Atari 2600+ Unboxing Experiences

[tradyblix]

I decided to start a thread where new owners could talk about their out of box experience.  

 

My hope is that this could help some new users or be a point of interest for those on the fence. 

 

The background

 

So I am a middle aged person in my late 40s who is an avid gamer. I have a playstation 5 and have hundreds of games for it, so I play both modern and new games, and I'm not a newbie to the  emulator scene, either. 

For some reason, I got unreasonably excited by this device. I was even questioning why, as I previously had a modded light sixer I used around 2015 with a composite mod, and the experience i had with a then modern, LG C6 (2016) 65" OLED TV was, to say the least, not great. I chalked this up to - you can't play games from Atari on a modern panel. 

 

Later, briefly, I got a small 13" trinitron that was ungodly heavy and I hooked my modded light sixer up to that - with Harmony cart and All The Things™ gamewise, and yes, much better looking on a CRT. Case Closed.

 

So it was with no small amount of trepidation that I ordered this and waited with baited breath, reading tending-towards-angry rants from enthusiasts here and elsewhere, and dodging the "This will fail" negative Nelly's. 

I knew there were problems and some of my games might not run. But I went out and got it anyway.

 

The unboxing experience

 

Unboxing a cute, new 2600+ shouldn't make a person so happy and excited, but it did. The packaging and materials are first rate, and the device looks and feels right. Yes, you will want to smell it to get the factory smell in your nostrils. 

I was stoked. I was getting overly excited, imagining about how I was going to write this post. I told myself to calm down, that some games might not run, and you will get disappointed and gruff... having had experiences in the past all too disappointing with new hardware that arrives broken, doesn't perform, or has setup quirks. And true enough, I was in for some.

 

The cartridges

 

I knew 7800 compatibility wasn't as good, so I stared with 2600. Jungle Hunt. Inserted game, loaded first try. There it is ! And it looks good. Colors bright and crisp on my very good LG C1 OLED. Much better than my first OLED in 2015, but to be expected - this was a far more mature OLED panel and everything was better on this TV. 

Started playing - I put the game in my TVs "Game Mode" a "Low-latency" input mode for gaming. Instead of using the stock controller, which while being beautiful and accurate, was stiff as a board, just as feared - I had a hate relationship with that thing in the 80s - I was hoping my Hyperkin Ranger, a modern-ish take on a combo joystick/paddle controller for Atari 2600 and Retron 77 would work and not have input lag.

 

I need not have worried. It was great. No real lag. The game played just as expected and I can say these controllers perform very well - perfect for precision in games like Ms. Pac Man 7800 and Robotron 7800.

 

I had seen online that you could hot swap 2600 games. And so I did with the next game, Demon Attack from Imagic. No problems, loads up, colors look great, black background games looking fantastic on the TV.

 

I noticed the 4:3 Display (why it ships in 16:9 I don't know) is slight offset. I assume this is something to do with my TV. In any event it's very minor and I only really noticed it on a game such as Jungle Hunt with a bright blue background. YMMV.  I learned a long time ago from my audio hobby equipment synergy is a thing. 

 

Then I ran into my first problems. Okay 2600 games work well and load pretty fast. Let me "hot-swap" a 7800 game in that I know works, Ms. Pac Man. No dice. Loading Game Failed. The dreaded error.

 

A wave of fear went over me. Did these games I'd picked up to have a little retro coffee table system indeed not work ? even worse - were they somehow PAL games ? How would I even know ? I looked at the label. Made in China. Hmmm.

 

Next game - Xevious - no dice. Loading game failed. Ms. Pac Man. Loading game failed. 

 

At this point I was resigned to my fate, but as hot swapping had seemingly ceased to work, staying on "Loading Game Failed" for a while, I did the usual ("reset the power switch") and load the cartridge slowly and deliberately for the next game, Food fight. Surprise ! Works.

