CrossBow

This is happening because the 7800 emulation has the buttons reversed on 7800 games. As the Starplex is wired as a 2600 controller, the 7800 emulation is treating it as a single fire button controller. Because single fire button controllers should register as button 1 or the Left fire button on the 7800 controller, but it is reversed on the 7800 emulation, that means it is only going to treat it as button 2 and not 1. This has really thrown me off on quite a few games. Similar to how I complained about how ARTI testing was fine with an actual controllers, but the buttons get reversed in the game when using the Mega78... Although I don't know that I've seen Ben from Pliaon mention it specifically, I'm hoping they correct the reversed button functions on 7800 games in the first major FW update.

So an update on this... I was able to find a 2 port unit that in working condition in my spares pile. Popped in my backbit Pro that has a full 5200 set on it and Decathlon fired right up without any issue and played fine. I then dug out my actual Decathlon cartridge and popped it in..and.. Black screen... Tried again, and still black screen although moving the cartridge slightly towards the back or front would cause it to show a brown...or green screen. I cleaned the cartridge with my 99.9 IPA and my de-ox-id and not much black came off on the cotton swap so the cart fingers were pretty clean. Tried it again..same thing. I then started to experiment with this a bit and finally found that if I lifted the cart out of the slot after inserting it just a smidge, that the game would sometimes boot right up and work. But if I so much as bumped that 5200, then it would scramble the graphics and lock up. I think what is happening here, is similar to the 2600 activision carts. That is, the PCBs on these Activision 5200 games are likely a tad thinner than 1st party games and I don't think the PCBs extend out of the cartridge mouth as much as 1st part games do. My guess is that there is nothing wrong with the system or the game, other than after 40 years, everything is a bit more loose than before and it just isn't make a very good connection anymore. I still have issues with nearly all of my Activision games on my 2600 and 7800 systems, so it doesn't surprise me that the 5200 games might have similar fitment issues into the slot after all this time. Oh...and yes this spare 2 port does have a 4-port BIOS installed so I still don't know if the game with work on stock 2 port units or requires the 4 port BIOS similar to the 2 CBS games and Pitfall!.

Well, I know there are 'fixed' versions that exist for Pitfall, Mountain King, and K-razy Shootout. But I was never aware of an issue with Decathlon. I do own the cartridge but didn't know I needed to test it with this console until I had it sent back and the owner was like..Oh..yeah too bad both carts of Decathlon I have here still don' work. They had hoped that the 4 port BIOS would solve that issue as it does for the other three previously mentioned games. But apparently not.

I pretty much only have 4 port 5200s in my collection so until very recently, I was only aware of 3 games that didn't work on 2-port versions of the console out of the box. Those being the original Pitfall!, Mountain King, and K-razy Shootout. However, it is also commonly known that replacing the BIOS on the 2 port model with that of a 4 port, will restore those games and allow them to work on the 2-port model. There are also rom images of the games that have been modified to work on the 2 port when played using a flash cart. Well, it seems that at last one other game has issues on the 2 port model and that is Activision's Decathlon? The latest 5200 sent in for service received a full diagnostic check, pokey calibration with my controller loopback board. No issues or faults found with the console in stock condition. However, it apparently would only show a scrambled screen of graphics just after the initial start screen with the game Decathlon. In addition to the diagnostics, it had been requested to install a UAV setup for composite and s-video output and also to replace the BIOS and put a 4port BIOS into the console. This was also done, however, I wasn't really made aware of the issues with Decathlon on this console until after I sent it back to the owner. It had been the owners hope that installing the 4port BIOS would allow Decathlon to work again. Sadly this is not the case. Owner claims that before the BIOS swap, both copies of the game would always show an initial start screen, but when trying to start the game it would then go to a scrambled glitching graphics mess that would lock up the console. Now with the 4 port BIOS installed, they are only able to get one of their two carts to come up and get to the start screen, but like before it still goes into a scrambled mess. The other cart apparently won't even get to a start screen? I've advised them to test it with their flash cart as they do own an Atarimax SD and state that all other games they have tested are working properly. I suppose it is possible for them to have 2 bad carts, but that seems unlikely to me and I'm wondering if there is an issue with the game just not working on 2 port consoles that isn't well documented? I did find another reference to this exact same issue with the game on a stock 2 port console in the AtariAge forums, dating back from 2006. However, the poster for that just ended up getting an actual 4 port unit that apparently ran the game just fine. So, anyone here got a 2 port a copy of Decathlon that can confirm if the game works or not? Because even with a 4port BIOS in place, it seems that game might be problematic on 2 port units.

