Atari 2600+ (Plus) Official Full Console for November 2023

[YoshiM]

I'm glad to see this being put on the market, but unless you just really love 7800 games I don't see any advantage of this over the Retron 77 (at half the price).

IMO if you're gonna emulate, just emulate. There's zero advantage to using carts in this situation. Buy an adapter to use your favorite controller on any of the million devices that are cheaper and will perform better than this.

This is for folks that want the nostalgia of putting a cartridge into a machine and playing some fave games on a modern television. Some folks don't want to doink around with emulators or hunting down ROMs. If Atari is going to start selling actual cartridges en masse, the 2600+ is a good avenue for nostalgic gamers to take. It's a pretty slick looking machine that has more "sex appeal" than the Retron 77.

Personally, I use a Harmony cart so I don't have to yank out my cartridges, so this device wouldn't work for me (unless it's hackable). The controllers, however, are on my radar. I'm not a fan of the Ranger stick from Hyperkin and paddles are becoming harder to find in good shape. I tried playing some H.E.R.O. this past weekend and pushing up didn't seem to register all that well on a Ranger that was hardly used. I'm tempted to roll the dice and get a joystick and set of paddles this payday, hoping they are like the originals in play.

[Tron 2.0]

While i did buy a atari 2600 again a few years ago i don't know if i'll bother with the 2600+.It's still a emulation based console similar to the likes of the retron77.Though,i'm interested in the paddle bundle since finding ones that work secondhand are a hassle.

[Steve W]

What I'm hoping is that they come up with some kind of multicarts for home-brew games, maybe home-brews that are fairly old and no longer available. There are probably hundreds of games that were made well after the Atari 2600's demise, it'd be great to be able to get some of them (or at least the ones that don't break copyright laws).

I hope they come out with an Atari 7800 controller. I actually do love the hell out of the 7800, so having a European style 7800 gamepad would be nice. Maybe some 7800 multicarts too. Maybe even hire a bunch of programmers to make sequels to some of those old games. Ninja Golf 2, anyone?

[Greg2600]

What I'm hoping is that they come up with some kind of multicarts for home-brew games, maybe home-brews that are fairly old and no longer available. There are probably hundreds of games that were made well after the Atari 2600's demise, it'd be great to be able to get some of them (or at least the ones that don't break copyright laws).

I hope they come out with an Atari 7800 controller. I actually do love the hell out of the 7800, so having a European style 7800 gamepad would be nice. Maybe some 7800 multicarts too. Maybe even hire a bunch of programmers to make sequels to some of those old games. Ninja Golf 2, anyone?

Highly doubt they'll bother with a 7800 stick. Quite a few used two buttons though.

2 Buttons Required:
Ace of Aces
Alien Brigade
Asteroids
Basketbrawl
Choplifter!
Commando
Crack'ed
Dark Chambers
Desert Falcon
Double Dragon
F-18 Hornet
Fatal Run
Ikari Warriors
Jinks
Karateka
Mat Mania Challenge
Midnight Mutants
Motor Psycho
Ninja Golf
One-on-One Basketball
Planet Smashers
Pole Position II
Rampage
RealSports Baseball
Scrapyard Dog
Super Huey UH-IX
Tank Command
Tomcat F-14 Flight Simulator
Water Ski
Xenophobe

2 Buttons Optional:
Xevious

As for the homebrew, I mean it's basically going to come down to what version of Stella they've got in there.

[Steve W]

It seems that Atari has bought out the Atari Age website/forum, which includes all the home-brews. I'm really curious how they're going to proceed from here. Apparently they've been getting rid of all their home-brew cartridges that are based on already existing games, so as not to step on other company's copyrights. Their Hacks game section only has 8 titles in it, all of which are based on games Atari currently owns.

[YoshiM]

It seems that Atari has bought out the Atari Age website/forum, which includes all the home-brews. I'm really curious how they're going to proceed from here. Apparently they've been getting rid of all their home-brew cartridges that are based on already existing games, so as not to step on other company's copyrights. Their Hacks game section only has 8 titles in it, all of which are based on games Atari currently owns.

