2600 Atari 2600 related test results (not 7800!)

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Few 2600 'brew games I was able to test just a bit ago:

 

✅Ms. Galactapus

✅Arkyology

✅Ninjish Guy

✅K.O. Cruiser

✅Berzerk: VE

✅Go Fish!

❌Venture Reloaded - gives the title screen and goes to the next screen with the treasures collected, but then locks up there with some sprite corruption and white noise like sound. Also seems to lock up the 2600+ as it doesn't hot swap a game after this and I had to power cycle it to load up something different.

❌Lode Runner - Just gives scrolling rainbow bars that move down the screen

 

Edited November 22, 2023 by -^CrossBow^-
Games updated 11-22-2023

[tradyblix]

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Few 2600 'brew games I was able to test just a bit ago:

 

✅Ms. Galactapus

✅Arkyology

✅Ninjish Guy

❌Venture Reloaded - gives the title screen and goes to the next screen with the treasures collected, but then locks up there with some sprite corruption and white noise like sound. Also seems to lock up the 2600+ as it doesn't hot swap a game after this and I had to power cycle it to load up something different.

❌Lode Runner - Just gives scrolling rainbow bars that move down the screen

 

So, there are quite a few homebrews that do work... just not ones that employ more advanced types of bankswitching or special processors ? 

 

Btw I would advise against hotswapping. you get weird behavior sometimes and It's better to powercycle it for each new game IMO. Which feels natural honestly. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by tradyblix

[+-^CrossBow^-]

6 minutes ago, tradyblix said:

Btw I would advise against hotswapping. you get weird behavior sometimes and It's better to powercycle it for each new game IMO. Which feels natural honestly. 

Atari designed the 2600+ for hot swapping so you wouldn't have to wait for the console to boot up fully each time. It is how they intended it to work.

 

The only time I've had the hot swapping not work is when I try and first load up a game that it doesn't like and then it frequently doesn't seem to hot load the next game properly without power cycling. I've found this more often on 7800 games so far.

 

[tradyblix]

5 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Atari designed the 2600+ for hot swapping so you wouldn't have to wait for the console to boot up fully each time. It is how they intended it to work.

 

The only time I've had the hot swapping not work is when I try and first load up a game that it doesn't like and then it frequently doesn't seem to hot load the next game properly without power cycling. I've found this more often on 7800 games so far.

 

For 2600 It was working well, but it doesn't work properly with 7800s. And I go back and forth. Since I stopped hotswapping, things work much more consistently. Otherwise I was getting issues like the games glitching out and resetting. It's like a second or two wait and I get a clean machine each time. I'm just gonna reboot on each cart from now on, like in the old days. 

 

YMMV of course. As far as Atari's design skills, I'm not sure how much I trust that considering A/B difficulty was released backwards and nobody thought about PAL until UK youtubers had a sad unboxing day this week...  

Edited November 22, 2023 by tradyblix

[+karri]

42 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

Atari designed the 2600+ for hot swapping so you wouldn't have to wait for the console to boot up fully each time. It is how they intended it to work.

 

The only time I've had the hot swapping not work is when I try and first load up a game that it doesn't like and then it frequently doesn't seem to hot load the next game properly without power cycling. I've found this more often on 7800 games so far.

 

Does this mean that you can hot swap the games by just using the Dragonfly buttons? I also have the Dragonfly and should receive the 2600+ tomorrow.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

18 minutes ago, karri said:

Does this mean that you can hot swap the games by just using the Dragonfly buttons? I also have the Dragonfly and should receive the 2600+ tomorrow.

yes... that is how I did it in fact.

 

I first chose a game like Asteroids or something and played it. Then used the back button on the DF to show my game menus again. Selected a different game and chose the enter button for the DF to start loading it. Soon as the DF started to load up the new game the 2600+ blanked out and once the new game was loaded on the DF, the 2600+ started to auto load the game again and then played the new game selected. I was kinda surprised to see that work properly but it did.

 

[robbievgb]

I tried a few even though we all expect them to fail. Found at least one surprise. Are all NTSC original carts.

 

Original Releases 

✅ Espial - was listed on the latest PDF as untested

 

Homebrew

✅ Bigfoot Family Search

✅ Conjoined

❌ Galagon

✅ Melbourne Tatty

✅ Reindeer Rescue

✅ Spies in the Night

❌ Stay Frosty 2

✅ Toyshop Trouble - worked great. I only played up to day 3 during the test.

❌ Turbo

[Thomas Jentzsch]

48 minutes ago, robbievgb said:

I tried a few even though we all expect them to fail. Found at least one surprise. Are all NTSC original carts.

 

Original Releases 

✅ Espial - was listed on the latest PDF as untested

 

Homebrew

✅ Bigfoot Family Search

✅ Conjoined

❌ Galagon

✅ Melbourne Tatty

✅ Reindeer Rescue

✅ Spies in the Night

❌ Stay Frosty 2

✅ Toyshop Trouble - worked great. I only played up to day 3 during the test.