I think it would be excellent if they could get the stuff needed to finish and release some of the prototypes? Like work with Lucasarts to get Fractalus done. Or maybe see about getting new ports of IPs they own that were never released but should have been made...like a 7800 version of Crystal Castles. There are many talented 7800 programmers now as the awesome home brew scene has shown, and they could contract with them to get some new stuff done. But I know that isn't likely to ever happen because it is much easier for them to see ROI on something they already have and can just re-release in a newer looking package vs creating from scratch.

I just want to comment that...YES it is possible for me to hide the metal plate inside the shell, but I don't because that puts too much stress on the plastic and actually requires me to remove more plastic in order to fit the DB15 and space around it for a VGA cable to be plugged into it. And that means, less plastic around the standoffs to secure everything into place. So, this is the compromise I came up with. The advantage of mounting it there, means the VGA cable isn't in the way of your hands as you play, and the console won't feel top heavy with a cable stuck off the top of it (The only other place there is room). Also with a cable attach, the Lynx will sit up on a flat surface with the VGA cable acting as a kick stand of sorts LOL!

Depending on what needs to be done, I can provide some services on the PCE yes. Not the Turbo Express though as I've never worked on those and there are many others out there that specialize in it more like Ben Fong from IfixRetro for instance. But I've got a PCE core grafx on the bench getting an RGB upgrade put in as I type this.

But does it being a C64 in PET disguise also mean the monitor is monochrome then? That would be the only negative I would see about it at this point since while the color palette of the C64 might not be as vibrant as the Atari line sometimes, it was still very much a strong point of its appeal along with that wonderful SID. But regardless, it is a very cool find indeed and congrats!

They didn't choose this. The problem is they are using an older version of the ProSystem emulator that has the buttons mapped backwards as well. So if they update the core of the ProSystem emulator to something newer, that issue should resolve itself. This is because again, the emulator that have chosen isn't doing cycle correct timing on the emulation and using some bodges as I understand it to get a good chunk of the games working. One result of this is that Tower Toppler plays way too fast. But honestly it looks horrid on any video signal above composite since Tower Toppler was designed with color artrifacting in mind to make the colors look the way they should. Unless Atari can add some sort of blur or blend filter on the 2600+, Tower Toppler is never going to look right through the 2600+. For the record, Tower Toppler looks the same on AV upgraded consoles using s-video or if you use the 7800GD RGB output without turning on the blending effect the 7800GD provides in the video options.

