FB2: Choosing a different game

[dinosaurjr]

If you are playing one game, can you change to another game without having to turn the Flashback 2 off and then on?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Retro Rogue]

If you are playing one game, can you change to another game without having to turn the Flashback 2 off and then on?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

No. The FB2 is an actual Atari 2600 inside, and as with the original Atari 2600 you need to turn it off to "switch cartridges". Even though the games are built in to this one, they are still stored physically seperately from the actual "2600 brain" and function just like inserting a cartridge.

[Feralstorm]

I sometimes wondered if it wouldn't have been a bad idea to include a system reset button, even if all it really does is momentarily interrupt the power circuit.

 

I'd imagine from the Manufacturing POV, it's cheaper to make someone hit a power button twice, instead of adding a new button that you only hit once.

[dinosaurjr]

No. The FB2 is an actual Atari 2600 inside, and as with the original Atari 2600 you need to turn it off to "switch cartridges". Even though the games are built in to this one, they are still stored physically seperately from the actual "2600 brain" and function just like inserting a cartridge.

 

Thanks!

[supercat]

No. The FB2 is an actual Atari 2600 inside, and as with the original Atari 2600 you need to turn it off to "switch cartridges".

 

I don't think there would have been any particular difficulty in designing the FB2 to allow switching games without power-cycling. I believe there's even a connection inside which, if shorted to ground, will perform that function.

 

The biggest reason I think there wasn't a button for that is simply that an extra button would have cost more money. A button combination like select+reset might have been fine as a means of exiting some games, but would cause problems on other games where both must be pushed simultaneously.

[Retro Rogue]

No. The FB2 is an actual Atari 2600 inside, and as with the original Atari 2600 you need to turn it off to "switch cartridges".

 

I don't think there would have been any particular difficulty in designing the FB2 to allow switching games without power-cycling. I believe there's even a connection inside which, if shorted to ground, will perform that function.

 

I did not imply there was a difficulty in doing that or give an explination as to why that was done (I believe Curt's already done that in previous threads). Simply stating that because it is an exact reproduction designed to function as an actual 2600, you need to switch it off to "switch cartridges" the same as the original 2600.

[policelimit]

Yup the FB2 purposefully operates as the original 2600 did, with no added "improvements." To do so would create the need to alter the orginal hardware specs and great care was taken NOT to do that. After the wholel FB1 fiasco, Atari learned it's lesson in what classic gamers really want in retro systems. Hats off to Curt.