Atari 7800+ Console - Review & Overview

[@danielespeziari5545]

I love what Atari are doing to revive their classic consoles (well, the consoles made by former Atari). In particular I love that new cartridges are being officially released. I recently bought Caverns of Mars on 2600 and started playing it yesterday night. Wow, amazing! And the packaging is great too. In addition to Atari, Audacity games are doing amazing too, as they are basically reviving 80s Activision. Who would have thought that in the futuristic year of 2025 we would be excited for 2600 games? Certainly not me, and I didn't even grow up with Atari but with the Super Nintendo

[@markperreira5889]

Have both the 2600+ and 7800+ and have collected about 100 carts and with the wireless controller addition and firmware updates the entire Atari+ Platform is amazing. Very cool Atari!!!

[@dreamcaster4754]

Great review! I was in two minds on this, but now im going to get one.

[@spladam3845]

It's nice to have the Atari brand back making practical products that celebrate their history and the fans that still have attachments.

[@coderlicious6565]

The point you made at the end - you just want a quick game. As a GenXer who grew up on Atari, and never got into ps1-5, xbox, etc.. and all of those saga-length games.. yeah man. I hear you. I love a quick game of any of these.

[@jayme69]

16:9 setting is required if you have a 4:3 monitor to keep the correct aspect ratio :-) Keep up the awesome work!

[@benonemusic]

Thanks for this review of the 7800+ and tour of 7800 games on your system. I haven’t thought about the idea of hot-swapping for a long time! Growing up with an original Atari VCS, I considered it to be a cardinal sin if any of my friends did it on their systems!

[@benb3316]

It's a lot of fun - I got mine. Only complaint I have is the "Joystick" on the controller with the flat, hard, slightly slippery plastic, but just get one of those rubber grip controllers for X-box sold everywhere. Soft rubber grips the thumb. Most will be slightly large and twirl but when you touch them it'll still grip 1:1 to your thumb and transfer the force but cushion it and hold onto your finger.

[@GCSoundArtifacts]

If this Bentley Bear game is equivalent to a Wonder Boy on 7800, then one of the buttons is for running, and the jumps are higher when you run... 😅 Fairly great to see a new 7800+! Probably, I'd have to import to come here in Brazil...

[@Boswd]

I've been loving the 7800+ I put it under the Christmas Tree to myself LOL but it's oo good. the wireless CX-40 + Joystick works wonderfully with Centipede. You should give it a go. Nice review. been waiting for yours. Also Bentley Bear the original Pro Line Controller actually works better than the Europad because of the Super Jumps you need to perform. Another option is retro game boyz makes NES style controllers you can customize with different fun face plates. That too works fantastic with Bentley Bear .

[@RationalistRebel]

Damn it, you got me felling nostalgic but my collection is all boxed up at the moment. I haven't been able to get my original 7800 out for quite some time as my old LCD TV hated the timing signal for some odd reason, it would flicker every 3 seconds trying to resync. At least I finally got a TV that will work with it, in the proper 4:3 ratio too. Having the wrong ratio is something that drives me batty as well. lol Still can't enjoy any of the light gun games though. Dark Chambers is one I'd used to play the hell out of back in the day. Still one of my favs for the system. So is Solaris, an absolute master class of 2600 programming and a wonderful game. It's still blows my mind that it's only a 16k cart! It's certainly not a popular opinion, but I wasn't a fan of Ninja Golf. I'd actually sold my copy awhile back. A bare cart wouldn't be worth nearly as much now with the new rerelease. Personally, I don't think I'll play it enough to invest in the new 7800+. The video quality with an RCA-coax adapter is kinda soft compared to HDMI, but it doesn't have any snow and is certainly playable. I'd thought about getting a set of the CX78 pads anyway, as they were fairly rare in the US, but I think I'll hold out for the wireless ones. Certainly better than getting extension cords for wired controllers.

[@russellbaxley9934]

​@RationalistRebel 👌

[@g4z-kb7ct]

I reprogrammed my A2600+ 10-in-1 cart and now it has 16 games like it should have had in the first place hehe! I also replaced the silly dip switches with a 16-position hex rotary switch.