The LCD kit is the most expensive part as that costs about $90 - 95 now. But I don't charge labor to install the screen in the Lynx II because it is a drop in replacement and only requires 1 wire to be soldered if you want scanline modes. If that isn't something you care about then that can be left out, although I still add it because I'm already inside it and one wire is a nothing thing. Recapping a Lynx is about $45 usually and the power circuit replacement as well. But I tend to discount quite a bit in the labor if everything is being done because again, I'm already inside the thing. So you would be looking at about $150 for full servicing with the LCD, caps, and new power stage components. I do charge an extra $20- for the VGA as there is labor involved there given the wiring and case modification for the DB15 port needed. K-retro does offer a more elegant looking VGA output solution that uses a magnetic connector dongle, but that is really only useful if you also get an external controller port added and essentially turn the Lynx into a console. The mag connectors don't hold up that well when you are holding the Lynx playing it as a handheld. As a result, I advise the use of the standard DB15 for the VGA and I add the standoffs to screw the VGA cable to secure everything to lynx well while holding it to play. Few caveats to know regarding the VGA... It can be tricky in that some monitors might not support the VGA signal. Actual computer monitors are usually fine, but some TVs with VGA PC input ports on them could have issues. Also, the LCD is turned off when playing on VGA output. It isn't possible to have both on at the same time with an of the kits I've seen. Last, is that you still have to handle the audio separately so you have to plug in a 3.5mm to 3.5mm patch cable from the headphone jack of the Lynx into an AV receiver or external speakers since the VGA out is strictly video of course. So yeah, a ballpark estimate for caps, new IPS LCD, power component refresh and VGA out is going to actually be about $170 + return shipping. That is what I charged on my last client for the same work. You could forgo the capacitor replacement and that would save money there. But the power stage component refresh is mandatory in my LCD installs. Shipping a lynx II is pretty cheap too since they are fairly small and tend to be pretty sturdy in shipping. Last one I sent for about $10 it looks like. So yes it is an investment to be sure, but you will NOT believe how the lynx games can look when you see them in such clarity. BTW, what AV upgrade do you have in your 5200? I can tell you are capturing from composite? Do you do the same for your 7800?

@Silver Back Edited this as I realized you were talking about a Lynx. Getting a Lynx 2 done with a new screen and VGA output is going to run about $150 or so on average. Most of that cost is the parts and recap, power refresh stuff. No labor on the LCD install since it is just a drop in replacement for the most part on the lynx II.

Finally got the bits and bobs together to get this up and going with a new power supply, well used but working controller, and got the SD Loader installed and working well. Such a fun system! Just too bad it had a short life and didn't get more games released for it.

I absolutely play more modern games. Both on my PC and my PS4 in some cases. On my PS4 my main game I've got the most hours into by far would be No Man's Sky. I bought it when it was first released back in 2016 and was bored within an hour and put it down. Then about a year ago I decided to give it another go as there had been so many updates and it was supposed to be much improved etc. I was blown the hell away by all the changes?! It was NOT even remotely the same game as before. Updated UI, updated graphics (That even on the PS4 still hold up quite well I might add), and all the new content they added. It is an amazing casual and relaxing game to chill with and just do whatever. The Horizon games I also thought were imcredible! I'm disappointed that the newer DLC for the latest game is PS5 only, but I guess Sony was going to have to cut the PS4 loose eventually. Still there are quite a few indie games I've bought for the PS4 and I enjoy. On the PC side of things I've recently gotten back into Mass Effect. The legendary edition was on sale last week for $10 so I picked it up and have been playing it each night when I can. I've gotten through both of the first 2 games so far and started ME:3 late last night. I own the first 2 games for the PC already, but bought the 3rd one for the PS3 way back and never got more than halfway through it. So it will be nice to finally complete that game. I also had a lot of fun with Tiny Tina's Wonderland on PC and had been playing it prior. I've not decided if I will get Starfield or not. The performance of that game won't be great on my PC these days, but I might also look into getting Cyberpunk finally. Odd thing with that game, it was what I built my current PC for back in late 2019, but then the game got delayed and when it did finally release, the PC I put together still didn't have the omph to run it well. Still won't but there it is.

Yes... I believe the button mapping is reversed on all of the 7800 games. Commando is set to use button 2 for firing the gun and button 1 for grenades. As a result, you can't even start the game with a single button controller. So yes, in addition to the difficulty switches being reversed, it seems the fire buttons on 7800 games is also backwards. Although someone did bring up a valid point in that if you were to consider the 2600+ as a 7800 system then the switches are actually correct physically at that point, but don't match the molded print on the back of the system. Hopefully those issues are able to addressed with firmware updates. But the difficulty switches will always be confusing in regards to 2600 vs 7800 games. Luckily many 7800 games don't use those swiches aside from additional functions for the game in most cases.