❌ Turbo

Thanks for testing Toyshops Trouble, looks like the carts are using a different bankswitching (F8) than the released ROM (0840) (@Albert Can you tell more here?). The other ones are not surprising and fit to the list in my first post.

[Kulp]

as per the most recent compatibility list: Basic Math & Fun With Numbers listed as Untested.
✅ Basic Math
✅ Fun With Numbers

both work.

[chad5200]

Coleco Donkey Kong Junior.  NTSC.

 

Does not work for me.

 

(Tested great on a real 2600.  Contacts nice and cleaned.)

 

This is one that is "Passed" according to the official list. 

 

Anyone else have luck with this game?

 

[Perceval70]

8 hours ago, chad5200 said:

Coleco Donkey Kong Junior.  NTSC.

 

Does not work for me.

 

(Tested great on a real 2600.  Contacts nice and cleaned.)

 

This is one that is "Passed" according to the official list. 

 

Anyone else have luck with this game?

 

I have a red label copy that seems to work fine. 

[Albert]

2 minutes ago, Perceval70 said:

I have a red label copy that seems to work fine. 

Yeah, Donkey Kong is only a 4K game, it should generally work without any issues. 

 

 ..Al

[+LS650]

9 hours ago, chad5200 said:

Coleco Donkey Kong Junior.  NTSC.

Does not work for me.

I have a red label DK Junior.  It loads okay.

 

I've seen several carts that work just fine on my regular 2600 require a very lengthy cleaning with the ol' Q-tips before they started working on my 2600+ , but then were okay.

 

My guess is you need to put more elbow grease into cleaning the contacts.

[jhammond]

Homebrew games that work for me are:

Seawolf, Juno First, Robot City

 

 

[jhammond]

Tutankham & Montezuma’s Revenge kind of work.  They have some lag, especially with sound.  Some sounds don’t even come through on Montezuma’s Revenge.

[jhammond]

The AtariAge Super 78 arcade stick works great for my 2600 and 7800 games with the 2600+ .

 

driver controller with Indy 500 does not steer…only moves in one direction.

[chad5200]

9 hours ago, ls650 said:

I have a red label DK Junior.  It loads okay.

 

I've seen several carts that work just fine on my regular 2600 require a very lengthy cleaning with the ol' Q-tips before they started working on my 2600+ , but then were okay.

 

My guess is you need to put more elbow grease into cleaning the contacts.

My Donkey Kong Junior cart is the white shell one from Coleco.  As seen here: https://atariage.com/cart_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=151

 

No luck on the 2600+.  I have cleaned it 10 times and very thoroughly each time.

 

Works great on the real 2600... never an issue on the real thing.

 

Can someone else out there confirm that their white shelled Coleco Donkey Kong Junior plays fine on the 2600+?

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by chad5200

[chad5200]

10 hours ago, Albert said:

Yeah, Donkey Kong is only a 4K game, it should generally work without any issues. 

 

 ..Al

Talking about Donkey Kong Junior... this one is 8K.

 

[+remowilliams]

On 11/20/2023 at 4:14 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

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.

 

All games are US Activision copies.

 

R77

Decathalon: does not run - black screen

Space Shuttle: does not run

Robot Tank: does not run

 

2600+

Decathalon: runs

Space Shuttle: runs

Robot Tank: does not run, rolling corrupted HUD as previously posted

 

[Diewaldo]

Just got my Atari 2600+ a few hours ago. I am located in Germany so my carts are (mostly) PAL with a few exceptions. I did a quick testplay with some of my favourite games to see how they run.

 

Works:

 

Galaxian (PAL)

Battlezone (PAL)

Jawbreaker (NTSC)

 

Also the PAL Battlezone looks fine on my TV in Game Mode settings, not so dark in colour like the one in the other thread here.

[ForceInfinity]

@Albert @Ben from Plaion do you happen to know if the Atari Vox or Save Key addons are on the roadmap for future firmware updates for the 2600+?

[kimchipenguin]

I had no luck with two Mega Drive (Genesis) three button pads. 

[Albert]

Just now, kimchipenguin said:

I had no luck with two Mega Drive (Genesis) three button pads. 

I'm curious what you mean by no luck?  Do they not work at all?  Are you trying them with 2600 or 7800 games (or both?)

 

Thanks,

 

 ..Al

[envytomdead2]

9 hours ago, chad5200 said:

Can someone else out there confirm that their white shelled Coleco Donkey Kong Junior plays fine on the 2600+?

I don't have 2600+ but on my Retron 77 the coleco DK jr doesn't work but the red label does. Perhaps there is a similar problem with the 2600+?

[envytomdead2]

Do the coleco carts us different bank switching then the red label versions of the same game?