Fun fact in case you didn't know: Your 2600 is an uncommon store-display model. They're discernible by the smooth chrome switches, as opposed to the less shiny ribbed ones on release models.
Chrome (not brushed finish) switch 2600s are extremely rare. There are currently two for sale on EBay, one for $300 and one for $1000, ...but $1000 might be a bit optimistic on the part of the seller.
As a Gen X'er at this point in my life I realized I enjoyed the artwork on the Atari Cartridges and the idea in my mind what it was going to be like before I finally got home to play it.
There's a reason most people ignore that era and basically treat retro games as starting with the NES and that's because that rough first generation has aged to badly it really only has nostalgic value Especially when you consider MAME can emulate the superior arcade versions of all the good games on a potato at this point
I mean, hey. That's what most of us dealt with back in the day. We didn't have internet to look it up. So it was either down to seeing a box in the store and thinking it looked neat, or scrounging through magazines hoping for reviews (which I don't even know if that existed in the days of Atari 2600. It was there for NES and later at least.) I rented my share of crap games from Blockbuster based entirely on if the box art looked interesting or not.
@@t_flop There's Atari games like Missile Command I have an attachment to myself because my dad's hand-me-down 7800 and old carts were some of the first games I played Doesn't mean they objectively held up well in comparison to NES and Master System games from the 80s
I mean you’re kind of right but those crappy video connection methods were how the games were designed and a lot of artifacting is hidden through them.. basically why people prefer playing old games on a CRT rather then an a more modern TV
Yeah, anything before ps2/GameCube/Xbox needs to be played on a CRT. Especially the really older games, those were designed to be played on low quality CRTs. Personally, I like how the older games look when played on a crappy CRT using RF. It’s how I remember them being when I was a kid, seeing them in HD just looks... wrong.
not only that, the games were designed with crt in mind and some of the image trickery (like extra colors, or transparency) do not work on a "crisp hd image". which is why emulators usually include so many filters that try to bring those effects back in an emulated manner.
@@GraveUypo To add to this: Just look at the Sega Genesis. Vector Man used a lot of the CRT 'blur' to blend things, creating transparency and extra colors all over the place. Even in the intro alone, you can see it. And a more well known example: The waterfalls in Sonic the Hedgehog. They're really just straight lines, skipping every other row. Looks weird when emulated. But on a CRT, the lines would blend together created a smooth transparent waterfall effect. That's why so many old games look weird on HD TVs. You'll see all the dithering and line-skipping where things would have blended together back in the day, but they don't on a modern TV. And even trying to use shaders and filters to emulate a CRT/NTSC effect, you won't get the same kind of blend.
@@TXFDA Just adding to this, there are certain games that ONLY work on CRTs. Specifically light guns, like the NES Zapper, the Sega Devestator, or even the XG-1 on the Atari 2600/7800. They simply Will not function, and you might as well not bother with games like Duck Hunt then.
best thing to do is to mod an atari 2600 to composite if you want to play it on a CRT. Or get a MISTER FPGA and you can play Atari 2600 games on an RGB Crt.
I have one with boxes full of old 2600 games and the high deff makes the colors bolder and brighter I mean, I love it and never had a problem with mine
I owned Retron 77 and I absolutely love the console to play old school Atari games on your HD television and I know that the games are pixelated the graphics weren't great back then but at least Atari is more fun to play. I wish they should work on Atari 5200 or 7800 games.
The fry button (and the associated Stella feature) mimics the effect of rapidly flipping the power switch on the original console. Sometimes this would have interesting or even useful effects on the software--the most famous exploit was that in Space Invaders, it gave you two shots on screen instead of one.
Not really, It can damage irreplaceable software. Or won't even play it. A Flashback should be a better option, it's preloaded with dozens of games and you can add your own easily.
I put this console right up there with the PlayStation Classic. It’s ugly with its orange “wood grain”, it isn’t 7800 game compatible, and not a single one of my “text label” cartridges will read in it. I compare it to the PS Classic for two reasons: 1) All the unmet potential it had and, 2) The only good that actually came of it was using at as a hacking vehicle to install the entire 2600/7800 library, to be played in HDMI. With my Euro 7800 D-pad controllers, I’ve been able to make this thing perfectly serviceable on my own.
It's the worst way to play them. The Sega controllers are not precise even for games on those systems, a lot of shooters are harder just for the controllers alone. There are better options for the Atari 2600, there are the Wico, the C64 joysticks and my favorite, the OndaVision.
I hated the Atari controller. The exception is the paddle controller. I played alot of kaboom as a kid with the paddle controller and it worked perfectly
I just bought one of these because my 2600 broke way back when i was a kid, and dinosaurs roamed the earth. I was so happy someone finally made an atari clone with a cart slot. Thank you for taking a break from torturing yourself playing famiclones and giving atari some love.
Maybe because I didn't grow up with atari and instead with ninendo, but I could never enjoy atari games. It's like that Era really does feel like the stone ages. With Nintendo, it's like transitioning to the iron age of video games, and golden age is whatever you want it to be.
Here's the thing about Atari 2600: it's probably the only game console in existence where about 90% of the games for it are trash, which is part of what caused the infamous Video Game Crash of 1983.
@@YowLife Pretty much anything you don't find in those Atari compilations. Basically, for every _Speedway II,_ _Star Wars,_ or _Space Invaders,_ there was a _Math Grand Prix,_ _Porkey's,_ or _EeeTee_ alongside 8 others you've never even heard of.
