New Atari 7800+, Wireless Controllers and 2600/7800 Games Announced

[+GoldLeader]

I also think we should give @bent_pin and @Giles N a plaque or something.   Actually that's not even Atari related or anything to do with this topic.  I just like those guys.

 

 

 

[+GoldLeader]

10 hours ago, Giles N said:

If Atari gets some money, backed by honestly held high esteem; they’ll get closer to do some overt Limited Run Luxury-console-stunts in the near future.

 

 I hope so!   (Not really expecting it,...but...)

 

That would be Amazing!

 

Anyway they got $320+ of my money last night when I placed an order.   (So I guess I'm doing my part)  😃

[H.Fraenkel]

@Albert Will the 7800+ be compatible with both NTSC and PAL games, even without color errors? And will the homebrew carts Dungeon Stalker, Centipede TrakBall, Millie & Molly, Harpy's Curse, E.X.O., Death Merchant, and A.R.T.I. run on it? Thanky you!

[Dark Descent]

16 hours ago, cvga said:

I've already received an email stating that my order is on the way along with a FedEx tracking number. Sweet!

If you ordered other items along with pre-order items, they'll split your shipment.  

[+bent_pin]

6 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

I also think we should give @bent_pin and @Giles N a plaque or something.   Actually that's not even Atari related or anything to do with this topic.  I just like those guys.

 

Just got off an 11 hour shift and misread that as plague. MFW

Had to read it thrise.

[BassGuitari]

I don't have anything to add but, even as a 2600+ owner, this is beyond cool. I definitely want a 7800+! The game lineup is exciting, as well, especially Bentley Bear, Bounty Bob, and Caverns of Mars. When my family starts asking me what I want for Christmas this year, I'll actually have answers for once!

 

The port of Bounty Bob Strikes Back prompts a question: As a way of meeting the 5200 crowd half-way, can we expect more 7800 ports of 5200 games?

[+Intellivision Master]

6 minutes ago, BassGuitari said:

The port of Bounty Bob Strikes Back prompts a question: As a way of meeting the 5200 crowd half-way, can we expect more 7800 ports of 5200 games?

I hope so.  That would be great.

[+bent_pin]

17 minutes ago, BassGuitari said:

7800 ports of 5200 games

With pokey carts available now and bigger cheaper roms, there's no reason not to publish both 5200 and 7800 versions on the same 7800 cart.

[JetmanUK]

29 minutes ago, BassGuitari said:

I don't have anything to add but, even as a 2600+ owner, this is beyond cool. I definitely want a 7800+! The game lineup is exciting, as well, especially Bentley Bear, Bounty Bob, and Caverns of Mars. When my family starts asking me what I want for Christmas this year, I'll actually have answers for once!

 

The port of Bounty Bob Strikes Back prompts a question: As a way of meeting the 5200 crowd half-way, can we expect more 7800 ports of 5200 games?

This could be a good solution.

As I am not that familiar (at all!) with the 5200's library, can anyone list the games that are Atari owned IP, released on the 5200 but not the 7800? Might make an interesting list for Atari/Plaion to see.

Edited August 22 by JetmanUK

[Orionsangel]

Nintendo offered Atari a chance to produce the NES in the states & they declined. They said video games are over. NES became a big hit! In a panic Atari who had the 7800 in the back burner, but canceled it, quickly rushed the 7800 to market to compete with the NES. 7800 It flopped! My point is that the 7800 is not worthy of this plus system. The games feel rushed. They're bad. The fact the ad calls it "iconic" is insulting. 
 

The Atari 5200 should be getting an Atari 5200+ release before the 7800. It has better quality games and great arcade ports. Atari could also re-release the crappy controllers, but now have them work well. A chance to redeem the Atari 5200. I'm not happy how Atari keeps neglecting the Atari 5200. No, the Atari 400 mini is not worthy tribute of the 5200. I don't care if the hardware is the same. I grew up with the 5200. I'm nostalgic for it.

[r_chase]

25 minutes ago, Orionsangel said:

Nintendo offered Atari a chance to produce the NES in the states & they declined. They said video games are over. NES became a big hit! In a panic Atari who had the 7800 in the back burner, but canceled it, quickly rushed the 7800 to market to compete with the NES. 7800 It flopped! My point is that the 7800 is not worthy of this plus system. The games feel rushed. They're bad. The fact the ad calls it "iconic" is insulting. 
 

