Atari 2600 Plus Coming in November 2023 (1 Viewer)

[LeoA]

Seems that Atari SA and Koch Media/Plaion values retailers like Amazon over customers that preordered direct from them. I'm not sure of the sense in that, but you're not alone in getting that message.

There's been some other Atari 2600+ news recently. They're showing off a prototype of a new gamepad controller (a remake of what the Atari 7800 shipped with in Europe that Atari fans refer to as the "Europad"). Availability is early 2024.

They'll also be making the paddles available separately (right now you have to buy the bundle that comes with the 4-in-1 game cartridge, which obviously is a bit of a waste if you already own original cartridges of all four games or are simply buying an extra set of these new paddles for 4-person multiplayer action). And I think they said that four new cartridges will be announced early next year, including at least one Atari 7800 game (The 2600+ also plays 7800 games).

Lastly, an "accessory extension cable" is coming which I assume is just a traditional controller extension cable like you can already buy from retailers that sell classic gaming hardware (which will work just fine on an Atari 2600+ since the controller ports and pinouts match original 2600's and 7800's).

 

[Greg.K]

There is no way to cancel an order on their website, either. Won’t make that mistake again.

 

[John*Wells]

I have 35-40 old cartridges. I’m looking forward to playing them again. Also I wonder if the paddles will go 360 degrees. The ones that came with the last Atari flashback did not

 

[LeoA]

No, the paddles don't go 360 degrees. There's a physical lock each way to stop movement just like the originals from 1977.

If I had to take a shot at estimating it, I'd say that 2600 paddle controllers spin roughly 300 degrees which has been replicated here (as well as in past AtGames replicas made for the Atari Flashback line along with both the old Jakks Pacific Atari 2600 paddle plug & play system from 20 years ago and the much newer AtGames Atari Blast paddle plug & play system).

They're not a spinner controller like arcade Tempest and such use. Nor are they a free-spinning wheel controller that can be spun an infinite number of times either way like your average overhead arcade racing race like Super Sprint was equipped with or the driving controllers for Indy 500 on the Atari 2600 came with (which look much like a 2600 paddle controller).

 

[John*Wells]

I received mine from Amazon today. Planning to start over Thanksgiving

 

[BobO'Link]

I have 35-40 old cartridges. I’m looking forward to playing them again. Also I wonder if the paddles will go 360 degrees. The ones that came with the last Atari flashback did not

My understanding is the original controllers will work with this console so if you have them from your 2600 days just use those (I have those, a trackball, WICO joystick, keypads, and several other unique/oddball controllers from various games or just because I wanted one).

 

[LeoA]

Original joysticks and paddles are indeed compatible (as are those made for Legacy Engineering's Atari Flashback 2 that used a 100% accurate 2600-on-a-chip IC and then all the AtGames emulation based Flashbacks afterwards). I'm unsure though if the old trick of using a Genesis gamepad still works on the 2600+ like it does on an actual 2600.

Keypads don't work so no Star Raiders at least yet (updates are coming so hopefully that changes). I'm unsure about the current status of trackballs. I imagine they'll at least work in digital mode since the 2600+ will just see it as a standard joystick inputs, but in true analog mode with compatible games it's questionable at the moment (compatible 2600/7800 games with full track-ball support are all modern day hacks of games like Centipede that weren't coded originally with trackball support or homebrews).

I'm also unsure about the status of Indy 500's driving controller. And of course with the lightguns (only one game on the 2600 but about a half dozen on the 7800), it's rather a moot point if it technically works with the 2600+ since the technology is reliant on CRT displays.

 

[John*Wells]

How much power does the system pull? I connected it to a USB port on my tv instead of plugging it in to a receptacle on the wall or into a surge protector. When I unplugged it from the tv usb it was hot to the touch

 

[Robert Saccone]

I tried to use a usb-c cable to power the device to an Apple usb-c charger. No dice. I had to use the usb-c to usb-a cable included with it and a USB-a power adapter. A bit puzzled I am.