Televisions back then used analogue signals so the game images which are created digitally didn’t translate well into this analogue environment. But this new device translates the original Atari digital images via hdmi into a digital television which is inherently sharper. So in essence the original Atari game cartridge can perform better with hidden attributes that it had all along. Still the same cartridge but now digital to digital instead of digital to analogue.
@@chimpanzeethat3802 I'm not well versed on it, but since it uses HDMI I think it should work perfectly here. If you use an older TV with only composite / RF ports and you use an HDMI to composite / RF converter to play the system, I think it should still be all right; most older European TVs were built to support both NTSC and PAL. And if not, well, either you'll get an infinitely scrolling image, or you'll have a steady black and white image (which even then should still work fine for most games). I played an incompatible system on my 80's TV once and the black and white picture felt cool like it was even older than it really was XD The only true consideration you'll need to keep in mind is the power; if this device connects with a wall port, you'll need to make sure it's either compatible with the wall outlet. Otherwise you'll need a converter. On the other hand, if it's USB powered, you should be fine.
Quick question for Rerez: When you were testing out how the games played on the Retron 77, did you clean the carts beforehand? If not, then that could partially explain why you had some troubles with games not reading properly...
I had to say, I was quite stoked to hear that they had made this console. I had actually wrote to Hyperkin in may of 2015, asking if they would build an Atari based console. They had responded that "they would look into it". I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted this!
"there's no way to change that or modify that at all" *gets an HDMI to AV adapter* Done, I changed that I made it into 480i via Composite... It looks nice.
I saw one at a pawn shop about month ago... it had AV... It could have been a mod I guess... I figured it was standard for that model... Forgive my ignorance...
Thanks for the review. Not making this compatible with the Atari 7800 was a real missed opportunity :( I would have picked it up if it had that. I already picked up the Atari collection on Steam. I get the Atari 2600 was popular but why don't we ever see any game collections of the Atari 5200 or the Atari 7800?
most of these old controllers are easy to take apart, clean, and reassemble. Definitely worth it to buy them on ebay. I got 2 pairs of paddles and a little isopropyl alcohol and you'd think they were brand new.
I love these games! I also love my Atari 2600 that I got for Christmas a year after it came out. Unfortunately, because it is 40 years old, the hardware inside the console is wearing out. Once a year, I have to take it apart and clean it. If I don't, it overheats after less than an hour of use and you get weird visual artifacts all over the screen once it heats up. I've also started having to adjust the RF modulator which is a real pain to do. If I don't periodically adjust the modulator, I get all sorts of static on the screen like I'm trying to watch over the air TV with a crappy rabbit ears antenna. I'm quite tempted to get one of these Retron 77s. I love my Hyperkin NES/SNES Retro Duo a lot so, I'm hoping that this one will work as well. The only issue I have with their NES/SNES console is that it isn't compatible with every NES cartridge. For example, it won't play Gauntlet. I had to get Gauntlet IV for the Sega Genesis to play that game. I hope that the Retron 77 is compatible with every Atari 2600 game. Yes, the original controllers are wearing out. I did manage to repair my original joystick a few years ago. But I had no luck at all getting my original paddles to work, nor have I been able to find used paddles that aren't worn out too. I currently use a Sega Genesis controller as I can get a remake controller of the Genesis that works perfectly. I like the Genesis controller because it is easier for me to use. My scores in games drastically improved when I switched from my re-built Atari joystick to the Genesis gamepad. All of my cartridges work well so far. At least I don't have to worry about them having a battery inside that's going to go dead soon like we do with NES and SNES games. It's just my beloved Atari 2600 console that's starting to be on its last leg. It's kinda fun to try to keep it working, but it's also frustrating when things I try to fix on it don't seem to help sometimes.
This is a cool retro. Being able to have a atari 2600 cartridge and insert is awesome. One thing not to forget is to clean your cartridges before inserting them on a new device. I used cotton swabs and 90+ isopropyl alcohol to clean the pins. A lot of dirt came out.
I'm fortunate to own an original 1980 4-switcher that works effortlessly and every game I've purchased works just as good as day one. I own about 50 cartridges and just purchased "Space Jockey" for it this past summer for $3! I've had it for about 10 years and I haven't ever had its parts upgraded or restored since they all still work great! As far as I'm concerned, Pac-Man continues to roam around the ghost-filled mazes, Mario is still rescuing Pauline from Donkey Kong, and Pitfall Harry is collecting treasures from the jungle in both the 1st and 2nd games! The paddle controllers also work good too! It only gets twitchy at the far ends, which never poses a threat for me anyway as it's far too brief to bother me or throw me off the heat of the action and the Circus man still safely jumps on the moving ramp without fault. I got the console with 30 games for $60 in 2012 and it still pays off on the fun value!
I was 12 in 1977 when they came out. I didn't know anybody who could even afford one. They got cheaper later, but in 1977 they were a fancy bit of kit.
I own several Atari 2600 capable consoles, including the Atari 7800, the Sears TeleGames Video Arcade II (AKA Atari 2800), the notorious Colecovision Gemini, ...and yes, the Retron 77. The Retron 77 is well worth the asking price, ...and provides an option to completing an AV mod on that possibly collectable console. The output is flawless.
I have my 2600 games on my shelf, right under my NES games, and my Atari 2600 in my media center right in between my Famicom and NES. I actually use one of the controllers made for the Retron 77 for my 2600. It's just better than some of the super old 2600 joysticks I have knocking around.
