2600 Atari 2600 related test results (not 7800!)

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Let's make the testing a bit more structured and useful. So please put all your Atari 2600 games, controller etc. related test results in here. If possible, verify your results with original consoles.

 

First, there are numerous games (especially homebrews) which are known to not work (yet). In brackets you find the bankswitching type name of Stella.

• Pitfall II (DPC)
• Activision (FE) (most likely): Decathlon, Space Shuttle, Robot Tank - Note: there exist cart versions (e.g from HES) which use Atari's F8 and thus work
• M Network (E7): Bump'n Jump (not the Telegames version!), Burgertime, Masters of the Universe
• CBS (FA): Mountain King, Omega Race, Tunnel Runner 
• CommaVid (CV): MagiCard, Video Life
• Megaboy (F0)
• CompuMate (CM)
• Arcadia Supercharger (AR) games
• Melody enhanced homebrews: 
  • DPC+ (e.g. Space Rocks, Stratovox...) 
  • CDF(J) (e.g. Draconian, Galagon, Lode Runner, Mappy, Stay Frosty 2...)
  • FA2 (Star Castle Arcade)
  • CTY (Chetiry)
• Homebrews using EF, DF or EF bankswitching: e.g. Zippy the Porcupine, Penult
• Toyshop Trouble (0840) (there exist carts which use standard F8 bank switching and thus work)
• Boulder Dash (3E)
• Circus Convoy (SB)
• Stella's Stocking (X07)
• Realsports Boxing (F8) (there is a bug in the dumper which affects this game)
• Thrust+ Platinum (constant thrusting because properties cannot be found)  

 

Also some rare carts/prototypes like Pink Panther (WD), Pleiades (UA) or certain Brazilian bank switching types will not work. All other games should work.

 

Exceptions found so far:

• certain bankswitched white Coleco carts seem to have problems

 

Also not working:

• Harmony cart works only for 4K games in developer mode
• PlusCart

 

As of now only standard Joysticks and Paddle seem to be supported. Sega Genesis and BoosterGrip might work (please test).

 

Unsupported controllers:

• Keyboard, Video Touch Pad
• Driving controllers
• Lightgun
• Mindlink
• KidVid
• Trackballs (CX-22, CX-80, Atari or Amiga Mouse ) (in real trackball mode, works in joystick mode)
• AtariVox, SaveKey
• QuadTari(?)
• Joy2B+(?)

Edited December 8, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[panamajoe]

PAL or NTSC or both?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

9 minutes ago, panamajoe said:

PAL or NTSC or both?

Both. PAL or NTSC should only make a difference regarding the colors displayed. So you only have to refer to NTSC or PAL when talking about colors.

 

[omf]

i dont know what version of stella the 2600+ firmware was based on but it definately was not the latest version,  for games like zippy the porcupine, they work in the latest stella, but on the 2600+ they do not.

 

there are other issues as well, like with the paddle controllers when using kaboom, it does not behave how it is expected, its very choppy, resulting in 3 or 4 levels being able to be completed at most before you loose control and die.

 

i am 50 / 50 at the moment as to wheather it was worth the price based on compatability with the games i own.

the harmony cart is also not supported either although it appears you can flash games one at a time to it instead of the menu.  not particularly useful like that though!!

[Ben from Plaion]

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Let's make the testing a bit more structured and useful. So please put all your Atari 2600 games, controller etc. related test results in here. If possible, verify your results with original consoles.

 

First, there are numerous games (especially homebrews) which are known to not work (yet). In brackets you find the bankswitching type name of Stella.

• Pitfall II (DPC)
• M Network (E7): Bump'n Jump (not the Telegames version!), Burgertime, Masters of the Universe
• CBS (FA): Mountain King, Omega Race, Tunnel Runner 
• CommaVid (CV): MagiCard, Video Life
• Megaboy (F0)
• CompuMate (CM)
• Arcadia Supercharger (AR) games
• Melody enhanced homebrews (DPC+, CDF(J), FA2, CTY) 
• Homebrews using EF, DF or EF bankswitching: e.g. Zippy the Porcupine, Penult
• Toyshop Trouble (0840)
• Boulder Dash (3E)
• Circus Convoy (SB)
• Stella's Stocking (X07)
• Realsports Boxing (F8) (there is a bug in the dumper which affects this game)

 

Also some rare carts/prototypes like Pink Panther (WD), Pleiades (UA) or certain Brazilian bank switching types will not work. All other games should work.

