The Atari 2600+ is live for preorders!

[xesf]

Mine is still pending in Amazon UK with targeting end of next week.

With Black Friday coming and volume of deliveries been so high, I doubt it will come as expected.

[+karri]

I burned a bunch of 48k homebrew games from last years homebrew awards collection. None of them worked while they all work on a real 7800 PAL unit. This also included games written by me that are only using TIA, no bankswitching or tricks. This was tested by a friend of mine who already got the 2600+. Mine will arrive on Thursday.

 

If you just write a "Hello World!" 32k game on the 7800 that uses Tia only and is signed. Should it work on the basic firmware 2600+?

 

As a reference game I added a 7800 version of Galaga on the cart and it worked on the 2600+. So it is not a question of cart connector problems.

[DEANJIMMY]

12 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Many thanks and please let us know the results.

 

The (possible) 7800 PAL fail  list gets longer:

 

Commando (confirmed by others, too)

Choplifter

Food Fight (reported by others, need to test)

Joust (confirmed by others, too)

Karateka (reported by others, need to test)

Xevious

 

PAL 2600 games usually run fine but reports about wrong colors increase, so I gonna test Space Invaders, Enduro, Pole Position, Battlezone next.

Ms. Pac Man 7800 PAL has been reported to fail and Xevious confirmed to fail by others, too.

Ballblazer PAL has been reported to be unplayable as it runs to slow.

 

I will test Ballblazer and Ms Pac Man tomorrow on my own.

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Dbug]

Can we generalize by saying that apparently both PAL and NTSC versions of Atari 2600 games run fine on the 2600+, but that for the 7800 games, it's only the NTSC games that runs?

I've no idea how the 7800 architecture differs from the 2600, are there some fundamental differences in the hardware and software that could explain PAL software failing? Was there any kind of protections on the cartridges of the 7800 which for example would fail to run with different timings?

[guidedlight]

Here's my review...

 

Positives

• Console design is nice
• Plays original cartridges
• CX40+ Joystick is the breath of fresh air. Love it.

 

Negatives

• PAL cartridge compatibility is terrible. Games stutter as every 5th frame is duplicated due to the move to 50Hz to 60Hz. Colours are bad. I can't play Dark Chambers because the "Reaper" enemy is the same colour as the background. It's f**ked.
• Audio doesn't work at all on my Sony HX800 (sometimes it works for a moment then stops again). The audio works well on my newer Sony X85J.
• Controller cables are too short.
• The included cartridge is NTSC and isn't compatible with my Atari 2600 Jr.
• This console is quite expensive for what it is.

 

Surprises

• Prior to launch I read that multicarts don't work. But I have no problem playing Sports Action Pak (i.e. 4-in-1 cartridge), and Hot Action Pak.

 

--

Honestly, I'm considering returning it. The console is too underdeveloped when it comes to PAL compatibility, and seems like an afterthought by Atari. I can't play Dark Chambers, and Jr. Pacman stutters badly. Gamers outside of the US got a raw deal here. Audio doesn't work on a Sony HX800.

Overall 5 / 10

 

--

My suggestion is to stop trying to convert PAL cartridges to NTSC, there is a lot of complexity here and PAL is the superior format so there will always be quality loss when going from PAL to NTSC. When using PAL cartridges the Atari 2600+ should output 50Hz PAL signals over HDMI as god intended.

[DEANJIMMY]

17 minutes ago, Dbug said:

Can we generalize by saying that apparently both PAL and NTSC versions of Atari 2600 games run fine on the 2600+, but that for the 7800 games, it's only the NTSC games that runs?

I've no idea how the 7800 architecture differs from the 2600, are there some fundamental differences in the hardware and software that could explain PAL software failing? Was there any kind of protections on the cartridges of the 7800 which for example would fail to run with different timings?

Ballblazer (very slow)

Commando (loads but resets)

Choplifter (black screen)

Food Fight

Karateka

Ms. Pac Man (crash screen)

Joust (black screen)

Xevious (crash screen)

 

That is the PAL failure list for 7800 so far.

Usually only the beloved games were tested by players yet, more to be found.

 

@Ben from Plaion

Currently you are working to get 7800 homebrews running.

Please put your focus on fixing the PAL carts, as this is more disappointing than the homebrews for the buyers as they built up their library or hoped their old goodies will run😞

[Dr Karnov]

1 hour ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Ballblazer (very slow)

Commando (loads but resets)

Choplifter (black screen)

Food Fight

Karateka

Ms. Pac Man (crash screen)

Joust (black screen)

Xevious (crash screen)

 

That is the PAL failure list for 7800 so far.

Usually only the beloved games were tested by players yet, more to be found.

 

@Ben from Plaion

Currently you are working to get 7800 homebrews running.

