The Atari 2600+ is live for preorders!

[Giles N]

Just now, Dr Karnov said:

Both work great 

That’s … great!!

[Giles N]

What about Motor Psycho PAL…?

 

Anyone tried it…?

[Dr Karnov]

I don't have Motor Psycho I'm afraid

[Dr Karnov]

So far I've had 21 working and 7 non working from my 2600 carts (all NTSC), and 18 working and 9 non working from my 7800 carts (almost all PAL)

 

Tomorrow I'm going to test my NTSC 2600 paddle games, and my PAL 2600 games.

 

And also I'm going to re-clean and re-test all of my non working carts

[AtariLeaf]

11 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

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

My europad isn't working great with asteroids 7800. For some reason my ship will randomly hyperspace without a button press. Doesn't happen on original hardware. Odd I'm the only one this seems to be happening to

[Dr Karnov]

I've not had any issues with my Europad yet. I don't have Asteroids 

[Chemical Burrito]

1 hour ago, AtariLeaf said:

My europad isn't working great with asteroids 7800. For some reason my ship will randomly hyperspace without a button press. Doesn't happen on original hardware. Odd I'm the only one this seems to be happening to

I tried a few rounds of Asteroids on the 2600+.  I did notice a few hyperspaces where I'm sure I didn't press the button.

 

Edit: Why are the buttons reversed on the 2600+?

 

On the 2600+, left button hyperspaces and right button fires.  On the 7800, right button hyperspaces and left button fires.  Same cartridge and controller.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Chemical Burrito
Backwards!

[ToddUGA]

Just hooked it up and went through my carts (all are NTSC). Gave each one a good cleaning before trying it out.

 

Demon Attack - worked

Space Invaders - worked

Ms. Pac-Man (7800) - worked

Food Fight (7800) - worked

Pole Position II (7800) - worked

Pitfall! - worked

Astroblast - failed

 

Astroblast failed to load the first time. Removed and cleaned again and this time it loaded but would not start. Multiple tries failed to get it to run correctly. Could never start a game no matter what controller I used or how many times I tried resetting. Not sure if it’s a problem with my particular cart or a problem with game compatibility itself.

 

My RetroGameBoyz pad worked perfectly with 2600 and 7800 games.

 

The included 2600 stick felt pretty stiff but otherwise reminded me of the original. All in all I am impressed.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2023 by ToddUGA

[Dr Karnov]

After more cleaning and swapping around, I've got an additional 7 carts to work (including PAL 7800 Mean 18 and Fatal Run)

 

Has anyone else had any issues with NTSC Galaga 7800?

[Chemical Burrito]

Just now, Dr Karnov said:

After more cleaning and swapping around, I've got an additional 7 carts to work (including PAL 7800 Mean 18 and Fatal Run)

 

Has anyone else had any issues with NTSC Galaga 7800?

I tried more than a dozen times to get (NTSC) Galaga to load.  So far, I've managed to get it loaded on the 2600+ one time.  Just tried it again and got two more failures to load.  Cartridge is, of course, working on a regular NTSC 7800.

 

 

[Chemical Burrito]

Re: Asteroids (Atari 7800) and the 2600+

 

Apparently the game tries to detect what sort of controller you're using.  If you plug in a 7800 Proline or the 7800 pad (two-button controllers), the game maps fire to the left button and hyperspace to the right.  And pushing down on the stick does nothing - hyperspace is only triggered by the right button.  If you plug in a one-button controller like the original Atari joystick, you get fire on the button and hyperspace by pulling down on the stick. 

 

Whatever code is doing this seems to get confused in the 2600+ (a one button controller is detected as if it were a two button one, and the buttons are reversed if you do connect a two-button controller), which might explain the wonkiness with the 7800 pad when you're trying to play Asteroids - is it somehow reverting to the single-button behavior and now pushing down - which is easy to do on the pad - triggering the random hyperspaces?

[Chemical Burrito]

1 hour ago, ToddUGA said:

Astroblast failed to load the first time. Removed and cleaned again and this time it loaded but would not start. Multiple tries failed to get it to run correctly. Could never start a game no matter what controller I used or how many times I tried resetting. Not sure if it’s a problem with my particular cart or a problem with game compatibility itself.

 

I have gotten Astroblast to work on the 2600+.  Used the Hyperkin Ranger joystick/paddle combo controller as a paddle.

 

I wonder if the issue here is the old problem of M Network cartridge boards just coming loose inside the cartridge making them not plug into the cartridge slot properly.  One of my copies of Astroblast failed in that exact manner this evening.  Ended up just taking it out of its case and plugging it in that way and it worked.

 

So I now have a very loose copy of Astroblast. 

[ToddUGA]

9 minutes ago, Chemical Burrito said:

I have gotten Astroblast to work on the 2600+.  Used the Hyperkin Ranger joystick/paddle combo controller as a paddle.

 

I wonder if the issue here is the old problem of M Network cartridge boards just coming loose inside the cartridge making them not plug into the cartridge slot properly.  One of my copies of Astroblast failed in that exact manner this evening.  Ended up just taking it out of its case and plugging it in that way and it worked.

 

So I now have a very loose copy of Astroblast. 

It feels pretty solid and doesn’t feel loose. No big loss honestly as it only cost a couple of bucks. I may take it apart eventually and see what’s up.

[Chemical Burrito]

6 minutes ago, ToddUGA said:

It feels pretty solid and doesn’t feel loose. No big loss honestly as it only cost a couple of bucks. I may take it apart eventually and see what’s up.

If cleaning doesn't work, you may just have a bad cartridge.  It happens.