@sramirez2008 forgot to answer you on this. YES I've confirmed my old Mateos works just fine. However, again, the same limitations apply in that only the officially released games will load up since homebrews aren't in the lookup table for the 2600+ yet. Some things to add that I confirmed yesterday in doing some more testing... as it relates to 7800 games. My actual cartridge of Double Dragon will NOT load at all. In fact, the 2600+ never even attempts a game loading for it. Just always sits on Game Load Failed... But the cart works just fine in my actual 7800. So that leads me to believe that there is at least on other revision of Double Dragon for the 7800 out there. Because the NTSC rom from Trebor's pak will load up from my DF cart. But not my actual cart. I did notice that my actual Double Dragon cart is most likely one of the ones that uses an EPROM vs masked ROM. I know quite a few Absolute and Activision 7800 games back then were done that way. So I'm wondering if that has something to do with it also. Another thing is that I've now confirmed there is an issue with Asteroids Deluxe. If you play on any difficulty above novice, then after the first wave or two, you will start to get random hyperwarps. If you start the game on Novice, it will still happen but not until you are several waves in, at about the same level as intermediate or expert would be. In talking with another AA member on this, the issue is related to something involving port 2. Because similar to Xenophobe, Rampage, and Rikki & Vikki, if you don't have a controller plugged into port 2, then random fire button presses seem to happen that can trigger a player 2 start etc. In the case of Asteroids, it appears to trigger random warps. Plugging in a second controller seems to minimize this issue in the game by about 90%. It is interesting to me that an actual bug/feature/ flaw..whatever you want to call it that happens on actual hardware, is also happening in this emulator since again, it is a hardware design issues between the paddle lines and the TIA that occasionally confuses the 7800 logic. Although it should be mentioned that as far as I know, Asteroids on actual hardware doesn't suffer this same issue while Rampage, Xenophobe and R&V do. So the point is that it might solve some glitching with 780 games if you have a 2nd controller plugged into the 2600+.

I honestly don't own that many 2600 home brew games Scott. I mostly own home brews for other platforms. And the ones I do own for the 2600 I already knew wouldn't work on the 2600+. I've got multiple 2600s, and 7800s etc for my use to play these games one without issue. I bought the 2600+ because I like the idea they have put forth and because I think sales of it will encourage them to release something better in the future. Not sure about the reversed difficulty switches, but I can tell you that pretty much every 7800 game has their buttons reversed and...the color/bw switch does NOT pause 7800 games. Does nothing... But I believe that has more to do with them using such an old version of the Prosystem emulator for the 7800 side than anything as these issues were present back then in emulation as well. I can add that one thing that is quite confusing is that Atari's list of games doesn't specify if they tested a PAL version or NTSC. Because I've now found that in addition to Rampage, my actual Double Dragon cartridge will NOT even give me a loading game message. But... from my DragonFly cartridge the game will load up and run. So that alone tells me that Atari did LIKELY test many carts they had access too. But I suspect a large part of the testing and pass/fail was to simply see if a game loaded or not and they likely had others (testers) to load up their copies of these games and report back to them. As a result, games with multiple variants like Ballblazer, Choplifter, and I suspect Double Dragon, may or may not load up since the checksum table in the prosystem emulation on the 2600+ doesn't have a complete table of values to know what the games are. And yes, Al has said many times that he is working with Atari so they can address these issues with FW updates that would also update the files on the 2600+ so that more homebrew games can be made to work including 7800 homebrew. But like all large companies, I'm sure that getting the 2600+ out the door in time for the Holiday shopping was more important so I suspect such an update won't happen for sometime. Still, I've bought other similar products not just from Atari, but others because such companies won't have much interested in fixing or releasing better stuff if they don't sell enough of what they have made already. They guys from Plaion have said that the success of the 2600+ will determine what other future products we might see.

