Someone teach me about Atari consoles

psychotic_mechanic · Post by **psychotic_mechanic** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:14 am

I must not have enough consoles because I'm looking to buy an Atari system to go with the bag of 2600 games I just bought. This system would be for occasional home use and needs to be compatible with the breakout controllers (I think they're the ones called paddles) for the wife. I never had an Atari as a kid, but that didn't stop me from playing at friends houses.

Anyway, are there any problems with the 7800 hardware?

New controllers and other components make a flashback 2 look like a good choice, but I have to find a cart slot.

The Sears tele-games systems seem to go for less on ebay, any problems with those?

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 6:40 am

To my knowlege there have been no reports about the 7800 or the Sear clones having any issues. There isn't much news about the flashback 2 so I can't say if it would be 100% compatiable. The best thing to do I would say is to buy the offical hardware like a 7800 or a 2600. That way you know for sure your games will play.

Also be sure to read up on getting composit out of those consoles, the RF signal they use is really bad.

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 8:19 am

Go for either an official 2600, 2600 jr. (the smal rectangular one) or a Sears Tele-Games console. (I believe Atari made the boards in the Sears consoles.) I think the Flashback 2 has some problems with bankswitching (bigger games broken into pieces to fit in the memory better) and hardware tricks, so it's not worth it to add a cart slot. However, if you don't mind paying the price for the whole unit, and you want new controllers, you can use the joysticks the FB2 comes with. (They're functionally identical to the 70s controllers. Just scrape off the "New Atari" logo. Yuk!) I don't think the FB2 is compatible with the paddles, because the paddle games on the unit are just controlled with the joysticks.

So, yeah, just go buy a real 2600 console, do the composite mod if you want, and plug in Ms. Pac-Man or Breakout or Combat! (Use Pac-Man to keep the table steady or something.

That game isn't anything like the arcade.)

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 10:11 am

Also, the 7800 (and the heavy sixer, if I remember correctly) have slightly smaller cartridge slots. In most cases, this isn't a problem. However, there are a few games that are a huge pain in the butt to pull out.

Sword_Gun · Post by **Sword_Gun** » Sat Jun 03, 2006 7:51 pm

I have a 2600 jr. with like 20 games.. that i may sell

But It doesnt have a RF Cord, But You could use a NES cord. (But the Video maybe staticy)