How many games are 4-port only?

[Gaztee]

Hey Guys,

 

Now that I can actually play my 5200's I am a happy bunny. I got myself a working 4 port machine the other day, along with a few games. Now I have had problems with both Decathlon & Moon Patrol on my 2 port system. Decathlon, just didnt want to work, all the graphics came up scrambled. I did actually get it to work properly once, but that was all. Moon Patrol would start, but then crash. I could jump the first crater, but the buggy wouldnt jump at all after this. I have a couple of MP carts & both had the same problem. Two new games to get for me, or so I thought. Just out of idol curiosity I thought I would try my Decathlon in my 4 port & lo & behold it works fine, every time So i tried MP & both carts work fine as well. So what is the deal?? I know Spirantho ( who very kindly modded my 2 port for me) said that MP didnt work for him in mine either, so thats 3 carts affected by the 2 port.

Any thoughts ideas as to why this happens?? I am just happy that I can now run a 4-player decathlon tournament at JFUK in October

 

Cheers

 

Gaztee

[Tempest]

The only games I know of that have issues on a two port are Pitfall and Decathlon. I've never heard of Moon Patrol having issues, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

 

Tempest

[+Mitch]

Pitfall, Mountain King and K-Razy Shootout are the three games that don't work with the 2port BIOS. It sounds like the cart slot on your 2port may be dirty or slightly bent out of shape.

 

Mitch

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Sorry to dredge up such an old post. But I just serviced a 2 port 5200 in great shape where the original owner stated after getting it back that Decathlon doesn't load up for them on their 2 port unit. They have two copies of the game and neither will come up. They had me add in the 4 port BIOS to see if it would help, but it did not?

 

So it seems there is something else different in the 2 and 4 port units that possibly cause an issue with Decathlon? Sadly I did NOT test this for myself when the 5200 was here as I hadn't thought to check it and hadn't seen or really heard of any other possible issues with Decathlon on 5200s? But here I am with a 2port unit I just sent back that still won't play the game it seems?

 

I've reached out the owner of this 5200 to see if I can get more details. They also own a flash cart so I'm going to advise them to try and get the rom for the game and see if it works that way. If so, it could be some odd timing issue in the game on the actual console that doesn't come up when played from a flash cart. 

 

 

[Flyindrew]

On 4/6/2006 at 1:36 PM, Gaztee said:

Hey Guys,

 

Now that I can actually play my 5200's I am a happy bunny. I got myself a working 4 port machine the other day, along with a few games. Now I have had problems with both Decathlon & Moon Patrol on my 2 port system. Decathlon, just didnt want to work, all the graphics came up scrambled. I did actually get it to work properly once, but that was all. Moon Patrol would start, but then crash. I could jump the first crater, but the buggy wouldnt jump at all after this. I have a couple of MP carts & both had the same problem. Two new games to get for me, or so I thought. Just out of idol curiosity I thought I would try my Decathlon in my 4 port & lo & behold it works fine, every time So i tried MP & both carts work fine as well. So what is the deal?? I know Spirantho ( who very kindly modded my 2 port for me) said that MP didnt work for him in mine either, so thats 3 carts affected by the 2 port.

Any thoughts ideas as to why this happens?? I am just happy that I can now run a 4-player decathlon tournament at JFUK in October

 

Cheers

 

Gaztee

I have a 2 port. Moon Patrol works fantastic. Sounds like there might be an issue with your system..

Edited December 5, 2023 by Flyindrew

[+-^CrossBow^-]

11 minutes ago, Flyindrew said:

I have a 2 port. Moon Patrol works fantastic. Sounds like there might be an issue with your system..

The original post was from 2006. I only brought it back from the dead as it was talking about Decathlon not working and I have a 2 port unit that seems to play everything else but apparently doesn't load up decathlon. So, just trying to see if there are any known issues with that specific game on the 2 port units that hasn't been documented that well?

 

I only have 4 port units in my collection so I can't really test for this myself.

 

[Flyindrew]

Wow sorry I didnt notice that post was from 17 years ago LOL.

 

I dont have Decathlon for 5200 (have the Atari 8 bit version). Have about 25-27 5200 carts with zero issues. The only "issue" (if you can even call it that) is that I get very muffled/poor sound using the CX-55 adaptor. Let that be the worst thing in the world that happens to me.

[RB5200]

@-^CrossBow^- here are pictures of decathlon on a 2 port machine with 4 port bios.

Now to get mine to work I had to clean my cartridge cause it hasn't been used in prob. 5+ years, but once cleaned, perfect.

Either the customer needs to clean there cartridges, or there cartridges are bad, but I don't buy that both are bad. Have you gotten a response that they have the ability to run games in rom form.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

10 minutes ago, RB5200 said:

@-^CrossBow^- here are pictures of decathlon on a 2 port machine with 4 port bios.

Now to get mine to work I had to clean my cartridge cause it hasn't been used in prob. 5+ years, but once cleaned, perfect.

Either the customer needs to clean there cartridges, or there cartridges are bad, but I don't buy that both are bad. Have you gotten a response that they have the ability to run games in rom form?

