CrossBow

There you go... so again it seems that those that ordered more than just the 2600+ are the ones now having to wait. I've seen posts where folks wish that Atari had just sent them the 2600+ first and the other stuff later, but that doesn't make sense as like any company, they are going to want to ship everything all at once vs breaking up as that can be a real logistical nightmare. I'm sure they weren't quite prepared for the influx of orders they actually received and they likely miscalculated how much product needed to be ready for launch. I can say, that from my perspective at least, it seems the 2600+ has gotten more main stream attention than any of the Flashback units prior and so there is more coverage for the 2600+ making more folks aware of it than before.

Although speculation, it seems that those that only ordered the console itself, like me, might actually be getting them while those that ordered the 2600+ with something else like additional games or controllers, seem to be the ones with delayed shipping now from Atari.

Did I read on the AA forums that you got an email stating you wouldn't be getting yours until December now? My tracking shows a possible delivery for this coming Wednesday as it is in FedEx's hands now.

My order # is 7664

@sramirez2008 I did see the pics that were posted on the new 7800 gamepad controller. I'm sure I will order at least one when they are available for purchase.

I got my shipping notification yesterday from Atari. But according to FedEx it is still just a label notification and FedEx doesn't have it in hand yet. So likely they will get it today and start it on its journey. I know of the limitations and understood that before buying it. But I feel that the only way Atari will provide something better in the future, is if this initial 2600+ gets a strong showing in support from the community. And we don't know what updates in the future might allow. The fact that it has now been confirmed to work with the DragonFly is also quite nice since that means more home brew 7800 games can be made to work if they just update the lookup checksum tables in the 2600+ so it knows how to setup the emulation to allow for more games to work.

in noticed this as well with the all the release/review videos today showing that in the unboxing part. I'm likely to do the same. But then I'm not sure if I'm going to actually have my 2600+ setup somewhere for use all the time either.

Give it time and I'm sure Printerboy will get one made up. Barb would too but I don't know how actively she is in making new covers these days. I want to say the last time I spoke with her just over a year ago, she was clearing out what she had to retire from it. Sad too since most of my covers in my setup are from Barb.

While I can't quite afford either of those models, I did happen to get a NeoGeo CD for under $200 about a month ago. Now I have a controller and will need to get a PSU for it at some point. I know that Metal Slug and MS2 are available for the NeoGeo CD. Then again, I own the Saturn port of Metal Slug also. Such great games!

