🚨 UPDATE 🚨Additional information you may find useful. • Many viewers have also suggested ensuring your TV is in "game" mode as another known culprit of perceived controller latency. • The "artwork" folder should be a sibling to the "samples" folder created in my SD upgrade video: th-cam.com/video/Cn_BocjMaq4/w-d-xo.html
Just a heads up about controllers, I use the PlayStation Mini's USB controllers with Phillips USB C adapters from Target's TV department. They work great! You have to select games on your SD card with the GSP joystick, and move the D pad around and press select a bit once the games launch on the PSX controller, but then everything's good to go. Hope this helps somebody out!
Great video! With regard to latency one thing you absolutely should do is put your TV in Game mode. My LG smart tv is smart enough to do this for virtually all modern consoles. But it does not for these plug and play devices. So manually switch to game mode and you will see a major improvement as your TV will reduce the amount of picture processing and switch it to game response mode which is noticeable on my TV.
I don't know what game mode is so I wouldn't have thought about it. However I do also have an LG Smart TV and it apparently has been doing it for me. Thanks for the info, if I ever change TV and experience latency I'll be sure to check on game mode settings.
once again you go above and beyond! your love for these old skool systems and your desire to help out with them are simply amazing! And now that the Atari 2600+ is shipping we will probably see similar videos from you and the retro community. im waiting for my 2600+ to arrive. great times to be an Atari fan! KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON!!!
After our discussion in the comments section of one of your previous videos, curiosity got the better of me. I broke down and bought a GSP. I'd say out of these 5 items, controller latency comes closest to the kinds of criticisms I have; not the latency itself, but the controllers in general. I can't believe I'm not seeing more people say that they feel cheap and a bit too "bouncy" when self-centering (which messes up your control in certain games). The stick feels too short for using the C button, too. (They had to know that this would not end up being a small hands, "just-for-kids" product.) Finally, at least a couple of the paddle games don't work with either control, altogether ruining the point of including them. Don't get me wrong... The product definitely has its positive points; that's why the negatives are so glaring!
I want to thank you for following up on the GSP. I purchased it shortly after seeing your first video. My only complaint was the mono sound as I play it on my computer monitor with stereo speakers or headphones. I love everything else about the console. Knowing that they are going to fix it and several other issues makes me feel like I made the right choice. It was a toss-up between this and the 2600+. thanks again for the follow-up.
Thank you for the news on the mono audio problem. I emailed My Arcade for customer support with no response. Again thank you for the update. I thought my first one was defective so I returned it and had it replaced.
Interestingly, the original Atari 2600 design actually supported two channel sound (I believe so that left/right players could hear their character's sound out of the matching speaker)--though I don't think it was enabled since it was intended for use with built-in speakers that never happened. Some emulators actually do enable this feature though and I even think there are some homebrew games that use it to gain true stereo.
I totally agree that the lack of manuals is a vital missing feature. Many games rely on the manual to explain basic objectives, what the (sometime numerous) variations are, and what the difficulty switches do. I really do hope they add this as a feature, and maybe even offer a basic pdf viewer that could be used for add-in games. My other three hopes for a future firmware update would be support for subfolders in the \games folder, support for paddle controllers for add-in games, and I'd also love to see support for Colecovision and Intellivision games. The numeric pads could be supported through the paddle controller (turning the paddle controller brings up an on-screen number pad that lets you dial through the pad's values, pressing A selects the value). Probably just wishful thinking though!
Awesome video! As I suspected, basic user error is at play with some of the issues here on the GSP, although I don't own one, I have had those issues on other products myself and found it was always something I was or wasn't doing that contributed to the problems. The lack of some titles like you said are simply due to licensing, so the fact that My Arcade knew that, and addressed it by adding the SD slot, is a good thing. Plus, the firmware updates they are providing will definitely make it better for those wanting to try other controllers. Overall, not a bad offering from My Arcade on this unit. I think it's a decent product for anyone who might be new to retro gaming, or haven't played these games in some time, and it's not bad for the avid gamer who knows a little about adding roms and configuring controllers. 😊
Firmware update is a big plus!!! Now I just need to find one. They canceled my pre order due to demand and I didn't get one at Costco. I'm still on the lookout and hopeful to get it before Christmas 😁
They canceled it or you canceled it? I pre-ordered my GSP from My Arcade back in September with a promised ship-date of Oct 31st. On the evening of October 31st myself (and I believe a whole lot of other people) received an e-mail saying "sorry, we can't fulfill our promised pre-orders... we'll resolve this SOON(tm)... you may cancel your order at this time if you want". I'm paraphrasing, but that's more or less what My Arcade sent out on the night they were supposed to ship pre-orders. I thought about cancelling, but let it ride out and see what would happen. My GSP shipped-out earlier this week and it just arrived TODAY on Nov 18th. I don't know of GSP cancelling orders that weren't requested to be canceled by the customer.
Putting my TV's HDMI input into "Game" mode definitely helped with latency, too. The problem is that the controller sometimes doesn't recognize the input. I move the stick up and it doesn't move up (or to the 10 or 2 positions). I haven't tried a wired connection yet, though.
Yes, I was ready to return my unit because the games were simply unplayable...until I put my tv into game mode. The difference was dramatic and removed pretty much all my controller latency concerns.
Getting one controller to be plugged in via USB-C definitely helps a ton. I also changed the USB charger plus to one that supports higher volts. Finally this is playable and I've even added some games to the SD Card. Thank you @genxgrownup
It's been a busy launch window for My Arcade between all the new handhelds & tabletops and now the GSP. I'm sure their customer support channels are swamped. Luckily, was able to hit them on the My Arcade Bat-Phone and get some answers to share! Thank you for watching.
I'll have to try wiring my controllers. Sadly the response time via wireless was so bad that it left Atari 2600 pac-man and pitfall virtually unplayable. Connecting an xbox 360 controller alleviated all of that , but oddly it did not work well in the menus. I found myself having to use the included controller to navigate and then the 360 controller to play some games. Annoying - yes but not a show stopper for me. I have to admit - the new joysticks are the main reason I bought this unit. So far - I love the unit but the controllers have let me down. Thanks for the great info - we'll try some of the suggested fixes.
After numerous hours of testing last night I noticed that using the Atari 2600 emulator - the latency for the controllers is really bad for certain games. Loading pac-man on the mame emulator I have no issues at all. So that may be an emulator issue. I cannot get the artwork to work. I downloaded them and placed them in a folder called artwork in the same directory as the samples folder (which are not working either). I even tried copying them to the "games" folder instead of the subfolder where my mame roms reside. Any ideas? I appreciate the help.
Update - this was self inflicted. You must use the artwork files you link to below. Newer artwork files from newer MAME versions do not work. I replaced the ones I had with the downloads linked to below and they work now. Thank you. (Samples started working also although I made no changes to those.)
Great video Jon! The input latency people encounter with their gaming setup is most often to do with their TV/Monitor setup. Just make sure your TV/Monitor is set to "Game" mode and input latency is more often than not improved. Keep up the awesome work!
Another possible culprit. I always assumed that users would have recognized that problem with their TV before and in addition to the GSP so it wouldn't be wrongly diagnosed as a problem with this console. Still, I've added that to the pinned "update" comment of this video in case.
The target audience for this console aren't hardcore gamers and don't know about these kind of TV settings. At least this member of the Gen X target audience didn't. 😀 @@GenXGrownUp
I got mine today and it feels very similar to what I remember from the 10 yo version of myself. I compensated for the leverage of the joystick by using the spot between my thumb and index finger, like I did as a kid. I am heavy handed so, more stiffness would have been nice but, otherwise, plays the way I remember. The only problem with the paddle wheel is it's too small. I am going to make some extenders that will press on over the wheel to increase the OD. That will change the gear ratio and make it less sensitive. Would be nice for them to offer real paddles in the future.
Great video and I'm excited to hear there will be updates. The whole reason I waited for the public release was that I was hoping those would already be there. Regarding the latency issue, mine is mostly noticeable on paddle games, which are practically unplayable. I'd be curious to see you test the performance of the paddles specifically.
Just bought a Gamestation Pro! Looking forward to getting it and putting more games on it. Hopefully they'll make adding games better in the next update! (Maybe just a submenu in the stock OS where you can upload your own cover art, description, etc.)
Thank you thank you!! I have to test this out. The controller latency, loses connection is something I have experienced. I did not know plugging it into the system would help as I thought that would just power the controllers. I can’t wait to try this. Also curious if your hd tv has a game mode setting if that would help with latency.
I've used the SD card to fill in the gaps in the library. Worked like a charm. The only thing that didn't work was the few Genesis 32x I tried. I figured that'd be the case, but it was worth a shot.
Biggest prob that needs fixed is that you can "crush" the joystick into the base by accident and it won't register inputs. A piece of foam inside the joystick prevent the "crushing" and not affect the input.
Latency issues can also be due to TV settings. Modern tv's use extra processing to display an image. This processing adds clarity and corrective messages to the signal coming in. The video processor also distributes information to the intended locations (audio to audio, video to video, etc). Many modern tv's have a "Game" setting that reduces latency. Original hardware that is upscaled to modern tv's back when upscaling was new had issues with latency until the geniuses in the scene fixed that issue in their MiSTers and such.