 

No, they haven't replied on that. I did clean their cartridge port thoroughly just I do with all consoles the come pass my way. But that wasn't a game I suspected as having any issues. Again, they could only get the start screen and then graphics corruption originally on this console when it was stock. Now with the 4 port BIOS installed, they can only get one of their carts to give a start screen at which point it goes to corrupted graphics and the other cart they state they can't get it to come up at all. But all other games seem to be fine.

 

This one did have a Rockwell CPU in it, but it was a later make one. But unlike most 2port units, this one did not have that one pin taken out of circuit off the GTIA chip as I've seen on others. This 2port appeared to have less bodges than usual but I did have to replace one of the 4052 MUX chips in it as the top fire button wasn't working from port 2 until I did that.

 

I need to dig around and see if I've got a 2 port unit sitting around here or one that I can piece together to try and test this myself.

 

[RB5200]

50 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

But unlike most 2port units, this one did not have that one pin taken out of circuit off the GTIA chip as I've seen on others

Interesting, have you ever seen a 2 port with that leg inserted, cause I don't think that I ever have (could be wrong and just have forgotten) but pretty sure I haven't, and if not did you pull it out.

But no there is not a issue with decathlon not working on two port machines, like the other 3 carts. 

I honestly believe the issue is with the carts.

Edited December 6, 2023 by RB5200

[0078265317]

I would like to try decathalon also but what is a fair price?

 

There is even a 79.99 and 84.99 but this is the cheapest.

 

Ebay

 

Is 25 too much for a loose cart?

[RB5200]

3 minutes ago, 0078265317 said:

Is 25 too much for a loose cart?

I don't think that's too much, if you can get it for that , get it.

[0078265317]

According to the rarity guide decathalon loose in only worth 9 bucks.

 

http://www.rarityguide.com/atari5200_view.php

[+-^CrossBow^-]

31 minutes ago, RB5200 said:

Interesting, have you ever seen a 2 port with that leg inserted, cause I don't think that I ever have (could be wrong and just have forgotten) but pretty sure I haven't, and if not did you pull it out.

But no there is not a issue with decathlon not working on two port machines, like the other 3 carts. 

I honestly believe the issue is with the carts.

No, I didn't pull that leg out because I've seen 2 port units that didn't have that leg pulled out along with those that do. pretty sure this 5200 had never been worked on before as everything was pretty virgin inside the system. I'm pretty sure it came out of the factory will all the GTIA pins inserted.

 

Now...update...  I did find an old 2 port unit in my spare parts section. It actually worked but was missing the pokey until a bit ago. Anyway, I popped my cartridge of Decathlon into it..and ....

 

Just a brown or green screen? I cleaned the cartridge (Which didn't produce much on the cotton swap), tried it again.. black screen. If I slowly move the cart back and forth in the slot, I can make the screen change solid colors. After multiple tries, I eventually figured out that I have to fully insert it, and then slightly back it out of the slot and then the game comes up. However, if I so much as bump the 5200 console, it will scramble graphics on me and lock up. 

 

But, from the BackBit Pro and my AtariMax SD carts, it will load up just fine. So... the issue is the cartridges and most likely the PCBs. I noticed that the PCB on decathlon doesn't seem to extend as far into the slot as actual Atari carts do and there is virtually no relief from the fingers off the PCB and PCB as there is from Atari carts. So I suspect like their 2600 games, that the 5200 PCBs are thinner by a hair and so the games just don't make very good contact in the slots after all this time.

 

Oh..and my spare 2 port... has a 4 port BIOS chip in it as well. I might take it apart at some point in the near future and put a 2 port bios back in it and see if the game behaves the same. But I do suspect the carts and their construction is to blame largely for this.

 

[+fdr4prez]

Neat, I like how from 17 years ago up to now that every post, even the OP's post, has ignored the original title/topic of the thread. 

 

Fun stuff

[RB5200]

14 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

But I do suspect the carts and their construction is to blame largely for this.

Yes, the Activision carts for the 5200 do act up once in while, just like the other machines, they do sometimes need a deeper cleaning, other than just alcohol to get them back in tip top shape.

 

[RB5200]

32 minutes ago, 0078265317 said:

According to the rarity guide decathalon loose in only worth 9 bucks.

That may be, but I would say that prob. Will be a hard find.

You got a atarimax, you could play it thru.

[RB5200]

15 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

Neat, I like how from 17 years ago up to now that every post, even the OP's post, has ignored the original title/topic of the thread. 

That train took the wrong track right from the start, and has never been seen again, maybe should look in twilight zone.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

33 minutes ago, fdr4prez said:

Neat, I like how from 17 years ago up to now that every post, even the OP's post, has ignored the original title/topic of the thread. 

 

Fun stuff

I wasn't ignoring it I was trying to establish is Decathlon is another game that possibly should be added to the 4 port only list or not? I might not have come right out and stated that, but that was my meaning in mentioning it. And this thread is what came up in google searches when trying to find anything about others experiencing similar issues with decathlon on 5200 systems.

 

[0078265317]

1 hour ago, RB5200 said:

That may be, but I would say that prob. Will be a hard find.

You got a atarimax, you could play it thru.

No atarimax.  I wanted a real cart to see if my 2 port has issues like everyone here or not.