Will I regret settling for a 4-toggle 2600 instead of a sixer?

>>4243152
You need an H6 for any serious hipster cred kid

No. It's basically the exact same console/experience.

Practically every game has some effect or other from flipping the difficulty switches

The question you need to ask yourself is, are slightly easier to access switches worth the significant cost difference? All games are entirely playable regardless.

>>4243152
almost none. still doesn't look as cool as the 6 switcher

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Thoughts on the Telegames Video Arcade?

>>4243314
That's what I had as a kid. 4 switch though and I definitely felt dumb and went back and replayed a bunch of games when I realized about the difficulty switches

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Retro shit newfag here. Please explain.

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>>4243351
The original VCS was a "six switcher" but before long they moved two of the big easy to flip toggle switches onto the back as cheap little sliding recessed switches that are hard to switch as part of gameplay.

>>4243386
Fuck. You have to touch the console while playing?

>>4243392
For some games like Ghostbusters, yes. You can't beat it otherwise.

>>4243404
That's awful.

>>4243314
Beautiful wood grain but what are those circles?
Speakers inside the console instead of the TV?

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>>4243152
It depends. Are you planning on using the 2600 to play games? If so, then the switch count doesn't matter. Are you considering a sixer because you need something to put on a shelf and take pictures of in the hopes of impressing the 12 other people in the world who understand the significance behind the switch count on a 40 year old electronic toy? Then yes, get a sixer.

>>4243421
In your opinion. For others it brings a bit of immersion to the experience. Reaching over and flipping a toggle switch feels more substantial than just tapping a controller button (plus the controller only had one button, so they had to get creative)

Another example is Starmaster, where you flipped the Color/B&W toggle switch to open the star map to plot your course. It makes the game feel more awesome in my opinion, I loved when games used stuff like that

>>4243421
>>4244018
Additionally, the system was meant to be near the player instead of near the TV like more modern consoles. Atari games were usually basic experiences that you played for 5-20 minutes or until you got bored and swapped to another game. It was just how games were designed and played for the most part in that era. Also, I can't speak for every model, but the power/rf cables on my system are SUPER long. The power cable itself is probably 20 fucking feet long, RF maybe 10 feet, so this was a system meant to be moved around. The controllers cables weren't much to speak of

>>4243484
Yes, those were speaker cutout. There weren't ever any production models with speakers installed though.

Most people don't know this, but the Atari 2600 is actually a Stereo console! Many of the carts are actually in stereo as well, including Combat and Outlaw! Fact is there are a couple of homebrews that you can't pass levels without utilizing stereo sound.

To get stereo out of an Atari, you pull it straight from the TIA, pins 12 and 13. The best time to do this is when you're doing the AV mod. All it takes is two 1.8k resistors, across the pins, with 5V feeding them, and a 10uF cap on each channel before they hit the RCA's.

www94.pair.com/jsoper/2600_stereo.html

>>4243152
Most games you set the difficulty switches once and don't touch them again, but some games require you to use them during the game, but that's definitely not very common. I would just go with which one you find more aesthetically pleasing. I grew up with a 4 switcher, so I prefer that model. I'm currently using a Jr. though, since they're so small and my 4 switcher is in storage back home.

>>4244075
How interesting, I guess I learn something new every day. I've looked at those cutouts in my telegames vcs for 35 years and realized they were speaker shaped but always just wrote them off as ventilation. If I installed some very light speakers into them and attached directly to the TIA would it drive them or would I need a little amplifier circuit?

>>4244130
You would probably need an amp. If other anon is talking about tapping for stereo off the TIA, that's almost certainly line-level.

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>>4244130
>>4244138
Correct, you'd need an amp. Something small like say a 2N3904 design would be perfect.

>>4243152
4 switch woody is best 2600.

>>4243314
Video Arcade II is the one get.

>>4244130
Wait what? Did the original Sears Tele-Games come with those cutouts already there?

>>4245459
All of the Heavy Sixers did, both the Atari and the rebadged Tele-Games.

>>4243290
>serious hipster cred kid
Which is basically worthless.

The amount of games that require you to fiddle with the switches as part of gameplay is miniscule, like less than 10 games. And I think they're all Activision ones, nobody else really seemed to do that. There are a handful of games which require use of the second controller though, namely radar lock and raiders of the lost ark.

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>>4245938
And then there's games that require a weird controller, like Star Raiders uses it's own controller. Basic Programming uses it's own controllers(s), and Indy 500 uses it's own controllers.

Which just reminded me: converting an Indy 500 controller to a cheap spinner for use on Tempest in MAME? Hmm....

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In all honesty, I'd nix the entire 2600 idea. Get yourself a 7800 instead. It will play 100% of 2600 games, plus the vastly superior 7800 games as well.

>>4246440
The problem with the 7800 is that its very cheaply put together compared to a 2600, and they are fucking huge. I've ended up selling off my 7800s and just emulate Ballblazer instead, I did keep my boxed copy since it's once of my favorite games of all time though.

>>4246147
A 2600daptor is $25 and the cheaper arcade style USB spinner I saw on my google search was I think just $38. I guess you get two paddles though (they're on a Y cable so you can play games like Warlords with 4 players)

>>4246446
5200s are huge. 7800s are about the same size as 2600s but yeah the library is quite small. You can get Ballblazer on Famicom.

>>4246440
If you want maximum library size, the best choice is probably a Colecovision with the VCS expansion but you can still find cheap 2600s in the wild. Colecos and Intellivisions (and 7800s and XEs) have become much less common

>>4246482
Fair, 5200s are in another league of huge. I think the 7800 is still unwieldy compared to the 2600 though. As far as build quality, the microswitches on the 7800 are prone to failure, and the plastic is super cheap / easily breakable. Also I do have Famicom Ballblazer, it is, bar none, the absolute worst version of the game. It's almost unplayable. Comes in a cool pink cart though.