It's a good system and I play it everyday. The performance of some gba games is a let down and the way you see your roms is totally messed up. I hope they fix those problems in a future update!
About latency: check the TV where you're playing these games, because some TV have 5ms of latency, some 10ms and some even 80/100ms! It must be written into the manual of your TV.
Since you mentioned that the GSP requires a power supply that is at least 2 amps, I tested a few that were rated between 2 and 3 amps. For each one, including my phone's fast charger that does 2.3+ amps, the GSP only pulled between 0.23 to 0.31 amps other than a couple spikes of around 0.4 amps during startup. Is this normal? Why would I need a 2+ amp power supply if that's the case?
My Atari is not working every time I try to click on a game it justs keeps making a noise like a ring or something and it is not letting us play any of the games
Man I REALLY hope the firmware update adds the ability to use the paddle on sideloaded MAME games! The paddle is the main thing that sets this apart from every other system i have that can already play these games.
I'm still on the fence about getting this machine because I want to be able to play 4-player paddle control games with proper control. The included controllers kind of accommodate that, but there are only two of them. Think maybe they'd sell more controllers? Or a set of 4 paddles (even if they're just wired)? I've been looking for a good way to play the arcade version of Warlords with 4 players, and this console comes _so_ close. I just need four paddles, so they control correctly.
A gamepad choice with more buttons and a paddle control would be nice. Better yet a fight stick with more buttons, a paddle, and a track ball. Dare to dream.
@@brianjohnston4124 Some of those AtGames arcade control decks come extremely close to what you're describing, here. Doubt they would work properly with this console, though.
Thanks for another great video 👍. Thanks to one of your previous videos I bought one and I love it 😀. From what I have gathered you managed to make the save state work for lots of the roms e.g. NES. However some of us have not been able to make this work. Do you have any theory about this (in all honesty small) detail?
You're welcome. I have that solution for you. That folder needs to exist. Launch the GSP normally but with the SD card inserted, but go to the default interface. Now launch any 2600 game. Now hit the menu and save the current state to either slot 3 or 4 (which save to the SD card). Now the folder exists. SD-added console games will now be able to save. Likely you could also just manually create the save folder.
DId they slap an actual date onto that Firmware update? looking forward to the potential expansion of the SD card library with more platforms supported.
Fair enough, would be good if they had a blog of sorts on that site to announce these things huh.. guess I'm just eager to put the system to use more it's quite the beast.
Great segment as always, one question for the community does anyone know the maximum capacity of the micro sd card supported. I heard 128gig. There are various micro sd types too so is there a definitive spec on it somewhere?
Jon I would like to make a guick comment about the Atari 2600 + The cord on the controller. Do they expect us to set in front of the TV like we did when we were kids? Everyone sets whey back from the TV now. The cord is not long enough!!
I'll take a wild guess there are Atari 2600 extension cords on Amazon? Just guessing here, but i'm sure you're not the fist person to think "gee, if only there was a way to make the cords longer".
Each individual game's artwork should be in its own zip within the artwork folder. So if you have a dkong.zip game ROM, the same-named dkong.zip art pack should exist in the artwork folder.
This may sound dumb, but you seem to have a in into the company. But id pay for a hardcover book that took all the old manuals and presented them in a collectors edition. Coffee table book?
The biggest problem for me is not being able to simulate the driving controllers with the built on paddle controller for Indy 500. Seems like they could have made that function as both paddle and driving.
It's a paddle, not a spinner. Overhead racers like Indy 500 needs a spinner that can continuously be spun a full 360 degrees with no physical stop. Same with Tempest.
Ya mate, you're confusing a paddle with a spinner... they are both two very different controllers like the other response stated. Spinners and Paddles are NOT the same type of controller.
Was hoping you'd tell us how to fix the controls in many of the games, like the inability to shift in Monte Carlo, Night Driver, etc. Ultra Tank is another that is really broken in the controls department. And we can't select variations such as the other modes in Super Breakout and Ultra Tank, select different tracks in Monte Carlo, etc. Product really needed more time in the oven.
That's one I hadn't seen mentioned, but thanks for bringing it up. I've been spending the most time with the console titles, but I can certainly imagine how a few of the arcade games may need tweaking.
Where can you buy a SD card with games already on it ? Don't know how load info onto them. Also I'm not very happy with the provided games there aren't many good ones but I still like the system
Am I the only person having an issue getting the gsp to read a micro sd card? I even tried by formatting in 32fat as recommended. Bout to scream lol. Thanks for the new video. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend/Monday. And Happy Thanksgiving bok-bok!!
@@GenXGrownUp yes I checked it. Unfortunately nothing has worked so far. The only thing it has done is create 2 folders on my card. One is for Atari 7800 one is for Atari arcade. I had never givin me the black screen that pops up in the video with the 2 choices. I’m using a Sandisc 64. I’m bumduzzled.
@@notagainwiththisdyingferfe7722 You have folders for those two systems? That's a no-no. I stress multitple times in this upgrade tutorial that everything must go right in the "Games" folder with no subfolders at all.
That doesn't sound right. Game save folders are created, but not ROM folders. I encourage you to visit the retro-gaming channel of our Discord server for assistance. There you can share images and get more immediate assistance to get you over this hump.
The game selection from the Atari vault could be have better and I hate the left channel sound, which I pointed out in my review, but all thing said I have to admit I have had a lot of fun with my GSP 😊
Still confused where the "artwork" folder is supposed to go. Thank you for the video, btw! I have my "Games" folder on my microSD card, but not sure where the "artwork" folder should go.
First, thank you for the video and the information you provide. Unfortunately, you don't mention the biggest thing that keeps me from having an interest in this ... the facts that the built-in 'paddle' can't be used for any added ganes or non-2600 games included on the system. I'd love to hear of firmware updates coming for that.
Hello, thank you for your videos! They are very useful and well made! I have a question: as far as I have seen on my AGSP, whenever you emulate A5200 or A7800 there isn’t any way to toggle the difficulty switches, is it? I am asking because one of my favourite A7800 games is “Tomcat”, which is an F14 combat simulator where the difficulty switches are used to raise and lower the landing gear and the arrestor hook…. Since you are in contact with MyArcade would you please ask them if there is a way to introduce the difficulty switches in A7800 with a firmware update?
@@GenXGrownUp Thank you, I really appreciate you answer. It would be great if MyArcade gave us console controls (and gamepad keyboard for the A5200) as they did for the A2600, but my “dream” for a future firmware update is the ability to map console controls and A5200 gamepad mini keyboard on any gamepad connected to the AGSP…
My Gamestation doesn’t stretch out arcade games and sound comes out of both left and right channels. I got mine on launch. I wonder why some are broken and others like mine are fine?
Only vertical games are stretched. You may have your TV/receiver in mono mode, because it's universal in the launching firmware. Consider yourself lucky!
When you spoke to the MyArcade folks and they talked about an upcoming firmware update, did you get any sense that it would affect the sd card function...either good or bad?
Thank you for your helpful videos. Two quick questions for you. First, I saw that you have a CFG and a hi folder in your Arcade game folders. I don't see where you talked about them. Do I need to have that and if so, what goes in those folders? Finally, I downloaded Super Nintendo games and they came through with a .smc file extension, but I've heard that they need to be a .sfc extension. Do you know which is correct? Thank you!!
You're quite welcome. Thanks for watching. I try to be thorough and not leave out any critical steps, and the CFG & HI folders aren't anything you need to do, but will be auto-created by the necessary cores when you use them. As for SNES, you'll need to be on FW 1.30 and I cover more on that here: th-cam.com/video/eHWGigO0M7Q/w-d-xo.html
@@GenXGrownUp Thank you. I will be receiving my GSP on Sunday and will update it to the 1.30 operating system. When I downloaded the SNES games they came through with a .smc file extenstion, but I've heard they need to be .sfc for it to play SNES games. Is that true or can I leave them as .smc? Thank you!
@@petewehler7016 That would be great to have, but at this point I doubt there will be additional investment in updates. They appear to have been focusing on new features for the 2025 products.
Can anyone post the link to the GORF version that was being played in the video? I have the original CBS version (no galaxian, no shield) and the 7800 full version I have you can never die. The version in this video looks like the real thing. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction to play on the GSP.
Sounds like you may just be missing a step of part of the process. If you'd like some detailed assistance, visit the #retro-gaming channel of our Discord server and explain what you've done so far and what help you need. genxgrownup.com/discord
your latency test didn't really "test" the controls in my opinion. I would have shown moving and the use of the paddle, not just pressing one button. I was playing "pong" and I noticed the paddle reacted slower but I have yet to test wired to see if it corrects it or not. It's possible that could be experiencing interference tru but I never really noticed the "latency" when pressing "A" and it was mostly with moving the joystick or using the paddle to move your sprite.
I buy those Amazon batteries too but they need better quality control, some of them are slightly smaller and don't sit well with the connectors in Xbox controllers.
I bought one . The image of the Atari 2600 games are perfect. But the image on the Atari 5200 and 7800 are not clear enough. I also could not play the arcade games that are zip files . Does Anyone knows how to solve these problems?
We have a supportive community on our Discord server. There are several threads of GSP support you could check out and get assistance to find out what you may have misconfigured.
