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Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

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Re: Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

#11

Post by rbanffy »

raspyberr wrote: post #3
UltraSane wrote: post #2

What Atari games are actually worth playing?

I think that's not far off the same as asking what 1890s films are worth watching. You could watch a couple for a bit of novelty and an idea of what technology was like but none of them are "good".

It really depends on your expectations. None of these games will be comparable to today's AAA games, but a lot of them are very playable and similar to today's casual in-browser games, with some animation and resolution limits.

Re: Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

#12

Post by snvzz »

jgalt212 wrote: post #6
snvzz wrote: post #4

miSTer all the way.

miSTer is a technical marvel, but from all the YouTube videos I've seen it seems the gains from miSTer over the latest emulators is not noticeable.

It's always been about implementing hardware in hardware, rather than software.

Sure, software-based emulators for old hardware exist, but miSTer and its community have clear preference for the FPGA approach.

And, of course, timing accuracy aside, where miSTer excels is in the ecosystem it has created. The overall UX.

The software emulator community is trying (with efforts such as e.g. retroarch) but isn't quite there.

Re: Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

#13

Post by rbanffy »

UltraSane wrote: post #2

What Atari games are actually worth playing?

My all-time favorites would be Missile Command, Megamania (2600), Galaga (7800), Centipede (7800), Ms Pac Man (7800).

I don't have a 7800 on hand, and haven't started up my XEGS in some time, so I might remember more titles.

Re: Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

#14

Post by rbanffy »

snvzz wrote: post #12
jgalt212 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

miSTer is a technical marvel, but from all the YouTube videos I've seen it seems the gains from miSTer over the latest emulators is not noticeable.

It's always been about implementing hardware in hardware, rather than software. Sure, software-based emulators for old hardware exist, but miSTer and its community have clear preference for the FPGA approach. And, of course, timing accuracy aside, where miSTer excels is in the ecosystem it has created. The overall UX. The software emulator community is trying (with efforts such as e.g. retroarch) but isn't quite ther…

It depends. Where FPGAs excel is at using actual period hardware, such as CRTs and peripherals. For less powerful platforms, software emulation is quite enough for the casual gamer.

I can't stress this enough, however: the physical interaction with the device is extremely important. Even being a software emulator inside a physical C64 reproduction, the fact it's a tiny ARM SoC in there is irrelevant - typing on a physical C64 keyboard makes it much closer to any FPGA connected to a PC keyboard.

Re: Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

#15

Post by rbanffy »

nlarion wrote: post #5
UltraSane wrote: post #2

What Atari games are actually worth playing?

Yars' revenge is pretty good. I'm guessing these don't boot homebrew, but synthcart allows you to play music.

I think they can run from cartridges, so if you have one loaded with homebrew games, they should work. Most Atari 2600 games had no copy protection.

Re: Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ – Which Should You Get?

#16

Post by rbanffy »

crims0n wrote: post #9
UltraSane wrote: post #2

What Atari games are actually worth playing?

I have a soft spot for 400/800/XL/XE versions of PAC-MAN and Donkey Kong. They are both pretty close to the arcade originals.

We used the term "arcade quality" back then.

Now even my Apple TV is significantly better than anything I can find at an arcade.

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