Gamestation Pro

[Atari8264]

If the game is an arcade game rom (Mame), you leave those in the .zip format.  Do not unzip the arcade game file.  The arcade rom files are upto 8 characters followed by the .zip characters. The GenXGrownUp 10,000 Games video listed above has links for the arcade roms.   There is also a link for the Atari 2600 files. The Atari file has the .rar extension and needs to be uncompressed into the individual files. You only need to copy the files ending in .a26 to the SD card.

[PowerDubs]

Does anyone know what the weight of the unit is still in box before opening?

[SoulBlazer]

2 minutes ago, PowerDubs said:

Does anyone know what the weight of the unit is still in box before opening?

4.9 pounds, per FedEx

[SoulBlazer]

BTW, I re-checked the specs and what the Atari Modern Controller does, and everything makes it sound like it SHOULD work in Wired mode with the Gamestation Pro.  You can't do wireless as the system has no Bluetooth support.  So if anyone buys one (or has a VCS also) the controller SHOULD work.

[d33j]

I've tried every micro SD card I have in this thing and it never recognizes them anything I'm missing?

[PowerDubs]

2 hours ago, SoulBlazer said:

4.9 pounds, per FedEx

I have zero faith in anything Fedex says or does...and their shipping weight probably also had an outer box.

[SoulBlazer]

Sorry, it wasn't like I weighted it myself.  4 pounds seems right though, it's very light.

[flaggskull]

21 hours ago, Atari8264 said:

Look at the "10,000 games expansion" youtube video comments. Try exFAT format and Games folder name.

exFAT works!  Thanks so much!  

[+Living Room Arcade]

On 10/25/2023 at 11:35 PM, Batchman said:

My thoughts on this ... at the moment I am not interested, and the deal breaker is one simple thing. The paddle controls do not work on added games. I'm not sure I could like the tiny paddle controls, anyway, but the videos Jon did, that showed quite good paddle control for this gave me VERY high interest. Because the one thing I haven't been able to get so far is good paddle control on anything except an original hardware 2600 (which I no longer have) and I love several of the paddle games. If the manufacturer comes up with a firmware upgrade that allows the use of the paddles on uploaded 2600 roms, it would almost certainly be enough to sell me on these.

 

As far as a hack project, I would love to see something like the Nexus project on this, but I suspect the most important addition would be a way to add controllers, which I think would be the biggest problem to this system. If I am correct, there are fairly cheap USB versions of most game controllers out there, and there are, of course, USB to USB C adapters. But if the system won't acknowledge them .... There -might- be classic Atari-style USB joysticks out there, but I'm pretty sure there aren't USB Atari paddles in existence. But are there fairly inexpensive USB to Atari-style 9 pin adapters?

 

I mean, a Nexus-style project with three buttons available would greatly increase the amount of games from other systems that could be done, but truth to tell, some games can be played pretty well on different kinds of controllers, but some just don't feel right, unless you play them with the kind they originally came with. I know trying to play some NES games, even if they only need a single button, felt really weird playing on the 2600 joystick. On the other hand, some felt just fine.

 

I've tried several retro gaming solutions for gaming. I've tried playing them on a PC using various emulation software, and it was very cool when it was the only option I had. (And let's face it, that gives better chances for the system being powerful enough to handle more modern systems.) I did a Raspberry Pi with a Macho image to get lots of game systems available, with either a NES or Sega knock-off game pad, and part of the time that worked pretty well, but it often seemed a bit too complex, which kept it from being much fun, and occasionally required hooking up a keyboard. I bought a couple of the Flashback units, and just hooked back up my Flashback 9 with NEXUS on it, because it makes a really simple (at least after about 10 minutes of refamiliarizing myself on working the menus) to just flip a switch and plays some games (but the paddles never work right. Even with the most recent firmware update on the paddle controls, they've improved, but still aren't close to the originals).

 

As far as everything -except- Atari paddle games, maybe I should use the Flashback with Nexus to play Atari, and one button games, and the Pi with a gamepad or two to play those systems (Understanding that some of the one-button games -might- work nicely on the Nexus from those systems), but what about games for systems that include a keypad, like Intellivision and more? Are there USB versions of suitable controllers for those? And if the 2600+ doesn't have any way to do roms and the Atari Gamestation Pro doesn't fix paddles for other games, maybe I have to buy an old 'real' 2600, find a working set of old paddles, and see if there's any way to load all the paddle games onto some kind of programmable cartridge to play paddle games that way. (Is there currently an easy way to do that? How many 2600 paddle games were there, anyway?)

