Need advice about the ATARI Flashback system

[finallywed0312]

I saw this atari 7800 flashback system i think it is called at best buy today. I thought about getting it cause it was only $40.00. But the box didnt give much information about what it included and of course i couldnt find a sales clerk that new anything about it. But they would sell me a computer if i wanted.

 

So my questions are:

 

1) Is this worth the 40.00 for a piece of my childhood back?

2) Are these pre-loaded games?

3) Can you add more games to this systems if they are available?

4) On a scale of 1 to 10 how would everyone rate this.

 

 

Now i know i can count on everyone to give me their honest opinions.

 

Let me know. And if anyone that reads this thread works at best buy... sorry if i offened you but i only wanted to spend 50.00 not 999.99....

[Cousin Vinnie]

These are totally terrible emulations of these games. They play, sound and look nothing like the originals. Use the 40 bucks on a Prosystem on ebay.

 

Cousin Vinnie

[finallywed0312]

Thank you hopefully other will agree with you.

[Brad2600]

You'd be better off with a real 7800.

 

The reasons?

 

1. You can play 2600 games on a 7800

2. It shouldn't be too hard to find for a good price. The games too as well

3. It's original equipment. More authenic than the Flashback(which is NES emulation)

[Cousin Vinnie]

Hey Finallywed, to reiterate, I was going to buy one of these b/c it sounded so cool, I wanted to support Atari etc, etc... but when I played one I was horrified.

 

Search the forums here for a discussion on the Flashback. Dozens and dozens of people chimed in and said it was crap. I didn't believe them until I played it myself at Best Buy... and boy was I wrong... it was total crap.

 

Think about it, Atari fans dedicated enough to support an Atari community and post thoughts about systems that have been dead for 15 years should be elated to be able to buy a "new" Atari 2600/ 7800 product. I would say less than 15% of the people who played it here would say it was anything but a total joke. Thinking about it logically, It would really have to be bad for that to happen.

 

I just dont your trip down memory lane to be ruined by this fake Atari's cheap attempt to cash in memories with little to no effort. If it was a good product, I would be all for it...

 

Cousin Vinnie

[Danno]

I think Nancy Reagan summed it up best:

 

"Just say no."

 

You can score a working 7800 with probably a good handful of games for $40.

[Feralstorm]

If you like some decently playable nostalgic Atari-style games (and a few distinctly unplayably bad ones) and don't care too much about accuracy or small controllers that don't fit well in big hands, then wait for a clearance and pick one up as cheap as you possibly can - or get the Jakks Atari 10-in-1 and/or Paddle games, as they did better game translations most cases.

 

If you want something that acts like an Atari 7800, or has accurate recreations of classic games, don't touch the Flashback with a 40-foot pole. I'll admit I own a Flashback, but don't play it. Based on the message traffic, I'm looking forward to the Flashback 2.0 though (doesn't appear to be any 7800 games in that one though, faked or otherwise.)

[SteveW]

If you've ever gone to a shopping mall or flea market, and have seen all those Nintendo game playing things inside a N64 looking controller, then you have an idea what the Flashback's like, since the Flashback is based on pirated NES hardware. Atari hired some sweatshop programmers (probably in China) to whip up some quick and cheap ports from the Atari 2600/7800 to the Nintendo Entertainment System. When you're playing a Flashback, you are just playing an NES in the shape of an Atari console.

[frogstar_robot]

AaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Not another Flashback thread. We need to whomp a 7800 forum FAQ. Pandora's box has been opened now.

[Pete Perpetua]

I wasn't going to buy one, but since it was only $9.99 I did.

[Flojomojo]

Original poster, please do yourself a favor and search for all the other Flashback threads on this board. It's been discussed to death.

 

To answer your questions: no, it's not worth $40. Yes, the games are preloaded. No, you can't add more games to it. I would rate it a 2 out of 10, mainly because it is neither faithful enough to the original, nor a great system in its own right. These were old, crude-looking games to begin with, but in this incarnation, they are far worse than they ever were in your childhood.

 

Get the Jakks 10-in-1 stick instead if you're really desperate to see how this stuff is getting remade. That one isn't quite as bad, especially at the price.

[JB]

These are totally terrible emulations of these games. They play, sound and look nothing like the originals. Use the 40 bucks on a Prosystem on ebay.

 

Cousin Vinnie

841591[/snapback]

 

You'd be better off with a real 7800.

 

The reasons?

 

1. You can play 2600 games on a 7800

2. It shouldn't be too hard to find for a good price. The games too as well

3. It's original equipment. More authenic than the Flashback(which is NES emulation)

841607[/snapback]

 

 

Why do people keep saying it's an emulation? There is no emulation going on.

 

On the Atari side, it's a port to the NES, not an emulator.

On the Nintendo side, it's an NES-compatible chipset, not an emulator.

 

It'd be awesome if it WERE an emulator, just because that'd mean it was powerful enough to easily do something else with.

[Flojomojo]

They mean emulation in the English sense of the word, not the computer sense of the word. It tries to looks, feel, and sound like the old machine, just like you might try to emulate someone you admire.

 

The Flashback is at best a simulation, not an emulation.