Atari Flashback 9 is Awesome

[RickR]

I thought I'd do a quick write up on the Atari Flashback 9, which has two features that make it VERY worthwhile.

• It has an SD card slot (to load any game file you like)
• It has HDMI output (razor sharp video on a flatscreen TV)

These two features work really nicely.  I am getting great output on my flatscreen (my pictures don't do it justice).  And we have all been clamoring for a 2600 that uses an SD card slot.  It does use emulation, but I think it's really well done.  I haven't noticed any sound or graphics glitches. 

I want to thank Arenafoot for his flashback portable gamepack (available from the AtariAge forums), as that's what I used on mine.  There is one small quirk I should mention.  The Flashback 9 won't load a file if there is a space in the filename.  I used a batch file renamer program to remove spaces from all of the files in Arenafoot's pack.  And BOOM, they all work. 

I bought mine used on ebay.  I think you can get them new for $60 or so on Amazon.  IMO, avoid the "Gold" version.  It comes with "wireless" controllers and I don't like the lag those introduce, plus they have to be aimed at the console.  

This product is made by atgames.  In this case (and also with the portable), they deserve a lot of credit and praise.  I really feel that this is an outstanding product. 

Let me know if you have any questions or need help in any way.

 

 

[TrekMD]

Cool.  Glad to know.  This may be better than the Retron 77.

[Atarileaf]

I was thinking of getting one this year but (1) no paddle controllers, you have to McGyver your own. (2) I'm getting a Collectorvision Phoenix which will also play 2600 games via SD card and in HDMI but with the rumored cart adapter it should have 100% compatibility with homebrews. I'll see how future iterations of ATgames turn out but I've never been enamored with this company or its products plus in Canada these things are $100 and that's at least twice as much as I'm willing to pay for one of these things. If I see one in a thrift store for ten bucks I'd pick one up but I'm not putting a lot of money into one of these things. 

These arcade units they're making are intriguing but I'm half expecting it to be an expensive piece of junk. 

[StormSurge]

Good info Rick!

With regards to the Retron77, I recently installed the latest Stella build for it & it works FANTASTIC. I'm looking into an adapter to optimize the paddles, but for now, it's working like a champ for me.

[Arenafoot]

On 2/4/2019 at 9:46 PM, RickR said:

I thought I'd do a quick write up on the Atari Flashback 9, which has two features that make it VERY worthwhile.

• It has an SD card slot (to load any game file you like)
• It has HDMI output (razor sharp video on a flatscreen TV)

These two features work really nicely.  I am getting great output on my flatscreen (my pictures don't do it justice).  And we have all been clamoring for a 2600 that uses an SD card slot.  It does use emulation, but I think it's really well done.  I haven't noticed any sound or graphics glitches. 

I want to thank Arenafoot for his flashback portable gamepack (available from the AtariAge forums), as that's what I used on mine.  There is one small quirk I should mention.  The Flashback 9 won't load a file if there is a space in the filename.  I used a batch file renamer program to remove spaces from all of the files in Arenafoot's pack.  And BOOM, they all work. 

I bought mine used on ebay.  I think you can get them new for $60 or so on Amazon.  IMO, avoid the "Gold" version.  It comes with "wireless" controllers and I don't like the lag those introduce, plus they have to be aimed at the console.  

This product is made by atgames.  In this case (and also with the portable), they deserve a lot of credit and praise.  I really feel that this is an outstanding product. 

Thanks for the shout out!

I bought my Flashback 9 HDMI from my Dollar General during the Amazon Prime days for half price! It is awesome! The HDMI output and the SD card slot make it the best AtGames Atari Flashback console to date. Not sure if the upcoming AtGames Atari Flashback X (which will look more like the wood version of the VCS - silver switches and all) will have the SD card slot or not.