Gamestation Pro - Pictures of What's Inside

[jer10571]

I picked up the Atari Gamestation Pro from Gamestop the other day. Haven't even plugged it in yet, but wanted to see whats inside. So, I took it apart (so you don't have to), here are some pictures..

 

FYI.. There is a metal plate inside to give it some weight... Also, there are screws under the rubber pads.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by jer10571
Added text

[0078265317]

Thanks there are some pics here too but not as detailed.

[leech]

21 hours ago, jer10571 said:

I picked up the Atari Gamestation Pro from Gamestop the other day. Haven't even plugged it in yet, but wanted to see whats inside. So, I took it apart (so you don't have to), here are some pictures..

 

FYI.. There is a metal plate inside to give it some weight... Also, there are screws under the rubber pads.

 

 

You know I have a real problem when I see that capacitor and want to recap it...

 

I haven't even had time to hook mine up, I got batteries for the controller, and that's about as far as I've gotten...

[famicommander]

You probably let the hamster running on the wheel get away when you opened that piece of crap.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

2 hours ago, famicommander said:

You probably let the hamster running on the wheel get away when you opened that piece of crap.

Weren't you just moaning about Berzerk Recharged 5 mins ago and calling that a piece of crap to? 🤣 Id let the op decided if the Gamestation Pro is a piece of crap or not. I have one and id say its a decent piece of kit for the price and gets the job done. Its a lot better than what i expected it to be put it that way What did you expect to see inside? An RTX 3090.

[famicommander]

2 hours ago, Atari_JaguarVCS said:

Weren't you just moaning about Berzerk Recharged 5 mins ago and calling that a piece of crap to? 🤣 Id let the op decided if the Gamestation Pro is a piece of crap or not. I have one and id say its a decent piece of kit for the price and gets the job done. Its a lot better than what i expected it to be put it that way What did you expect to see inside? An RTX 3090.

I expect a device with an Atari logo on the box to play Atari games at a reasonable competent level. The 5200 and 7800 emulation on the Gamestation is absolutely horrible. If Atari cared at all about the quality of their devices they wouldn't get into bed with a trash merchant like MyArcade to begin with. Their little handheld they just released can't even run 2600 games at full speed and that's literally all it was designed to do. Atari would be better off releasing nothing at all than releasing stuff that can't emulate games from the 70s at full speed in 2023. Stop making excuses for them and demand quality or all you'll ever get is crap.

[jer10571]

21 hours ago, leech said:

You know I have a real problem when I see that capacitor and want to recap it...

 

I haven't even had time to hook mine up, I got batteries for the controller, and that's about as far as I've gotten...

Ha! Yes.. That's awesome.

[jer10571]

19 hours ago, famicommander said:

You probably let the hamster running on the wheel get away when you opened that piece of crap.

Wow.. Tell us how you really feel.

 

[jer10571]

13 hours ago, famicommander said:

I expect a device with an Atari logo on the box to play Atari games at a reasonable competent level. The 5200 and 7800 emulation on the Gamestation is absolutely horrible. If Atari cared at all about the quality of their devices they wouldn't get into bed with a trash merchant like MyArcade to begin with. Their little handheld they just released can't even run 2600 games at full speed and that's literally all it was designed to do. Atari would be better off releasing nothing at all than releasing stuff that can't emulate games from the 70s at full speed in 2023. Stop making excuses for them and demand quality or all you'll ever get is crap.

"I expect a device with an Atari logo on the box to play Atari games at a reasonable competent level" At this price point? I don't think so.. Not now a day anyway.. Maybe 20 years ago.. But not today. Want better quality? Spend the $900 on a ps5 and mod it.

 

"The 5200 and 7800 emulation on the Gamestation is absolutely horrible." I'll take your word for it. I can only assume you have this system and done all your testing and compared it with the real thing? That's what I plan on doing.

 

" If Atari cared at all about the quality of their devices they wouldn't get into bed with a trash merchant like MyArcade to begin with." Atari is a business, MyArcade is better than ATGames.. Plus, we aren't talking about the little handheld.

 

"Stop making excuses for them" Who's making excuses for Atari? We are all big boys here and can make our own decisions. I still appreciate your comments, this is a free country after all, and we all have our own opinions. 

 

If it makes you this upset, why don't you just not worry about theses "trash" consoles and just stick with your Raspberry Pi? After all, it's the best right?

 

[leech]

4 hours ago, jer10571 said:

If it makes you this upset, why don't you just not worry about theses "trash" consoles and just stick with your Raspberry Pi? After all, it's the best right?