I believe the most common way that most techs will install UAVs into the 6 switch consoles, is using the 4050 piggy back method that is similar to that of the 5200. This method does work of course for most, but there are a few reason why you might not want to go with this installation method. - The 4050 is critical in the operations of the 6 switch console as it not only has buffering for the video signals, but also is part of the main logic behind the fire button / trigger controls on these older models - There are instances of the 4050 +5 voltages to the chip not being consistent and even being too low to power the UAV properly while working fine in the console otherwise - Requires some tight solder work to attach the socket on top of the 4050 which again, is a critical IC in the system and 40+ years old in most of these consoles - The 4050 is quite susceptible to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) damage. So not using proper equipment rated to be ESD safe and setup properly can damage the 4050 when touching and soldering to it directly Although the 4050 is a cheap IC part and still made new today in this form factor, I find it best to stay clear of the IC and I get much better and more consistent results when I point to point solder wiring from other locations back to the UAV. As such, this guide can be looked at as an alternate installation method and not the only way to do it. But this is the method I've been using for several years now to install UAVs into 6 switch NTSC Atari consoles. UAV (Ultimate Atari Video) Layout:- The UAV has basically remained the same on its design and layout since around 2017 when the current revision D was released. I only use the basic UAV board in all of my installs as I find that easier to wire to and provides me more flexibility overall. Below is a diagram showing you the spots on the UAV you need to be concerned with on NTSC 2600 Installations. In all installs, the UAV will need to have power, ground, color signal, and a few other video signals provided to it for it to function properly. These signals come from the TIA chip. Take NOTE that you attach the signal wires for S, 1, 2, & 3 along the center and smaller vias on the UAV. If you have a pre-built UAV with a header block soldered here, just solder wiring to the tops of the header pins to make it easier. Different revisions:- The 6-switch NTSC consoles come in only two main versions. What we call the Heavy sixer and the light sixer variant. Most of the differences between the two models are on the separate attached switch boards and not on the main board containing the core logic of the game system. As a result, the method shown for UAV wiring is the same between both models of the 6-switch NTSC consoles. Power, Ground and Color resistor:- The UAV requires power and ground to operate. The 6-switch models also have an 800Ωish resistor located at R213 just about below center of the TIA chip. The picture below shows good points to get +5v (R207)and ground (C204 or C203) connections from. Additionally, the color resistor that is in place, must be disabled from circuit as it will cause hue/tint issues on the UAV that cannot be adjusted out using the color trimmer wheel. I usually de-solder the right leg of this resistor and use shrink tubing around it to isolate it, while keeping it in place in case the resistor should ever be put back into service for some reason. You can also just clip the leg with side flush cutters as well. NTSC TIA signal component locations for UAV:- The signals needed from the TIA can be gotten from points directly off empty vias on the main board or from a nearby component leg. Again, these are alternate locations that I use for UAV installs as there is plenty of room to solder everything to and it keeps the wiring from the UAV to the main board pretty short. The signal points on the UAV for S, 1, 2, 3, Co In, & Audio are shown below. You might have to carefully bend the resistors to the side a little bit to allow for more room to access these spare vias. Audio Connection:- As shown in the previous picture, there is an unused via next to capacitor C210. This via is connected directly to pins 12 and 13 off the TIA and is where I tap the signal needed for the audio output. However, as this is the raw signal from the TIA it is a bit too strong and I advise adding in an additional 10µf capacitor and resistor inline to help bring the level down a bit. The level of resistance it up to you and isn't required but I wouldn't go above 10k as that is likely to be too low for use and again you might be fine with how it sounds without one at all. Also be advised that this point has both pins 12 and 13 already combined so it will only provide a mono output from both channels of the TIA audio. UAV output wiring:- The output side of the UAV is along the same point that you attached the TIA color signal wire to. All of your output signal jacks will require a connection for the signal output and also ground. What I usually do in my installs is to run a shared ground wire for both audio and composite video from the ground pin near the composite output on the UAV. I then run another second shared ground for the chroma and luma outputs for s-video using the ground pin between Co In and chroma out on the UAV outputs. The diagram below shows the S-video connections on the female s-video as viewed from the front of the s-video jack. What about that blue box thing on the UAV, what is that for? :- The blue box near the output side on the UAV is a trimmer adjustment for changing the way color artifacting looks through composite output. However, this trimmer has no impact when used on the 2600 console as it was mainly put into place for using the UAV on the Atari 8-bit computers where more games used NTSC artifacting. And that pretty much sums it up. The work required to install the UAV into a 6-switch 2600 in this manner might seem like more work, but I think the consistent results and less risk to the TIA and 4050 IC are worth it in these particular installs. And in the case of the NTSC 6-switch consoles, the empty spot on the main board above the TIA is a great place to attach the UAV and have everything needed right there close by. Here is an example of one I've done using the information I've posted above to give you an idea.

Unrelated but I have noticed that the market on the games is now coming down. My collection is now showing a -10k value from where it was a year ago. Some games in my collection for the Saturn for instance that were at or near $1000 have dropped as much as 40% of where they were currently. One example is my CIB of Magic Knight Rayearth. I bought mine like 6 years ago for $250. It came with the Saturn game including the full sticker sheet and also came with the JPN Saturn release of the game and the JPN Game Gear version of the game that was NIB. Just about a year ago the US Saturn release of the game was about $800 on its own and during the middle of the pandemic it was nearly $1000. Now it's value has dropped to around $600. But on the opposite side of that, some of my SNES CIB games have gone up quite a bit! So who knows? I don't mind either way because I did NOT pay for the prices that any of my games are currently showing their value at. OH! I am surprised to see that the Atari XP releases for Aquaventure, and Yar's Return have gone up as well. Aquaventure is currently showing a value of over $200 with Yar's coming in at over $150?! Saboteur isn't showing up yet as I guess there isn't any sales history for that one yet. It just shows a "?" for value on Gameye at this time. I'm assuming this is because they were limited releases and not currently available? Wonder what some of the others will get up to in the future then?

Yes, this I've known about with Humble Bundles at least. I wasn't sure about the code still working either, but I opened up my Steam client and went strait to redeem the code and it gave a success and the game just auto installed. At that point, the add-on was still in my cart and I could now purchase it. So it was pretty seamless at that point. I think Steam codes are basically good forever, but the codes that humble gets might be created by Humble themselves and that is why they have windows for expiration on them.

