THX-1138 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 The VIC-20 was just a special edition of TheC64 and off the same molds. A 400 maxi is easy to do, not as expensive as TheC64 maxi and the forthcoming TheA500 maxi, and cost effective enough they can do the TheSpectrum maxi after in 2025. The 400 keyboard was never quite as bad as people say now, as a kid I thought the 'touch sensitive' keyboard was so futuristic and I learned programming in BASIC etc. on it and used it for many, many years. It can be remade now, very cheaply and probably far better than the original. There is one outlier on the phase 2 schedule - the unknown "accessory" for Q3 2024, whether that's something general purpose that will work on all RGLs retro machines or if it is specifically aimed at the Commodore or Atari machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 9 hours ago, GoldLeader said: Well it was before the Jr., sure, but you had the Heavy Sixer, the Light Sixer, Then the 4 switch... I mostly meant the woodgrain model; the number of switches doesn't change much in terms of visual design (did people complain the 2600+ only had four switches? Well maybe... 🤦♂️). But I think my point still stands that the Atari 400 was the first Atari 8-bit computer anyway. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumaconcolor Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Unfortunately I expect the 400 was one of the more popular models, because it was cheaper. I'm also sure that the Ford Pinto outsold the Lincoln Town Car. Just because we had a Pinto doesn't mean we didn't want a Town Car. I wanted the 800, and I wish they would have used its design. Now, they did release a "road map" of their future products recently and there was a bunch of mystery stuff on it, and one of those things turned out to be the 400, and they've made various Commodore models before, so maybe an 800 is in the future. Fingers crossed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pumaconcolor Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 10 hours ago, THX-1138 said: There is one outlier on the phase 2 schedule - the unknown "accessory" for Q3 2024, whether that's something general purpose that will work on all RGLs retro machines or if it is specifically aimed at the Commodore or Atari machines. I'm thinking that's the "CX" joystick that they are selling separately. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scifidude79 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I think it's a great idea. I never owned an Atari computer, the 400 mini will be my first. (unless you count the 5200, which we had when I was growing up) The design is iconic, it's from the golden years of Atari. Plus, as others pointed out, 4 controller ports. That was so rare back in the day. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX-1138 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 2 hours ago, pumaconcolor said: I'm thinking that's the "CX" joystick that they are selling separately. Yeah possibly. But that was announced at the same time as the 400 mini - Q1 2024. I'm really not too sure about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 It should have been an 800. I would have been far more inclined to buy one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 10 minutes ago, Greg2600 said: It should have been an 800. I would have been far more inclined to buy one. If it had a 8bit cartridge port I would have bought one. If they make one that does have a cart port in the future, I will buy for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 3 hours ago, pumaconcolor said: Unfortunately I expect the 400 was one of the more popular models, because it was cheaper. I'm also sure that the Ford Pinto outsold the Lincoln Town Car. Just because we had a Pinto doesn't mean we didn't want a Town Car. I wanted the 800, and I wish they would have used its design. Now, they did release a "road map" of their future products recently and there was a bunch of mystery stuff on it, and one of those things turned out to be the 400, and they've made various Commodore models before, so maybe an 800 is in the future. Fingers crossed. I think the 800XL was the most popular? The 400 was never all that cheap except towards the end of its life, but then it was replaced by the inexpensive 600XL with a better keyboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CapitanClassic Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 4 hours ago, Shawn said: If it had a 8bit cartridge port I would have bought one. If they make one that does have a cart port in the future, I will buy for sure. I’m sure it would have added to the cost (significantly though, not sure). I hope they go the Mega Drive Mini route (for the sequel next year) and have the hinged cartridge port add a small plastic cart that when inserted turns on BASIC. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_B Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I thought the lesson from the 2600+ was that cartridge ports add a lot to the price but aren't that useful on an emulation machine because: You've got to dump the game first before you can play it. Not everything in every cartridge can be dumped via the cartridge port either. We've all got a complete ROMset lying around somewhere anyway. Sideloading games via flash storage has worked fine on all the RGL machines up to this point too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 3 minutes ago, Matt_B said: I thought the lesson from the 2600+ was that cartridge ports add a lot to the price but aren't that useful on an emulation machine because: You've got to dump the game first before you can play it. Not everything in every cartridge can be dumped via the cartridge port either. We've all got a complete ROMset lying around somewhere anyway. Sideloading games via flash storage has worked fine on all the RGL machines up to this point too. Sure but there's a lot of people who want the experience of plugging in a cart even if it's pointless. 