The Atari 5200 should be getting an Atari 5200+ release before the 7800. It has better quality games and great arcade ports. Atari could also re-release the crappy controllers, but now have them work well. A chance to redeem the Atari 5200. I'm not happy how Atari keeps neglecting the Atari 5200. No, the Atari 400 mini is not worthy tribute of the 5200. I don't care if the hardware is the same. I grew up with the 5200. I'm nostalgic for it.

Why are you so mad about the 7800 getting all the attention? No, seriously, why? I think you're just jealous. Green with envy that your favorite console isn't getting enough attention yet. If the 5200 is superior, then why do people flock back to the 2600? I get it, but the only thing unique about the 5200 is that It's basically a heavily-modified Atari 8-bit computer underneath the hood. Does that make it higher-end than the 2600? Yes, but does it have a big following compared to the 2600/7800 scene? No, it does not.

[+MattelAquarius]

I love the Atari 7800!

[LilSwampAss]

1 hour ago, Orionsangel said:

Nintendo offered Atari a chance to produce the NES in the states & they declined. They said video games are over. NES became a big hit! In a panic Atari who had the 7800 in the back burner, but canceled it, quickly rushed the 7800 to market to compete with the NES. 7800 It flopped! My point is that the 7800 is not worthy of this plus system. The games feel rushed. They're bad. The fact the ad calls it "iconic" is insulting. 
 

The Atari 5200 should be getting an Atari 5200+ release before the 7800. It has better quality games and great arcade ports. Atari could also re-release the crappy controllers, but now have them work well. A chance to redeem the Atari 5200. I'm not happy how Atari keeps neglecting the Atari 5200. No, the Atari 400 mini is not worthy tribute of the 5200. I don't care if the hardware is the same. I grew up with the 5200. I'm nostalgic for it.

The 7800 wasn't a big success compared to its competition in America but I don't see how that disqualifies a product like the 7800+ from being made. I understand being upset that you didn't get what you want but why does that mean this product shouldn't exist? 

[+Atarius Maximus]

I was really excited to see Bob's game released as the pack in, although I already own a boxed copy from AA.  Here's hoping that Atari continues to publish more 7800 homebrews, there are SO many excellent homebrew games for that platform. 

[BassGuitari]

21 minutes ago, Intellivision Master said:

I hope so.  That would be great.

I mean, I would rather the 5200 not be made even more redundant than it kind of already is, but I can see why Atari wouldn't want to develop a dedicated hardware platform to reach a niche fanbase, either. I think "7800ifying" select 5200 games is a reasonable compromise.

 

If there was a 5200+ with new analog joysticks (that is, reliable versions of the old ones), and new 5200 games that actually make sense with them, my credit card info would be entered before I even got to the end of the press release. A "mini" 5200 (still relatively big, lol) with a switchable 400/800 BIOS built-in to be used with a separately sold XL/XE module for SIO (or SD card...), USB (for keyboard), 9-pin controller, and A8 cart port passthrough? That's the dream, right there.

 

1 minute ago, Orionsangel said:

Nintendo offered Atari a chance to produce the NES in the states & they declined. They said video games are over. NES became a big hit! In a panic Atari who had the 7800 in the back burner, but canceled it, quickly rushed the 7800 to market to compete with the NES. 7800 It flopped! My point is that the 7800 is not worthy of this plus system. The games feel rushed. They're bad. The fact the ad calls it "iconic" is insulting. 

You're a little off here. The Nintendo deal fell apart because, in a nutshell, Atari did. Coleco initially threw a stick in the spokes when they showed the Colecovision version of Donkey Kong running on the ADAM at CES; Atari had the computer rights and thought Nintendo was double-dealing behind their backs, which wasn't true, but while that was getting smoothed over, Atari's CEO resigned amid an insider trading scandal, the company was hemorrhaging money, and there was some reshuffling of management. Nintendo ran out of patience with all that chaos and chose to go their own way. It wasn't this bullheaded "No, games are dumb, GTFO" from Atari.

