Welcome to The Atari Network! We cover everything Atari! Here you can find our Featured Videos every Thursday, which covers a gauntlet of topics from comparing Atari games on different Atari systems, to Defending Former Atari Corp Owners and much more! Then every Sunday we review a different game. These can be games from the 2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar, VCS and hopefully more in the future! We also host the Atari Network Podcast every other Friday at 730PM Eastern Standard Time, 430PM Pacific. Myself and co-host Vinnie Vineyard talk about all the Atari News and topics important to the community. You can also find Man vs 7800 every other Saturday at 11AM Eastern Time, 8AM Pacific. We attempt to beat the best Atari 7800 games including Scrapyard Dog, Midnight Mutants, Ikari Warriors, Bentley Bears Crystal Quest, Knight Guy and so much more! More coming all the time with at least 2 videos and 1 livestream a week! Thanks for coming and remember to Stay Classy Atarians!
This game is amazing. But lack depth. Maybe a sequence can explore more stages, enemies, equipments, and maybe some new features, like a terrain system where enemies/heroes can became stronger or weeker. But i liked the vídeo a lot, congratz
Thank you. We'll play it again Monday July 1st at 930pm Eastern time and I think it'll be better because I understand the game a bit and I'll be able to chat a bit more
Yeah, despite my inital excitement for the 2600+ (which I never bought), just today one my friends gave me an AV-modded 2600 as a gift! Can't wait to play all my childhood cartridges! 🧡
I’ve preordered some of their latest games and not a single one has arrived. One was ordered last August with an estimated shipping date of January of this year….
2600+ was a big disappointment for me. Many issues with Pal cartridges displaying the wrong colours and 7800 releases having many problems. It had obviously not been tested properly and still no official firmware update
Just to note, I've looked at the Atari store to buy the re issue of food fight but they won't ship outside the US. Not great for people in the UK or Europe.
Yeah another person mentioned that. I'm gonna do some research and see if there is anything I can recommend to help my friends over in Europe. Hopefully I'll find something...
If it helps one person then I think it was all worth it! I know if I had this information 5 or 6 years ago things would've been a lot easier. Glad I could help!
I think the GSP is the best product they put out for someone who doesn't have an atari collection. I love it and highly recommend it. it's worth it for both the playing atari roms and also arcade / mame roms.
This is a great resource for Atari homebrew. I personally like talking on the phone with Best Electronics. The owner is a one of a kind individual, driven to accumulate Atari parts and gear. I also cannot say enough good concerning Video 61. This Atari Network clued me in on them. Good Deal games does have a lot of selection. The guy in charge was personal friends with Ralph Baer before Ralph passed away. I still need to purchase from Champ Games. And of course I am interested in gear from OG Hugo as well.
I'm glad you're so involved! I haven't really talked to the guy who runs Best that much outside of the 3 or so orders I've placed. But I have talked with and had friendly conversations with a few others. Really they're all great because they're in the same hobby. And most have been doing it for a long time! Ask Lance about Jack sometime...
I’m in Europe also and I agree. These homebrew titles (and even the official newly released Atari carts such as “Aquaventure” and “Saboteur”) are next to IMPOSSIBLE to get over here.
Yeah that's the biggest issue. Pre orders take a long time in this community from most of these resources. AtariAge takes a long time in general anymore.
They're all trustworthy I've used each of them myself. Just remember that preorders in this community takes a long time. Usually understandably so but it can get reaaaallly long!
I wanted to do a bonus video this week because this is information I wish I had when I started collecting homebrew. The links to all these resources are below and feel free to use them and bookmark them! Also, I'm currently between jobs and things are getting a bit tight. If you have been enjoying the content and can swing a patreon membership (link in the description patreon.com/7800progamer ) or RU-vid membership, even if its just for the month, it would help out a great deal. Don't feel obligated because you can also leave a like, subscribe and share the videos and it would help a ton! Thank you all for the continued support! Anyway, here's all the websites from the video! AtariAge Store atariage.com/store/ AtariAge Forums forums.atariage.com/ Atari www.atari.com Video61 Atari Sales www.atarisales.com/main.html Audacity Games adgm.us/portal/index.html Good Deal Games Homebrew Heaven www.gooddealgames.com/ Champ Games champ.games/ Best Electronics www.best-electronics-ca.com/ Songbird Productions songbird-productions.com/ OGHUGO's Retro Modshop oghugo.fws.store/ www.ebay.com/str/oghugosretrogamestore
I bought the VCS at a recent sale. Could I emulate it? Sure. But it feels so nostalgic and yet so new. I did not have enough money as a kid to own any of the consoles mentioned so it’s wonderful to catch up on what I missed out on so many decades ago. I don’t regret the VCS and hope they continue to include in their ecosystem. Great reviews. Love this channel.
I agree with your assessment. Looking forward to what Atari will do next. As a huge Atari fan since the beginning to the CX-2600 in 1977, I am well used to waiting and waiting and waiting.