Well, there is a slight silver lining to this. I posted about this in a big box PC collectors group on FB and someone there posted that the crazy expensive versions of the game came with a digital download code and they thought the less deluxe boxed version also did. However, they received it as an email from 3D Realms at the time they bought the game physically. So... I did a mass search on my emails for the keyword 3D Realms and sure enough... back in Summer of 2019 when I bought the boxed physical version, they did indeed send me a Steam redeem code for the game digital as well. I'd never used it or paid any attention to it because I had it physically and installed and played it that way. But yeah, apparently they did send digital codes via email years back when it was purchased. I was able to redeem the code finally after 4 years on my Steam account and then was able to buy the DLC add-on to play. I can kinda see why it was only offered as a big box release and digital in this regard. The DLC changes the entire starting screen and options on the game compared to what it was before. So while the base game is needed, it seems that many aspects of the core engine of the game are replaced out for the new DLC stuff to work and it likely isn't as feasible to offer this as a separate download on its own without having to deal with quite a lot of support headaches. With the digital versions, those core base game has all the needed updates applied so the DLC will work properly. So yes, I have the add-on and able to play. But if I hadn't been reminded about this possible digital code having been sent years ago, I wouldn't know to look for it. And good thing I haven't updated or done a complete system reload in that time else, that email would have been lost. And... because I bought the game under a guest account through their website, I wouldn't have had a way to refer back to their support for it to try and get another code sent as they require your account with them to refer to the previous store purchases. They changed their web store to a new site and format over this summer so my guest account purchase essentially doesn't exist in their records at this point.

Another option is to take a good working 2600 paddle controller and retrofit it into a 5200 controller. I did that for a client about a year ago. It turned out pretty slick and looked like it was factory made.

Few years back I bought the 3D Realms release of Ion Fury in big box physical form. Excellent packaging that took me back to the days of actual releases. The game came on a USB drive as a DRM free version to install and use on your computer. As a result it didn't come with a digital redeem code or anything like that to purchase through Steam or GOG..etc. And the game is great fun and I still fire it up and play it even though I've managed to beat it a few times. Well, early last month, they finally released a new expansion add-on for the game call Aftershock and it looks really cool and has gotten favorable reviews. So what is the issue then? Well, the issue is that Aftershock only seems to be available currently in digital form through Steam or GOG for PC. However, while I do have Steam and GOG accounts with a lot of games on both, Ion Fury isn't one of them since again, I own the game in physical release outside of those services. So the issue is that Steam and GOG will NOT allow me to purchase the add-on separately because I don't own the base game digitally through their services!? I was more surprised about GOG because they sell DRM releases. But nope...it lets me add the expansion to my cart, but will NOT let me purchase it stating I don't on the GOG release?! And the 3D Realms site doesn't seem to offer any information about this? To be fair, they did offer a big box release for Aftershock, but it was way more expensive than I wanted to pay for an add-on when the add-on digitally is a $15 purchase vs the big box releases being nearly a $100. And even then, those big box releases sold out fast! So digital is the only way to purchase it. But now that means I have to double dip and buy the base game again... This might be the first time I've seen this take place, but yeah even though I own the game in physical from from 3D Realms directly, there isn't a way for me to purchase and play the new add-on expansion without purchasing the base game again digitally through Steam or GOG as both of those services will not allow you to purchase the new add-on DLC unless you have the base game in their digital form on your accounts with them.

Yes...it does. though I've not used it specifically. Once you open the app there is an additional menu that has an export option. From there you choose if you want to create a restore point. (Needed if you want to have the app on more than one device as it doesn't sync between devices). or export out as a spreadsheet. That said, I've not seen an Import option so even if you have the spreadsheet they provide, It doesn't look like you can alter that and up it back to the app.

I actual use Gameye. That is how I got those numbers pretty quickly. I only listed what I appear to have with most value according to gameye. I'm actually at just over 2100 games total according to the app.

Yeap... and in my case I'm working on these older systems now more than I have time to play them. Most of my retro game playing is when I'm testing them after services!

This is my list but I'm sure it is missing some titles as this is only for official released games and doesn't include homebrews: 2600: 326 5200: 55 7800: 56 Jaguar: 21 Jaguar CD: 6 Lynx: 43 Coleco: 86 Intellivision: 81 Vectrex: 7 NES: 49 GameCube: 50 Wii: 101 Wii U: 20 SNES: 65 Sega 32x: 20 Sega CD: 8 Dreamcast: 72 Game Gear: 58 Sega Genesis/Megadrive: 342 Sega Master System: 57 Sega Saturn: 72 PS2: 49 PS3: 89 PS4: 41 But that is just mostly the console games and this doesn't include games I own for PC and other computers. As you can see it is mostly Atari and Sega heavy.