When I'm dropping files into my games folder sometimes it says are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties? Why do I get this message what's the meaning behind this the games are still working even though I click yes
It's theoretically possible since 5200 games run under an Altirra core, but the number you could play would be pretty limited with no keyboard of any kind.
Thanks Jon. So far I haven't gotten any of the 400/800 roms to go on GSP. Maybe I'll just throw down for the 400 mini assuming it offers SD expansion. It would be cool if the 400 could take 400/800 carts, but I'm guessing the cart slot lid is fake. I have my Dad's 800 in the basement with a pile of carts as well as the floppy drive and cassette unit. I wrote a lot of games for it in my early teens...
The stick was fine but the paddles feel a bit off. Still way better than the stick. It's just like "I can feel it" for the difference. I used to be able to roll the score on Circus Atari. Not anymore. The semi-working arcade games are most of the issue for me. No options for Cavity or Double on Super Breakout, Ultra Tank is missing options for walls/mines, bounce shots... (Also would be nice to map the controls to play like Combat if possible using the original stick). Missing gears and track options in other games. Food Fight and I'Robot feel "drifty" for the controls. (8 way movement with a dead stop plays way better with a digital stick. I play I'Robot on my Legends Gamer Pro and it's awesome that way.) Crystal Castles... Hmmm... Plays "correct" for using an 8 way joystick but would probably play better IF it's possible to change the Y position "slightly" when moving left and right so it matches the angle of the mazes. The speed is still an issue. Later levels get crazy fast. (That's why a trackball really needs to be used but what can you do. Maybe holding down one of the buttons to speed up?) Games like Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Gravitar and Space Duel play easier when thrust is maped to UP like the 2600 version. Someone made me a .cfg file for Asteroids Deluxe that way for the Micro SD card and it works great with the old stick that way. (And with the Asteroids Deluxe artwork it looks just too cool). Artwork options like what was just mentioned can dress things up "as an option". Tournament Table only plays Breakout and has a spot at the bottom the paddle "skips" over. I ran the latest version of MAME on my laptop and it looks like the games issues mentioned above have been figured out. Wonder how difficult it would be to make a custom build to fix the issues. A firmware update can fix most everything... I just hope they don't start tinkering with taking away the ROM support. I have 2 Atari Flashback units (and lots of compelation CDs, cartridges, etc for many systems). I play the missing games off of the Micro SD for convenience. Gotta have my Activision titles. Hard to believe they gave away many of their titles on cereal boxes way back. Oh, and of course... Paddle support for all the other 2600 and arcade games that use it. I noticed a couple games on the Micro SD card DID work with the paddle but games already included so it must be looking at the name of the file and some kind of checksum. (I tried tricking it by renaming Kaboom! to another title. No luck... The controls froze up. Joystick diet work either. I know it's a long laundry list of things to work on but the system is shaping up on the Micro SD card showing what is possible.
Added option controller support helps. Yeah, I know there are Xbox and newer PS controlers that work but what a price tag! Half the price of the system or more? That's a good chunk of change. (Yes, they are very nice controlers.) I'm using a PlayStation Classic controller on mine with a powered Insignia 4 port USB hub. PlayStation Classic controller on the left most hub. Gamestation Pro controller on the right side. I can navigate menus and use the home button on the Gamestation Pro controller. The PlayStation Classic controller takes a little bit of button mashing and playing with the directions to get it to detected by the system but once it does it plays fine for the rest of the game. Just no home button and can't navigate menus. Cheaper solution for me. I just need to wait a few seconds (or a little longer on some games) to get it to detect while pressing directions and buttons all at once kinda. I tried having them hooked up with the port positions reversed but I couldn't get the directions to work on the PlayStation Classic controller that way. Without power on the hub it didn't work either. (Games froze up when it detected the controller). 5v 900mA.
I take back the comment about the paddles feeling "off". Oh, there still are problems with Tournament Table and the dead zone thing in the middle on Warlords but playing the 2600 games again tonight... It felt perfect! No lag at all. Very precise. Weird... I couldn't do anything on Circus Atari or Super Breakout (2600) before but tonight was just like old times. Street Racer was perfect too. Just the way I remembered them. I'm kinda scared if they do add paddle support now. I played a lot of Kaboom! back in the day and the paddles got quite a workout. Do they sell replacement controlers if you kill your paddles from over use? I had to build my own for my Atari 2600 Jr. but with USB C type stuff... Not really an option.
I hope My Arcade will offer replacement controllers down the road and will offer them to distribution centers. My "C" button (the trigger) stopped working on my GSP in less than a week. Luckily, I was able to arrange for a straight exchange, through Amazon (because I'm outside of the USA). My Arcade asks that you deal with your distributor, if you're outside of the states. The warranty is good for 120 days after purchase so luckily the controllers are poorly enough made to break in six days..oops, I mean luckily my issues fell within the warranty window. ☺ Amazon was good by the way. Because of the warranty, I got a brand new GSP and they paid shipping, both ways, no questions asked. But let's be honest, these controllers aren't going to last forever.
So my console was not faulty in terms of the audio, I returned it to the shop yesterday and sadly the shop I bought it from only sell them via their website, so they didn't have another one in the shop, now I have to get another unit ordered. Damn. I did contact My Arcade via Facebook and via their website, and they didn't respond to me. Oh well. I'll call the shop and ask them if they'll order a new console for me, or simply give me back my old unit.
Really surprised that the fact that you can't use analogue control on games that you run from the SD card is not on the top 5, it's a major show stopper for me and the reason I didn't purchase.
Anything in the SD area is value add. There should be NO expectations for games run from there. My Arcade doesn't have any obligation to make games we add behave any particular way.
"Atari can only authorize release of titles it owns." Then why do I see Activision's Boxing, Drag Race (a hack of Dragster), and Space Raid (a hack of Megamania) included? There's also 20th Century Fox's Fast Eddie. I'm pretty sure Atari doesn't own the rights to any of those :)
I’ve tried your suggestions for latency correction and they helped - except for the paddle controllers. They are herky jerky and fairly unresponsive making paddle games unplayable. Definitely not the smooth action I’ve seen from Gamestation Pro paddle examples I’ve seen on TH-cam.
Hrm. I'm glad you've seen improvement. I've not yet see any digital paddle controller that's as smooth as the original analog paddles, but nothing approaching unplayable. What do you see if you connect hardwire right to the console? Same?
@@GenXGrownUp I don’t have a USB C to USB C cable to test that (my unit didn’t come with one, only a USB C to USB A cable). I did go rummaging around for an appropriate cable but didn’t find one.
I just checked to see if the power brick I was using matched specs and that checked out. Also I just played Asteroids arcade and the ship rotation sometimes continued after I disengaged the joystick and sometimes all control dropped out completely. This happened with both joysticks.
@@bradleyconrad678 From your description, it sounds like you are getting some interference on the 2.4GHz spectrum. You can verify by sourcing a C-to-C cable and repeating your tests. amz.run/9JSg
@@GenXGrownUp That’s what I’m thinking. Initially I moved my router about 5ft away and it made a small improvement. Hardwire test next. I’ll let you know the results. Love the channel and the podcast!
🙄 The latency is so bad on mine that I rage quit just minutes into playing. I've played it a couple of other times since then, and it's still what I consider unplayable. So lately, I've just been playing the 50th Anniversary on Xbox, the Atari 400 Mini, and the new in-box Atari 5200 I just bought with the 2600 adapter.
I can’t get any games to play. I choose a game to play and the screen goes black and the lights on the game station flash on and off. I’ve tried everything I can think of but nothing works. Looks like it gets returned for a refund unless someone has a solution to get the games to play!!
Problem solved after I read another post about using a good usb power adapter. I was using an older usb power adapter and after I tried a different and newer usb power adapter the games worked.
So, the final order from best to worst in terms of latency is: 1. Atari-Commodore 9-pin Game Port (less than 1 ms). 2. PC 15-pin Game Port (about 3-5 ms). 3. USB 2.0 Port (about 11-17 ms, including the latency of the USB bus, traditionally connected keyboard, mouse, and joystick, plus the delay of the USB joystick controller itself). 4. Bluetooth Wireless Joystick (about 31-67 ms, including the latency of the USB 2.0 port and the Bluetooth connection).