 

At this point I had noticed that slotting in Ms Pac Man had felt kind of weird. Not a good solid crunch of connecting contacts.  And Xevious was dirty - I could even see insect parts in the bottom part of the sticker or so I thought. Time to clean them with Q tip and water. 

 

Then I carefully, with power off and slowly lining up cart and pushing in with a firm "clunk" tried Ms Pac-Man again, for the third time. Worked. I played for a while, everything feeling very solid or at least as good as I'm used to with ProSystem on my other emu device, a Miyoo Mini handheld from China. 

 

After that, I swore OFF hot swapping, and every other game I tried worked. So - I don't know what to make of this - the loader was new and needed a few cart insertions ? the hot-swapping on 7800 ? My lazy cart loading ? Dirty Carts ? Either way, I was relieved. 

 

Games I tested (All eventually worked)

 

Jungle Hunt

Vanguard

Ms Pac-man 7800

Xevious 7800 
Robotron 2084 7800

Juno First

Stargate

Food Fight 7800

 

All in all, A great experience, I have to say, great job Atari - keep this in mind when getting reports and I wish you the best of luck with fixing compatibility issues. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by tradyblix
formatting

[AtariLeaf]

My biggest issues were with 7800 asteroids and random warps which I've mentioned elsewhere and jittery paddles on the plus that play absolutely smooth on real hardware. 

 

Other than that I've been enjoying the plus

Edited November 21, 2023 by AtariLeaf

[scelbi8h]

I just love this console. The looks, the smell, the dose of nostalgia when I opened the box for the first time... 

 

So far my boy and I are enjoying it a lot.

 

OK, there are issues, specially here in PAL land... but when I turn it on and see the message v1.00, then I think it's a matter of time everything will be fixed and will run just fine. 

 

Way to go Atari, what a sweet little machine!

Edited November 22, 2023 by scelbi8h

[SparkleFork]

I was stupidly excited about this system for reasons I couldn't really justify. I have so many ways to play 2600 games but always wanted something that gave a more authentic experience and this seemed to fit the bill. I have to say, it's pretty much delivered on all fronts. Random thoughts: 

I had reservations that the image would look too clean and sharp on a modern TV and look more like an emulator on a PC than an old system, but I was pleasantly surprised. It has that nice warmness about it that fires off the nostalgia.

The joystick has that fabulous awkward clunkiness (in a good way!) to it that feels really right in the palm of your hands. A much better experience than the Flashback gold joystick that looked good but just felt too loose.

The tactile element of plugging cartridges into a system just gives it something we have lost in the digital age.

My only wishlist now is getting Circus Convoy on the compatibility list and having an option to switch to PAL so the colours are correct on a few carts. 

 

I certainly didn't imagine I'd ever be buying 2600 carts again but I've amassed a collection that would have blown my 8 year old self's mind (then again to be fair, owning ten carts would have blown my mind back then) and I'm excited to see what else Atari puts out.

[Brad_from_the_80s]

I haven't had access to or played a real 2600 in decades.  I have a Flashback that I thought worked pretty good, but as soon as I powered the 2600+ on and started playing it I could tell it was something special.  It plays really well, subtly better than the Flashback somehow, even though both are emulation, and feels a lot like an original system.  The 60Hz animation is smooth and sharp.  I also tend to like to use filters on retro games, and this has none.  But the colors and the clear sharp picture are just beautiful.  

 

Also the device itself is just gorgeous and looks amazing in my setup, a real conversation piece no doubt.  No complaints on the physical unit.  It's virtually perfect.