Please put your focus on fixing the PAL carts, as this is more disappointing than the homebrews for the buyers as they built up their library or hoped their old goodies will run😞

I have all of those games , PAL versions. I'm getting my 2600+ later today so I'll post on here if I have the same results 

[DEANJIMMY]

45 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

I have all of those games , PAL versions. I'm getting my 2600+ later today so I'll post on here if I have the same results 

One on One PAL is unplayable too...

Similar to Ballblazer... slow, glitches...

[Dionoid]

4 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

Ballblazer (very slow)

Commando (loads but resets)

Choplifter (black screen)

Food Fight

Karateka

Ms. Pac Man (crash screen)

Joust (black screen)

Xevious (crash screen)

 

That is the PAL failure list for 7800 so far.

Usually only the beloved games were tested by players yet, more to be found.

I have the complete set of 49 Atari 7800 PAL games, and I just tested them all to see if they loaded on the 2600+ and if they were playable.

I found the same 8 games which would not load at all or are unplayable:

• Ballblazer (very slow; unplayable because of screen flickering)
• Choplifter! (black screen)
• Commando (loads, but can't pass title screen)
• Food Fight (black screen)
• Joust (black screen)
• Karateka (black screen)
• Ms. Pac Man (crash screen)
• Xevious (crash screen)

In addition to that:

• Galaga (playable, but bottom quarter of screen not visible)
• Kung-Fu Master (playable, but background graphics messed up)
• Title Match Pro Wresting (playable, but sound issues)
• Tower Toppler (playable, but tower graphics differ from original)

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Dionoid

[DEANJIMMY]

1 hour ago, Dionoid said:

I have the complete set of 49 Atari 7800 PAL games, and I just tested them all to see if they loaded on the 2600+ and if they were playable.

I found the same 8 games which would not load at all or are unplayable:

• Ballblazer (very slow; unplayable because of screen flickering)
• Choplifter! (black screen)
• Commando (loads, but can't pass title screen)
• Food Fight (black screen)
• Joust (black screen)
• Karateka (black screen)
• Ms. Pac Man (crash screen)
• Xevious (crash screen)

In addition to that:

• Galaga (playable, but bottom quarter of screen not visible)
• Kung-Fu Master (playable, but background graphics messed up)
• Title Match Pro Wresting (playable, but sound issues)
• Tower Toppler (playable, but tower graphics differ from original)

 

One on One works?

It was similar to Ballblazer in my case

[Blinky]

On 11/18/2023 at 3:44 PM, Blinky said:

I'm confident this can be fixed with a firmware update of the dumper/io board MCU

After looking at the 2600+ main board. I have to correct myself. It looks like all the switches (non 5V logic) are fed into the rockchip main CPU through the two headers.  So it can be fixed by (Stella) firmware update.

[vagabondartist]

22 hours ago, Jake67 said:

This was a slightly disappointing e-mail to get from Atari about my pre-order:

 

Thank you for purchasing an Atari 2600+. We are eager to get your order to you and will do so as soon as possible. Our fulfillment partner is shipping orders in waves as product arrives at their distribution center. Your order is planned to ship in the first week of December.

 

I suppose I wish their “fulfillment partner” was Amazon. 😁

I got the same email. It’s weird that some people that ordered later got their systems first. I’m not complaining, I just think it’s weird.

Anyway, I’m stoked to be able to play this in a couple weeks!

[Dionoid]

3 hours ago, DEANJIMMY said:

One on One works?

It was similar to Ballblazer in my case

Yes, One on One has no problems on my machine. Did you test with a 7800 “europad” controller?

Also, the lightgun games started, but I couldn’t test them as lightgun isn’t supported on the 2600+

[Dbug]

13 minutes ago, Dionoid said:

Also, the lightgun games started, but I couldn’t test them as lightgun isn’t supported on the 2600+

Which makes sense for a device that has HDMI output, the lightgun technology used back in the days worked only on CRT screens and involved computing the time it takes to detect a bright pulse on the screen from the moment the full screen refresh started.
How many such games are there for the Atari 2600 and 7800?

[Dionoid]

15 minutes ago, Dbug said:

Which makes sense for a device that has HDMI output, the lightgun technology used back in the days worked only on CRT screens and involved computing the time it takes to detect a bright pulse on the screen from the moment the full screen refresh started.
How many such games are there for the Atari 2600 and 7800?

AFAIK, there are 5 Atari 7800 PAL games that support the lightgun: 

• Alien Brigade (supports both controller and lightgun)
• Barnyard Blaster (lightgun only)
• Crossbow  (supports both controller and lightgun)
• Meltdown (lightgun only)
• Sentinel (lightgun only)

For the Atari 2600, only Sentinel supports the lightgun, but that game wasn't released as PAL.

[Chemical Burrito]

It has arrived!