The original authors still own the rights to their original homebrews, so there's no shenanigans there. AA is still going to sell cartridges but looks like they'll be using cartridges that can just be flashed as opposed to having to solder everything (at least that's the impression I got when Al there was talking about how homebrews will be sold in the near future). The whole conversation about it, with community Q & A can be found by clicking here.

Based on that thread and Al's mention of how the controllers feel, I bought both a stick and the paddle set. I'm watching the 2600+ to see if a USB drive can be accessible from the USB port. I still have some cartridges but I find I prefer to play from my Harmony cart. I just don't have the room for all this stuff anymore.

[Tron 2.0]

It seems that Atari has bought out the Atari Age website/forum, which includes all the home-brews. I'm really curious how they're going to proceed from here. Apparently they've been getting rid of all their home-brew cartridges that are based on already existing games, so as not to step on other company's copyrights. Their Hacks game section only has 8 titles in it, all of which are based on games Atari currently owns.

Yeah there recent clearance sale got rid of most of the champ games homebrew.Though you can still download there roms at there site and play them in emulation or using a flash cart.

[Az]

This is for folks that want the nostalgia of putting a cartridge into a machine and playing some fave games on a modern television.

I totally understand that, which is why I'm glad a device like this exists. A device with a high compatibility rate that works as intended, with no dicking about with settings, is a good thing.

My comment about emulation and what leaves me scratching my head is often the first discussion point about something like this are people asking about flash cart compatibility or custom firmware to load ROMs from an SD card. At the end of the day a Harmony cart shoved in a 2600+ is a very, very expensive way to run the same exact emulator and ROM you would on any other emulator setup.

[Gameguy]

This does seem like a decent enough console to fill a need, hopefully it'll be good when it comes out. I still prefer original hardware and displays when possible.

I totally understand that, which is why I'm glad a device like this exists. A device with a high compatibility rate that works as intended, with no dicking about with settings, is a good thing.

My comment about emulation and what leaves me scratching my head is often the first discussion point about something like this are people asking about flash cart compatibility or custom firmware to load ROMs from an SD card. At the end of the day a Harmony cart shoved in a 2600+ is a very, very expensive way to run the same exact emulator and ROM you would on any other emulator setup.

I suppose the reason people ask about flash cart or SD card compatibility in general is more for the ability to play homebrew or fan translations, or rare games that are too expensive for most people to own legitimately. Or for convenience without needing to change cartridges, just being overall more flexible with usage. Owning any type of console hardware often leads to questions of compatibility, even if I'll rarely if ever use those options myself. It's like caring about region locking when I rarely bother with foreign imports.

I did wonder about that with the Retron 5, mainly why require dumping the carts each time when it's just emulation, even having built in storage would be beneficial while avoiding SD cards for piracy prevention. Just dump a game once. I don't exactly trust the cart connectors of these cheap modern consoles so I keep thinking they'll cause excessive wear to cartridge contacts with long term use, or possibly damage to carts/chips due to voltage issues as modern electronics use lower internal voltage than older chips require, there's no guarantee these companies compensated for this correctly. I just trust OEM hardware more than most aftermarket ones, especially when produced decades apart.

[Greg2600]

Yeah there recent clearance sale got rid of most of the champ games homebrew.Though you can still download there roms at there site and play them in emulation or using a flash cart.

Champ Games have said they are working on a plan to continue selling NIB games of theirs.

This does seem like a decent enough console to fill a need, hopefully it'll be good when it comes out. I still prefer original hardware and displays when possible.

I suppose the reason people ask about flash cart or SD card compatibility in general is more for the ability to play homebrew or fan translations, or rare games that are too expensive for most people to own legitimately. Or for convenience without needing to change cartridges, just being overall more flexible with usage. Owning any type of console hardware often leads to questions of compatibility, even if I'll rarely if ever use those options myself. It's like caring about region locking when I rarely bother with foreign imports.