@Scott Stilphen The $15 RCA - HDMI converters you speak of have quite a bit of lag in that conversion and look awful since you end up with upscaled composite (complete with the dot crawl, ghosting, etc... ) through the HDMI so it still doesn't look any better than it would have just using composite by itself provided your TV still has a standard AV jacks on it for input. (Many aren't these days I've noticed...). And the only way to get the current Atari to provide more games and products that are likely to want to buy is by supporting the current efforts where it at least appears they are trying. BTW, I've not noticed much if any lag on my 2600+ through my AV setup? Are there reports and measurements showing how much lag there is? As for compatibility yeah, it isn't where most would want it to be right now. But Albert has told me that they do plan to provide updates to not only allow more 2600 homebrew games to work, but also some 7800 as well. How much they improve on all of that, we can only wait and see. I also noted in my post at the beginning that some homebrews on the 2600 side do work. And while I've not tested my entire library of 2600 games, what they have on their compatibility chart seems to match up with what I've tested so far. In the 7800 side of things I can now confirm that that some games do have the buttons reversed. Commando for instance and Rampage doesn't load up at all. But far as I know and everyone else has tested, Rampage is the only official released 7800 game from back in the day that isn't working currently. So again, from a first offering of a console that looks the part for the most part more than any of the FB consoles have, and can take actual cartridges again, it works for what it was designed to do and with updates it should get better.

@Scott Stilphen The $15 RCA - HDMI converters you speak of have quite a bit of lag in that conversion and look awful since you end up with upscaled composite (complete with the dot crawl, ghosting, etc... ) through the HDMI so it still doesn't look any better than it would have just using composite by itself provided your TV still has a standard AV jacks on it for input. (Many aren't these days I've noticed...). And the only way to get the current Atari to provide more games and products that are likely to want to buy is by supporting the current efforts where it at least appears they are trying. BTW, I've not noticed much if any lag on my 2600+ through my AV setup? Are there reports and measurements showing how much lag there is? As for compatibility yeah, it isn't where most would want it to be right now. But Albert has told me that they do plan to provide updates to not only allow more 2600 homebrew games to work, but also some 7800 as well. How much they improve on all of that, we can only wait and see. I also noted in my post at the beginning that some homebrews on the 2600 side do work. And while I've not tested my entire library of 2600 games, what they have on their compatibility chart seems to match up with what I've tested so far. In the 7800 side of things I can now confirm that that some games do have the buttons reversed. Commando for instance and Rampage doesn't load up at all. But far as I know and everyone else has tested, Rampage is the only official released 7800 game from back in the day that isn't working currently. So again, from a first offering of a console that looks the part for the most part more than any of the FB consoles have, and can take actual cartridges again, it works for what it was designed to do and with updates it should get better.

Unless the audio is actually following the movement on the screen properly...it isn't stereo. In Combat, if I move my tank or plane from the left to the right, I expect the sounds to follow suite. But they do NOT. Player 1 sounds are always heard from the left and player 2 on the right. Ever listen to Pitfall II on a 'stereo' modded 2600? Sounds awful and some of the sounds end up getting drowned out due to the odd way the music seems to come from mostly one channel vs being split out. Solaris I will admit will occasionally sound cool when you hyper warp with a stereo modded 2600, but most other games just sound wrong to me since as I said, the audio doesn't really follow the action on screen accurately. Medieval Mayhem is the first time I've heard the 2 channels from the TIA being used to track the action seen on screen properly. @Scott Stilphen you also seem to be making comparisons from the Atari of 10 years ago to the Atari of today, and they really aren't the same group of folks running things. To me, the past year and recent game releases and the 2600+ demonstrate to me that the current Atari or I should say, those currently operating as Atari, seem to care and seem to be trying. So I'm optimistic for now.

I think someone posted info from Stella where it looks like only Medieval Mayhem and the various Skeleton games are configured for Stereo on the 2600+ at this time.

Interesting, I did attend CGE2k2 but I don't remember buying it that far back as that was my first CGE I attended. I might have been for sale later. I know I picked mine up from the AtariAge booth at a CGE and the guy that did the enhanced stuff was there as well. You know, it likely was back that far because my copy of Berzerk VE is also one of the few homebrews I have where the end label started to peel up nearly as soon as I got home with it since AA was still working on finding the best ways to do that stuff. The end label is hand cut as well on it. Geeze...20 years ago?! Anyone get the new Bezerk Enhanced? I did NOT, but I'm hearing others state it only has like 2 voice phrases and they are hard to make out?