 

My rambling thoughts on the issue.

@Batchman  Hello.  I'm a fellow Atari 2600 paddle lover searching for a good Atari 2600 paddle solution just like you. 

 

I don't have RPi, but I'm guessing it's as powerful as any PC or the Atari 2600+ or the GSP when it comes to running Stella.  I think you're lucky to have one.  I hear RPi's are pricy and in demand these days.  My recommendation would be to stick with your RPi.  I think the 2600-daptor is the recommended 9-pin to USB adapter.  You can wait for CX30+ paddles to go on sale unbundled at Atari.com or buy them now bundled with 10 game cart for $40.  (I'm waiting.)

 

I hear what you're saying about different game platforms and controllers.  I would suggest you invest in a few good controllers to go along with your RPi set up.  A few good controllers + your RPi, together, and it sounds like you will be all set.  

Edited October 27, 2023 by Living Room Arcade

[johannesmutlu]

The gamestation is a cool looking console along with cool looking controllers,it has great potential,

too bad the name gamestation pro is not put on the front of the unit but on the bothem,

the included games on it aren’t bad but,no space invaders on 2600,no pac man on the 5200 and no stunt cycle and qwack on atari arcade etc,,,

but atleast theres an SD card slot to add in extra games,

HOWEVER i do wonder how atari did get away with adding support for genesis,snes and gameboy emulation etc,,, along with games for it as well,since they didn’t had signed a deal with sega or nintendo for it to do so and i can imagine that atari don’t want to get a bad name for doing iligal practic stuff like hyperkin and analogue is doing,also i can imagine how it would become very unconfortible to play nes & snes games etc,,, that way with a atari controller,

now it would be cool if atari would come with a firmware update to also support the nummerical pad of the 5200 along with a special selfcentered new 5200 controller for it or support a pc keyboard for it by emulating the nummerical keypad,so who ever knows.

either way, if you’re a atari fan,that $100/130 bucks might be considerable😁

 

[Shannon]

I'd have to see the game list.  And maybe even play some of the games.  But it is likely some of the  games require at least NES and Genesis emulation.  Someone said it had pico games on it. Which most likely automatically gives us Genesis, SMS and Game Gear and possibly 32x emulation.  Since picodrive is the only emulator I know of that supports Sega pico.  Also some earlier flashback releases had NES homebrew on them which explains that.

 

I assume the games present on there are licensed. 

 

Not sure about GBA, GB or GBC but going on the assumption they used something like mGBA you automatically have support for those.

 

So that would be my guess.  As for Atari 800 emulation.   That is a big IF cause if 5200 emulation is using Altirra bios then it is likely they are using A5200 which has lousy sound emulation BTW.  Unless they happened to update it to the latest which I added a better sound driver and numerous games to the internal DB.

 

I sent some test images to my sister so I'll know more once she tries them.  Assuming I set them up properly.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Shannon

[BrewCrewFan77]

15 hours ago, xefned said:

 

For Atari 2600 games:

 

For 5200 games:

 

 

For 7800 games:

 

 

 

For Arcade (MAME) games:

 

 

 

This is what worked for me:

 

• Format card to Fat32
• Add samples folder as described in a previously embedded video
• Name the rom folder with a capital G, “Games”
• If you’re on a Mac, clean the hidden files with CleanEject or a similar utility, otherwise your your game folder is cluttered with a bunch of unplayable duplicates.

 

 

Good luck!

 

 

Thank you!  Thanks to everyone who gave me advice.  I plan on working on them today to hopefully get everything figured out and formatted correctly.

[VidaReborn]

I did an updated video.  It includes the FULL list of games in the Atari Gamestation Pro.  Also, I included a brief summary of what I'm using for my setup.  Hope someone finds it useful.   

 

[just_lou]

17 hours ago, d33j said:

I've tried every micro SD card I have in this thing and it never recognizes them anything I'm missing?

They must be 128GB or less and I'd format them as exFAT, although FAT32 should work too.