Unfortunately, yes. Even the gaming industry has changed due to the unbearable delays of the USB bus plus delays for gaming ports emulation via various types of USB adapters. Any joystick USB adapter itself also adds additional response delay. Wireless joystick connections add yet another significant delay, making it a third major delay on top of the first two. There is a widespread misconception that not everyone can feel the response delay from the controller signal in arcade games. This is a myth. Every healthy person, without exception, can feel this response USB delay. However, not everyone can consciously recognize and articulate this feeling, especially without the opportunity for comparison. The lowest delay is achieved with a native PS/2 port. It's even better than any native 9-pin or 15-pin joystick port. A joystick connected to a PC via a native PS/2 port (for example, using the controller from a native PS/2 gaming keyboard) represents the pinnacle of what humanity has created to date. It offers zero delay in all games where an analog discrete signal is not required. However, manufacturers have stopped producing motherboards with native PS/2 ports. Instead, they include a universal dual-colored PS/2 Combo port on some motherboards. But this is not a native PS/2 port. It's merely an emulation of the PS/2 port through the same USB bus with the same inherent USB response delays, only with a BIOS-level driver. So, if a PC is equipped with a universal dual-colored PS/2 Combo port, then a keyboard or joystick connected to that PC via PS/2 will have longer delays than the same keyboard connected directly to that same PC via USB. I decided to reclaim the vivid sensations of playing arcade games that were stolen from me. That's why I ordered an inexpensive business motherboard with native PS/2 ports. The contacts of any joystick can easily be connected to the controller from an old mechanical gaming keyboard with native PS/2 connection. I just want to bring back those feelings of zero delay in arcade games, fighting games, and pinball that I experienced in my youth. And I will do it, despite all the schemes of greedy manufacturers. 😉
It would be so nice if these companies making retro game systems would collaborate more to allow (and encourage) companies holding such licenses to sell licenses for individual games and collections. I mean, even though I know I can add these games using the back door this system has so nicely included, I would also be happy paying $20 to $30 for an official set of all Activision and Imagic titles. Especially, if they came with manuals and artwork (and, of course, an official certificate of authenticity 😀).
The paddles jittery response on my unit was literally a joke. Just to hit the ball on breakout was laughable - no way to aim the ball - just lucky if i was able to hit it at all while moving with such a jittery response. I hooked up the cable connection and there was no change. I had my girlfriend confirm how bad it was. I had to return the unit - it was too frustrating. I didn't have another external paddle control to check it out but maybe that would have worked better. Not sure if a potentiometer paddle would be compatible with the unit. I have a couple original Atari pinball units and the paddle controller is flawless after cleaning them up. The object of breakout shouldn't be lucky if you can hit the ball. Wonder if anyone else has this issue - i really didn't see many comments on Google complaining specifically about this. Really disappointed - it was a birthday gift and i was so looking forward to a proper feel on the controller.
I find the paddles "ok". However, before I put my TV into game mode they were virtually unusable. So make sure that if you are having any latency issues with your TV, that you correct that before forming a final opinion (though I don't doubt that the original controllers were almost certainly better).
@@daviddahlstrom192 Thanks-I made sure the tv was on game mode - that didn't do anything for the jittery motion on the paddles. I also checked both paddles. I even used an older model tv that that had a video input and the jitter just wouldn't go away. Latency was not a problem. I should have taken a video of the jitter - as you turn paddle controller, the tv paddle would jump irregularly across the screen as you moved the paddle smoothly. I've seen the you tube videos of others playing breakout on this machine - and it does appear that it was smoother than I experienced. I did see some comments that said it was unplayable too - so maybe there is a glitch with some. As you can tell - I wish it was just my unit and I'd just get another one - but don't want the hassle of returning it again. I'm guessing the unit isn't using the old school potentiometer but rather some digital encoded rotary gismo.
I had the controller right next to the console. When I connected it to the older TV it was in another room so no interference from my wifi. Note the joysticks seemed okay. I tried everything to get rid of the unplayable jitter. Forgot to mention I tested it out on my girlfriend's new smart tv on game mode in a completely different house. That's where she confirmed I wasn't exaggerating by simply playing breakout and couldn't hit the ball more than a couple times. Ughh...I really wanted to like this console.
That's unfortunate. Yours is performing very different to mine then. Hard to say where the problem would be though. I have an arcade machine running the Stella emulator with high precision wired spinners for paddles, which makes Breakout is as smooth as I can imagine it being. My GS Pro is not as smooth and can exhibit very small micro stalls as I'm rotating, but it remains fully playable. In fact, I just did a round of Night Driver on both the arcade machine and the Gamestation Pro and with no prior recent practice in that game was able to attain the same score on both without feeling any decided disadvantage on the GS Pro -- though admittedly, the size of the knob on the GS Pro isn't ideal.
@@GenXGrownUp sorry. Pre coffee comment this am. I was kinda mostly joking but this one did have that feel to it a tad. Just a tad. I’m sure ur viewers know better.
Haha! That's funny, but it's not all user problems. Definitely some room for improvement on My Arcade's side. The encouraging thing is that they continue to work to improve where some vendors just fire & forget.
@@GenXGrownUp- True, but there are SO many out there who would rather complain than get it done. I've been repairing computers for close to 30 years and people often resist the EASIEST of methods.
Who else wanna be able to use their retrobit sega genesis controllers with their GSP emulating Sega Genesis games??? I know I do!!! but it doesnt work :(
I will send my Gamestation pro back because there is absolutely no smooth gameplay possible. I compared it with original cartridges played on the Atari 2600+ and the very same roms also on my Evercade system (Atari Collections 1+2). I really have to say, the gamestation pro is stuttering a lot because it has also a very poor processor comparing to the other two systems. It is a nice design so it is a pity I have to send it back because of this bad gaming experience. Stuttering / no smooth gameplay is the biggest problem in my opinion.
@@GenXGrownUp Mine has 3A, I use it also to power my Raspberry Pi 4 so that is not the reason. It is the poor processor in this device which causes bad fps.
@@marcofeibel1364 I don't doubt you're experiencing problems, but it is puzzling why the problems you describe aren't universal, but isolated to a only some users. Best of luck! 😀
@@GenXGrownUp I guess most people didn’t even notice it because they don‘t have a comparison with the Evercade Atari Cartridges and the Atari 2600+ as I do. Just watch he „jumping“ Title of Realsports Tennis and compare the Framerate with the other two devices and you‘ll directly see what I mean! But anyway, thanks for your great reviews of the Gamestation Pro. I think for casual gamers it will be still a very good device if you don’t know the other two mentioned above.
🚨 UPDATE 🚨Additional information you may find useful.
• Many viewers have also suggested ensuring your TV is in "game" mode as another known culprit of perceived controller latency.
• The "artwork" folder should be a sibling to the "samples" folder created in my SD upgrade video: th-cam.com/video/Cn_BocjMaq4/w-d-xo.html
When did they say that this update that fixed the mono audio was scheduled to release?
Props to My Arcade for continuing to listen to the gaming community to improve their products!
You said it, Michael! 😁
Mine won’t play games either. It’s does nothing when I press A
Nice job editing the left channel only at the key point in this video! Well done. This is why your channel is so good. You are a pro
Ah-haha! Thanks, Brian. I didn't know of any good way to visually illustrate what I meant by "mono left," so I figured, why not just do it to ME!? 😀
Just a heads up about controllers, I use the PlayStation Mini's USB controllers with Phillips USB C adapters from Target's TV department. They work great! You have to select games on your SD card with the GSP joystick, and move the D pad around and press select a bit once the games launch on the PSX controller, but then everything's good to go. Hope this helps somebody out!
Thanks to you Jon, I'm loving my GSP!!! You are a life saver...🙂
Happy to help. Thanks for watching! 😁
Great video! With regard to latency one thing you absolutely should do is put your TV in Game mode. My LG smart tv is smart enough to do this for virtually all modern consoles. But it does not for these plug and play devices. So manually switch to game mode and you will see a major improvement as your TV will reduce the amount of picture processing and switch it to game response mode which is noticeable on my TV.
Thanks for the tip!
I don't know what game mode is so I wouldn't have thought about it. However I do also have an LG Smart TV and it apparently has been doing it for me. Thanks for the info, if I ever change TV and experience latency I'll be sure to check on game mode settings.
once again you go above and beyond! your love for these old skool systems and your desire to help out with them are simply amazing! And now that the Atari 2600+ is shipping we will probably see similar videos from you and the retro community. im waiting for my 2600+ to arrive. great times to be an Atari fan! KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON!!!
Great info as usual, thank you for all your hard work and continued updates
After our discussion in the comments section of one of your previous videos, curiosity got the better of me. I broke down and bought a GSP. I'd say out of these 5 items, controller latency comes closest to the kinds of criticisms I have; not the latency itself, but the controllers in general. I can't believe I'm not seeing more people say that they feel cheap and a bit too "bouncy" when self-centering (which messes up your control in certain games). The stick feels too short for using the C button, too. (They had to know that this would not end up being a small hands, "just-for-kids" product.) Finally, at least a couple of the paddle games don't work with either control, altogether ruining the point of including them. Don't get me wrong... The product definitely has its positive points; that's why the negatives are so glaring!
My first Members Only video.
I saw you join yesterday, Jeremiah. Thank you! 🥰
My 2nd!
I want to thank you for following up on the GSP. I purchased it shortly after seeing your first video. My only complaint was the mono sound as I play it on my computer monitor with stereo speakers or headphones. I love everything else about the console. Knowing that they are going to fix it and several other issues makes me feel like I made the right choice. It was a toss-up between this and the 2600+. thanks again for the follow-up.
Outstanding video, I'll suggest a series title. "Getting learnt with Jonny Red!"
Hahaha! Maybe I'll just the channel name to that!
YES! Thank you Jon! I've got the artwork and samples figured out; the key was for me to *not* unzip the art and sound files, LOL!
Nice work!
Thank you for the news on the mono audio problem. I emailed My Arcade for customer support with no response. Again thank you for the update. I thought my first one was defective so I returned it and had it replaced.
