My PROJECT: 2600! and a few questions...

[Ness]

Hey everyone, I am new to the forum- and I figured this would be the best place to announce the project I am working on. For the last few months, my obsession has been converting a full-sized SEGA Hang-On standup arcade machine to an ATARI 2600 arcade. The setup will be perfect, real arcade joysticks, buttons and I am using a set of paddles and a brand-new in box trak-ball in the center. I've hit a couple of roadblocks during the process, but overall its coming together very nicely. My questions are as follows:

1) Have any of you in this forum ever heard of someone making a stand-up ATARI arcade?

2) I am looking for really good Paddle and Trak-Ball games on eBay, I was wondering if you could help me out with some titles.

 

When I start really putting the system together I will upload some pictures. Thanks for your help!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

2) I am looking for really good Paddle and Trak-Ball games on eBay, I was wondering if you could help me out with some titles.

Unfortunately there aren't any original Atari 2600 games which use the Trak-Ball (well except for this ). But some games play well when switching the Trak-Ball into joystick mode.

 

Good single player paddle games:

Kaboom, Night Driver, Circus Atari, Breakout, Super Breakout

[sku_u]

I'd rather have a working standup Hang On machine, personally.

 

Why'd you choose the 2600 over doing a MAME conversion out of curiosity?

[Red 5]

Sounds like a big project.

 

Good Luck !

 

Have you thought about using the atari 2600 'driving' paddle too ?

 

 

I have seen some old atari demo booths that play a lot of atari games.

You may want to check there for some hints.

[Ness]

The hang-on cabinet was empty when I got it, It only cost me 20 dollars. I am creating this because Atari 2600 was my first game system ever. I enjoy doing things different, I am considering a MAME cabinet, but for now I am focusing on this.

Here are some pictures of my Nintendo cabinet:

[mynameistom22000]

That's a nice nintendo cabinet...I would love to have one of those...do post pictures when you get the 2600 one up. That is really nice, keep up the good work

[minorleagueguy]

Damn... that is sweet!!!!!!!!

 

minorleagueguy

[Red 5]

Are you using a monitor, or did you just find a TV that would fit in there and used a bezel to hide it?

[Ness]

I used brand-new 19 inch TV's in both of my cabinets. The nintendo one's bezel is just a black border, and the TV is sunk into the system. The SEGA hang on cabinet has many layers I am using, Plastic frame, plate glass and a outer design bezel all make it look factory.

[elviticus]

Very cool - neat idea!! Are you going to feature some woodgrain on the 2600 cabinet ?

[Ness]

Actually, I am using a Atari 2600 JR. and the Hang-On cabinet has a black and steel design, so the whole system will be black, steel and red (buttons) Luckly the trak-ball that I got had a black ball, so I am using as much original equipment as I can.

If you are wondering how the button/controller setup will be:

The left player slot will have a 9-pin monitor cord going to a 1 input/output 4-way monitor switchbox with a manual switch. Spot one will be the left player HAPP joystick, connected a Atari joystick chipboard.

Spot two will be both player one and two's paddles and the buttons for the joysticks will double for the paddle buttons.

Spot three will be the trak-ball set on joystick. 2 happ buttons on top left/right

Spot 4 will be another 9pin monitor cord with a male connector coming out the side of the unit for an AUX connection.

The main atari will be fixed on the top part of the unit, with only a woodgrain atari's cartdrige slot showing. (this was on a old unit I had, I removed the plastic cartdrige slot so I dont have to use the top of the atari JR)

The difficulty A/b switches for both players will be (toggle swithces) on the side of the unit along with the AUX input and the joystick selector

The power switch will be a toggle switch on the left of the cartdrige slot.

The Select game and reset buttons will be 2 red happ arcade buttons on the right of the cartdige slot

Wow this is a long-winded post.

This system is easier said than done

[IceCold]

I've done some work on putting an atari 7800 in an arcade cabinet. I hooked up joystick and buttons and did some other work.

 

There are 2 roadblocks that I saw, and that may affect you. The cartridge port must be easily accessable, and extending it is a huge pain in the butt.

 

Also, you are going to want to be hooking up the 2600 with composite video. RF will not look very good, especially in an arcade. So you must modify your console. You probably are pretty familiar with electronics work, so you should be able to do it.

 

If you can't, I probably could for not REALLY expensive.

[Ness]

First off, AMAZING avatar Icecold! Earthbound all the way! I am going to mod the atari, the way this website describes to hook it up to RCA cables. I have mesured the cartrdige slot and with a little help from a dremel tool I will be able to get the cartrdiges in perfectly.

[IceCold]

First off, AMAZING avatar Icecold! Earthbound all the way! I am going to mod the atari, the way this website describes to hook it up to RCA cables. I have mesured the cartrdige slot and with a little help from a dremel tool I will be able to get the cartrdiges in perfectly.

 

Thank you! I've had this avatar since when I first started coming here, and never had any desire to change it. I love earthbound! I've probably beat it around 20 times, and I even just started another game of it. It's the only game I keep going back to over and over.

 

I'm glad that it looks like you shouldn't have too much trouble with your Atari 2600 arcade cabinet. Good luck with that! If you want to ask me any questions or anything, I'll try my best to answer it with my limited knowledge.

 

Make sure to post some pictures once you get it going.

[Ness]

Here is a diagram I whipped up in photoshop long before I even got the project started the D spot has become a AUX port for different controllers since then.