 

I had no carts to being with though, except for a couple of random Atari XP I came into possession of and the 10-in-1/4-in-1 pack-ins, so I just started buying a few loose carts online.  I don't think I'm getting crazy or anything yet, but I will probably end up with 2-3 dozen in the next week or two.  It is apparently always a bit of an adventure seeing if they will work right away or only after some coaxing and cleaning.  But you know what?  Collecting the carts is actually fun.  Not OIB sealed or with manuals or anything, just finding a deal on a good working copy of a loose cart of a game on my list of favorites that I don't have yet.  A hunk of plastic and silicon that may have lay dormant and unloved in a box or a bin for decades.  Within reason, I even like the 40 years of wear and dirt on their labels - it gives them character.  One cart even had somebody's name scrawled on it, back in the early 80s I like to imagine.

 

As opposed to all the instant gratification of flash carts and digital delivery and all that.  Something I don't know how to articulate very well but we all kind of realize it to a degree is that there is paralysis in too much choice, and also we don't appreciate things as much when they are too readily available.  30-40 years ago most people didn't have more than a dozen or two games at most for any one system, and rarely had more than one or two systems at a time.  Because we didn't have $30-$40-$50 bucks a pop for every single stinkin' game release.  So you played what you had, or you borrowed, traded or rented, and you played the games repeatedly and for hours.  So as I cobble together a small collection of carts I'm getting to re-experience a little bit of just "playing what I have".  Not that I'm going to stop - I'll probably collect/rescue many other favorite or interesting games eventually, but I don't see myself necessarily fishing through a tote full of hundreds of carts either.  It will be a curated collection.

 

I'm not even sure I'm very gung-ho about people hacking this thing.  We have Flashbacks, we have Gamestation Pro, you have Retron 77.  Yeah this probably emulates a little better and the paddles may work better.  People would probably like their flash carts to work.  People are gonna do what they're gonna do, but I think Atari is deliberately and purposefully recreating an original experience here and.... I'm kinda into it.  And I say that as a person who stuck with an Atari Flashback 9 because I really like the wireless controllers and convenience buttons, lol.  Now I'm toggling switches and sitting closer to the screen.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

18 hours ago, AtariLeaf said:

My biggest issues were with 7800 asteroids and random warps which I've mentioned elsewhere and jittery paddles on the plus that play absolutely smooth on real hardware. 

 

Other than that I've been enjoying the plus

I loaded up 7800 Asteroids on my 2600+ last night and it played fine for me? I'm using an NES style 7800 controller I got from Retrogameboyz a few years ago, but it has NOT done anything random on the games I played. In fact, for fun I even plugged in my High score cart and plugged in my asteroids cart and the game still loaded up and worked fine. High Score cart did NOT come up to save the game and I expected it wouldn't work, but had to try.

 

[AtariLeaf]

7 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

I loaded up 7800 Asteroids on my 2600+ last night and it played fine for me? I'm using an NES style 7800 controller I got from Retrogameboyz a few years ago, but it has NOT done anything random on the games I played. In fact, for fun I even plugged in my High score cart and plugged in my asteroids cart and the game still loaded up and worked fine. High Score cart did NOT come up to save the game and I expected it wouldn't work, but had to try.

 

Very strange, so I have something odd going on and since this only happens on the plus and not original hardware, it's not my europad or nes pads. I'll have to dig out another 7800 asteroids and see if there's some bizarre issue with my original cart

[Teleprompter]

I just finished a quick video on my 2600+ on my channel.  I removed the screws to open it up and there sure is a lot of room for future mods :-)  Can't wait to Frankenstein this, lol.

 

 

[suspicious_milk]

I was devastated.  None of my 7800 would load. Then I played "jiggle the cart" & noticed a few would load if the cart was slightly crooked.  Then I stopped being a dumb ass & cleaned them.  All better now.

 

The freaking TIGHTNESS of that joystick hit my nostalgia bone hard.  It ain't no flashback joystick.  Hyperkin Ranger paddles & stick work great.  Oddly, Breakout (not Super) works with paddles.

 

Unfortunately (or maybe actually fortunately) my Atari Painline controllers seem to have gone wonky, so only one-button 7800 for now.  I've two SMS joysticks I may mod, or a genny pad ... or if I could find/decide on an ergonomically suitable box I've extra arcade sticks/buttons  ... decisions decisions.