Yeah I was surprised when he title music was coming out of different channels in the game room and when the game played and the sounds were following the fireballs etc. First actual true stereo 2600 game I guess? Although I hear that Skeleton+ has the same actual stereo in the game. Just remember that with the DF only the official released games are working and Rampage is still a NO GO regardless. None of the graphic hacks of original games would load. So the checksums are just too different for the emulator to know what to do it seems. Hopefully Atari updates some of that so that some 7800 homebrews will work since. But even my physical carts of Sirius and Plutos would NOT load that I got from CPUWIZ years ago. Not sure if those games were never added to the Prosystem look update tables or what?

I got my 2600+ from FedEx yesterday. My initial impressions are that it does feel like it is built really well although I was a little surprised at how small the length of screws used were for holding it all together. For those that didn't know, all of the guts of the 2600+ are located in the switch panel section of the unit. It uses a couple of different PCBs sandwiched and connected together to do everything. Here are my Pros thus far: The cartridge slot is actually quite nice and seems to have a good connection with the games I've tested it with. But do make sure you clean any of your old cartridges you haven't used in a while to be sure that you are allowing as good a connection as possible and to prevent adding any crud from your old carts into the 2600+. The switches are kinda amazing on this thing?! They have a very satisfying click to the power and color/bw switch and the select and reset have a point where you can feel them engage and their spring back action is very nice. It makes me wonder if the switches can be adapted to OEM consoles... My 2600+ shipped set to 16:9 mode. This will result in that fully stretched image that some like and some do not. I prefer to NOT have that stretched look so I promptly set mine to 4:3 mode. The hot swap ability of games is quite nice and I advise using this method since you save a little bit of time loading up games this way. If you power cycle the 2600+ off/on each time, then you have to wait for the 2600+ to boot up internally first before it starts to load the game. The hot swap works exactly as it sounds too. The 2600+ detects when you have a game in the console. If you pull it out while powered on, it will blank out and then go to game load failed. Pop in a different game and a second or two later, it will show game loading and the game will appear on the screen. Seems to work with most of the original library of games for both 2600 and 7800 that I've tested so far. Quite a few older 2600 homebrews have also come up and worked for me. Some home brew games I tested last night that worked were: Berzerk: VE originally released during CGE 2010 I believe? K.O. Cruiser (Although I still can figure out the controls on this one) Go Fish! (Worked great!) Ninjish Guy (Most modern home brew I've tried so far and it worked great) Medieval Mahem (Seemed to work okay with joystick and...bonus! It was in stereo?!) Now for the cons and most of this is just stuff I've noticed and it mainly effects the 7800 side of things: First let me get this out there. NONE of the 7800 homebrews or graphic hacks I tested would load. As the 2600+ uses a lookup table based on the game rom checksum to know how to load up, this doesn't surprise me. Hopefully the lookup table and possibly the emulated being used can be updated to allow support for some 7800 home brews. But again, NONE would load up for me. The ONLY original released game for the 7800 that hasn't loaded up for me yet in my testing, was Rampage. It will start to load the game, but then just gives a black screen for me with my actual cartridge. Ballblazer was the first game I loaded up and it did load up and play great. But... the pokey emulation isn't quite there as the entire counter melody on the title tune is missing. So this tells me that the RNG from the pokey isn't being emulated as that counter melody uses that pokey feature specifically. Commando loaded up and played correctly. The ONLY issue is that there is some slight graphical corruption on the title screen where the difficulty selection is. But very minor and the game itself displays fine. Some games appear to have their button 1 and button 2 functions swapped? Although some of the games, I've not played for a bit so I might be wrong on this. But using a normal 2-button 7800 controller, the games did work and respond correctly. Now for some oddball miscellaneous stuff I've noticed or find interesting that can be taken as a pro or con... The 2600+ outputs a 720P signal. Although it seems this isn't quite a standard 720P signal as my TV takes a second or