I know I'm making me look OLD now lol but I remember getting those games new and playing them. I have Very fond memories of playing those games and how I got them.....lets just say I was an undeserving child but a parents love always made sure I had good fun. Starting at Atari 2600 then, Atari 5200 and then Atari 7800 which didn't fair too well compared to the earlier consoles. Then I moved to SEGA and then Nintendo before going to XBOX, XBOX 360, XBOX 1, XBOX 1S and then finally finding my niche in PC gaming and building my own gaming rigs. All of us that grew up in the 70's, 80's and 90's got the best...first hand when it was fresh and unpopularized before they became big hits lol.
Hang on, what kind of television doesn’t support Coaxial RF input? But yeah, your best bet is either something like this that outputs digital 720p or plugging the original into a CRT.
I have 2 TVs that wont let you add a channel manually to its list of channels so you cant turn them to channel 3. So I had to hook a old vcr to the tv and turn it to channel 3 then hook the Atari to the vcr.
1 big improvement hyperkin did over the original atari 2600 is that you no longer have to put the cartrides in backwards,no from now on you see the coverarts from those cartrides in front of you😁😁 and if you want to make sure all your cartrides will work on this system,just grab a qtip and clean those connectors of all your cartrides with alcohol ,this way they should work,,,everytime😁
While I really never cared about Atari I have to admit that the 2600 looks really nice. I can say the same for the Retron 77 you showed: it catched the style of the old console very well, adds a modern touch and is nicely compact. But the blue one you showed: damn, really playing with the idea to get this one
I have had one since August. I love it. Paired it with a Wico Command controller and the community firmware. Great fun. Allows me to play my Grandfathers atari games.
I have my Atari hooked up at our bar in our basement(which is where most of our entertainment stuff is) While my NES, SNES, and Genesis have strictly better made games with more depth and complexity; the Atari proves to overall provide the most fun just playing around. In fact, friends who typically do not like video games always have a blast on Atari and even ask to come play it. The simplicity and accessibility of the system overall is its strength. I might get a Retro 77. My Ataris are both fickle and finicky, and as much as I love the old tv I use with it...it's clunky and heavy. Being able to hook up to a modern screen would be a huge boon, and even let us move game sessions to the couch. I love the charm of the old distorted image on an old tv; but it's also be nice to have a crisp and clean image on screen.
What's funny with the Retron77's default aspect ratio issue is that you can literally bypass that if you don't mind downscaling and using composite video cables. Most HDMI downscalers on Amazon seem to squish a 16:9 ratio signal to a 4:3, so i use that to literally just fix the fact you have to push that aspect ratio button every time you power it on. If i wanted to make it HDMI again I'd probably just connect an upscaling device after the downscaler
My modded Atari 2600 ( vader) recently died.. I've a ton of Atari games.. instead of buying another old system .. I chose to buy this.. I understand that many games won't play.( i.e. Pitfall 2) but it's worth it to me.. thanks for the review!
Honestly The fact he can't go 5 minutes without tut-tuting and wagging his finger over roms is like the one thing I find grating in Rez's videos because it comes off as really self-righteous
Your grandparents have 2600 games? How old are they? I thought the generation born in 30's and 40's just ignored these games and considered them as kids toys.
I bought this console and i am happy with it. Retron 77 played all of my games except from one. The game combat didnt work. 54 out of may 55 games works perfect on retron 77. Maybe i was lucky here. But i think this is a good console if you wanna play original carts. You can put 17 games on the SD card as well. I downloaded Berzerk with voice like the arcade version and it works fine... Only minus for me is that this console was never released up here in Norway where i live. So i have to order this from USA. So it was very expensive because of shipping in the post system. I paid in total 160 dollars for it with shipping.
I bought a Retron 77 and despite its faults I agree the video quality is the best I've seen for the 2600. Most of the Cartridges that didn't play needed a good cleaning of the contacts. And be sure to go to Atariage and download the Retron 77 Community Build Image.
I don't know where I heard this, but apparently despite having only one button and inputs for directions, Atari actually programmed the capability of something like 15 possible inputs in the controller function, which meant at one early point in hardware development, the controller was planning to have peripherals with more input, or enhanced controllers with more inputs.
The best Atari 2600 video output I've ever seen that uses original cartridges doesn't use HDMI at all. It's an original console modded with S-video output, running to a Commodore 1702 CRT which is also modded with an S-video input. I wouldn't argue that S-video is superior to HDMI, but to my eyes it does look slightly better than the video capture in this video.
Rerez, you should check out the handheld system PAP k3 plus. It plays a lot of retro games preinstalled. Including gba, snes, md, nes, gbc, sms, gg, gb, and some arcade games!
Did you know..there's an adapter for hooking up a 2600 to a new TV.. but I guess it won't put your 2bit games in HD. Here's a fun one to, my 2600 still works to this day!
@Lassi Kinnunen Channel F came out before Atari but it made Atari look like a power house it was a real pos. The Neo Geo of the 70's was the Bally Astrocade. It had arcade quality graphics and I bought one but they break to easy so I don't recommend. But Bally did make the most powerful console pre 1980. It wasn't a commercial success though as it was only sold through catalogs. But check out some the videos of its game play as it makes 2600 and even Intellivision look weak.
Frying was the equivalent of a Game Genie for the VCS but random. Also, if you have some wonky paddles you can fix them with a little WD40, no joke. Open up the controller body and squirt a bit of WD40 in the potentiometer, reassemble . Boom, fixed.