Interestingly, the original Atari 2600 design actually supported two channel sound (I believe so that left/right players could hear their character's sound out of the matching speaker)--though I don't think it was enabled since it was intended for use with built-in speakers that never happened. Some emulators actually do enable this feature though and I even think there are some homebrew games that use it to gain true stereo.
Try reaching out on their social media. They’re more responsive there
Glad I could help!
I totally agree that the lack of manuals is a vital missing feature. Many games rely on the manual to explain basic objectives, what the (sometime numerous) variations are, and what the difficulty switches do. I really do hope they add this as a feature, and maybe even offer a basic pdf viewer that could be used for add-in games.
My other three hopes for a future firmware update would be support for subfolders in the \games folder, support for paddle controllers for add-in games, and I'd also love to see support for Colecovision and Intellivision games. The numeric pads could be supported through the paddle controller (turning the paddle controller brings up an on-screen number pad that lets you dial through the pad's values, pressing A selects the value). Probably just wishful thinking though!
Really glad they are fixing the mono sound issue. Thanks for another informative video.
No problem!
Awesome video! As I suspected, basic user error is at play with some of the issues here on the GSP, although I don't own one, I have had those issues on other products myself and found it was always something I was or wasn't doing that contributed to the problems. The lack of some titles like you said are simply due to licensing, so the fact that My Arcade knew that, and addressed it by adding the SD slot, is a good thing. Plus, the firmware updates they are providing will definitely make it better for those wanting to try other controllers. Overall, not a bad offering from My Arcade on this unit. I think it's a decent product for anyone who might be new to retro gaming, or haven't played these games in some time, and it's not bad for the avid gamer who knows a little about adding roms and configuring controllers. 😊
Great video as always! I really need to get the Mame stuff working on mine, I have not been able too....
Firmware update is a big plus!!! Now I just need to find one. They canceled my pre order due to demand and I didn't get one at Costco. I'm still on the lookout and hopeful to get it before Christmas 😁
I just ordered mine on the My Arcade website. Back in stock!
They canceled it or you canceled it?
I pre-ordered my GSP from My Arcade back in September with a promised ship-date of Oct 31st.
On the evening of October 31st myself (and I believe a whole lot of other people) received an e-mail saying "sorry, we can't fulfill our promised pre-orders... we'll resolve this SOON(tm)... you may cancel your order at this time if you want". I'm paraphrasing, but that's more or less what My Arcade sent out on the night they were supposed to ship pre-orders.
I thought about cancelling, but let it ride out and see what would happen.
My GSP shipped-out earlier this week and it just arrived TODAY on Nov 18th. I don't know of GSP cancelling orders that weren't requested to be canceled by the customer.
Amazon in stock.
Putting my TV's HDMI input into "Game" mode definitely helped with latency, too. The problem is that the controller sometimes doesn't recognize the input. I move the stick up and it doesn't move up (or to the 10 or 2 positions). I haven't tried a wired connection yet, though.
Yes, I was ready to return my unit because the games were simply unplayable...until I put my tv into game mode. The difference was dramatic and removed pretty much all my controller latency concerns.
Getting one controller to be plugged in via USB-C definitely helps a ton. I also changed the USB charger plus to one that supports higher volts. Finally this is playable and I've even added some games to the SD Card. Thank you @genxgrownup
Thanks Jon, appreciate the video, never did receive a response back from My Arcade customer support about the mono sound.
It's been a busy launch window for My Arcade between all the new handhelds & tabletops and now the GSP. I'm sure their customer support channels are swamped. Luckily, was able to hit them on the My Arcade Bat-Phone and get some answers to share! Thank you for watching.
I'll have to try wiring my controllers. Sadly the response time via wireless was so bad that it left Atari 2600 pac-man and pitfall virtually unplayable. Connecting an xbox 360 controller alleviated all of that , but oddly it did not work well in the menus. I found myself having to use the included controller to navigate and then the 360 controller to play some games. Annoying - yes but not a show stopper for me. I have to admit - the new joysticks are the main reason I bought this unit. So far - I love the unit but the controllers have let me down. Thanks for the great info - we'll try some of the suggested fixes.
After numerous hours of testing last night I noticed that using the Atari 2600 emulator - the latency for the controllers is really bad for certain games. Loading pac-man on the mame emulator I have no issues at all. So that may be an emulator issue. I cannot get the artwork to work. I downloaded them and placed them in a folder called artwork in the same directory as the samples folder (which are not working either). I even tried copying them to the "games" folder instead of the subfolder where my mame roms reside. Any ideas? I appreciate the help.
Update - this was self inflicted. You must use the artwork files you link to below. Newer artwork files from newer MAME versions do not work. I replaced the ones I had with the downloads linked to below and they work now. Thank you. (Samples started working also although I made no changes to those.)
Great video Jon! The input latency people encounter with their gaming setup is most often to do with their TV/Monitor setup. Just make sure your TV/Monitor is set to "Game" mode and input latency is more often than not improved. Keep up the awesome work!
Another possible culprit. I always assumed that users would have recognized that problem with their TV before and in addition to the GSP so it wouldn't be wrongly diagnosed as a problem with this console. Still, I've added that to the pinned "update" comment of this video in case.
The target audience for this console aren't hardcore gamers and don't know about these kind of TV settings. At least this member of the Gen X target audience didn't. 😀 @@GenXGrownUp
Great video John. You are a boom to the community and thanks for being detailed in yoir reviews.
You're very kind. Thank you for watching.
I got mine today and it feels very similar to what I remember from the 10 yo version of myself. I compensated for the leverage of the joystick by using the spot between my thumb and index finger, like I did as a kid. I am heavy handed so, more stiffness would have been nice but, otherwise, plays the way I remember. The only problem with the paddle wheel is it's too small. I am going to make some extenders that will press on over the wheel to increase the OD. That will change the gear ratio and make it less sensitive. Would be nice for them to offer real paddles in the future.
Great video and I'm excited to hear there will be updates. The whole reason I waited for the public release was that I was hoping those would already be there. Regarding the latency issue, mine is mostly noticeable on paddle games, which are practically unplayable. I'd be curious to see you test the performance of the paddles specifically.
Just bought a Gamestation Pro! Looking forward to getting it and putting more games on it. Hopefully they'll make adding games better in the next update! (Maybe just a submenu in the stock OS where you can upload your own cover art, description, etc.)
Thank you thank you!! I have to test this out. The controller latency, loses connection is something I have experienced. I did not know plugging it into the system would help as I thought that would just power the controllers. I can’t wait to try this. Also curious if your hd tv has a game mode setting if that would help with latency.
Grand slam! Super helpful video.
Glad it was helpful!
I've used the SD card to fill in the gaps in the library. Worked like a charm. The only thing that didn't work was the few Genesis 32x I tried. I figured that'd be the case, but it was worth a shot.
Thanks for sharing your experience with the GSP. 😀
Biggest prob that needs fixed is that you can "crush" the joystick into the base by accident and it won't register inputs. A piece of foam inside the joystick prevent the "crushing" and not affect the input.
Explain what you mean by crushing?
Latency issues can also be due to TV settings. Modern tv's use extra processing to display an image. This processing adds clarity and corrective messages to the signal coming in. The video processor also distributes information to the intended locations (audio to audio, video to video, etc). Many modern tv's have a "Game" setting that reduces latency. Original hardware that is upscaled to modern tv's back when upscaling was new had issues with latency until the geniuses in the scene fixed that issue in their MiSTers and such.
Thanks. Many users have mentioned this and I've added it to a pinned comment for this video.
It's a good system and I play it everyday. The performance of some gba games is a let down and the way you see your roms is totally messed up. I hope they fix those problems in a future update!
About latency: check the TV where you're playing these games, because some TV have 5ms of latency, some 10ms and some even 80/100ms! It must be written into the manual of your TV.
Since you mentioned that the GSP requires a power supply that is at least 2 amps, I tested a few that were rated between 2 and 3 amps. For each one, including my phone's fast charger that does 2.3+ amps, the GSP only pulled between 0.23 to 0.31 amps other than a couple spikes of around 0.4 amps during startup. Is this normal? Why would I need a 2+ amp power supply if that's the case?
This unit is not for me, but such a great video and support! 👍
Fair enough!
6:30 here is my answer to the input lag, thanks
You beat me to it! I saw your previous message pop up and was going to send you this very video & timestamp. 😀
Cheers@@GenXGrownUp
My Atari is not working every time I try to click on a game it justs keeps making a noise like a ring or something and it is not letting us play any of the games
Sounds like and under-powered USB brick. Not enough voltage getting to the CPU.
Man I REALLY hope the firmware update adds the ability to use the paddle on sideloaded MAME games! The paddle is the main thing that sets this apart from every other system i have that can already play these games.
I'm still on the fence about getting this machine because I want to be able to play 4-player paddle control games with proper control. The included controllers kind of accommodate that, but there are only two of them. Think maybe they'd sell more controllers? Or a set of 4 paddles (even if they're just wired)? I've been looking for a good way to play the arcade version of Warlords with 4 players, and this console comes _so_ close. I just need four paddles, so they control correctly.
A gamepad choice with more buttons and a paddle control would be nice. Better yet a fight stick with more buttons, a paddle, and a track ball. Dare to dream.
@@brianjohnston4124 Some of those AtGames arcade control decks come extremely close to what you're describing, here. Doubt they would work properly with this console, though.