two to lock in and show the output. Also, my capture device in the game room usually has no issue with 480P, 720P, and 1080P sources. But it does NOT like the 720P from the 2600+ and stays in pass through mode. So I'm not currently able to get any direct captures from the 2600+ output. I've heard from others that some games don't work for them while others report they do. Both 7800 Ms. Pac-Man and Crossbow are reported as non-working for some and working for others. In my testing with my actual cartridges, both games loaded up and worked without issue for me. But it is possible there are two or more revisions of these games that were released over the years that could be the cause for this if they have slightly different checksums than what is being expected for those games in the 2600+. The power LED is stupid easy to replace as there is NO soldering involved. The LED is held in place with a 2 piece bracket using small phillips screws. A 2pin JST connector is plugged into the leads of the LED. So all that is needed to change the LED with a different color if you wanted, would be to remove the small screws and put in a different LED. Plug the jst connector onto the leads and that's it. I've not checked the value of the limiting resistor in the 2600+ for the LED as yet, but as they were using a warm white LED, an those are fairly modern, it is likely the value being used will be good for any LED out there that is 5mm in size to fit in the bracket holder. I've installed a slow changing RGB LED into mine as I felt that fit better than a static color. Flash carts: No surprise, but most of the flash carts out there are NOT going to work with the 2600+. That said, I can confirm that the Dragon Fly 7800 flash cartridge does work! As the DF cart loads the game up outside of the console, the 2600+ is able to read the DF like a normal game and just loads up the game that the DF has loaded into RAM at that time. Also, the hot swap ability of the 2600+ allows for easy game changes on the DF because you can have a game loaded on the DF and playing, then use the DF menu to back out. Choose another game and then press the Enter button on the DF to start loading the other game. The 2600+ will detect this, and blank out with the Game Load Failed message, but then a few seconds later it will show Game Loading... and the game you selected on the DF will now be playing on the 2600+. So it is interesting that the DF's ability to control the 7800 consoles power on/off function seems to also trigger the 2600+'s cartridge detection routine. All other flash carts I have failed to load up with the Game Load Failed message which, is to be expected since other flash carts rely on talking with the console hardware directly to load up and show their on screen menu of games. So my initial thoughts are that I think this is a great first step from this new Atari in trying to appeal to as many audiences as possible. There seems to be a lot more market hype on this 2600+ release than anything else Atari related I've seen in well over a decade and I do believe this will get non retro gamers back and into the hobby. With updates made to the console FW or outright hacking it in the future, I'm sure more games will be made to work and that will increase sales of the 2600+ and home brew along with games second hand. I see all of that as a good thing and it might signal a true actual rebirth for Atari and interest in the hobby.

I own three of New Wave's replicades and they are all excellent! The first one I bought was their Tempest. I bought it during PRGE 2018 I think it was or possibly 2019. I just remember how tricky it was to get it to fit into my luggage safely for the return trip home. I also own their Dragon's Lair and Space Ace cabinets. Both of those are excellent and even better since the HDMI outputs allow me to legally play the games in their arcade form with a nice controller (I used my PS4 controllers connected via USB to them), on the much bigger screen in the living room. I think the only other one they have released that I sort regret not getting was the Q*Bert. They even added a small solenoid knocker on it to simulate when Coily or Q*Bert fall off the playfield just like the arcade cabinet did. They recently had Ghosts n Goblins and a Ghouls n Ghosts cabinets that sold out pretty quickly, but I was never a huge fan of those games really.

Two options are my preferred when playing on my CV. My main option is the Rugger Pad I got from Ruggers Customs. It is actually a Genesis 3 button controller with a replacement PCB in it that adds the 1,2, and I think the 0 button along with the actual button 1 and button 2 needed. Covers a majority of the games for me and. If I play a game that uses the keypad buttons that aren't emulated on the Rugger Pad, then I use one of my actual CV controllers that I added a ball top to.