I love Hyperkin, they make some really neat consoles, and accessories. I still own a retron 5 and honestly love it. I know many people say buy a Raspberri Pi, but I like using my own carts. Is it emulation? Yes, but I rather play my own carts than to download a bunch of roms illegally online. I know you can get devices to make your own rom backups, but using something like a Retron console is so much easier for me. Plus their consoles are made to work with old controllers out of the box. I know you can get the controllers to work on a Pc, but downloading drivers to get many controllers to work properly can be a pain. THAT is why I bought a Retron 5. Honesly I love their consoles even if many Pc elitists say they are garbage and just play emulators on a Pc. That all being said I wouldn't buy this one, mainly cus as cool as Atari can be, I just don't find it fun for long enough to actually want to go back and play it.
Due to the fact it does have a SD card reader and if you have some programming knowledge as well as you can go to atari age and get software to make your own games it is a good system that helps teach your kids on how to build atari games What will be really awesome is if you can send in your atari roms to atari age and they would make you a cartridge version of your game sadly that is not so you have do it yourself
Would have been cool if they made it play the 2600 games, then when you pressed that Fry button it switched the game to the original Arcade version, for the best gaming comparison ever. :-)
Oh man I never knew about the fire button thing. I would open the cartridge, insert just the "wafer", and short circuit various pin combinations on the transistor bridge with a stripped bread twist tie. You could get unlimited life and whatnot. That was part of the fun,, when you were board with a game, you could hack new life into it.
Fun fact in case you didn't know: Your 2600 is an uncommon store-display model. They're discernible by the smooth chrome switches, as opposed to the less shiny ribbed ones on release models.
Chrome (not brushed finish) switch 2600s are extremely rare. There are currently two for sale on EBay, one for $300 and one for $1000, ...but $1000 might be a bit optimistic on the part of the seller.
Just what I need... HD CUSTER'S REVENGE
don't forget the other porn games like Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em, and X-Man (which still has NOTHING to do with Marvel's X-Men)
HD ET.
@@Sircreepington9th HD Pac-Man on the 2600.
Im gonna be real with you guys. Dk jr on atari is more pornagraphic than actually porn games
Lol
As a Gen X'er at this point in my life I realized I enjoyed the artwork on the Atari Cartridges and the idea in my mind what it was going to be like before I finally got home to play it.
There's a reason most people ignore that era and basically treat retro games as starting with the NES and that's because that rough first generation has aged to badly it really only has nostalgic value
Especially when you consider MAME can emulate the superior arcade versions of all the good games on a potato at this point
I mean, hey. That's what most of us dealt with back in the day. We didn't have internet to look it up. So it was either down to seeing a box in the store and thinking it looked neat, or scrounging through magazines hoping for reviews (which I don't even know if that existed in the days of Atari 2600. It was there for NES and later at least.)
I rented my share of crap games from Blockbuster based entirely on if the box art looked interesting or not.
@@cryptidproductions3160 sea quest, pitfall and adventure are laughing over in the VIP section... and pointing a lot at your table.
@@t_flop There's Atari games like Missile Command I have an attachment to myself because my dad's hand-me-down 7800 and old carts were some of the first games I played
Doesn't mean they objectively held up well in comparison to NES and Master System games from the 80s
Those cartridge artwork is sooo Bait and Switch. Great artwork but shitty game play.
The 2600 is absolutely Classic. I'm glad this is giving it more life
Download Stella and all the ROMS for free. You'll be glad you saved the money.
I mean you’re kind of right but those crappy video connection methods were how the games were designed and a lot of artifacting is hidden through them.. basically why people prefer playing old games on a CRT rather then an a more modern TV
Yeah, anything before ps2/GameCube/Xbox needs to be played on a CRT. Especially the really older games, those were designed to be played on low quality CRTs. Personally, I like how the older games look when played on a crappy CRT using RF. It’s how I remember them being when I was a kid, seeing them in HD just looks... wrong.
not only that, the games were designed with crt in mind and some of the image trickery (like extra colors, or transparency) do not work on a "crisp hd image". which is why emulators usually include so many filters that try to bring those effects back in an emulated manner.
@@GraveUypo To add to this: Just look at the Sega Genesis. Vector Man used a lot of the CRT 'blur' to blend things, creating transparency and extra colors all over the place. Even in the intro alone, you can see it. And a more well known example: The waterfalls in Sonic the Hedgehog. They're really just straight lines, skipping every other row. Looks weird when emulated. But on a CRT, the lines would blend together created a smooth transparent waterfall effect.
That's why so many old games look weird on HD TVs. You'll see all the dithering and line-skipping where things would have blended together back in the day, but they don't on a modern TV. And even trying to use shaders and filters to emulate a CRT/NTSC effect, you won't get the same kind of blend.
@@TXFDA Just adding to this, there are certain games that ONLY work on CRTs. Specifically light guns, like the NES Zapper, the Sega Devestator, or even the XG-1 on the Atari 2600/7800. They simply Will not function, and you might as well not bother with games like Duck Hunt then.
best thing to do is to mod an atari 2600 to composite if you want to play it on a CRT. Or get a MISTER FPGA and you can play Atari 2600 games on an RGB Crt.
I have one with boxes full of old 2600 games and the high deff makes the colors bolder and brighter I mean, I love it and never had a problem with mine
I owned Retron 77 and I absolutely love the console to play old school Atari games on your HD television and I know that the games are pixelated the graphics weren't great back then but at least Atari is more fun to play. I wish they should work on Atari 5200 or 7800 games.
Have they made any type of console that plays games from all three Atari systems?