 

[Greg.K]

Looks like mine is shipping now. Of course I won’t be home all next week.

 

[Greg.K]

There's been some other Atari 2600+ news recently. They're showing off a prototype of a new gamepad controller (a remake of what the Atari 7800 shipped with in Europe that Atari fans refer to as the "Europad"). Availability is early 2024.

Definitely looking forward to these controllers. I do have a real 7800 but I bought it off eBay years ago and it was just the console with no controllers.

I've played the 2600+ a bit. Asteroids and Space Invaders both have problems with sprites disappearing at inopportune times on my LG OLED TV. (in Asteroids it's mostly my ship, in Space Invaders it's either my missile or the ones being shot at me). I assume this has to do with the sprite cycling being done and the OLED not quite being able to match the framerate, or some other processing in the TV.

The one 7800 cartridge I tried (Pole Position II) loads, but from what I understand there is a 2600+ bug in which buttons 1 & 2 are swapped, and only having the joystick that came with the system, can't really play it as the button does nothing.

 

[Ruz-El]

I don't know the technical terms, but watching Atari Archive vids on youtube (highly recommended), it's often discussed that programmers squeezed more onto cartridges/displays by using alternate pixels or something knowing how CRT displays scanned. I wonder if that's the issue if things aren't showing up since it's not matching the alternate "plains" or however it works. And if it is, I have no idea what the fix would be.

 

[LeoA]

Stella outputs a rock solid 60 hz picture (the premier 2600 emulator, which Atari is using here). Games that don't run at an exact 60 hz (of which the 2600 has plenty of in NTSC land) are frame interpolated to get them to 60 fps.

People are having good luck resolving the issue of sprites disappearing by disabling various filters on their tv. A seemingly common cure is to turn off motion smoothing/motion plus. Sprite flicker which was so common on the 2600 (outside of Activision which had a no-flicker policy) seems to confuse the video processor on some modern televisions, yielding these visual anomalies.

 

[Greg.K]

Stella outputs a rock solid 60 hz picture (the premier 2600 emulator, which Atari is using here). Games that don't run at an exact 60 hz (of which the 2600 has plenty of in NTSC land,) are frame interpolated to get them to 60 fps.

People are having good luck resolving the issue of sprites disappearing by disabling various filters on their tv. A seemingly common cure is to turn off motion smoothing/motion plus. Sprite flicker which was so common on the 2600 (outside of Activision which had a no-flicker policy) seems to confuse the video processor on some modern televisions, yielding these visual anomalies.

I always leave TruMotion (LG’s motion smoothing) off because I hate it. I’ve tried various settings (even turning TruMotion on) and nothing seems to help this.

Oh well. i’ll try it on some other monitors/TVs here.

 

[John*Wells]

I want that!

Then I’ll be hopping over to eBay for a Keystone Kapers cartridge, thank you very much.

So did you find Keystone Kapers, Josh?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

So did you find Keystone Kapers, Josh?

I didn’t even get around to getting the Atari yet… but I haven’t forgotten it!

 

[Greg.K]

Just saw this announced:

Atari 400 Mini

Discover classic consoles and cartridges, modern titles and never-before-seen art and gameplay from Atari.

atari.com

Interesting that this uses USB joysticks where the 2600+ didn't.

I also wish they'd modeled it after the XL or XE line and not the 400, even though the 400 was the first computer I ever owned.

 

[John*Wells]

Ordered moon patrol and 3 Star Wars games from e bay. I’ll be anxious to play them again

 

[LeoA]

Just as a quick tip, if you find that Moon Patrol lacks the background music that you may remember, just slide the left difficulty switch.

Quite a few folks never realized that it serves as a mute button for the music (which also is the case with Phoenix, another great coinop port from Atari on the system).

 

[John Dirk]

What's the video resolution of this console?