 

Amazon didn't do half bad.  I didn't preorder the 2600 when it was first announced (waited a bit since I had no idea when I'd be able to pull my collection from storage) and I still ended up getting the system two days after "release".  It even arrived in the morning, although I didn't get a chance to test the system until this evening.

 

So, first impressions:

• Look and feel:  I knew this from the videos, but actually getting my hands on the system confirms that the 2600+ absolutely nails the look and feel of the console itself.  Especially the switches on the front.  I've seen some video reviews complaining about switch stiffness ... well, that's how an actual new 2600 was.  Perfect.  The stick feels genuine as well.  Truth be told, though, i never really liked the original 2600 stick so I've been using my 7800 pad most of the time as well as a Hyperkin Trooper.  At least until I can find which bin the 500XJ and the Wico bat handle are in.
• Compatibility:  So far I haven't had anything outright fail to work (I did not try stuff that is known NOT to work at this point), but I've got to say that the 2600+ is pretty finicky with loading 7800 games as compared with my actual 7800.  It must've taken six or seven cycles of cleaning/reinserting to get Mario Bros to work - when it was already working in my actual 7800.  Also several cycles to get Food Fight to work, and the first time Food Fight loaded it crashed in the middle of the first level.  One more try and I was able to play a full game.  Glad I bought the large bottle of isopropanol!  The 2600 side is a lot less finicky - very few problems with 2600 games not coming up if they're clean enough to play in either a 7800 or Retron 77.
• Atari 7800 sound:  Oh, one addition.  I haven't been playing 7800 games much recently, but I'd forgotten just how bad most Atari 7800 games sounded.  Positively primitive - at least compared to other consoles of that generation.

 

Still enjoying it so far...

 

Oh, and you definitely need the two button controller for asteroids.  Unless you just want to do an Asteroids run with only hyperspace.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Chemical Burrito

[Dr Karnov]

I've now tested my PAL 7800 carts.

 

I had failures on the following carts:

 

Food Fight 

Ms Pacman

Joust

Fatal Run

Choplifter

Ballblazer

Mean 18

Commando

 

I did however get my PAL Xevious cart to work.

 

Was the 2600+ tested with PAL 7800 carts or does the compatibility chart only refer to NTSC carts?

[Giles N]

6 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

I had failures on the following carts:

Some say here they ‘begin’ to work better, after several insertions and/or cleaning.

 

Did you give them an extra overhaul with isopropanol? Did you try them several times?

 

(Really hope that Atari/Plaion will try to rectify all these 7800-issues as soon as possible and to the extent it’s possible)

[+jeremiahjt]

10 hours ago, Dionoid said:

Karateka (black screen)

I think we found the first game that is actually improved by playing on a 2600+.

[Dr Karnov]

2 minutes ago, Giles N said:

Some say here they ‘begin’ to work better, after several insertions and/or cleaning.

 

Did you give them an extra overhaul with isopropanol? Did you try them several times?

 

(Really hope that Atari/Plaion will try to rectify all these 7800-issues as soon as possible and to the extent it’s possible)

I tried all of the failed carts at least 3 times, and all have been cleaned.

 

I'll keep trying.

 

Interesting that lots of people have said that their PAL Xevious doesn't work, when mine is fine

[Beatley82]

12 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

I've now tested my PAL 7800 carts.

 

I had failures on the following carts:

 

Food Fight 

Ms Pacman

Joust

Fatal Run

Choplifter

Ballblazer

Mean 18

Commando

 

I did however get my PAL Xevious cart to work.

 

Was the 2600+ tested with PAL 7800 carts or does the compatibility chart only refer to NTSC carts?

My Mean 18 PAL cart worked after a clean. Food Fight doesn't work no matter what. The cartridge loads though so it's not an outright failure, but after loading its a blank screen. Think we're out of luck on Food Fight until a potential update.

[Dr Karnov]

The following PAL carts worked just fine:

 

Ikari Warriors 

Tower Toppler

Dig Dug

Planet Smashers

Xevious

Alien Brigade

Hat Trick

Super Huey

Crossbow

Jinks

Mat Mania Challenge

Impossible Mission

Basketbrawl

Ninja Golf

Midnight Mutants 

[Giles N]

What about controllers?

 

Original or new ones, made for the 7800 (2 button): can you just plug them in and use as normal…?

[Giles N]

40 minutes ago, jeremiahjt said:

I think we found the first game that is actually improved by playing on a 2600+.

Why haven’t anyone commented on functionality of Fight Night yet…?

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by Giles N

[Dr Karnov]

1 minute ago, Giles N said:

What about controllers?

 

Original or new ones, made for the 7800 (2 button): can you just plug them in and use as normal…?

I've been using the included joystick and an original (Euro) 7800 pad. Both work great