Where is the upgrade video with the arcade samples located?
th-cam.com/video/Cn_BocjMaq4/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for another great video 👍. Thanks to one of your previous videos I bought one and I love it 😀. From what I have gathered you managed to make the save state work for lots of the roms e.g. NES. However some of us have not been able to make this work. Do you have any theory about this (in all honesty small) detail?
You're welcome. I have that solution for you. That folder needs to exist. Launch the GSP normally but with the SD card inserted, but go to the default interface. Now launch any 2600 game. Now hit the menu and save the current state to either slot 3 or 4 (which save to the SD card). Now the folder exists. SD-added console games will now be able to save. Likely you could also just manually create the save folder.
DId they slap an actual date onto that Firmware update? looking forward to the potential expansion of the SD card library with more platforms supported.
If I had a date to share I wouldn't have kept it from you! 😀 Just "in the coming weeks" for now.
Fair enough, would be good if they had a blog of sorts on that site to announce these things huh.. guess I'm just eager to put the system to use more it's quite the beast.
We need to be able to fix control configurations to work for game like Robotron 2084 & Defender.
Mapping would be a welcome bonus, but it's important to remember that My Arcade doesn't owe us a "fix" for how games we add oursleves behave.
Great segment as always, one question for the community does anyone know the maximum capacity of the micro sd card supported. I heard 128gig. There are various micro sd types too so is there a definitive spec on it somewhere?
I've been using a SanDisk 64GB with no issues. Haven't tested larger, though.
Hi I just bought this system. On tempest arcade, why can't I use the dial spinner instead of the joystick?
The GSP has a paddle, but Tempest requires a spinner. 😔
Jon I would like to make a guick comment about the Atari 2600 + The cord on the controller. Do they expect us to set in front of the TV like we did when we were kids? Everyone sets whey back from the TV now. The cord is not long enough!!
I'll take a wild guess there are Atari 2600 extension cords on Amazon? Just guessing here, but i'm sure you're not the fist person to think "gee, if only there was a way to make the cords longer".
when we put in our artwork for arcade games, do we have to keep our downloaded artwork zipped in the artwork folder?
Each individual game's artwork should be in its own zip within the artwork folder. So if you have a dkong.zip game ROM, the same-named dkong.zip art pack should exist in the artwork folder.
This may sound dumb, but you seem to have a in into the company.
But id pay for a hardcover book that took all the old manuals and presented them in a collectors edition.
Coffee table book?
The biggest problem for me is not being able to simulate the driving controllers with the built on paddle controller for Indy 500. Seems like they could have made that function as both paddle and driving.
It's a paddle, not a spinner. Overhead racers like Indy 500 needs a spinner that can continuously be spun a full 360 degrees with no physical stop. Same with Tempest.
Ya mate, you're confusing a paddle with a spinner... they are both two very different controllers like the other response stated. Spinners and Paddles are NOT the same type of controller.
Does the console come with cables to plug in the controllers if I don't have batteries?
No, you'll need to provide your own USBC-to-USBC cables if you'd like to plug them in.
@@GenXGrownUp Okay and the cables work without batteries in the controllers?
Was hoping you'd tell us how to fix the controls in many of the games, like the inability to shift in Monte Carlo, Night Driver, etc. Ultra Tank is another that is really broken in the controls department. And we can't select variations such as the other modes in Super Breakout and Ultra Tank, select different tracks in Monte Carlo, etc. Product really needed more time in the oven.
That's one I hadn't seen mentioned, but thanks for bringing it up. I've been spending the most time with the console titles, but I can certainly imagine how a few of the arcade games may need tweaking.
Where can you buy a SD card with games already on it ? Don't know how load info onto them. Also I'm not very happy with the provided games there aren't many good ones but I still like the system
Save your money - I did a full tutorial on adding games right here: th-cam.com/video/Cn_BocjMaq4/w-d-xo.html
Am I the only person having an issue getting the gsp to read a micro sd card? I even tried by formatting in 32fat as recommended. Bout to scream lol. Thanks for the new video. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend/Monday. And Happy Thanksgiving bok-bok!!
Did you check the tips in the pinned update comment on the SD Expansion video?
@@GenXGrownUp yes I checked it. Unfortunately nothing has worked so far. The only thing it has done is create 2 folders on my card. One is for Atari 7800 one is for Atari arcade. I had never givin me the black screen that pops up in the video with the 2 choices. I’m using a Sandisc 64. I’m bumduzzled.
@@notagainwiththisdyingferfe7722 You have folders for those two systems? That's a no-no. I stress multitple times in this upgrade tutorial that everything must go right in the "Games" folder with no subfolders at all.
@@GenXGrownUp the problem is I did not create the folders the gamestation did.
That doesn't sound right. Game save folders are created, but not ROM folders. I encourage you to visit the retro-gaming channel of our Discord server for assistance. There you can share images and get more immediate assistance to get you over this hump.
The game selection from the Atari vault could be have better and I hate the left channel sound, which I pointed out in my review, but all thing said I have to admit I have had a lot of fun with my GSP 😊
Wow, I had no idea GXG had a Discord server, I'll join.
See you there.
Still confused where the "artwork" folder is supposed to go. Thank you for the video, btw! I have my "Games" folder on my microSD card, but not sure where the "artwork" folder should go.
Do you have a "samples" folder? "artwork" should be a sibling to that folder.
I do not. Still new to all this. Don't even know what a "samples" folder is for and where it would go. I only have a "games" and "states" folder.
@@VidaRebornLonewolf No worries. See the pinned comment in this video.
What is the name of that airplane shooter game that does circles and where did you get it??? At 2:56
That's the arcade version of Gyruss.
@@GenXGrownUp NES, ?
That the ARCADE version of Gyruss. 😉
@@GenXGrownUp can you link me where to download the ROM
@@mainps1 All the links are already provided in the video description and pinned update comment of the upgrade video.
First, thank you for the video and the information you provide. Unfortunately, you don't mention the biggest thing that keeps me from having an interest in this ... the facts that the built-in 'paddle' can't be used for any added ganes or non-2600 games included on the system. I'd love to hear of firmware updates coming for that.
Hello, thank you for your videos! They are very useful and well made! I have a question: as far as I have seen on my AGSP, whenever you emulate A5200 or A7800 there isn’t any way to toggle the difficulty switches, is it? I am asking because one of my favourite A7800 games is “Tomcat”, which is an F14 combat simulator where the difficulty switches are used to raise and lower the landing gear and the arrestor hook…. Since you are in contact with MyArcade would you please ask them if there is a way to introduce the difficulty switches in A7800 with a firmware update?
That's a really good point. Thanks for bringing it up and I'll mention it to my My Arcade contacts.
@@GenXGrownUp Thank you, I really appreciate you answer. It would be great if MyArcade gave us console controls (and gamepad keyboard for the A5200) as they did for the A2600, but my “dream” for a future firmware update is the ability to map console controls and A5200 gamepad mini keyboard on any gamepad connected to the AGSP…
My Gamestation doesn’t stretch out arcade games and sound comes out of both left and right channels. I got mine on launch. I wonder why some are broken and others like mine are fine?
Only vertical games are stretched. You may have your TV/receiver in mono mode, because it's universal in the launching firmware. Consider yourself lucky!
Great video but it didn't address the fact that sometimes when you push the joystick in one direction it goes the opposite direction 🤔
I've not experienced that!
@@GenXGrownUp it's an issue I've had happen repeatedly; wish My Arcade would patch it 😬
Do that latency test 10-12 feet away from the TV/Atari. I am getting latency and drop out at those distances.
👍
When you spoke to the MyArcade folks and they talked about an upcoming firmware update, did you get any sense that it would affect the sd card function...either good or bad?
No word on how it might impact the SD behavior, though I did make a couple suggestions! 😉
você já testou o Atari Flashback 9 gold ? Se sim, qual deles oferece uma experiência mais próxima do Atari original ?
th-cam.com/video/2l3aZmghWsg/w-d-xo.html
Been an issue where everytime I play multiplayer the save menu keeps popping up randomly, anyone have a solution to this?
I've never seen that happen.
Did someone sells that sd card with all the games included?
🤷♂️
Thank you for your helpful videos. Two quick questions for you. First, I saw that you have a CFG and a hi folder in your Arcade game folders. I don't see where you talked about them. Do I need to have that and if so, what goes in those folders? Finally, I downloaded Super Nintendo games and they came through with a .smc file extension, but I've heard that they need to be a .sfc extension. Do you know which is correct? Thank you!!
You're quite welcome. Thanks for watching. I try to be thorough and not leave out any critical steps, and the CFG & HI folders aren't anything you need to do, but will be auto-created by the necessary cores when you use them. As for SNES, you'll need to be on FW 1.30 and I cover more on that here: th-cam.com/video/eHWGigO0M7Q/w-d-xo.html
@@GenXGrownUp Thank you. I will be receiving my GSP on Sunday and will update it to the 1.30 operating system. When I downloaded the SNES games they came through with a .smc file extenstion, but I've heard they need to be .sfc for it to play SNES games. Is that true or can I leave them as .smc? Thank you!