@Paper-thin Man It would be cool if they made a hybrid controller that looked like half Mega Drive and half Atari :)
You probably do have the driving pedals I was wondering if they work on that system
I remember purchasing Dodg’em at Wal-Mart back in 1983 for 5.00
Thought it was the steal of a lifetime back then.
The fry button (and the associated Stella feature) mimics the effect of rapidly flipping the power switch on the original console. Sometimes this would have interesting or even useful effects on the software--the most famous exploit was that in Space Invaders, it gave you two shots on screen instead of one.
Only on game 1 though..
How did you know! I literally have a box of Atari games shoved in the back of my closet.
Lol yeah it's hard to play them anymore. I have one but it's just easier to emulate
Hi John!!!
John, he can see in all our closets.
Same thing I was thinking.
Still better than the PS Classic
Shit even soulja boys system is better than the ps classic.
Not really, It can damage irreplaceable software. Or won't even play it. A Flashback should be a better option, it's preloaded with dozens of games and you can add your own easily.
@@OM19_MO79 how could it damage anything?
I put this console right up there with the PlayStation Classic. It’s ugly with its orange “wood grain”, it isn’t 7800 game compatible, and not a single one of my “text label” cartridges will read in it. I compare it to the PS Classic for two reasons: 1) All the unmet potential it had and, 2) The only good that actually came of it was using at as a hacking vehicle to install the entire 2600/7800 library, to be played in HDMI. With my Euro 7800 D-pad controllers, I’ve been able to make this thing perfectly serviceable on my own.
A couple of the ps classic games are actually ntsc. Souja boys like even slower than pal
The atari 2600 was my first console and the reason i became a gamer 4 life! Im waiting for my retron 77!!!
The true way to play Atari games is with a Sega Genesis controller. Fight me
It's the worst way to play them. The Sega controllers are not precise even for games on those systems, a lot of shooters are harder just for the controllers alone. There are better options for the Atari 2600, there are the Wico, the C64 joysticks and my favorite, the OndaVision.
I hated the Atari controller. The exception is the paddle controller. I played alot of kaboom as a kid with the paddle controller and it worked perfectly
@@OM19_MO79 its good for space invaders or any game where you only move from left tk right
Wiko joystick all the way.
@Paper-thin Man using the Atari controller for long periods hurts my wrist.
The Retron 77 looks awesome,i love playing my Atari 2600 games,so this one definitely gets a thumbs up from me.
Those games are old and fucking awesome.
Dude, Hell yeah, I needed one of these. Time to scare my dad with some E.T
The paddle controllers usually need to be taken apart and cleaned. Then they work like new again.
yep!!!
Didn't work for mine. It works if it has any functionality but not if they are completely unresponsive.
I just bought one of these because my 2600 broke way back when i was a kid, and dinosaurs roamed the earth. I was so happy someone finally made an atari clone with a cart slot. Thank you for taking a break from torturing yourself playing famiclones and giving atari some love.
I get the impression that you don't value Atari all that much, and just view them as an "artifact of the past".
@Brian Weiletz i still enjoy atari games :(
Maybe because I didn't grow up with atari and instead with ninendo, but I could never enjoy atari games.
It's like that Era really does feel like the stone ages. With Nintendo, it's like transitioning to the iron age of video games, and golden age is whatever you want it to be.
Here's the thing about Atari 2600: it's probably the only game console in existence where about 90% of the games for it are trash, which is part of what caused the infamous Video Game Crash of 1983.
@@EireProductions
Besides ET, what games are you referring to specifically?
@@YowLife Pretty much anything you don't find in those Atari compilations. Basically, for every _Speedway II,_ _Star Wars,_ or _Space Invaders,_ there was a _Math Grand Prix,_ _Porkey's,_ or _EeeTee_ alongside 8 others you've never even heard of.
Love my Retron 77. I have the new Amber one. Wanted to play my original cartridges without hooking up one of my original 2600s.
Hey, when can we get the Soujia Boy console review?
But he can't show the gameplay of it because it's against the law
I'll get it out by the end of the week.
@@vampirepumking9941 Watch me.
This boi is asking all the right questions.
@@rerez DAMN. Fuckin' rebel over here.
Televisions back then used analogue signals so the game images which are created digitally didn’t translate well into this analogue environment. But this new device translates the original Atari digital images via hdmi into a digital television which is inherently sharper. So in essence the original Atari game cartridge can perform better with hidden attributes that it had all along. Still the same cartridge but now digital to digital instead of digital to analogue.
This review is out of date its been updated and you can put as many roms as u want now !!! I love my retron 77
@Mike Oliver Works on rom loaded for me
@Mike Oliver I think you need a Sega Genesis for that also I have the PC version on a CD
The Retron 77 hasn't been released in the UK yet.
Do you know if I can import one from the US and it'll work in PAL regions?
@@chimpanzeethat3802 I'm not well versed on it, but since it uses HDMI I think it should work perfectly here. If you use an older TV with only composite / RF ports and you use an HDMI to composite / RF converter to play the system, I think it should still be all right; most older European TVs were built to support both NTSC and PAL. And if not, well, either you'll get an infinitely scrolling image, or you'll have a steady black and white image (which even then should still work fine for most games). I played an incompatible system on my 80's TV once and the black and white picture felt cool like it was even older than it really was XD
The only true consideration you'll need to keep in mind is the power; if this device connects with a wall port, you'll need to make sure it's either compatible with the wall outlet. Otherwise you'll need a converter. On the other hand, if it's USB powered, you should be fine.
Quick question for Rerez: When you were testing out how the games played on the Retron 77, did you clean the carts beforehand? If not, then that could partially explain why you had some troubles with games not reading properly...