 

Just need to pick up just a few more real carts, so I've all my favorites (again).

 

Even my wico "trackball" works (not on the r77 or fb).  Sadly though, Star Raiders numpad is still a no go.

 

I've about ~60 some odd carts & they all work; a couple like Sears Race would not dump/load on the R77.

 

The 2600+ is a premium Atari experience.  

[DEANJIMMY]

On 11/23/2023 at 3:23 AM, suspicious_milk said:

I was devastated.  None of my 7800 would load. Then I played "jiggle the cart" & noticed a few would load if the cart was slightly crooked.  Then I stopped being a dumb ass & cleaned them.  All better now.

 

The freaking TIGHTNESS of that joystick hit my nostalgia bone hard.  It ain't no flashback joystick.  Hyperkin Ranger paddles & stick work great.  Oddly, Breakout (not Super) works with paddles.

 

Unfortunately (or maybe actually fortunately) my Atari Painline controllers seem to have gone wonky, so only one-button 7800 for now.  I've two SMS joysticks I may mod, or a genny pad ... or if I could find/decide on an ergonomically suitable box I've extra arcade sticks/buttons  ... decisions decisions.

 

Just need to pick up just a few more real carts, so I've all my favorites (again).

 

Even my wico "trackball" works (not on the r77 or fb).  Sadly though, Star Raiders numpad is still a no go.

 

I've about ~60 some odd carts & they all work; a couple like Sears Race would not dump/load on the R77.

 

The 2600+ is a premium Atari experience.  

Yes, I really like the new console🤙

 

My cleaned/tested/played 2600 carts go sleeping now in an improvised Box😴

 

The 7800 PAL carts stay awake, waiting for updates and my 7800 Popeye homebrew asks me to give it another try and I answer, well you know it is not the time yet...😊

Edited November 24, 2023 by DEANJIMMY

[Sean_1970]

Cheers for this. I’ve posted my (lengthy) unboxing and play vid elsewhere, but this is more appropriate:

 

Like others have said I was very excited for this - far more so than my PS5 which just felt like a small upgrade to my PS4 Pro. Other than wrong labelling on the difficulty switches the build quality on this stuff is great. I had some “oh no” moments with carts I picked up just to play on this, but after blowing in carts and re-seat, all but two of the 37 carts I own will play and the two that won’t (Robot Tank and Omega Race) have known emulation issues so I’m hopeful a future firmware update will sort this.

 

I have seen some pretty harsh complaints about this machine, but honestly there’s no reason this needed to be made at all and the quality of the build of the console and controllers is very good and shows a regard for fans and legacy that shouldn’t be casually dismissed as some kind of “cash grab.” I have many ways to play 2600 games, but this is far and away my favourite now, even if I have to pull out a table to do it 😁

Edited November 25, 2023 by Sean_1970

[Brad_from_the_80s]

4 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

I have seen some pretty harsh complaints about this machine, but honestly there’s no reason this needed to be made at all and the quality of the build of the console and controllers is very good and shows a regard for fans and legacy that shouldn’t be casually dismissed as some kind of “cash grab.” I have many ways to play 2600 games, but this is far and away my favourite now, even if I have to pull out a table to do it 😁

Most of the online reviews and YT reviews have been fairly positive I think.  A few of the reviewers were clearly stoked, giddy even.  But I did see one in particular that I won't mention that basically just amounted to being a jerk and trashing Atari for views and likes or whatever.  If you think the entire idea is so stupid or so cynical then you really don't have to buy one you know.  The online commentary response tends to be the same old mix of either you get it and you love Atari or you think nothing before NES is playable (blah, go away then).  The question of who this is for does come up a lot, but I don't think the answer is that difficult.  Either you want to play your old carts or you want to collect/try some carts and have a fairly original experience just ever-so-slightly modernized.  Probably Atari is also going to support this with future new game releases, re-releases and enhanced compatibility, but none of that is well-known yet.  I think a few more multi-cart releases might be appropriate.  And yeah there is the theoretical modding scene maybe, but that isn't the motivation for this product. 