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_B Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 1 minute ago, zzip said: Sure but there's a lot of people who want the experience of plugging in a cart even if it's pointless. Given that many of the best Atari 8-bit only came on cassette tape and floppy disk, it'd be even more pointless in this case. Still, yes, you're always going to get people who want these things for the touchy-feely experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 On 1/16/2024 at 8:18 PM, Albert said: Castle Crisis (Warlords) for the 8-bit and 5200. Ratcatcher supports three players. RealSports Curling supports up to eight players. ..Al Surely, what Nintendon’t and Segcan’t ! - - - Sidenote: Warlords/Castlecrisis could be a really interesting title for Atari to Recharge, even give it a mobile/tablet-version. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 3 minutes ago, Matt_B said: Given that many of the best Atari 8-bit only came on cassette tape and floppy disk, it'd be even more pointless in this case. Still, yes, you're always going to get people who want these things for the touchy-feely experience. And I'm sure there's people who would rather listen to 10 minutes of cassette screeching noises, for that authentic experience, than have it instant-load. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 6 hours ago, Shawn said: If it had a 8bit cartridge port I would have bought one. I’ll buy one anyway to play Atari 8-bit-everything easily on the telly, but I agree that cartridge-port/ports (of port with adapters), would make it alot more attractive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) 23 hours ago, GoldLeader said: but I think an Atari 5200 would be neato. And I'm sure they liked that one right up until they remembered the joysticks... 😂😂😂 …’remembered’… like all the gaming-traumas …🤣 Edited January 17 by Giles N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_B Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 7 minutes ago, zzip said: And I'm sure there's people who would rather listen to 10 minutes of cassette screeching noises, for that authentic experience, than have it instant-load. I know people who have done literally that with the Spectrum Next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 31 minutes ago, zzip said: Sure but there's a lot of people who want the experience of plugging in a cart even if it's pointless. If future emulation-consoles using cart-dumper-technology, have additional features, it doesn’t need to be pointless at all to create a ROM from cartridge. I mean Atari themselves must stay strictly legal. A console which stored your ROM to some personal Atari-account, or just a bank on consoles which could transfer game-ROM collection via cables, would make it easier for Atari to sell consoles which had obvious legal ways to collect games, even for homebrewers making games to shuffle their stuff between mini-consoles, the new VCS, the Polymega-stuff and whatnot. Some of this seems to be adressed with the Pllymega projects, yet it will so far only support 2600/7800 and possibly Arcade. Having ones own collection of games to be transferred from Atari-unit to Atari-unit, could be an attractive way for serious collectors to plug in cart after cart, which then pops up a selectable game on all sorts of potential Atari devices (like a top-quality Atari handheld which imported your collection from some personal Atari-account). Some would say: why the trouble? But as to such nostalgic/retro systems, thats like saying ‘why not rather play emulation on your standard PC for any old game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 On 1/16/2024 at 7:32 PM, JPF997 said: What do you guys think? As to sheer aesthetics of the unit: no Atari 8-bit family system beats the 5200: they could’ve used the unused extra slot for connection to PC-keyboard, use the 4 port unit layout, and include 1x 8-bit family joystick (the one the sell with 400 mini), + 1 vastly(!!!) improved analogue stick for the 5200 (looking like a blend of the Command Control and the Gamestation-stick or something) However, if they want to cater to home-computer fans (lots of them in Europe, unacquainted with the American-only 5200), they’d probably miss out alot. Since the thing itself plays everything in Atari 8-bit family, the choice would realistically fall between the most widely remembered or easily recognized home-computer model. I’ll be satisfied if they weed out as much problems, and make it as widely compatible as possible on launch-date. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_B Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I'm wondering if their mystery new peripheral might be an analogue stick. Either that or a trackball would be a nice addition to the set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 As long as they go with the Atari 800 if this sells well and they do a Maxi follow-up (so we'd get a proper keyboard instead of a membrane imitation), I take no issue with the 400 being selected for the Mini. In fact for those that double dip and support the Maxi, it's going to be nice to have this one be so visually distinctive from the full-size successor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzip Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 16 hours ago, Giles N said: A console which stored your ROM to some personal Atari-account, or just a bank on consoles which could transfer game-ROM collection via cables, would make it easier for Atari to sell consoles which had obvious legal ways to collect games, even for homebrewers making games to shuffle their stuff between mini-consoles, the new VCS, the Polymega-stuff and whatnot. Sure a system where you plug in your media as proof of purchase and receive a legit rom to your account would be great. But I'm not sure it's legally feasible. MP3.com tried something like this with CDs, got sued and lost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles N Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) 2 hours ago, zzip said: Sure a system where you plug in your media as proof of purchase and receive a legit rom to your account would be great. But I'm not sure it's legally feasible. MP3.com tried something like this with CDs, got sued and lost Hmm, but then what about … hmm… wait… forget it… 🤷🏻♂️ Edited January 18 by Giles N 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 On 1/16/2024 at 1:32 PM, JPF997 said: What do you guys think? I want to pick one up so I'll vote for "it's a good idea" 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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