 

And the 7800 was stuck in limbo because the new Atari Corp. and Warner had to sort out who was going to pay GCC for its development. And Atari Corp. had to contract GCC to develop some launch games for it, too. All that took over a year. It's not like they already had the 7800 ready to go, said "Nah, we're doing computers now" and mothballed their inventory (which doesn't even make sense), then dusted it off when the NES got hot.

 

You're certainly free to your opinion about the Atari 7800, but your antipathy toward it is kind of weird.

 

52 minutes ago, Orionsangel said:

The Atari 5200 should be getting an Atari 5200+ release before the 7800. It has better quality games and great arcade ports. Atari could also re-release the crappy controllers, but now have them work well. A chance to redeem the Atari 5200. I'm not happy how Atari keeps neglecting the Atari 5200. No, the Atari 400 mini is not worthy tribute of the 5200. I don't care if the hardware is the same. I grew up with the 5200. I'm nostalgic for it.

I'm with you on this, though!

 

(Except I didn't grow up with a 5200, and I don't even think the controllers are bad once they've been repaired or rebuilt. 😜)

[+pboland]

3 hours ago, BassGuitari said:

I don't have anything to add but, even as a 2600+ owner, this is beyond cool. I definitely want a 7800+! The game lineup is exciting, as well, especially Bentley Bear, Bounty Bob, and Caverns of Mars. When my family starts asking me what I want for Christmas this year, I'll actually have answers for once!

This^^^

 

3 hours ago, BassGuitari said:

As a way of meeting the 5200 crowd half-way, can we expect more 7800 ports of 5200 games?

Interesting idea. The question is what games are on the 5200 that isn't on the 7800 already that Atari has the rights for? Not only that, the games would need to be re-programmed as the 5200 and 7800 are not compatible systems.

 

Speaking of the 5200, I see that there are some who would love a 5200+ (that would be neat). Just thinking about this out loud, that seems like a very difficult undertaking. Just remaking the controller alone would most likely break the budget of current day Atari. That controller is not as simple of a controller as the CX-40 or even the CX-78. Think about it, if it was easy Atari would have already done it. There are huge things that would need to happen to make a 5200+.

 

Curious question: How many systems and carts were sold for 5200 vs 7800. It seems to me it is easier to find 7800 carts than 5200 carts. I would guess Atari sold more 7800's than 5200's. Just guessing.

[Clint Thompson]

9 minutes ago, pboland said:

Just remaking the controller alone would most likely break the budget of current day Atari. That controller is not as simple of a controller as the CX-40 or even the CX-78. Think about it, if it was easy Atari would have already done it. There are huge things that would need to happen to make a 5200+.

I don’t see Atari wasting the money/resources to make a 5200 mini, though outside of the case housing, it would be relatively simple since it’s basically already what the Mini400 is. 
 

Outside of a few other futuristic modifications of the CX78 I would love to see in some future iteration (frosted illuminated red buttons, white illuminated Atari logo) they could simply replace the d-pad with an analog thumb stick, give it shoulder L/R buttons that could also act as start/select buttons and a slide-down numeric keypad from behind. 
 

Anyone who would actually want the original 5200 controllers to be re-created in any form, well… there’s a special place that isn’t here on Earth for you 😅

[BassGuitari]

1 minute ago, pboland said:

Not only that, the games would need to be re-programmed as the 5200 and 7800 are not compatible systems.

I mean, that's true of any porting effort, isn't it?

 

2 minutes ago, pboland said:

Speaking of the 5200, I see that there are some who would love a 5200+ (that would be neat). Just thinking about this out loud, that seems like a very difficult undertaking. Just remaking the controller alone would most likely break the budget of current day Atari. That controller is not as simple of a controller as the CX-40 or even the CX-78. Think about it, if it was easy Atari would have already done it. There are huge things that would need to happen to make a 5200+.

Oh, it would definitely be a premium product. How premium would be the kicker.

 

It's not a question of "easy;" Atari hasn't done it already because there's no money in it. The 5200 is too niche. (Doesn't stop us from dreaming, though!)

 

12 minutes ago, pboland said:

Curious question: How many systems and carts were sold for 5200 vs 7800. It seems to me it is easier to find 7800 carts than 5200 carts. I would guess Atari sold more 7800's than 5200's. Just guessing.