[@CasperEgas]

I didn't buy the new console, but I did buy 6 of the games. I love the packaging and cartridge. The quality of the games is a bit mixed I would argue. For me the hardest games to find to complete my 7800 collection were the 32in1 and some of the third party releases.

[@retrojoe85]

I own it since Christmas and I am totally satisfied with it, I'm playing again all of my childhood's Atari 2600 games, plus now I can finally own "some kind of" an Atari 7800, which was one of my fist gaming dreams as a child, but the console was hard to find here in Italy. The CX78+ pad is a little uncomfortable at times, but it works. You already own three of the rarest 7800 games ever: Xenophobe, Scrapyard Dog and Dark Chambers! 😍 (EDIT: you already own Food Fight - the modern re-release is out of print now - and Robotron 2084 - rare and release in US only - also! 😨) The 7800 version of Centipede is the definitive one, the 2-player cooperative mode is pure Atari fun.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yeah I have every 7800 game CIB, I am glad I got them when they were still pretty cheap circa 2003/2004. As I said in the video, Dark Chambers was by far the hardest game to acquire and I actually got mine from Italy!

[@retrojoe85]

@@TheLairdsLair do you wanna laugh? Dark Chambers was the most common 7800 game to find here in Italy. Now the reality is a bit different: only sealed copies left, so sellers started to demand some high prices!

[@sinjinhawke]

It is possible to play Berserk on the Atari release of Frenzy and vice versa. It’s hidden but it’s there. I own Frenzy for the 7800+ and hitting select to cycle through the options eventually results in Berserk running instead of Frenzy even though you don’t see it in the settings.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Good to know!

[@russellbaxley9934]

Two advantages of the 2600+ over the 7800+ once both are updated. 1. The wireless dongles are less distracting on the 2600+ since they are on the back of the system. 2. If you have the USB power plugged into the television, the 2600+ will power on when the TV is powered on. Power button can be left in the on position.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Neither are things that bother me, I'd say that the advantages of the 7800+ are greater for me - switches at the front, better looks and joystick ports at the front that don't stick up and obscure the TV on my desk. As I said, I own both but definitely prefer the 7800+.

[@russellbaxley9934]

@TheLairdsLair hahaha

[@russellbaxley9934]

@TheLairdsLair the dongles are barely visible on the 2600+ on the back. Really the 2600+ has more iconic look. Few people have even heard of the 7800.

[@russellbaxley9934]

I've had both systems. 2600+ and 7800+. I repacked the 7800+ after a day. Even the paddles were same on both after updates.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I don't really see your point about whether people have heard of it or not, but I'd bet that every real Atari fan, who lets face it this console is aimed at, will have. The Flashback is the machine for casual fans. It's all personal preference, and I prefer the 7800+ and you prefer the 2600+, neither is wrong and they are both great consoles.

[@coppermutant]

Nice collection. Xenophobe and Scrapyard Dog are also near impossible to get without shelling out quite a bit. Would be awesome to be able to get them for a reasonable price. Only thing that prevents me from moving completely to the plus platform are a handful of homebrews that use ARM chips. Also not clear if the Atarivox or Savekey work?

[@TheLairdsLair]

Since the release of the 2600+ last year the price of 7800 games has gone through the roof and I imagine the new console will only push them up higher. So glad I did my CIB collection when 7800 games were still cheap (around 2003/4 time). I have no idea about AtariVox or Savekey sorry.

[@cabbitkisser2620]

i never owned the atari 7800 back in the 80's. i never knew that atari made it back then.

[@d.vaughn8990]

I would like to see how the 7800+ works with paddle games. I own a 2600+. Paddle games lag badly on the 2600+. So much so, that I only use the console with joystick games. Very disappointing!! Yes, I set my TV to game mode. Hopefully Atari will address this on a future firmware update!

[@TheLairdsLair]

Ah yeah, I didn't think of doing that, sorry! Mind you the video was already long enough. Perhaps I will do a follow up.

[@g4z-kb7ct]

@@TheLairdsLair Yeah do a follow up. Play an actual long game of Super Breakout. If you can get to the top and break through and clear at least one level then it's a pass. The 2600+ paddle control analog to digital converter in the SOC is appalling.