 

Me, I'm quite happy just to have this thing.  I didn't expect perfection, but the experience has been good.  The 2600+ works really well actually, accepts all the carts I have, and yes I like playing these games on this device better than any other right now.  The state of 7800 support is criticized some, but just having it at all is a huge bonus.  If I can just play Atari's decent 7800 ports of arcade classics like Donkey Kong then I don't have to bother with Coleco's 2600 port, lol.  There are some valid criticisms of course, a major set of PAL issues, some 7800 and homebrew compatibility and several minor defects, but I believe many of these will be addressed in time, and then some people you're just never going to make happy.  This is never going to be exactly like original hardware with HDMI, and if that is someone's requirement then there are other ways to go about it, but this will get the vast majority of people 99.9% of the way there without a lot of fuss.

[Zap1982]

1 hour ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

Most of the online reviews and YT reviews have been fairly positive I think.  A few of the reviewers were clearly stoked, giddy even.  But I did see one in particular that I won't mention that basically just amounted to being a jerk and trashing Atari for views and likes or whatever.  If you think the entire idea is so stupid or so cynical then you really don't have to buy one you know.  The online commentary response tends to be the same old mix of either you get it and you love Atari or you think nothing before NES is playable (blah, go away then).  The question of who this is for does come up a lot, but I don't think the answer is that difficult.  Either you want to play your old carts or you want to collect/try some carts and have a fairly original experience just ever-so-slightly modernized.  Probably Atari is also going to support this with future new game releases, re-releases and enhanced compatibility, but none of that is well-known yet.  I think a few more multi-cart releases might be appropriate.  And yeah there is the theoretical modding scene maybe, but that isn't the motivation for this product. 

 

Me, I'm quite happy just to have this thing.  I didn't expect perfection, but the experience has been good.  The 2600+ works really well actually, accepts all the carts I have, and yes I like playing these games on this device better than any other right now.  The state of 7800 support is criticized some, but just having it at all is a huge bonus.  If I can just play Atari's decent 7800 ports of arcade classics like Donkey Kong then I don't have to bother with Coleco's 2600 port, lol.  There are some valid criticisms of course, a major set of PAL issues, some 7800 and homebrew compatibility and several minor defects, but I believe many of these will be addressed in time, and then some people you're just never going to make happy.  This is never going to be exactly like original hardware with HDMI, and if that is someone's requirement then there are other ways to go about it, but this will get the vast majority of people 99.9% of the way there without a lot of fuss.

Whilst I love YT I take a lot of 'reviewers' with a fist full of salt now, particularly when they start hating on something because the option is simply don't buy it if it doesn't suit you. Spewing hate on anything is just childish or being done for likes / backhanders. 

 

The one that makes me p!ss myself everytime is when DLC is bashed and the review is all "umm like, why am I paying for something that is gonna be free later on" and then in the same video ask you for money on Patreon in return for a video a few days early that will literally be free to everyone else (?)

 

Other dull common themes on specifically Atari videos is the disclaimer of "Did you know that Atari today isn't the same company that is was in the 70's" that tag line has officially replaced "Sonics had a rough transition into 3D" at this point.

[Brad_from_the_80s]

30 minutes ago, Zap1982 said:

Other dull common themes on specifically Atari videos is the disclaimer of "Did you know that Atari today isn't the same company that is was in the 70's" that tag line has officially replaced "Sonics had a rough transition into 3D" at this point.

That one never gets old.  History is a fine thing, but for all intents and purposes in the year 2023 Atari is Atari.  Get over it.

[+Al_Nafuur]

2 minutes ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

History is a fine thing, ..