That would be correct. One would hope so considering it was on the market three times as long. 😜

[Flyindrew]

15 minutes ago, BassGuitari said:

It's not a question of "easy;" Atari hasn't done it already because there's no money in it. The 5200 is too niche. (Doesn't stop us from dreaming, though!)

 

 

I totally agree with this and the 5200 is my all time favorite system.

 

While I do forsee a Jaguar mini in the future (late 2025), sadly, I cannot see Atari revisiting the 5200 as far as hardware is concerned.

[DEANJIMMY]

8 hours ago, H.Fraenkel said:

@Albert Will the 7800+ be compatible with both NTSC and PAL games, even without color errors? And will the homebrew carts Dungeon Stalker, Centipede TrakBall, Millie & Molly, Harpy's Curse, E.X.O., Death Merchant, and A.R.T.I. run on it? Thanky you!

Hi, I am not Al but might have some answers, too 😉

The 7800+ is based on the 2600+ but will have a better cartridge socket (like the 2600+,Rev2 will have) and new chips for dumper and controller inputs.

 

On 2600+ with latest SW 1.1x-r6 and dumper x03 from this forum the games you mentioned should run (I have Dungeon Stalker and Al confirmed ARTI and EXO, so I ordered them).

All my carts except some Champ games with ARM support run.

 

Centipede TB (7800 or 2600) will start but the Trakball is not supported yet. Hopes are high it will be supported on the 7800+, not sure about the 2600+ yet (related to the new chips?).

 

The 2600+ can play PAL and NTSC, that will be the same for the 7800+.

In Germany you still can sometimes get NTSC carts as they gave wrong colors on a PAL machine for a good price, so I got e.g. Pitfall! NTSC and like the higher game speed🤗

Colors are always correct!

For PAL60 games colors were often wrong in the past but once it got reported here, they fixed it in next release.

 

The sw update support you get on this forum is great! If you report something, they often can fix it🤙

[Giles N]

Better to discuss/debate the next games Atari should get released to keep synergy in motion.

 

—

 

In my guesstimate, it will take time to develop emu-consoles with cart-dumpers. The 2600 and 7800 had same slot-type. The 5200 and 8-Bit, 2 different types, the Lynx its card-type and the Jaguar a Cartridge type + CD-ROM. 
Any console released must be able to have at least a meaningful number of games able to be used with it.

 

For the 7800, its solved by a solid load of Aftermarket games, but also the overlap/backwards compatibility with the 2600.

 

FPGA have been mentioned: the Analogue Pocket reads GB/GBC and GBA out-of-the-box, and 4 physical Adapters are available + software cores to download. Pretty heavyduty stuff.

 

For Atari to release another PLUS console, it almost certainly would need more than one cart-dumper.

 

I could imagine one with Jaguar on top and Lynx in its side, or perhaps Jaguar on top, and 8-bit on leftside, 5200 on rigth side, then have the Lynx be a hendheld project, with Atari aiming for securing releases of aftermarket games.

That would make it tempting to think that Atari should use Analogue as partner for that project, unless some holistic future end-product which needed to work on the same core-premises, is what they envision.

[Giles N]

16 hours ago, GoldLeader said:

Of course you don't want anyone using this power willy-nilly,  so you only allow one per week!    (Just a thought)

But, for $2 paid using a lower-subscriber form direct button, you get 5 more uses that day anyway.

Other users can buy daily protection-button for 3$ to counter the ills of SuperLike-overload.

 

But Superlikers can buy SuperLike Superboosters for $5 for at least 1 SuperLike, no-one can block/ignore.

 

Instead they can buy a highly advanced SuperLike detection system, which just warns them of incoming Superlikes and auto-switches thread asap to whatever thread they used before.

 

Superlikers still have one chance; the Seek-and-Destroy Homing SuperLike button;  one push/use costs a whopping $15, but it will track down everyone who doesn’t wish (ie using evasive button-manouvers to dodge) seeing the SuperLike, and make the Superliked Post do fullscreen display for 5 seconds on ‘targets’.

 

In this way AtariAge can get money, give the users better opportunities to say what they really like, get heard and stimulate the debate in a natural and uncontrived way. FUN!

 

If you run out of money, you can pay with personal information; -  the more personal, the more booster-packs you get.