Yep I remember always having to give a good blow onto the cartridge to blow any sort of dust when they weren't working always worked
Some games just don’t work on the Retron 77
I had to say, I was quite stoked to hear that they had made this console. I had actually wrote to Hyperkin in may of 2015, asking if they would build an Atari based console. They had responded that "they would look into it". I guess I wasn't the only one who wanted this!
"there's no way to change that or modify that at all"
*gets an HDMI to AV adapter*
Done, I changed that I made it into 480i via Composite... It looks nice.
Atari doesn’t have AV
The Atari 2600 Jr does...
@@godofdeath58 I own one, no it doesn't
@@godofdeath58 it has a rf jack on the back, unlike the others which have one built in, but it uses rf
I saw one at a pawn shop about month ago... it had AV... It could have been a mod I guess... I figured it was standard for that model... Forgive my ignorance...
It's a lovely system for preserving and keeping those games alive. You should also be playing Warlords with a buddy or two everyday!
Thanks for the review. Not making this compatible with the Atari 7800 was a real missed opportunity :( I would have picked it up if it had that. I already picked up the Atari collection on Steam. I get the Atari 2600 was popular but why don't we ever see any game collections of the Atari 5200 or the Atari 7800?
It's got a corruption button?
Oh boy Vinny would love this
most of these old controllers are easy to take apart, clean, and reassemble. Definitely worth it to buy them on ebay. I got 2 pairs of paddles and a little isopropyl alcohol and you'd think they were brand new.
"Did you really need to play this in 720p?" "Yes"
GIVE ME THAT 4K BUNDLE OF PIXELS
Just got my retron genesis hd and I'm in love with it too games look spectacular
Glad that this Finaly came out
If only there's a better version of Atari 5200.
I love these games! I also love my Atari 2600 that I got for Christmas a year after it came out. Unfortunately, because it is 40 years old, the hardware inside the console is wearing out. Once a year, I have to take it apart and clean it. If I don't, it overheats after less than an hour of use and you get weird visual artifacts all over the screen once it heats up. I've also started having to adjust the RF modulator which is a real pain to do. If I don't periodically adjust the modulator, I get all sorts of static on the screen like I'm trying to watch over the air TV with a crappy rabbit ears antenna. I'm quite tempted to get one of these Retron 77s.
I love my Hyperkin NES/SNES Retro Duo a lot so, I'm hoping that this one will work as well. The only issue I have with their NES/SNES console is that it isn't compatible with every NES cartridge. For example, it won't play Gauntlet. I had to get Gauntlet IV for the Sega Genesis to play that game. I hope that the Retron 77 is compatible with every Atari 2600 game.
Yes, the original controllers are wearing out. I did manage to repair my original joystick a few years ago. But I had no luck at all getting my original paddles to work, nor have I been able to find used paddles that aren't worn out too. I currently use a Sega Genesis controller as I can get a remake controller of the Genesis that works perfectly. I like the Genesis controller because it is easier for me to use. My scores in games drastically improved when I switched from my re-built Atari joystick to the Genesis gamepad.
All of my cartridges work well so far. At least I don't have to worry about them having a battery inside that's going to go dead soon like we do with NES and SNES games. It's just my beloved Atari 2600 console that's starting to be on its last leg. It's kinda fun to try to keep it working, but it's also frustrating when things I try to fix on it don't seem to help sometimes.
This make me want to become a 2600 Space Age Woodgrain Warrior!
This is a cool retro. Being able to have a atari 2600 cartridge and insert is awesome. One thing not to forget is to clean your cartridges before inserting them on a new device. I used cotton swabs and 90+ isopropyl alcohol to clean the pins. A lot of dirt came out.
Atari 2600 still better than most systems these days. Nothing was bigger than when that first came out, no current system debut compares.
I'm fortunate to own an original 1980 4-switcher that works effortlessly and every game I've purchased works just as good as day one. I own about 50 cartridges and just purchased "Space Jockey" for it this past summer for $3! I've had it for about 10 years and I haven't ever had its parts upgraded or restored since they all still work great! As far as I'm concerned, Pac-Man continues to roam around the ghost-filled mazes, Mario is still rescuing Pauline from Donkey Kong, and Pitfall Harry is collecting treasures from the jungle in both the 1st and 2nd games! The paddle controllers also work good too! It only gets twitchy at the far ends, which never poses a threat for me anyway as it's far too brief to bother me or throw me off the heat of the action and the Circus man still safely jumps on the moving ramp without fault. I got the console with 30 games for $60 in 2012 and it still pays off on the fun value!
2600 gamers are still here, and still living the console. Believe it or not, they hold up as well as any retro system, if not better.
The Atari was and still is an epic games console and the games are Uber addictive. Defender and defender 2, pacman and tank are some of my favourites.
I was 12 in 1977 when they came out. I didn't know anybody who could even afford one. They got cheaper later, but in 1977 they were a fancy bit of kit.
Dana W no one cares
I own several Atari 2600 capable consoles, including the Atari 7800, the Sears TeleGames Video Arcade II (AKA Atari 2800), the notorious Colecovision Gemini, ...and yes, the Retron 77. The Retron 77 is well worth the asking price, ...and provides an option to completing an AV mod on that possibly collectable console. The output is flawless.
I love my Hyperkin Retron 77 and plays my old games well.
I have my 2600 games on my shelf, right under my NES games, and my Atari 2600 in my media center right in between my Famicom and NES. I actually use one of the controllers made for the Retron 77 for my 2600. It's just better than some of the super old 2600 joysticks I have knocking around.