@@petewehler7016 Sure. Again, I cover the addition of SNES in the video linked in my previous reply. Best of luck! 😀
@ Thank you. Got it now. Thanks again!!! Hopefully they will soon release an update that allows for control mapping.
@@petewehler7016 That would be great to have, but at this point I doubt there will be additional investment in updates. They appear to have been focusing on new features for the 2025 products.
Can anyone post the link to the GORF version that was being played in the video? I have the original CBS version (no galaxian, no shield) and the 7800 full version I have you can never die. The version in this video looks like the real thing. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction to play on the GSP.
It's included in the set noted in my expansion video. Be sure to also check the pinned comment for updates. th-cam.com/video/Cn_BocjMaq4/w-d-xo.html
They ship that thing with only the left audio channel working???
As I noted, it was an oversight in testing - not an intentionally missing feature.
When I try to drag that bin to my card it goes on the card but the Sega games do not play.
Sounds like you may just be missing a step of part of the process. If you'd like some detailed assistance, visit the #retro-gaming channel of our Discord server and explain what you've done so far and what help you need.
genxgrownup.com/discord
your latency test didn't really "test" the controls in my opinion. I would have shown moving and the use of the paddle, not just pressing one button. I was playing "pong" and I noticed the paddle reacted slower but I have yet to test wired to see if it corrects it or not. It's possible that could be experiencing interference tru but I never really noticed the "latency" when pressing "A" and it was mostly with moving the joystick or using the paddle to move your sprite.
I buy those Amazon batteries too but they need better quality control, some of them are slightly smaller and don't sit well with the connectors in Xbox controllers.
Oh? Yuck!
I bought one . The image of the Atari 2600 games are perfect. But the image on the Atari 5200 and 7800 are not clear enough. I also could not play the arcade games that are zip files . Does Anyone knows how to solve these problems?
We have a supportive community on our Discord server. There are several threads of GSP support you could check out and get assistance to find out what you may have misconfigured.
When I'm dropping files into my games folder sometimes it says are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties? Why do I get this message what's the meaning behind this the games are still working even though I click yes
Sounds like a moot point.
@GenXGrownUp English please lol I'm a newbie
Is there a way to add Atari 2600 games to the device?
gamestation pro atari
Yep! th-cam.com/video/Cn_BocjMaq4/w-d-xo.html
My GSP doesn't seem to acknowledge my generic Xbox One controller. Any advice for that?
Please see the notes in the pinned comment of my controller compatibility video.
Any idea if GSP will support 400/800 games?
It's theoretically possible since 5200 games run under an Altirra core, but the number you could play would be pretty limited with no keyboard of any kind.
Thanks Jon. So far I haven't gotten any of the 400/800 roms to go on GSP. Maybe I'll just throw down for the 400 mini assuming it offers SD expansion. It would be cool if the 400 could take 400/800 carts, but I'm guessing the cart slot lid is fake. I have my Dad's 800 in the basement with a pile of carts as well as the floppy drive and cassette unit. I wrote a lot of games for it in my early teens...
I wish AtGames would fix the joystick latency on the anniversary flashback :(
Actually, latency is the wrong word. The bug that causes the menu to hang on input then quickly catch up real fast.
Has anybody had any luck downloading mame games, I can't get any of those to work?
Yes. Plenty of success stories.
The stick was fine but the paddles feel a bit off. Still way better than the stick. It's just like "I can feel it" for the difference. I used to be able to roll the score on Circus Atari. Not anymore. The semi-working arcade games are most of the issue for me. No options for Cavity or Double on Super Breakout, Ultra Tank is missing options for walls/mines, bounce shots... (Also would be nice to map the controls to play like Combat if possible using the original stick). Missing gears and track options in other games. Food Fight and I'Robot feel "drifty" for the controls. (8 way movement with a dead stop plays way better with a digital stick. I play I'Robot on my Legends Gamer Pro and it's awesome that way.) Crystal Castles... Hmmm... Plays "correct" for using an 8 way joystick but would probably play better IF it's possible to change the Y position "slightly" when moving left and right so it matches the angle of the mazes. The speed is still an issue. Later levels get crazy fast. (That's why a trackball really needs to be used but what can you do. Maybe holding down one of the buttons to speed up?) Games like Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Gravitar and Space Duel play easier when thrust is maped to UP like the 2600 version. Someone made me a .cfg file for Asteroids Deluxe that way for the Micro SD card and it works great with the old stick that way. (And with the Asteroids Deluxe artwork it looks just too cool). Artwork options like what was just mentioned can dress things up "as an option". Tournament Table only plays Breakout and has a spot at the bottom the paddle "skips" over. I ran the latest version of MAME on my laptop and it looks like the games issues mentioned above have been figured out. Wonder how difficult it would be to make a custom build to fix the issues. A firmware update can fix most everything... I just hope they don't start tinkering with taking away the ROM support. I have 2 Atari Flashback units (and lots of compelation CDs, cartridges, etc for many systems). I play the missing games off of the Micro SD for convenience. Gotta have my Activision titles. Hard to believe they gave away many of their titles on cereal boxes way back. Oh, and of course... Paddle support for all the other 2600 and arcade games that use it. I noticed a couple games on the Micro SD card DID work with the paddle but games already included so it must be looking at the name of the file and some kind of checksum. (I tried tricking it by renaming Kaboom! to another title. No luck... The controls froze up. Joystick diet work either. I know it's a long laundry list of things to work on but the system is shaping up on the Micro SD card showing what is possible.
Added option controller support helps. Yeah, I know there are Xbox and newer PS controlers that work but what a price tag! Half the price of the system or more? That's a good chunk of change. (Yes, they are very nice controlers.) I'm using a PlayStation Classic controller on mine with a powered Insignia 4 port USB hub. PlayStation Classic controller on the left most hub. Gamestation Pro controller on the right side. I can navigate menus and use the home button on the Gamestation Pro controller. The PlayStation Classic controller takes a little bit of button mashing and playing with the directions to get it to detected by the system but once it does it plays fine for the rest of the game. Just no home button and can't navigate menus. Cheaper solution for me. I just need to wait a few seconds (or a little longer on some games) to get it to detect while pressing directions and buttons all at once kinda. I tried having them hooked up with the port positions reversed but I couldn't get the directions to work on the PlayStation Classic controller that way. Without power on the hub it didn't work either. (Games froze up when it detected the controller). 5v 900mA.
I take back the comment about the paddles feeling "off". Oh, there still are problems with Tournament Table and the dead zone thing in the middle on Warlords but playing the 2600 games again tonight... It felt perfect! No lag at all. Very precise. Weird... I couldn't do anything on Circus Atari or Super Breakout (2600) before but tonight was just like old times. Street Racer was perfect too. Just the way I remembered them. I'm kinda scared if they do add paddle support now. I played a lot of Kaboom! back in the day and the paddles got quite a workout. Do they sell replacement controlers if you kill your paddles from over use? I had to build my own for my Atari 2600 Jr. but with USB C type stuff... Not really an option.
You don't really need to worry about input lag --REALLY--, as it's Atari :P
Spoken like an Atari newcomer! Actually, the Atari VCS featured lightning fast response time thanks to the nature of the hardware design! 😉
I hope My Arcade will offer replacement controllers down the road and will offer them to distribution centers. My "C" button (the trigger) stopped working on my GSP in less than a week. Luckily, I was able to arrange for a straight exchange, through Amazon (because I'm outside of the USA). My Arcade asks that you deal with your distributor, if you're outside of the states. The warranty is good for 120 days after purchase so luckily the controllers are poorly enough made to break in six days..oops, I mean luckily my issues fell within the warranty window. ☺
Amazon was good by the way. Because of the warranty, I got a brand new GSP and they paid shipping, both ways, no questions asked. But let's be honest, these controllers aren't going to last forever.
So my console was not faulty in terms of the audio, I returned it to the shop yesterday and sadly the shop I bought it from only sell them via their website, so they didn't have another one in the shop, now I have to get another unit ordered. Damn. I did contact My Arcade via Facebook and via their website, and they didn't respond to me. Oh well. I'll call the shop and ask them if they'll order a new console for me, or simply give me back my old unit.
Really surprised that the fact that you can't use analogue control on games that you run from the SD card is not on the top 5, it's a major show stopper for me and the reason I didn't purchase.
Anything in the SD area is value add. There should be NO expectations for games run from there. My Arcade doesn't have any obligation to make games we add behave any particular way.
I haven't had any issues with mine.
"Atari can only authorize release of titles it owns."
Then why do I see Activision's Boxing, Drag Race (a hack of Dragster), and Space Raid (a hack of Megamania) included? There's also 20th Century Fox's Fast Eddie. I'm pretty sure Atari doesn't own the rights to any of those :)
MyArcade was able to license them
I’ve tried your suggestions for latency correction and they helped - except for the paddle controllers. They are herky jerky and fairly unresponsive making paddle games unplayable. Definitely not the smooth action I’ve seen from Gamestation Pro paddle examples I’ve seen on TH-cam.
Hrm. I'm glad you've seen improvement. I've not yet see any digital paddle controller that's as smooth as the original analog paddles, but nothing approaching unplayable. What do you see if you connect hardwire right to the console? Same?