 

You’ll also get booster-packs with random content, called ‘Wizards Lot’ with happy interaction content that has proportional fun to amount of price you pay for them.

Edited August 22 by Giles N

[Giles N]

By packing Bentley Bears Crystal Quest with the 7800+, Atari has (sort-of) aknowledged it as a successor.

 

I wonder if it would be more natural for the 7800+ to be the platform of a full sequel to Warlords (rather than just a port), and also for a Warlords 3 to be made as full modern sequel to original Warlords and a Warlords II, it could be called, hmm, lets say something like ‘World of Warlords’ - people join matches online for a full-on war match, or stay at home with the safer 1P mode. You boost your castle and your firepower between rounds, which end after 1-3 mins. You can get dragons or most befabled creatures to join your side, have them dump bullets that hardly give your castle a scratch but which totally rips into opponents. Take the core-elements of Warlords, expand every category 10-fold; the more mayhem the merrier…!

 

I’m also thinking that it may be time for the Original Crystal Quest to be Recharged: with colorful chunky graphics, throwback arcadey sound-effects and much more smooth gameplay. I feel the original felt way to much like Bentley was on speed and walking, no running on thin lines, rather than running along pathways around crystal castles. The perspective made changing directions feel too much like hit and miss, while all the player really should be concercerned with ought to be the strategy (gobble…hmm, collect crystals, dodge enemies). Moreover, if its a recharged game, Bentley Bear can now pick up a barrel gun, three-way shot, incinerating laser, bomb, smart bomb, and time-slow down for all enemies.😁

So, for everyone feeling they couldn’t master the original Arcade, this could be the real bad-ass comeback time.👍🏻

 

But even with utter bloodbath, bullethell and all, it needs good graphics, clear perspective, smooth & fair responsive controls, progressive difficulty, varied backdrops - perhaps even semi-randomized Castles - and many modes of play: Campaign, Infinite, Co-op and what-not.

 

Bentley runs out of every 7800+ box this winter, and perhaps a truly, solidly designed Crystal Quest Recharged would put the be-hatted Bear on many minds again after 40+ years in waiting room?

 

Frenzy could also need a Recharging - get the missing/poorer parts of Berzerk: Recharged be right and play better: tight aim, less ‘floaty’ running’, actually intimidating Machines, actually scary Evil Otto (an updated Otto? Evil-Otto v.9009, or BFO-9009 among ‘friends’?), many types of walls and traps, many types of parts of the station with different obstacles and dangers, and more darkly contrasted background against blazing laser walls or eerily semi-transparent materials. Hmm, and a hero/heroine not cut of cardboard, even if a bit cartoony. 
 

Hmm… should I try to conceptualize some of this, just for the fun of it..? I mean, our brave and trustworthy World of AI has just learnt to draw… what can go wrong…?

Edited August 22 by Giles N

[matthew954]

Are we going to be able to preorder the Mega Bundle at Amazon as well as the standard Bundle? I only see the standard bundle listed as yet.

[+OLD CS1]

On 8/21/2024 at 11:08 AM, Albert said:

LOL, no, I didn't mean to make it sound ominous in any way, it's not at all.

Boooooorrrrrrriiiiinnnnnnggggg!

 

On 8/21/2024 at 4:00 PM, Albert said:

We're definitely going to have some fun with that once my time frees up (which isn't going to be until early in the new year). 

Is that when my Last Chance items will arrive?

 

If you considered a 5200+, do you guys think you can replicate, with modern hardware, the suck factor of the original 5200 controllers?  I mean, why bother if not?  heheheh Actually, my 5200 is the most under-utilized of my hardware, which is a shame because I really do like most of the 5200 games, just not so much the controllers.

 

Anyway, I was miffed at first about this 7800+ announcement.  Due to time constraints, I have not been able to keep up with the firmware developments for my 2600+, and it looks like I am definitely behind.  I was also unaware of a new revision with a new and improved cartridge port and dumper, so I will have to go read up on this.  In any case, I see the logic in the 7800+, and the price for the bundle is good enough for me to justify getting one.  I especially dig the wireless controllers.  I really was not looking to spend money right now, but I think I can budget this one.

 

Nice work, fellas!