Yes, times are changing, the past is not what it used to be.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 hours ago, Sean_1970 said:

...and the two that won’t (Robot Tank and Omega Race) have known emulation issues...

It is not the emulator, but the dumper.

[+LS650]

3 hours ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

Me, I'm quite happy just to have this thing.  I didn't expect perfection, but the experience has been good.  The 2600+ works really well actually, accepts all the carts I have, and yes I like playing these games on this device better than any other right now.  

I feel about the same.  I own about 70 carts including 10 homebrews.  I've tried about 40 carts so far, including the homebrews and three 7800 NTSC carts, and so far they all work - although a couple needed a heck of a cleaning.  Once they start working, they seem fine, so I expect that the mere act of inserting the cart is scrapping away some slight oxidation on the contacts.  I think I have a couple of carts I haven't tried yet that are acknowledged not to work, and I hope they get fixed in a future update.

 

Is it perfect?  Nope, but so far I'm extremely pleased with it, and I expect that at least some flaws, such as 7800 PAL, nonstandard controllers, and the difficulty switches, will be fixed soon.  

[tradyblix]

2 hours ago, Zap1982 said:

Whilst I love YT I take a lot of 'reviewers' with a fist full of salt now, particularly when they start hating on something because the option is simply don't buy it if it doesn't suit you. Spewing hate on anything is just childish or being done for likes / backhanders. 

 

The one that makes me p!ss myself everytime is when DLC is bashed and the review is all "umm like, why am I paying for something that is gonna be free later on" and then in the same video ask you for money on Patreon in return for a video a few days early that will literally be free to everyone else (?)

 

Other dull common themes on specifically Atari videos is the disclaimer of "Did you know that Atari today isn't the same company that is was in the 70's" that tag line has officially replaced "Sonics had a rough transition into 3D" at this point.

It drives engagement. They only care about getting views so they can make money. That's what drives many YT now. The platform is a shadow of what it was just a few years ago. 

 

Hating on TV shows is another big "Engagement" driver. I remember the early days of the net and sure enough we let corporations exploit it and us for financial gain like the sheep we are. Oh well, I won't be here in 20 years, the next gen can try to pick up the pieces of the world they inherit

Edited November 25, 2023 by tradyblix

[jonreddick]

2 hours ago, Brad_from_the_80s said:

That one never gets old.  History is a fine thing, but for all intents and purposes in the year 2023 Atari is Atari.  Get over it.

Yes! Thank you!

[tkarner]

I didn't get a 2600+, just the new joystick and Berzerk. I must say, the new joystick is an extremely faithful reproduction of the original CX40. Depending on your opinion of the CX40 that could be good or bad. But if Atari's intention was to duplicate the CX40, mission accomplished.

[Mockduck]

I think the 2600+ unboxing experience is excellent. It's the kind of thing that when done right you appreciate and also kinda take for granted, but the packaging of the 2600+ is great. If I had one super minor quibble it is that the top middle of the box is getting pressure from the inside packaging that the rest of the box isn't, setting it up for minor tenting long-term, but that can be mitigated by not putting weight on it. The color of the packaging, nice glossy imagery and semi-matte finish etc, beautiful stuff. They also knocked it out of the park with the Atari VCS, whoever's doing their box design is doing fantastic. Well, there might be a few factual errors on the VCS box, but that is probably not the design person's fault.

[Ben from Plaion]

On 11/28/2023 at 3:57 PM, Mockduck said:

I think the 2600+ unboxing experience is excellent. It's the kind of thing that when done right you appreciate and also kinda take for granted, but the packaging of the 2600+ is great. If I had one super minor quibble it is that the top middle of the box is getting pressure from the inside packaging that the rest of the box isn't, setting it up for minor tenting long-term, but that can be mitigated by not putting weight on it. The color of the packaging, nice glossy imagery and semi-matte finish etc, beautiful stuff. They also knocked it out of the park with the Atari VCS, whoever's doing their box design is doing fantastic. Well, there might be a few factual errors on the VCS box, but that is probably not the design person's fault.