[VidaReborn]

On 10/26/2023 at 3:57 PM, d33j said:

I've tried every micro SD card I have in this thing and it never recognizes them anything I'm missing?

Make sure your microSD card is no more than 128GB and formatted to FA32.  Also, try cards with 32GB or more.  These tend to handle transfers much better for gaming.   

 

[+Living Room Arcade]

Atari fans, if you are buying a GSP, be sure to add this ROM.

 

Yar's Revenge for the Gameboy Color

 

Download ROM at Archive.org

[flaggskull]

16 hours ago, VidaReborn said:

Make sure your microSD card is no more than 128GB and formatted to FA32.  Also, try cards with 32GB or more.  These tend to handle transfers much better for gaming.   

 

I had to format in exFAT before my console would recognize my SD card.  

[BrewCrewFan77]

I now have some 5200 and 7800 games on the card that works, but when I put my 2600 ROMS on it; they're now show a .bin.  I went in and removed the .bins so they showed the .a26 but it looks like they just repopulated the .bin extension.  Any ideas on what I can do to get those renamed into the correct format?  I am using a Mac.

[Shannon]

Just a quick update.  My sister plugged in the SD card I sent her and she told me she couldn't get past the first level of Donkey Kong ( arcade ) do to the bad response time.  So I figure if she has issues with the lag it has to be pretty bad.  She also said the paddle is way to sensitive for games like breakout.  I put about 20 games on there for her to test.  So she is going to test for me over the weekend and I'll post the results here.

 

I'm not sure if it is some weird case of electronic interference at her house giving the controllers issues or what.  I know in my house my PS4 controller is constantly having response issues which annoys me like anything.  So who knows.

 

[just_lou]

20 minutes ago, Shannon said:

Just a quick update.  My sister plugged in the SD card I sent her and she told me she couldn't get past the first level of Donkey Kong ( arcade ) do to the bad response time.  So I figure if she has issues with the lag it has to be pretty bad.  She also said the paddle is way to sensitive for games like breakout.  I put about 20 games on there for her to test.  So she is going to test for me over the weekend and I'll post the results here.

 

I'm not sure if it is some weird case of electronic interference at her house giving the controllers issues or what.  I know in my house my PS4 controller is constantly having response issues which annoys me like anything.  So who knows.

 

JFI, you can adjust the sensitivity/speed of the paddles when playing paddle games.

[PowerDubs]

Bad post from a Costco employee on Reddit-

 

 

[Shannon]

52 minutes ago, just_lou said:

JFI, you can adjust the sensitivity/speed of the paddles when playing paddle games.

 

Thanks for the info.  I'll pass that on to her.

[xefned]

1 hour ago, PowerDubs said:

Bad post from a Costco employee on Reddit-

 

When I returned mine, I got to chatting with the guy at Costco because he seemed interested in the issues. I said, “you'll probably get a lot of returns of this one,” so he knew what to expect. And it’s only fair to warn buyers to think of this as a Myarcade product rather than an Atari product.

 

It's the Gamestation Pro: i.e. the “pro” version of the $24 GameStation NotPro. 

 

I'm not on a crusade to stop people from buying it. But they should have a clear understanding of what they’re getting. Less than 50% of the games on this device are Atari games. One of them is Basic Math, which I think is telling.

 

 

Edited October 31, 2023 by xefned
grammar

[PowerDubs]

I hope whatever the issues are they are mentioning are not widespread for everyone.

 

They have imported a LOT of these from overseas...

[atwwong]

I just picked two up from the Bellingham Costco across the border since they are not in Canada just yet.

 

I've only had a chance to play the 2600 games and some roms using a usb cable with the joystick and have not had issues so far except with newer games. The included paddle games that I've tried so far are okay when the paddle is set to medium or high sensitivity.

 

I hope someone figures a way to update the 2600 emulator or maybe My Arcade can do this with an official update. Most of the 2600 roms up to around 2015 work with it. This includes the Pitall II music and Quadrun speech. All the new Champ Games do not work.

 

I'm satisfied with the Atari Game Station Pro given that I only paid $80 USD for it. For Atari rom compatibility, the Flashback Pro 50th Anniversary and Retron 77 community editions beat it because they can run Stella 6.6, but only my Atari 2600 can run Champ Games Gorf with AtariVox speech (and my PC running Stella 6.7).