[@lofi-guy]

It's a nice looking thing. Food fight works???! My copy won't work on the 2600+, but maybe a firmware update will do the trick.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yes, that's what I was saying, It didn't work on my 2600+ but does on the 7800+. A firmware update probably will fix that though.

[@lofi-guy]

@@TheLairdsLair Sorry, I was looking at the footy odds on me phone at the same time. lol

[@MCastleberry1980]

I got an Atari 7800 for Christmas of '88. I made due, and I appreciate the console for what it is now... but as a kid in the states at the height of Nintendomania, it was a let down lol When all my friends are playing Zelda and Mario at home, Ms Pac-Man and Pole Position II were a hard sell.

[@rushkiss2012]

Any chance the 2600 Harmony cartridge will work with this system ?

[@TheLairdsLair]

It doesn't I'm afraid.

[@coderlicious6565]

Do you think it's worthwhile to buy used games from ebay and other places? Atari doesn't seem to be selling a wide variety of 2600/7800 new ones. I'm wondering about how durable these cartdridges are.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yes, most definitely. I have close to 500 original cartridges and they all work great.

[@bigfootontherocks]

I've purchased plenty of cartridges off EBay. Just clean the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip.

[@coderlicious6565]

@@TheLairdsLair Apprec that feedback, mate

[@jasonkoestner4630]

Great. Original system just didn’t have the pokey chip on the board which crippled the system otherwise it could deastroy the nes

[@RationalistRebel]

It certainly would have been more competitive. I know Tramiel gets a lot of flak for that, but it was actually Warner's fault. GCC had a much better sound chip planned, but it wouldn't fit with the 2600 chips in the case that Warner made them use. They'd cheaped out by recycling the case design for another system. GCC then designed their own custom cart-based chip. It still would have been quite competitive, but Tramiel axed it for Atari's older Pokey. It was cheaper for him, but not so much for the game publishers. That's why almost none of them used it. He was a short-sighted cheapskate as well.

[@ecdhe]

My biggest disappointment with the 2600+ and 7800+ is that they cannot run homebrew games not available as carts (and yes, there are some good ones) as they don't support flashcarts. Regarding the controller, one criticism I heard is that the two buttons are spaced too far apart, making it difficult to quickly switch from one to the other. I wonder what's your opinion on the matter.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I read somewhere that the Dragonfly and Concerto flash carts are supported because they work differently, but I can't confirm. I have never heard that criticism of the joypad and haven't found that to be an issue at all personally. Likewise I saw somebody say yesterday that the new wireless controller has terrible lag, and I didn't notice any. I think the TV you use might make a difference.

[@ecdhe]

@@TheLairdsLair as a (non-professional) 7800 homebrew dev, if I get a console it will be an og 7800. I just wish Atari would release a game store for the + line. They need to keep buyers engaged with new games. Yes, they have some games on Atari and AtariAge websites but the description page isn't always super appealing (a single screen shot)

[@TheLairdsLair]

I have bought all my new Atari stuff from Amazon.

[@ecdhe]

@@TheLairdsLair I was thinking more of an online store enabled by a wi-fi powered flash cart (certainly doable). But anyway, I am very happy they you enjoy your 7800+ so much, may it keeps you entertained for years to come.

[@chrishensley5384]

Did you happen to try any Flash carts? I have a number of 2600 homebrews I play on a Uno flash cart.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I don't own any, so no.

[@Earths1stgamer]

You PAL peeps got Asteroids built in also i don’t think the 7800 came out till 87 in PAL i have a super low serial 7800 Pro System OG from El Paso Texas its a launch 1984 the first 10k were mfg in Texas around May of 1984.

[@TheLairdsLair]

That's interesting, I didn't know the launch models were sold in Texas.

[@Earths1stgamer]

@@TheLairdsLair They were not sold or they may have been but i meant manufactured in Texas.

[@johneygd]

Am fine with my original 7800. This mini version looks cool bur it’s a shame that it is not fpga based just like that atari 2600+ If this console was fpga based then it would,ve been a step up above the 2600+ But sadly it’s just a 2600+ with a atari 7800 shell slapped on top of it.