 

As of now only standard Joysticks and Paddle seem to be supported. Driving controllers, Sega Genesis, BoosterGrip might work (please test).

 

Unsupported controllers:

• Keyboard, Video Touch Pad
• Lightgun
• Mindlink
• KidVid
• Trackballs (CX-22, CX-80, Atari or Amiga Mouse )
• AtariVox, SaveKey
• QuadTari(?)
• Joy2B+(?)

Being worked on currently

 

Realsports Boxing (F8) - Issue diagnosed, waiting to test updated Dumper code

Circus Convoy (SB) - David Crane no less provided instruction on how to resolve, waiting to test updated Dumper code

CBS (FA): Mountain King, Omega Race, Tunnel Runner - Sent some advice from Thomas to the developer over the weekend. Waiting for a response.

 

Small note also on the controllers list - the CX80 Trackball is supported. https://youtu.be/DMFCAxlzYxg?si=x-dwaaeJh3YAmMWn&t=655

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, Ben from Plaion said:

Small note also on the controllers list - the CX80 Trackball is supported. https://youtu.be/DMFCAxlzYxg?si=x-dwaaeJh3YAmMWn&t=655

In joystick or real Trackball mode?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, omf said:

i dont know what version of stella the 2600+ firmware was based on but it definately was not the latest version,  for games like zippy the porcupine, they work in the latest stella, but on the 2600+ they do not.

That's a limitation of the dumper, not the emulator. The 2600+ uses the latest Stella 6.7.

[DEANJIMMY]

21 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

In joystick or real Trackball mode?

As he says he picked up his old copy of Milipede, I expect he plays in Joystick mode which works of cause but the Trakball mode doesn't.

For those who don't know, there is a switch JS/TB (or similar).

[Thomas Jentzsch]

@Albert Can you allow me to edit the 1st post, please?

[Albert]

9 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

@Albert Can you allow me to edit the 1st post, please?

Done!

[Ben from Plaion]

4 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

In joystick or real Trackball mode?

How do I check this, is it the toggle on the back of the CX80?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

How do I check this, is it the toggle on the back of the CX80?

Yes, and you need a game which supports the trackball. There are no original Atari 2600 TB games (so probably this is not your main focus now), but we created some hacks. You can find the remains of the purge here. There used to be 10 of them.  

 

If you have a Harmony cart you can download a ROM and test.

[Albert]

4 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Yes, and you need a game which supports the trackball. There are no original Atari 2600 TB games (so probably this is not your main focus now), but we created some hacks. You can find the remains of the purge here. There used to be 10 of them.  

 

If you have a Harmony cart you can download a ROM and test.

I can send him the binaries as well, if he has a way of running them or getting them onto a cart.  Otherwise I can just send him physical carts. 

 

 ..Al

[Ben from Plaion]

8 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Yes, and you need a game which supports the trackball. There are no original Atari 2600 TB games (so probably this is not your main focus now), but we created some hacks. You can find the remains of the purge here. There used to be 10 of them.  

 

If you have a Harmony cart you can download a ROM and test.

So its a fools errand unless its decided to release those three games as a Trackball pack?

[Albert]

1 minute ago, Ben from Plaion said:

So its a fools errand unless its decided to release those three games as a Trackball pack?

There are more games as well if we can acquire the IP for some of them or license them in some fashion.    And there's always the potential to modify more games, but that would really probably only be worthwhile doing if a new Trak-Ball was made available at some point.