Great review👍
ProtoMario one does not simply make comments without getting recognised a whole ton.
I know I'm making me look OLD now lol but I remember getting those games new and playing them. I have Very fond memories of playing those games and how I got them.....lets just say I was an undeserving child but a parents love always made sure I had good fun. Starting at Atari 2600 then, Atari 5200 and then Atari 7800 which didn't fair too well compared to the earlier consoles. Then I moved to SEGA and then Nintendo before going to XBOX, XBOX 360, XBOX 1, XBOX 1S and then finally finding my niche in PC gaming and building my own gaming rigs. All of us that grew up in the 70's, 80's and 90's got the best...first hand when it was fresh and unpopularized before they became big hits lol.
Hang on, what kind of television doesn’t support Coaxial RF input? But yeah, your best bet is either something like this that outputs digital 720p or plugging the original into a CRT.
Quite a few modern TVs lack analog RF capability. Many only support digital signal through the Coax port.
@@OcarinaN64 You mean some TVs have that silver screw that DOESN'T accept analog input?! Now that's some pretty dark stuff.
I have 2 TVs that wont let you add a channel manually to its list of channels so you cant turn them to channel 3. So I had to hook a old vcr to the tv and turn it to channel 3 then hook the Atari to the vcr.
very insightful :) thanks for the video
I heard of this and it looks really neat! The only Atari game I can play and enjoy for a fairly long amount of time is Pitfall 2.
1 big improvement hyperkin did over the original atari 2600 is that you no longer have to put the cartrides in backwards,no from now on you see the coverarts from those cartrides in front of you😁😁
and if you want to make sure all your cartrides will work on this system,just grab a qtip and clean those connectors of all your cartrides with alcohol ,this way they should work,,,everytime😁
remember getting a Atari 2600 for xmas when I was 6 I think, playing some weird sea monster game for hours upon end
While I really never cared about Atari I have to admit that the 2600 looks really nice. I can say the same for the Retron 77 you showed: it catched the style of the old console very well, adds a modern touch and is nicely compact. But the blue one you showed: damn, really playing with the idea to get this one
I have had one since August. I love it. Paired it with a Wico Command controller and the community firmware. Great fun. Allows me to play my Grandfathers atari games.
Your paddles need a quick clean. Will bring them right back to smooth scrolling.
Happy happy new year, Rerez.... you are the best in gaming reviews!
I have my Atari hooked up at our bar in our basement(which is where most of our entertainment stuff is)
While my NES, SNES, and Genesis have strictly better made games with more depth and complexity; the Atari proves to overall provide the most fun just playing around.
In fact, friends who typically do not like video games always have a blast on Atari and even ask to come play it.
The simplicity and accessibility of the system overall is its strength.
I might get a Retro 77. My Ataris are both fickle and finicky, and as much as I love the old tv I use with it...it's clunky and heavy. Being able to hook up to a modern screen would be a huge boon, and even let us move game sessions to the couch. I love the charm of the old distorted image on an old tv; but it's also be nice to have a crisp and clean image on screen.
What's funny with the Retron77's default aspect ratio issue is that you can literally bypass that if you don't mind downscaling and using composite video cables. Most HDMI downscalers on Amazon seem to squish a 16:9 ratio signal to a 4:3, so i use that to literally just fix the fact you have to push that aspect ratio button every time you power it on. If i wanted to make it HDMI again I'd probably just connect an upscaling device after the downscaler
My modded Atari 2600 ( vader) recently died.. I've a ton of Atari games.. instead of buying another old system .. I chose to buy this.. I understand that many games won't play.( i.e. Pitfall 2) but it's worth it to me.. thanks for the review!
Quick question. Does the Sega Genesis controller work w the Retron 77 ? I've watched several videos and nada..
Would be cool to see if the Sega Genesis controllers also work with the 77. Since they both share the same controller ports.
You failed to mention that the save and load is a God send for the ability to get through a game that was never available back in the day.
"Where you steal roms online..."
I'm guessing at least half your audience downloads roms.
Right. You can't "steal" abandonware.
It's not stealing if there's a publically accessible download link.
Still theft smooth brain
Also it is emulation
Honestly
The fact he can't go 5 minutes without tut-tuting and wagging his finger over roms is like the one thing I find grating in Rez's videos because it comes off as really self-righteous
I ended up trying two cartridges (which I thought were busted when trying on a genuine 2600) on the Retron 77, and they surprisingly work!
Is it just me or do most youtubers not have six swither ataris?
Host reminds me of a Bruce McColloch character (Kids in the Hall).
Can't wait for one for the ColecoVision and Intellivision
Combat - best game on the 2600.
As long as you have someone to play with.
This I’m going to give to my grandparents that have tons of 2600 games and need an RF- Component then Conponent-HDMI.
Your grandparents have 2600 games? How old are they?
I thought the generation born in 30's and 40's just ignored these games and considered them as kids toys.
I bought this console and i am happy with it. Retron 77 played all of my games except from one. The game combat didnt work. 54 out of may 55 games works perfect on retron 77. Maybe i was lucky here. But i think this is a good console if you wanna play original carts. You can put 17 games on the SD card as well. I downloaded Berzerk with voice like the arcade version and it works fine... Only minus for me is that this console was never released up here in Norway where i live. So i have to order this from USA. So it was very expensive because of shipping in the post system. I paid in total 160 dollars for it with shipping.