Ah nice one. The unboxing experience was carefully considered by Atari, me and an unsung hero of 2600+ aesthetics, luckily that guy works for me, Rob Pace.

[Bitsized]

Like many here, my experience with Atari is not new (I've sold and rebought many cartridges and Atari consoles over the years), but my involvement at AtariAge is. It's been ~20 years since I gamed regularly, but I got a Nintendo Switch last year and played Atari 50. This reignited my love and appreciation for the history and the medium. Once I caught wind of the Atari 2600+, and heard about the AtariAge acquisition - I have been spending most of my time on this forum trying to catch up with all of you. It's been inspiring to see the home-brew community and the breadth of the expansion in the consoles' quietest times. This new era of collaboration is quite exciting.

 

The 2600+ and the buzz around Atari's new era feel DOES feel like futuristic since forever; the company seems to be paving the way for retro IP acquisition that may be paving the way for how to do retro gaming "done right" that other companies might want to follow. All of the Gen Xers with expendable income will be here for another 10-20+ more years, and I hope the company takes advantage of that. It's been lovely to see @Ben from Plaion respond to requests; it makes it all so promising. I've been following him since post #1.

 

I have had the 2600+ for a week and would like to share my thoughts, not that they are anything new, but I would want to throw another opinion into the ring. I get a visceral feel (like putting on a vinyl record) when loading a cartridge, flipping switches, and using the original joystick and paddles. It feels like playing the games the way they were meant to be played (and I am rediscovering features I didn't know existed now that I read manuals), and I feel like I play them better than I did when I was playing them on the Atari 50 (or when I was 6). All of that is valuable.

 

It's excellent that Plaion is making the CX78, and I hope support comes for the driving paddle, video touchpad, and trackball.   

 

I don't believe in the scan lines filter, menu, or save state, but I want to see a pause feature. I would like my 2600+ pure. But along with that, I want my purity in my cartridge purchases, too. That means I want my instruction manual. Do the XP carts come with manuals? Promotional photos make me think they do.   

 

Some middle-aged people opt for the Porsche, but I'm opting for Atari. I have already begun to rebuild my collection and look forward to adding more new titles and homebrews, because that is where I think the retro future is headed.     Futuristic Since Forever (Brilliant)

[Brad_from_the_80s]

45 minutes ago, Bitsized said:

 Do the XP carts come with manuals? Promotional photos make me think they do.   

 

I have a couple of early XP releases that have manuals, patches, maybe some pins?  A couple of the manuals were even reprinted to correct errors.  Whether current/future releases have manuals I do not know.

[Lord Thag]

My out of box experience was far better than with the '77.

 

Positives:

 

• So far, about 98% of the (original) 2600 games I have tested work, though often with a bit of cleaning needed. The only ones that don't are mostly all games with extra chips/non standard formats. Almost everything else works. A far higher ration than the Retron 77 manages even now, and we're only on firmware 1.00
• The CX-40 redo is surprisingly excellent. Feels and responds like the real thing. Very nice job. Paddles are a bit stiff, but work mostly fine, though they seem ever so slightly less sensitive that a well maintained original set. 
• The console switches are also extremely solid and feel like the real deal. 

 

Negatives:

 

• The cart port on this thing is sensitive as shit. It works fine, but it's like a picky three year old with a new food at dinner. It'll eventually cooperate, but it takes a lot of work 😆
• 7800 compatibility is pretty meh at this stage. The 7800 *needs* homebrews working. Bob D pretty much single handedly made it into a system I play regularly. Need me some Moon Cresta and Pac Man Collection on this bad boy!

 

Things that need tweaking: 

 

• This thing could use better messaging when loading carts to see if it's an incompatible format, can't read the cart slot, or what have you