I will take issue with your advice regarding buying from Amazon vs. pre-ordering from Atari. Everything I could have bought from Amazon, but pre-ordered from Atari, arrived in about the same amount of time as they did for those who did buy from Amazon. You need to look at *which* titles Atari seems to have difficulty fulfilling. It is always the Special Editions ('Save Mary', the SE 'Mr. Run & Jump') as compared to the standard issues meant for the mass market (hence being available at Amazon). I believe these SEs are manufactured by a different group (Atari XP, the same ones who made the 50th Anniversary set) and they seem to be the problem there. The second point I would like to make concerns packaging. Everything I ordered from Atari arrived *very* well packaged. They come in a box with decent padding around all sides and *nothing* arrived damaged. Everything I ended up buying from Amazon arrived in either a padded envelope or (worse) two pieces of corrugated cardboard glued together. I was lucky and only my standard copy of 'Mr. Run & Jump' arrived damaged and I got a full refund. (Technically bought that one from Woot!, but it was shipped by Amazon.) Others were not so lucky, as I saw numerous complaints from people who had to return their Atari carts or consoles multiple times before they got one from Amazon that arrived undamaged.
There are positives and negatives to everything but I don't think that just because something is a special edition, that makes it okay to delay shipping or take a long time to ship. At least not without proper communication that is clear and up front. My experience with Amazon has been positive but I could see those issues coming up. Amazon does use cheaper packaging. My argument there would be that in every case Amazon refunded them (that I've seen) but if you're unsatisfied with an Atari product you have to jump through several hoops. I read about a few of these cases on Facebook and had one experience myself. This is derived from my own experience but I had an issue where I needed to return a product to Atari and it took 4 days to get a response. Then another 5 to get a response after that one. Once the issue was dealt with I received a refund in the wrong amount, which took weeks to correct. Your points are valid and I would just recommend doing ample research and making sure you know any such risks, delays and issues that could arise. I personally would gamble with Amazon more so than Atari direct at this point. But people will read this and say that I'm hating Atari. I don't. I love their games and products but I also won't make excuses for them in cases that they fail.
@@TheAtariNetwork To be clear, I don't think you're hating on Atari at all. But my experience with them has been nothing but positive (except for those SE delays). I can't talk to what happens when something arrives damaged from Atari because that hasn't happened yet across multiple orders. And, yes, Amazon's returns are great, but are necessary far too often. (They recently had to send me a second $100 Switch Collector's Edition because they didn't package it properly. They let me keep the first one. A win? Sure. An unnecessary hassle? Yes.) I'd prefer to have confidence that they will ship items safely than the knowledge it will all work out in the end. My point about the SEs was that I think people shouldn't worry about long delays for any item available at Amazon. If they have to get it to Amazon, they will get it to you. It's the specialty stuff you should be concerned about because the only person they are responsible to is you. I didn't mean to imply that the delays on the SEs are *okay*. I'm saying the worries about delays shouldn't extend to products they make available widely.
Gotcha. I appreciate the well thought out points and opinions and I'm always happy to discuss or even debate respectfully. But it sounds like our views are pretty well aligned honestly. Thanks for the input
Yeah the Gamestation controller issues got me mad. I watched plenty of reviews when it came out and everyone was praising the controller. I couldn’t understand why it was so bad and so many said it was good. Nothing compares to the original paddle controllers.
Yeah I really needed to clarify that I was wrong about the controllers. Sorry. I think the ability to play paddle games blinded us but really there was no excuse. I've since learned from it and won't jump to such conclusions again when I know deep down it's not that good...
I genuinely and with full honesty believe there is something mentally wrong with people who like anime. Like, you have to be brain dead or severely mentally deficient to enjoy that crap.
You're right about ordering directly, I order the ATARI 400 mini from Amazon and I got it on the day it was promise to be delivered, I liked my ATARI 400 Mini, a lot of fun games that I didn't know they existed, thanks for the video Jon !
To start, everyone is allowed an opinion. However, I can not disagree more with your opinion. Yar's Rising doesn't look to be my type of game, even though I do enjoy a good metroidvania. Atari is a company, and it has a library of IP's that they can either make "more of" types of games, or explore new avenues to expand upon the IP with stories various concepts. To predict doom and gloom because of one game with an anime aesthetic is a bit much. Let's look at the recharge line of titles. They took all of the original IPs and found new and fun updates to the mechanics. They can't keep doing that with ALL of their games. If Yar's Rising isn't your thing, then play Yars' Revenge Recharged. If that isn't your thing, get Atari 50. If that isn't your thing, then I have NO idea what to tell you. Atari is a company that needs to grow a profit. Nostalgia is what Atari is capitalizing. New stuff is Infograms. Yars' Rising is stuff in this weird in between that feeds off of the nostalgia, but introduces something new. The current management really seems to understand their audiences and is willing to experiment to see what will work. That is a sign of stability and willingness to grow.