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>>4246446
A 7800 is smaller than a standard (non-Jr) 2600 in every dimension. It's shorter, narrower, and not as tall, either.

Now, a 2600 Jr., those things are tiny.

>>4246510
You're right, it's been awhile since I had one; I stand by the poor construction in comparison though. That said, I love the 2600 Jr, even with the shoddy construction. So delightfully portable.

>>4245638
It's literally the only reason a millennial to own a 2600.

>>4246482
I have a XEGS, what other atari should I get to have 100% of the atari library?

>>4247478
All of them if you want 100% but between the VCS and the XEGS you have the most important pieces of the early Atari. If I were you and didn't already have a significant 5200 and 7800 collection I'd go to ST next assuming you want to mess around with floppy emulation.

...and if you want to stick to carts, Lynx actually has a better library than either 7800 or Jag in my opinion.

>>4247496
Yes I want to stick to carts, I do have a 2600 but I remember it was broken or wasnt working the last time I tried to play it 15 years ago, and is somewhere under a pile of boxes
And I should have specified, I meant stuff from before the 90s

>>4247534
Get that up and working first. The XEGS is awesome but the 2600 also has a huge amount of good exclusives too, more basic ones.

>>4247541
So I would only need to get a 7200 to get all games pre 90s?
Your Linx recommendations was good, I will look at it

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>>4247563
Well, no there are some exclusives on 5200 that are not also on XE. Few, but some.

>>4247534
Repair of a 2600 is simple. There are really only three things that can fail:

1. Cold solder joint - free
2. Voltage regulator - 50¢
3. Chip - $5

I guess the RF box can go bad too, but get rid of that POS even if it does work. Do the AV mod, and have a useable picture. $1 if you make your own, $6 for a pre-made kit.

>>4247647
>AV mod
Fuck that. If your console didn't have AV out when it was made, it shouldn't have AV out now. RF with a coaxial adapter or bust.

>>4247647
I think the RF box was dumped by my parents, repairing the atari is not really a problem

>>4246440
Not quite 100% compatibility, there's a few games which may or may not have problems on a 7800 depending on which model it is, or even which revision of the game. The ones that I know can potentially have issues are dark chambers, robot tank, kool aid man, space shuttle and I think popeye (or some other parker bros game). The most common issue is that the video signal will roll. for an example of this watch the James and Mike video where they play all the atari space games; they say they switched to Mike's 7800 cuz James' 2600 stopped working and the video is rolling on space shuttle so they assume it's a PAL game. There really isn't any way to know which 7800 is going to have issues with which games since there's so many variables and there were a ton of board revisions, but I've never heard of any 7800 not having a problem with at least one of these games. Not that it isn't worth it to get a 7800 though, it's a great 2600 otherwise and the 7800 library has some real great stuff.

>>4247682
By RF box, I mean the on that is internal to the game. When doing the A/V mod, you desolder it from the board and into the trash it goes. I'm not talking about the rabbit ear adapter hanging on the back of your 19" color TV from 1982.

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>>4247841
There's really just two, at least as far as flat out hardware incompatibility goes. If your 7800 has an expansion port (top) 7408 P10 is connected to 74174 P10 and it won't work with Robot Tank, Decathlon and Space Shuttle. If it DOESN'T have an expansion port (bottom) 7408 P10 is connected to 7402 P4 and it's not compatible with 2600 Dark Chambers which is fine with most people since the 7800 version is better anyway.

If you want to have compatibility with both you just cut whichever trace you have, run to Radio Shack and pick up a toggle switch to wire up and switch the connection depending on what game you're running

>>4247647
Which chip tends to go bad and needs replacement on the 2600?

>>4248328
The RIOT chip mostly. But really, there are only 3 in there, and honestly, they don't go bad very often at all. I've repaired over a dozen 2600's so far, and only once had to replace a chip, which was in fact the RIOT.

It's the one closest to the cartridge.

>>4248228
>If it DOESN'T have an expansion port (bottom) 7408 P10 is connected to 7402 P4 and it's not compatible with 2600 Dark Chambers

It isn't quite that simple. I have a Tramiel-era 7800 with no expansion port and both Dark Chambers and Space Shuttle work but Robot Tank has rolling video. There really isn't any way to tell how a machine is going to play thise games without trying the games on that particular 7800 since, like I said, there were a bunch of board revisions.

>>4248794
Also like I said before it depends on the games themselves for some of them. I've heard firsthand accounts of people who have said one copy of one of the mentioned games works fine on their 7800 and another doesn't, even though there is no discernable difference between the carts.

>>4248794
>>4248810
Still every game should work with one of the two connections. I'd be interested to see your PCB.

>>4248913
When I composite mod it I'll snap a picture of the board and seek out whatever Atari thread you're posting in at the time.

>>4247361
I'm a millennial and had never played 2600 until maybe 5 years ago, now it's easily one of my favorites. You just need to enjoy early arcade style games, as long as you do then the 2600 is a goddamn joy.

>>4249112
2600 Asteroids is a fantastic port as is Berzerk. Space Invaders is good, Defender is okay. Pac-man straight up stinks. Yars' Revenge isn't a port, it's an original 2600 title, but it definitely is an arcade game, and it's one of the best titles on the console.

Some awesome games you may not have played: Chopper Command, Starmaster, Dragonfire, and Vanguard. Empire Strikes Back also rocks.