 

Do you have actual 2600/7800 console hardware to test in?  I have discovered that actual hardware is a bit more forgiving than the 2600+ is, but that's at least a place to start if something's not working in the 2600+.

[Chemical Burrito]

Atari 7800 games and controllers - the plot thickens.

 

So I've been playing around more with the 2600+ and two-button controllers.  This time, I've looked at Pole Position II (NTSC).

 

• On an actual 7800, the game can be played with either a one or two button stick.  If a single-button stick, the button accelerates.  There doesn't appear to be a brake, as the joystick up/down are the shifter.  With a two button controller, accelerate is left button and brake is right button.
• On the 2600+, it is not possible to play with a one-button controller, since the one button appears to be defined as the brakes.  Using a two button controller, brake is left button and accelerate is right button. Reversed, just like Asteroids.

 

So what's going on here?  Same cartridge and controllers were used on both the 7800 and the 2600+.  Controllers were the joystick that shipped with the 2600+ and an original 7800 two-button pad.

 

Edit:  Xevious (NTSC).  This one is playable on the 2600+ with a single button stick because a difficulty switch setting can force both guns and bombs to fire with the press of either button.  But if the switch is set for the buttons to control individual weapons, the left and right buttons are again reversed on the 2600+ compared to an actual 7800.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Chemical Burrito
More information

[ToddUGA]

8 minutes ago, Chemical Burrito said:

If cleaning doesn't work, you may just have a bad cartridge.  It happens.

 

Do you have actual 2600/7800 console hardware to test in?  I have discovered that actual hardware is a bit more forgiving than the 2600+ is, but that's at least a place to start if something's not working in the 2600+.

No original hardware to test on. I’m sure I can get another copy fairly cheaply. Just happy the others worked, especially Pitfall!. That was the game my son wanted the most.

[DEANJIMMY]

6 hours ago, Giles N said:

What about Motor Psycho PAL…?

 

Anyone tried it…?

Yes, it works.

But never played it, so I can't tell if absolutely correct.

Edited November 20, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Thomas Jentzsch]

<ignore>

Edited November 20, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[DEANJIMMY]

4 hours ago, Chemical Burrito said:

Atari 7800 games and controllers - the plot thickens.

 

So I've been playing around more with the 2600+ and two-button controllers.  This time, I've looked at Pole Position II (NTSC).

 

• On an actual 7800, the game can be played with either a one or two button stick.  If a single-button stick, the button accelerates.  There doesn't appear to be a brake, as the joystick up/down are the shifter.  With a two button controller, accelerate is left button and brake is right button.
• On the 2600+, it is not possible to play with a one-button controller, since the one button appears to be defined as the brakes.  Using a two button controller, brake is left button and accelerate is right button. Reversed, just like Asteroids.

 

So what's going on here?  Same cartridge and controllers were used on both the 7800 and the 2600+.  Controllers were the joystick that shipped with the 2600+ and an original 7800 two-button pad.

 

Edit:  Xevious (NTSC).  This one is playable on the 2600+ with a single button stick because a difficulty switch setting can force both guns and bombs to fire with the press of either button.  But if the switch is set for the buttons to control individual weapons, the left and right buttons are again reversed on the 2600+ compared to an actual 7800.

I can confirm A and B buttons on 7800 pad are swapped.

@Ben from Plaion

This should be fixed!

On my built stick it is quite confusing as I made up my thoughts how to place the buttons...

 

And yes, it is the same with the original pad.

 

I tested it with Ikari Warriors PAL as most of the other A/B PAL games don't work.

 

On real 7800 A = fire B = grenades

 

On 2600+ A = grenades  B =fire and a few grenades

 

There seems to be a 2600+ bug that B button sometimes triggers A button as well at least in Ikari Warriors PAL.

Commando and Xevious PAL don't work, so I can't compare them.

Edited November 20, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Have you checked if the buttons are reversed in the emulator by default?

[Dr Karnov]

My Xevious PAL works

[DEANJIMMY]

52 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Have you checked if the buttons are reversed in the emulator by default?

I guess so, but Commando and Xevious don't work to compare.

 

The only other A/B working PAL game is Basketbrawl and refering to the html manual on Atariage they are swapped!

 

And B button triggers A button randomly in Basketbrawl, too.

If pressed 10 times you get 8 jumps and 2 punches.

 

So this is a general issue reading the 7800 pad and I would expect it not PAL only.

 

A/B buttons are swapped and B button randomly trigers the A button, too.

Edited November 20, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Dr Karnov]

I just realised that one of my non-working 2600 games is NTSC Robot Tank, which is listed as 'untested' on the latest compatibility list.

 

Has anyone managed to get Robot Tank to load?

[DEANJIMMY]

50 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

My Xevious PAL works

That is a surprise as you are the first reporting it as a pass.

I alwas get the same rubish on the screen, it does not look random.

The cart works on real HW

 

As many people complain about non working Enduro cart, I cleaned and testet it.

The slot of the 2600+ is not as tight as in a real 2600 Jr or 7800.

You can move the card after it got plugged in. By lifting it a bit (others have to push) I got Enduro to work.

 

So your slot might be a bit tighter or the cart is in perfect condition, as all others so far reported a fail (1:5)

Edited November 20, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Alarm]

6 minutes ago, Dr Karnov said:

I just realised that one of my non-working 2600 games is NTSC Robot Tank, which is listed as 'untested' on the latest compatibility list.

 

Has anyone managed to get Robot Tank to load?

I have two PAL copies of Robot Tank.  One works, the other didnt, but I haven't tried to clean that again to see if it could be made to work.