So if Flashback 16 comes out, maybe then (and only then) paddle controllers will REALLY WORK straight out of the box... ? Flashback 15 is still messed up, even if it is on the software level, in getting the rotation to work properly...
I highly agree with your assessment. The gsp sits in the closet. The 2600+ sees regular use. Preordering dors take time... Still waiting on some things. I didnt get the 400 mini. I'm more interested in grabbing a C64 mini with a keyboard. Just waiting to find one cheap.
If you figure in the cost of things now, are high yes but look at the future with these toys.. I bought all the Atari Flashbacks from the crappy 1st 7800 looking one out to the Flashback X, paying under $100.00 for each. Now those toy are tripple that and more these days. Think about that!
Very good assessment. I have had almost the same experience with everything you said, especially about the Gamestation controllers. I was extremely dissatisfied with the 400 mini's joystick though and that system collects dust along with the the Atari Gamestation The 2600+ became a daily driver for me too. It's not perfect either. The wait times for the games to start is one big issue. The other one is that some carts are super clean and work in real Atari but will not work. Also, none of my Champ games for 2600 work on it either. But overall, it does what it does well. Fingers crossed for better firmware one day.
I have a 130XE because I like how it looks with the ST, it’s the perfect little brother. However, the 130XE is known for having a terrible keyboard (best electronics sells some good contact replacements that help a lot here), problematic RAM chips, and the cart port is in a silly position. I’m not sure about the XEGS, some games require the keyboard so that might limit you a little. The XEGS looks aesthetically awesome, I’ve never used one though. The 800xl is probably the best way to go in terms of reliability and everything, but it doesn’t look quite as pleasing as other iterations. I recommend picking up a Side3 cart for it to load games.
Once I fixed the CX Stick I began to play my 400 Mini a lot more, and I actually own a working 400, 800 and 5200 but I have multiple gaming areas in the house and the Mini was a great way to play those games with minimal headaches - no regrets on that purchase. I also picked up a 2600+ but since I’ve had issues with several of my carts, I haven’t really touched it much. Plus I have my original 7800 hooked up to my main game TV anyway so no big loss. The Gamestation, however, is kind of meh. It’s essentially a Flashback in a nicer box. The included SD a lot is the only reason to pick one of these up. And yes, those controllers are pretty weak, and while I can use a modern controller instead, it’s still not an ideal solution. Plus it was released too early, there were several issues that should have been addressed before shipping. Most of these have been fixed with firmware updates but I still think they should have play-tested the console a bit more before introducing it to the public. I’d say the machine I play most now is my VCS, although I know that wasn’t a recent release. I still think it’s a fantastic little machine that does so much, it’s totally worth the premium price tag.
I pre-ordered Food Fight an 7800 controller extension cable and two of the euro style 7800 controllers from Atari a couple months ago. They shipped about a month late but I received all 4 a few days ago. Hopefully Atari has caught up with you as well. Enjoy your content.
The best way to play these games is simple, just get the Atari flashback classics complete for 40 bucks. 150 games total, with arcade, 2600, 5200, and M-network games along with prototypes and rpm hacks, yars’ return is better than official sequels.
I have two right now, the first one that I don't recommend and the 5 or 6. I believe the modern ones are decent with HDMI out. I'll have to get one and review it.
I've only purchased a few of the AtariXP releases and they took a while but I did get them. I also bought the 2600+ when it was released and updated it, but I still don't use it and just find it easier for me to plug in my actual 7800 and just use the s-video output I have on it. Also allows me to use my flash carts on it easier as well. But for folks that don't have a console or a reliable one to use, the 2600+ is the easiest and likely lowest cost to entry to get back into it.
I didn't realize the flash carts didn't work on the 2600+ until I tried to use one in it the other day. They probably won't ever work either which sucks
@@TheAtariNetwork Correct, although there are a few carts that do work due to how those flash carts function. The old Mateos 16 in 1 and Dragon Fly carts for the 7800 do work as they preload the game on the cart before the 2600+ comes up to dump that data and then proceed to run the emulation to play the game. I also know that the creator of the Harmony is creating something to allow it to have multiple games that you can use a dip switch selector to pull up specific games in a similar manner to Ataris 10 in 1 and other multicarts that use switches to select banks to read the game data from.
@@TheAtariNetwork Good luck with that, they haven't been sold for over 2 years now and getting them second hand is likely to cost a lot given the fact that prior to the 7800GD, the DragonFly was the most able flash cart for the 7800. But, the DF can ONLY play 7800 games and does not support 2600 games. Still, when it was available, it was a beast and still quite capable even today.
I bought the GSP because I thought it would be a great to play Atari titles without having to build a cartridge library all over again. I rarely play it these days mainly because of the controller. I did test it with a PS4 controller I borrowed and that was an improvement. I absolutely love my 400 mini and play it frequently. Honestly I play most of my Atari titles on my Switch version of Atari50. Though it is missing some great titles from Activision & Imagic. Looking forward to October DLC release with Intellivision titles.