There was a guy that ran an arcade repair business from his home. He had an airplane hangar on his property that was filled...FILLED with different arcade cabs along with some classic cars scattered in there. It was so full you had to climb up and over some of the machines to get to and see stuff in the back. But again...aircraft hangar so it wasn't exactly climate controlled. And even when I was visited him and saw this nearly 20 years ago, many of the cabs were already too far gone to be saved but he wouldn't get rid of them. He eventually left the business and moved away and I have NO idea what happened to it all because his property was bought just over 10 years ago and a housing edition built right up next to it. I think his house is still there but shows nature having taken it over and the hangar I believe was torn down. As it is private property I've never ventured onto it to see.

I've seen pics of groups of cabs left outside of building to just rot from the elements. And in the worst cases, I've seen photos of actual arcade guys that still operate machines and routes that have posted pics of bonfires they have built with cabs that weren't making them anymore money and they weren't willing to sell the cabs for cheap to get rid of them so... burn them instead.

Jag repro carts are a thing... I 'might' have one as an example so that I could see what the buzz was about for a particular game and wanted to play it on actual hardware.

Was sea pup a new Veccy game being sold at PRGE? You stated Sean was sharing his booth with one of the NVGM guys? Pretty sure it was likely John Hardie although I've not seen pics. But was that the Atarirepairparts.com booth?

I already touched on this in an earlier blog post not that long actually, but I will summarize again really quickly. Main issue is that in 7800 mode and games, one or both fire buttons might show as being pressed without a controller plugged in. Plug in a controller and everything behaves as it should but ultimate, the console shouldn't read anything actively from the ports without a controller plugged in. In my previous blog, I mentioned that an out of spec resistor located at R35 was only reading about 217Ω while the schematics state that this resistor and the on next to it, should be reading 220Ω. Most of the resistors in the 7800 I believe are 5% tolerant meaning that the value of the component should read within +|- 5%. In this case, such a resistor would still be technically in spec if it were reading as low as 209Ω or as high as 231Ω would still be within that 5% tolerance. So a resistor reading 217Ω is well within the tolerance spec of the resistor. This was likely fine years ago when everything was much newer, but it seems as the equipment begins to age, these values become more and more tight and the tolerances allowed will no longer work. Because to fix this 7800 over the weekend, required that I again find a replacement resistor that was reading closer to 220Ω to resolve the issue. In this case, the resistor reads 219Ω. I've attached a picture that shows the location for these resistors. R34 affects player 1 and R35 affects player 2. And again, these resistors only seem to come into play as causing an issue when the console is in 7800 mode. You can actually remove these resistors and the 7800 fire buttons will still work properly on 7800 games. But they will not work in 2600 mode. So the resistors are only needed for 2600 mode but if will actually effect 7800 trigger readings once they get to a certain threshol. To be fair I don't think these resistors are just suddenly now starting to read off spec. I suspect the issue is actually the TIA starting to show signs of failure internally as swapping out TIAs will also fix this. But for now, with TIA being much more expensive to replace than a simple resistor, I'm going with changing out resistors to be more in spec going forward and I might just start stocking up and replacing out R34 and R35 with 1% types as part of preventive measures.

As stated in another blog, I have a few 7800 sent to me for repairs and eventual upgrades. This 7800 had an interesting problem where as soon as you plugged in the DC power to the console, it would immediately power on and would NOT turn off. While there are a few components in the mix that can cause, this, I've found really only two components well technically 3 that should be looked into as possibilities: The first component and the one most people already know about, is the power switch itself. But in this particular case, it wasn't the switch as the console would still power on even with the switch removed. The next component is the 4013 IC flip-flop. This chip controls the actual on or off signals sent through the console when you press the power button. However this had already been replaced in the past as on this console it was mounted in a socket. Removing the 4013 did NOT change the condition on this console and it would still power on immediately. This pretty much only leaves one more component... There is a large transistor mounted in spot Q10 and labeled as an MJE210. These were used on both the 7800 and the 5200 that I know of. This transistor receives a signal from the 4013 telling it to actually switch the unregulated power over to the 7805 voltage regulator. I quickly found out this was the issue when I removed the 210 and the issue went away. This was replaced out using another one from a donor 5200 parts board as the 5200 actually has a pair of these bad boys on them. Here is what the MJE210 looks like. In this picture, the failed one is the green one on the mat and replacement from a 5200 has been installed into place. These only work installed in one direction and that is usually with the MJE labeling facing towards the back of the 7800. So yeah, if you have power on/off issues those are the three main components to check for first as the other components are mostly passives and not as likely to go bad.