I did wonder about that with the Retron 5, mainly why require dumping the carts each time when it's just emulation, even having built in storage would be beneficial while avoiding SD cards for piracy prevention. Just dump a game once. I don't exactly trust the cart connectors of these cheap modern consoles so I keep thinking they'll cause excessive wear to cartridge contacts with long term use, or possibly damage to carts/chips due to voltage issues as modern electronics use lower internal voltage than older chips require, there's no guarantee these companies compensated for this correctly. I just trust OEM hardware more than most aftermarket ones, especially when produced decades apart.

There's definitely a market, because there are no great RGB or HDMI options for the 2600. Yes, people want it to play everything, which isn't likely.

The original authors still own the rights to their original homebrews, so there's no shenanigans there. AA is still going to sell cartridges but looks like they'll be using cartridges that can just be flashed as opposed to having to solder everything (at least that's the impression I got when Al there was talking about how homebrews will be sold in the near future). The whole conversation about it, with community Q & A can be found by clicking here.

Based on that thread and Al's mention of how the controllers feel, I bought both a stick and the paddle set. I'm watching the 2600+ to see if a USB drive can be accessible from the USB port. I still have some cartridges but I find I prefer to play from my Harmony cart. I just don't have the room for all this stuff anymore.

Not sure if AtariAge will offer much more than original homebrew in the near term. Atari itself are the ones doing the retail releases. Al explained in a long FB post why he did this. Basically he was short on time to finish many of the upgrades and projects he was planning.

Atari bought out MobyGames a while ago and it's still operating the same as before.

[Nz17]

The 10 game multi-cart utilizes DIP toggle switches to select which game you wish to play. That's cool!

[YoshiM]

It looks like the 2600+ and accessories are delayed. My stick and paddles aren't coming until December and after a quick check on the Atari site, the system has the same fate.

I did have to drop a line to Atari as I received emails that the stick and paddles shipped (!) but my T-shirt didn't. I found that rather odd. I received the shirt but it still shows it as waiting to be shipped and my hardware having been delivered.

[celerystalker]

I'm glad some folks will enjoy this. I'm fine playing my old consoles on CRT, though if those paddle are good and compatible with original hardware, I might upgrade for Warlords, as I feel like I have to tinker with my old paddles way too much.

I do think Atari might be a little overly optimistic on their brand. The younger potential buyers here are in their 40's that actually have nostalgia for the games. I've tried showing younger kids Atari 2600 games, and it's a hard sell. If they actually try Warlords, I can usually show them a good time, but by and large, the library doesn't seem to resonate with a younger crowd, and I don't think that this will create a new generation of fans. I wouldn't mind being wrong about that, mind you.

Maybe they have reasonable, tempered expectations and are planning to maximize a niche market, but I feel like they need to try and find a way to leverage their IPs in a new direction if they truly want to bring the brand back in a big way. Maybe help build a period-based Netflix show in the vein of a Stranger Things that features Atari consoles and arcade games in some way to get the branding in front of more eyes, and use the momentum for some updated releases. I dunno.

[Tron 2.0]

Champ Games have said they are working on a plan to continue selling NIB games of theirs.

If they can find another publisher i'll buy it the most i wanted to have a physical copy of is wizard of wor and zoo keeper.

[Nz17]

People have been receiving their consoles and controllers from Atari of the 2600+. How are the reviews?

[Steve W]

I'm considering buying the Atari Gamestation from My Arcade instead of the 2600+. It looks like you can add ROMs through the Micro SD slot on the back, and a variety of console ROMs too. If the 2600+ had a multi-game cartridge that had, for example, a bunch of Atari ST games on it or Atari 800 games, then I'd go for that one. I don't feel the need to play 2600 games too often, so I can't justify $100 or more just to be able to easily play Atari stuff on a modern TV.

[YoshiM]

People have been receiving their consoles and controllers from Atari of the 2600+. How are the reviews?

I watched a couple and so far, in the rank of 1-10, around 7-8. The fact it's not 100% compatible is mentioned, especially with homebrews (and I think more so on the 7800 front). Controllers get the thumbs up and other controllers, like trackballs, seem to work fine.

I should be getting my joystick and paddles on Monday. I'll give them a try later in the week and I'll let ya know!