Great review sir
Great review Shane! I'm really enjoying your latest content. Including the hot take show
Just so you know, I have the bell lcicked, and I'm subscribed to your channel, but I rarely see your videos in my feed anyway.
The grandfather, almost dead, but still alive because people love them.
Hi I love the videos😀😘
I bought a Retron 77 and despite its faults I agree the video quality is the best I've seen for the 2600. Most of the Cartridges that didn't play needed a good cleaning of the contacts. And be sure to go to Atariage and download the Retron 77 Community Build Image.
Wish you could also play 5200 and 7800 games on it.
Um I don’t think anybody bought the 5200 or 7800 though, 2600 got all the fame🕹
@@element1192 Nobody bought the 5200 but the 7800 was considered a success by Jack Tramiels Atari.
Does the hyperkin joystick rotate like a knob, like the original Atari joystick does? That feature made games like pole position much easier to play.
I don't know where I heard this, but apparently despite having only one button and inputs for directions, Atari actually programmed the capability of something like 15 possible inputs in the controller function, which meant at one early point in hardware development, the controller was planning to have peripherals with more input, or enhanced controllers with more inputs.
The best Atari 2600 video output I've ever seen that uses original cartridges doesn't use HDMI at all. It's an original console modded with S-video output, running to a Commodore 1702 CRT which is also modded with an S-video input. I wouldn't argue that S-video is superior to HDMI, but to my eyes it does look slightly better than the video capture in this video.
Rerez, you should check out the handheld system PAP k3 plus. It plays a lot of retro games preinstalled. Including gba, snes, md, nes, gbc, sms, gg, gb, and some arcade games!
Hey, Merry early Christmas Rerez :D
It's crazy looking at atari games like this lol. I'm used to the crappy rf style
Did you know..there's an adapter for hooking up a 2600 to a new TV.. but I guess it won't put your 2bit games in HD. Here's a fun one to, my 2600 still works to this day!
are those joysticks for sale separately?, there is a lack of 8 bit joysticks out there.
Wasn't Pong the real granddaddy of the home game consoles?
That and the Odyssey.
Tennis For Two is probably the true granddaddy
@@doodledangernoodle2517 that's more like the god creator of them all
GRAND DAD
@Lassi Kinnunen Channel F came out before Atari but it made Atari look like a power house it was a real pos. The Neo Geo of the 70's was the Bally Astrocade. It had arcade quality graphics and I bought one but they break to easy so I don't recommend. But Bally did make the most powerful console pre 1980. It wasn't a commercial success though as it was only sold through catalogs. But check out some the videos of its game play as it makes 2600 and even Intellivision look weak.
I plan to buy this someday
I’ve been wondering if the le stick would work on the Retron 77
Av and rf switches by their very nature give a soft blur to the edge of any defined shape, I prefer hdmi for the real representation of pixels.
I own it, I got it for my dad, and he LOVES it!
Dude, I have the box you are talking about. Now I want to set up the 2600 and play some Combat!
Frying was the equivalent of a Game Genie for the VCS but random.
Also, if you have some wonky paddles you can fix them with a little WD40, no joke.
Open up the controller body and squirt a bit of WD40 in the potentiometer, reassemble .
Boom, fixed.
I love Hyperkin, they make some really neat consoles, and accessories. I still own a retron 5 and honestly love it. I know many people say buy a Raspberri Pi, but I like using my own carts. Is it emulation? Yes, but I rather play my own carts than to download a bunch of roms illegally online. I know you can get devices to make your own rom backups, but using something like a Retron console is so much easier for me. Plus their consoles are made to work with old controllers out of the box. I know you can get the controllers to work on a Pc, but downloading drivers to get many controllers to work properly can be a pain. THAT is why I bought a Retron 5. Honesly I love their consoles even if many Pc elitists say they are garbage and just play emulators on a Pc. That all being said I wouldn't buy this one, mainly cus as cool as Atari can be, I just don't find it fun for long enough to actually want to go back and play it.
Due to the fact it does have a SD card reader and if you have some programming knowledge as well as you can go to atari age and get software to make your own games it is a good system that helps teach your kids on how to build atari games
What will be really awesome is if you can send in your atari roms to atari age and they would make you a cartridge version of your game
sadly that is not so you have do it yourself
will sega mega drive controllers work?
Yes, but I don't recommend it because the start button WILL FRY YOUR CONSOLE.
Here in North America, the Sega Mega Drive is called the Sega Genesis.
@@antihumor2231 I know that, I just think mega drive sounds more cooler than genesis
I love rerez it’s my favorite TH-cam channel
New community edition version of the SD Card image use a much better Stella interface for playing ROMs.
Thank God for advancements in technology
How would this run with modern atari games like halo 2600 or pac man 4k?
Would have been cool if they made it play the 2600 games, then when you pressed that Fry button it switched the game to the original Arcade version, for the best gaming comparison ever. :-)
10p6 That would just show you how bad the arcade version was on the 2600
Look at the NES port of Double Dragon.
Then look at the Atari 2600 version.
I got an Atari Flashback 8. Great graphics and overall gameplay, just wish it used HDMI instead of composite.
FRY emulated the effect of jiggling the power button really fast to unlock cheats, which at first were accidental.
Oh man I never knew about the fire button thing.
I would open the cartridge, insert just the "wafer", and short circuit various pin combinations on the transistor bridge with a stripped bread twist tie.
You could get unlimited life and whatnot. That was part of the fun,, when you were board with a game, you could hack new life into it.
But how is the input Latency compared to the original console? That is my concern.