@@GenXGrownUp
I don’t have a USB C to USB C cable to test that (my unit didn’t come with one, only a USB C to USB A cable). I did go rummaging around for an appropriate cable but didn’t find one.
I just checked to see if the power brick I was using matched specs and that checked out. Also I just played Asteroids arcade and the ship rotation sometimes continued after I disengaged the joystick and sometimes all control dropped out completely. This happened with both joysticks.
@@bradleyconrad678 From your description, it sounds like you are getting some interference on the 2.4GHz spectrum. You can verify by sourcing a C-to-C cable and repeating your tests.
amz.run/9JSg
@@GenXGrownUp
That’s what I’m thinking. Initially I moved my router about 5ft away and it made a small improvement.
Hardwire test next. I’ll let you know the results.
Love the channel and the podcast!
🙄 The latency is so bad on mine that I rage quit just minutes into playing. I've played it a couple of other times since then, and it's still what I consider unplayable.
So lately, I've just been playing the 50th Anniversary on Xbox, the Atari 400 Mini, and the new in-box Atari 5200 I just bought with the 2600 adapter.
Have you tried hardwiring the controllers to the console to test if environmental interference is a factor?
I can’t get any games to play. I choose a game to play and the screen goes black and the lights on the game station flash on and off. I’ve tried everything I can think of but nothing works. Looks like it gets returned for a refund unless someone has a solution to get the games to play!!
Problem solved after I read another post about using a good usb power adapter. I was using an older usb power adapter and after I tried a different and newer usb power adapter the games worked.
So, the final order from best to worst in terms of latency is:
1. Atari-Commodore 9-pin Game Port (less than 1 ms).
2. PC 15-pin Game Port (about 3-5 ms).
3. USB 2.0 Port (about 11-17 ms, including the latency of the USB bus, traditionally connected keyboard, mouse, and joystick, plus the delay of the USB joystick controller itself).
4. Bluetooth Wireless Joystick (about 31-67 ms, including the latency of the USB 2.0 port and the Bluetooth connection).
This is interesting, but worth noting the GSP has none of those ports or connectivity options.
Unfortunately, yes. Even the gaming industry has changed due to the unbearable delays of the USB bus plus delays for gaming ports emulation via various types of USB adapters. Any joystick USB adapter itself also adds additional response delay. Wireless joystick connections add yet another significant delay, making it a third major delay on top of the first two.
There is a widespread misconception that not everyone can feel the response delay from the controller signal in arcade games. This is a myth. Every healthy person, without exception, can feel this response USB delay. However, not everyone can consciously recognize and articulate this feeling, especially without the opportunity for comparison.
The lowest delay is achieved with a native PS/2 port. It's even better than any native 9-pin or 15-pin joystick port. A joystick connected to a PC via a native PS/2 port (for example, using the controller from a native PS/2 gaming keyboard) represents the pinnacle of what humanity has created to date. It offers zero delay in all games where an analog discrete signal is not required.
However, manufacturers have stopped producing motherboards with native PS/2 ports. Instead, they include a universal dual-colored PS/2 Combo port on some motherboards. But this is not a native PS/2 port. It's merely an emulation of the PS/2 port through the same USB bus with the same inherent USB response delays, only with a BIOS-level driver.
So, if a PC is equipped with a universal dual-colored PS/2 Combo port, then a keyboard or joystick connected to that PC via PS/2 will have longer delays than the same keyboard connected directly to that same PC via USB.
I decided to reclaim the vivid sensations of playing arcade games that were stolen from me. That's why I ordered an inexpensive business motherboard with native PS/2 ports. The contacts of any joystick can easily be connected to the controller from an old mechanical gaming keyboard with native PS/2 connection.
I just want to bring back those feelings of zero delay in arcade games, fighting games, and pinball that I experienced in my youth. And I will do it, despite all the schemes of greedy manufacturers. 😉
Activision owns the Imagic catalog
It would be so nice if these companies making retro game systems would collaborate more to allow (and encourage) companies holding such licenses to sell licenses for individual games and collections. I mean, even though I know I can add these games using the back door this system has so nicely included, I would also be happy paying $20 to $30 for an official set of all Activision and Imagic titles. Especially, if they came with manuals and artwork (and, of course, an official certificate of authenticity 😀).
Yeah? That's potentially good news!
The paddles jittery response on my unit was literally a joke. Just to hit the ball on breakout was laughable - no way to aim the ball - just lucky if i was able to hit it at all while moving with such a jittery response. I hooked up the cable connection and there was no change. I had my girlfriend confirm how bad it was. I had to return the unit - it was too frustrating. I didn't have another external paddle control to check it out but maybe that would have worked better. Not sure if a potentiometer paddle would be compatible with the unit.
I have a couple original Atari pinball units and the paddle controller is flawless after cleaning them up. The object of breakout shouldn't be lucky if you can hit the ball. Wonder if anyone else has this issue - i really didn't see many comments on Google complaining specifically about this.
Really disappointed - it was a birthday gift and i was so looking forward to a proper feel on the controller.
I find the paddles "ok". However, before I put my TV into game mode they were virtually unusable. So make sure that if you are having any latency issues with your TV, that you correct that before forming a final opinion (though I don't doubt that the original controllers were almost certainly better).
@@daviddahlstrom192
Thanks-I made sure the tv was on game mode - that didn't do anything for the jittery motion on the paddles. I also checked both paddles.
I even used an older model tv that that had a video input and the jitter just wouldn't go away. Latency was not a problem. I should have taken a video of the jitter - as you turn paddle controller, the tv paddle would jump irregularly across the screen as you moved the paddle smoothly. I've seen the you tube videos of others playing breakout on this machine - and it does appear that it was smoother than I experienced. I did see some comments that said it was unplayable too - so maybe there is a glitch with some.
As you can tell - I wish it was just my unit and I'd just get another one - but don't want the hassle of returning it again.
I'm guessing the unit isn't using the old school potentiometer but rather some digital encoded rotary gismo.
@@barrypaul8671 Also try moving your controller very close to the console and see if that makes a difference.
I had the controller right next to the console. When I connected it to the older TV it was in another room so no interference from my wifi. Note the joysticks seemed okay.
I tried everything to get rid of the unplayable jitter. Forgot to mention I tested it out on my girlfriend's new smart tv on game mode in a completely different house. That's where she confirmed I wasn't exaggerating by simply playing breakout and couldn't hit the ball more than a couple times.
Ughh...I really wanted to like this console.
That's unfortunate. Yours is performing very different to mine then. Hard to say where the problem would be though. I have an arcade machine running the Stella emulator with high precision wired spinners for paddles, which makes Breakout is as smooth as I can imagine it being. My GS Pro is not as smooth and can exhibit very small micro stalls as I'm rotating, but it remains fully playable. In fact, I just did a round of Night Driver on both the arcade machine and the Gamestation Pro and with no prior recent practice in that game was able to attain the same score on both without feeling any decided disadvantage on the GS Pro -- though admittedly, the size of the knob on the GS Pro isn't ideal.
Hey My Arcade, Pay the Man!
Did they write the script for you?
Never. None of our vendors have any input into the editorial content of our videos.
@@GenXGrownUp sorry. Pre coffee comment this am. I was kinda mostly joking but this one did have that feel to it a tad. Just a tad. I’m sure ur viewers know better.
Might be because Jon is so smooth on camera.@@MrDDawson
i like playing in full screen
👌
So basically. Get off all collective asses and do a few simple tweaks and solves easy problems....direct...love it❤
Haha! That's funny, but it's not all user problems. Definitely some room for improvement on My Arcade's side. The encouraging thing is that they continue to work to improve where some vendors just fire & forget.
@@GenXGrownUp- True, but there are SO many out there who would rather complain than get it done. I've been repairing computers for close to 30 years and people often resist the EASIEST of methods.
Is there an option for Tate . That would sell it for me .
Auto-detect for appropriate titles. I've requested it.
Who else wanna be able to use their retrobit sega genesis controllers with their GSP emulating Sega Genesis games??? I know I do!!! but it doesnt work :(
I will send my Gamestation pro back because there is absolutely no smooth gameplay possible. I compared it with original cartridges played on the Atari 2600+ and the very same roms also on my Evercade system (Atari Collections 1+2). I really have to say, the gamestation pro is stuttering a lot because it has also a very poor processor comparing to the other two systems. It is a nice design so it is a pity I have to send it back because of this bad gaming experience. Stuttering / no smooth gameplay is the biggest problem in my opinion.
I've heard lots of stories of stuttering games when the USB adapter used doesn't meet the 2a minimum.
@@GenXGrownUp Mine has 3A, I use it also to power my Raspberry Pi 4 so that is not the reason. It is the poor processor in this device which causes bad fps.
@@marcofeibel1364 I don't doubt you're experiencing problems, but it is puzzling why the problems you describe aren't universal, but isolated to a only some users. Best of luck! 😀
@@GenXGrownUp I guess most people didn’t even notice it because they don‘t have a comparison with the Evercade Atari Cartridges and the Atari 2600+ as I do. Just watch he „jumping“ Title of Realsports Tennis and compare the Framerate with the other two devices and you‘ll directly see what I mean! But anyway, thanks for your great reviews of the Gamestation Pro. I think for casual gamers it will be still a very good device if you don’t know the other two mentioned above.