 

 ..Al

[Ben from Plaion]

1 minute ago, Albert said:

There are more games as well if we can acquire the IP for some of them or license them in some fashion.    And there's always the potential to modify more games, but that would really probably only be worthwhile doing if a new Trak-Ball was made available at some point.

 

 ..Al

I mean I loved playing Arcade Missile Command with a trackball, so I'm very interested , but here and now I have to concentrate on fixing stuff like Realsports Boxing, Circus Convoy, CBS Ram Plus games and the PAL 7800 weirdness that has come to light.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

3 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

...but here and now I have to concentrate on fixing stuff like Realsports Boxing, Circus Convoy, CBS Ram Plus games and the PAL 7800 weirdness that has come to light.

Fully understood. First things first!

 

BTW: Did your developers find out that RS Boxing is actually a 12K game in a 16K ROM? I wonder if Atari had planned a 12K bank switching back then.

Edited November 20, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Albert]

11 minutes ago, Ben from Plaion said:

I mean I loved playing Arcade Missile Command with a trackball, so I'm very interested , but here and now I have to concentrate on fixing stuff like Realsports Boxing, Circus Convoy, CBS Ram Plus games and the PAL 7800 weirdness that has come to light.

For the 2600, what would be helpful is for you to have a Harmony cartridge that you can load individual games onto for testing.  They should work as long as you are just flashing a single game to the cartridge.

 

 ..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Could someone please test Decathlon, Space Shuttle and Robot Tank? Not the HES versions, these use F8 bankswitching. We also know that a NTSC version of Space Shuttle exists, so Decathlon and Robot Tank would be preferred.

 

And if they should work and you happen to have a RetroN 77, please test them there too.

[robbievgb]

❌ Robot Tank (NTSC blue label ver.) -  fails for me. Game loads but shows rolling outline of hud menu and no input is accepted.

 

Some homebrews I tested while I was at it

✅ Cat Trax

✅ Fall Down

✅ Ladybug (original 2006 ver.)

❌ The Byte Before Christmas - "Loads" but just goes to blank screen.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by robbievgb

[Zap1982]

Has anyone tested Plus Cart(+) yet?

I mean, I am not expecting it to work but I was just curious if it would..?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

42 minutes ago, robbievgb said:

❌ Robot Tank (NTSC blue label ver.) -  fails for me. Game loads but shows rolling outline of hud menu and no input is accepted.

Thanks. That's exactly what happens when only the 2nd 4K of the 8K are available.

42 minutes ago, robbievgb said:

Some homebrews I tested while I was at it

✅ Cat Trax

✅ Fall Down

✅ Ladybug (original 2006 ver.)

❌ The Byte Before Christmas - "Loads" but just goes to blank screen.

Cat Trax is 4K, Fall Down (F8) and Lady Bug (F6) use Atari's bankswitching. So I had expected them to work.

 

I do not know what The Byte Before Christmas uses, since I do not have the ROM. @Albert Can you tell us?

[Albert]

Just now, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I do not know what The Byte Before Christmas uses, since I do not have the ROM. @Albert Can you tell us?

F8SC.

 

Nearly all the homebrews with SARA RAM do not load properly, or they load but there is garbage in areas where presumably RAM is being used.  These obviously aren't being detected properly by Stella.

 

 ..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

2 minutes ago, Albert said:

F8SC.

Thanks!

2 minutes ago, Albert said:

Nearly all the homebrews with SARA RAM do not load properly, or they load but there is garbage in areas where presumably RAM is being used.  These obviously aren't being detected properly by Stella.

Only the homebrews? Games like Defender II/Stargate are reported to work. Stella detects SC RAM by comparing the RAM bytes for each bank. If these are identical, it must be RAM. Until now this worked perfectly, so I wonder what's inside 2600+ dumps. 

[omf]

On 11/20/2023 at 2:43 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

That's a limitation of the dumper, not the emulator. The 2600+ uses the latest Stella 6.7.

i take it the dumper can be updated with new firmware to improve working games?  hopfully an update will be available soon.

 

i have about 8 games out of 13 that dont work and probably a load more on the way (due to the last chance sale a while back)