power off, insert cartridge, then power on, there is extra time involved booting the system up overall. 

 

 

I'm afraid if we get used to this feature, it would become more probable to destroy an old 2600 by accident... I know myself, and I'm pretty sure it would happen to me. 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, remowilliams said:

And so, at some point in the not too distant future most still available references to the Atari 2600 will state that it should be left on while changing cartridges...  😄

14 minutes ago, scelbi8h said:

I'm afraid if we get used to this feature, it would become more probable to destroy an old 2600 by accident... I know myself, and I'm pretty sure it would happen to me. 

Exactly, and then only 2600+ will remain. Which means, the references will become correct.

[+littaum]

17 minutes ago, scelbi8h said:

I'm afraid if we get used to this feature, it would become more probable to destroy an old 2600 by accident... I know myself, and I'm pretty sure it would happen to me. 

Might have to put down a reminder...

 

[Ben from Plaion]

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I have no 2600+ yet, but the power switch only makes sense, if it really powers off the console. And then the multi carts should react, no?

I checked the 32 in 1 previously and it works like the original machine. Power off and Power on to get to the next game.

[Ben from Plaion]

29 minutes ago, scelbi8h said:

I'm afraid if we get used to this feature, it would become more probable to destroy an old 2600 by accident... I know myself, and I'm pretty sure it would happen to me. 

I did get used it when testing lots of carts. First thing I did when a cart failed in the 2600+ was to try it on an original 2600 and muscle memory did make my yank a cart out of the 2600 - nothing happened but I know its a bad thing to do. 

Edited October 20, 2023 by Ben from Plaion

[Albert]

21 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Exactly, and then only 2600+ will remain. Which means, the references will become correct.

That's not going to happen. There's still an enormous number of 2600 systems out there.

 

 ..Al

[Dalton]

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I have no 2600+ yet, but the power switch only makes sense, if it really powers off the console. And then the multi carts should react, no?

I hope so  But it may just turn off the display or disable emulation.

 

EDIT: I've just noticed Ben's answer:

  

31 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I checked the 32 in 1 previously and it works like the original machine. Power off and Power on to get to the next game.

Thank you for letting know!

Edited October 20, 2023 by Dalton
Don't want to create two consecutive posts

[+Stephen]

Hot swapping a cart in the 2600 (original) will not cause any damage.  Back in the day, there were cart dumping devices for the 8-bit Atari computers that relied on being able to insert a cart to a running machine.  If someone can find me evidence of any machine being destroyed by doing such, by all means present it.  But in the 46 years I've been using 2600 and the 8-bit computers, I have never damaged one, heard of anyone else damaging one, etc.

[ToddUGA]

Wasn't planning on buying a 2600+ until my son fell in love with Pitfall! at the Museum of Technology @ Middle Georgia State University in Macon, GA.  Being autistic he took to the one button joystick like a champ and was way more comfortable with it than with modern gamepads. After we left all he could talk about was the 2600 and Pitfall!. So I pre-ordered a 2600+ and an extra joystick on Amazon and now I'm looking for a good, clean loose cart of Pitfall! to complete his Christmas present (check the wanted section if anybody can help me out in this regard). I'm looking forward to eventually grabbing a nice little collection of some of my old favorites and enjoying them with him.

Edited October 20, 2023 by ToddUGA

[protomank]

1 hour ago, ToddUGA said:

Wasn't planning on buying a 2600+ until my son fell in love with Pitfall! at the Museum of Technology @ Middle Georgia State University in Macon, GA.  Being autistic he took to the one button joystick like a champ and was way more comfortable with it than with modern gamepads. After we left all he could talk about was the 2600 and Pitfall!. So I pre-ordered a 2600+ and an extra joystick on Amazon and now I'm looking for a good, clean loose cart of Pitfall! to complete his Christmas present (check the wanted section if anybody can help me out in this regard). I'm looking forward to eventually grabbing a nice little collection of some of my old favorites and enjoying them with him.

Wow, this is amazing ❤️ 

I do hope that, in the future, the dumper can be improved somehow to get Pitfall 2 working also. Your kid will have a blas with it, as the checkpoint system (basically infinite lifes) and music (well that might be bad for him, of course) makes it a very fun experience, I still enjoy do many dacades after first playing it. But before that, he'll have an amazing xmas

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 hours ago, ToddUGA said:

Wasn't planning on buying a 2600+ until my son fell in love with Pitfall! at the Museum of Technology @ Middle Georgia State University in Macon, GA.  Being autistic he took to the one button joystick like a champ and was way more comfortable with it than with modern gamepads. After we left all he could talk about was the 2600 and Pitfall!. So I pre-ordered a 2600+ and an extra joystick on Amazon and now I'm looking for a good, clean loose cart of Pitfall! to complete his Christmas present (check the wanted section if anybody can help me out in this regard). I'm looking forward to eventually grabbing a nice little collection of some of my old favorites and enjoying them with him.

Very cool, thanks for sharing the story.

 

When he has exhausted the original game and still wants more Pitfall!, you might have a look at my hack:

 

[Aloan]

I am all excited to the 2600 comeback! Finally (even though the way it did, not using the real chips, not a 100% ressurection). Just like the Atari 2600 has 7 elements that make up its games, I have 7 reasons to love it:
1- Nostalgia
2- Desire to keep the grand daddy of consoles alive (Atari 2600)
3- I honestly love the LEGO like blocky graphics beginning with the playfield ones which are the biggest! to me it looks like LEGO pieces that you build with
4- I love the 128 color palette they chose for the system!

5- love the simplistic iconic look of all the art assets on the screen... because they give space to your imagination a lot of times.

6- It is a lot easier to draw graphics for the system from a Dev perspective since you´re working with its popular 160x192 display res.

7- Easier to develop sound and music for since you only have 2 channels to worry about.

Extra: I don´t even have to use a programming language to make me a working Atari-esque game! (I don´t know how to code) I´m an audio visual artist, so I use the non coding Clickteam Fusion 2.5+ instead to make games as can be seen here: https://aloan.neocities.org/atari_graphics_simplified

Edited October 21, 2023 by Aloan

[Video]

Someone mentioned more stuff to prelaunch, while not specific to 2600+, there was a game that popped up when I looked for 2600 stuff.  Berzerk+ (sounds like berserk ve from a couple decades back) and circus convoy, which looked interesting, so when I got paddles the other day I also ordered those. Circus says its already on the way, looks dang cool, but also really complicated.