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Atari 2600+; November 17 @ $129 USD


Gloves

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2 minutes ago, Gloves said:

 

It plays original carts via emulation, so while not necessarily 1:1, it's Atari games so... whatever, really. Seems pretty neat to me, if a bit expensive depending on the build quality.

Anybody in for this?

Nah, I feel down the pre-nes hole early on in collecting and then sold it all off. My memories started with NES so Coleco, Atari, Intellivision, etc are all non-starters for me

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I was wondering when this thing would make an appearance here on VGS.  It is all over my feed and pretty much in my face everywhere I look (except here).

 

The consensus I can glean from most Atari-minded folks (including me) is that it is nice to have a machine that looks like the 2600, but this misses the mark on being something exciting and falls down to like "novelty" status.

Functionally, it is only about the same as the Retron '77.   (Emulation with cart "dumper"). They are selling new paddles, and they do claim that original controllers work, but it does NOT have an SD cart slot.  They indicate that 7800 games will be supported, but there is only a one button controller available for purchase.

The first thing people inside the hobby typically ask is if the device is 100% compatible.  Can it play flashcarts and the modern homebrews coming out for the system?  Consensus is that it cannot.  Sadly, the "cart-dumping" feature we've seen so far on the Retron '77 is more of a novelty (note that the compatibility list mentioned on the official site matches the '77 - hence the comparison).

So, while this certainly opens a new chapter of someone attempting to give us a complete replacement for the 2600, it falls short in ways similar to devices that already exist.  But hey - at least you can plan on buying some multicarts with physical dip switches for game selection.

https://atari.com/products/atari-2600-plus

Here’s the compatibility list: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0609/3658/5381/files/Atari-2600Plus-Compatibility.pdf?v=1692667681

 

 

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1 hour ago, Gloves said:

 

It plays original carts via emulation, so while not necessarily 1:1, it's Atari games so... whatever, really. Seems pretty neat to me, if a bit expensive depending on the build quality.

Anybody in for this?

So it's like an Atari 2600 version of the AVS? I'm intrigued. I see you can also buy a set of paddles with a 4 in 1 multicart of paddle games. Now I'm really interested.

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7 hours ago, Bearcat-Doug said:

So it's like an Atari 2600 version of the AVS? I'm intrigued. I see you can also buy a set of paddles with a 4 in 1 multicart of paddle games. Now I'm really interested.

If it had the compatibility of the AVS then it would be a no-brainer.  Sadly, the thing is simply running Stella (a 2600 emulator) and dumps some cart roms to memory before running the emulator.  You'll get the exact same thing with better results just running the emulator on something else.

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  • 4 months later...
Events Team · Posted
5 minutes ago, G-type said:

Its $50 more for this than a Retron 77... but it looks like a 2600, plays 7800 games and includes the 10-in-1... I'd say that is worth an extra 50.

Man I wish Atari would have been earlier to market with this.  I picked up the 77 less than a year before the 2600+ was announced.  Can't really justify it now.

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32 minutes ago, JamesRobot said:

Man I wish Atari would have been earlier to market with this.  I picked up the 77 less than a year before the 2600+ was announced.  Can't really justify it now.

As a guy with waaay too much Atari stuff, I think you did fine.  The 2600+ may get some exclusives or something (eventually), but you can likely do everything you want on the '77, and the community build of Stella lets you play all the homebrews etc. right from the SDCard.  There's definitely NOT a reason to get both.

Plus, this version of Atari seems to be pretty active.  (You can now pre-order THE400 mini).  They may come out with a second iteration of the 2600+ at some point.  Hold out for that.

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On 8/28/2023 at 2:57 PM, Bearcat-Doug said:

So it's like an Atari 2600 version of the AVS? I'm intrigued. I see you can also buy a set of paddles with a 4 in 1 multicart of paddle games. Now I'm really interested.

No. The AVS runs hardware emulation on FPGA, this is software emulation.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 6 months later...

News today is that Atari is releasing a 7800+.  Seems to be about the same functionality as the 2600+ with some insider info on the AtariAge thread indicating they are planning to improve the durability of the cart slot.

Since I totally skipped the 2600+, this intrigues me.  I don't own a physical copy of Bently Bear's Crystal Quest (the pack-in game), and all the accessories included with the Atari 7800+ Controller Mega Bundle – Atari® are quite nice (as is the pre-order discount).

Generally though, I just keep feeling better about this version of Atari.  I like the new game selection announced with the device, I like the inclusion of respected homebrewers, I like that the community firmware will be included, and I really like if they address the cart slot.  As an Atari superfan (and crusty curmudgeon), they are actually making things that I might want to buy here.

 

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7800+ Features:

  • Plays both Atari 2600 and 7800 game cartridges
  • Near-perfect compatibility with original and third-party Atari games
  • Includes the new Wireless CX78+ Gamepad for all of your two-button, gaming needs
  • Easily connects to any screen via HDMI
  • Widescreen or 4:3 viewing options for all displays
  • Included cartridge Bentley Bear’s newest 7800 adventure; Bentley Bear’s Crystal Quest
  • USB-C charging cable (wall charging plug not included)

Atari7800Plus-Homepage-Image-800px.jpg

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