Ha, I have multiple RPis, with different setups and a couple of MiSTers, etc.  I still prefer to fire up a real console and play games as they were meant to be (maybe with an Composite mod, since RF is either no longer available on a TV, or has way too much fuzz).  I'm still annoyed that I found out later that my 5200's interference was actually caused by the AtariMax cart... as I couldn't figure out why I had such a decent picture when I first got the 5200...but then when I tried it later (after I was using the AtariMax) it looked like trash.  But oh well, now I have RGB out with a SCART cable

[82-T/A]

On 11/8/2023 at 6:45 PM, famicommander said:

I expect a device with an Atari logo on the box to play Atari games at a reasonable competent level. The 5200 and 7800 emulation on the Gamestation is absolutely horrible. If Atari cared at all about the quality of their devices they wouldn't get into bed with a trash merchant like MyArcade to begin with. Their little handheld they just released can't even run 2600 games at full speed and that's literally all it was designed to do. Atari would be better off releasing nothing at all than releasing stuff that can't emulate games from the 70s at full speed in 2023. Stop making excuses for them and demand quality or all you'll ever get is crap.

 

I bought the GameStation Pro and am very happy with it. I think it's been fantastic, and the joysticks are excellent...

[xboxiso]

18 minutes ago, 82-T/A said:

 

I bought the GameStation Pro and am very happy with it. I think it's been fantastic, and the joysticks are excellent...

Couldn't agree with you more. The Gamestation Pro is excellent and currently my favorite way to play Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800 games...

[Hydro Thunder]

On 11/8/2023 at 5:45 PM, famicommander said:

I expect a device with an Atari logo on the box to play Atari games at a reasonable competent level. The 5200 and 7800 emulation on the Gamestation is absolutely horrible. If Atari cared at all about the quality of their devices they wouldn't get into bed with a trash merchant like MyArcade to begin with. Their little handheld they just released can't even run 2600 games at full speed and that's literally all it was designed to do. Atari would be better off releasing nothing at all than releasing stuff that can't emulate games from the 70s at full speed in 2023. Stop making excuses for them and demand quality or all you'll ever get is crap.

I've had no issues with any 7800 games at all.  Do you have one, or did you find someone somewhere say they weren't getting proper emulation?  As for 5200 well, it's not an analog controller and there's no keypad.  So...limitations.  Which I am expecting someone to crack soon.

MyArcade honestly is by far not the worst of the partners that could have been chosen.  Would I prefer Arcade roms to NES roms in their minicades? You betcha.  But that said they are surprisingly good for the price and size (I've got Elevator Action, Dig Dug, Pac-Man, and Galaxian and REALLY enjoy them).  $20 a pop.  I would say their reputation is really not half bad.  Especially compared to some...but I don't feel a need to whizz on the brands I don't personally care for.

[Riko]

_{Any idea on the limits or capabilities of this device? Like, if the software was not an issue could it handle like PS2 era stuff, or would that be beyond the capabilities of the chipset?}

 

 

(Edit) - I found a Chinese website of the chip that lists that it can handle up to PS1 / DS / N64 / about, so that might be the answer.

 

Support Game Format:CPS, PS1, N64, MAME, NDS, DC, FC, GB, GBA, GBC, MD, SFC, Atari 2600 - 7800, SNES, NES, SMS, GEN

Edited December 26, 2023 by Riko

[Freakward]

How did you open it up? I'm trying to open mine up and it's like it's clamped shut.

[Gabe]

On 12/4/2023 at 5:44 PM, 82-T/A said:

 

I bought the GameStation Pro and am very happy with it. I think it's been fantastic, and the joysticks are excellent...

Same here. I'd find the joysticks quite unwieldy if I played games that required using more than just the A button, but I don't play those games, so it's fine. And even using them wirelessly I find less input lag with this system than I do with my 2600+ and Flashback 12 Gold. The paddle games are also smoother than with those two system, though I'm sure with firmware updates both can fix the paddle issues. The firmware update to 1.30 made the GSP even better. I wish I had gotten one of these sooner.

[+Mocotechprfl]

Jon of GenXGrownUp aka @jonreddick just did a great teardown video of the GSP controller! Figured it would be relevant to this thread.
 

 

[hwrd]

On 12/27/2023 at 2:36 AM, Freakward said:

How did you open it up? I'm trying to open mine up and it's like it's clamped shut.

I am in the same position now.

My sd card slot stopped recognizing cards, so I am trying to open the console.

I have the two screws out of the bottom, and it partially opens.

 

Am thinking there are more screws underneath the two rubber rests,

but am hoping someone knows for sure.

 

Thanks in advance.