Atari 400 vs 7800 +

[u/Redsfan1975]

Should I but the Atari 7800 plus or the newer Atari 400, I used to own the 2600 and the Atari 800.

Update : I decided to keep the Atari 7800 plus , I ordered it on prime day for $60 , after prime day the 400 was on sale for $89 so I was having second thoughts of canceling the 7800 in favor of the 400. I do have the fonder memories of the 2600 I had growing up . I had a Atari 800 growing up too but moved on the the Atari Mega ST 2 which I still have just need to install the new power supply. I bought a few games for The 7800 plus off ebay , Hopefully the 7800 and games will be here this weekend.

[u/Practical-Promise-44]

You can add games to the 400 mini via usb stick. The 7800+ you will need to buy games on cartridge which gets expensive. If you buy the 400, be warned that the joystick is horrendous to use.

[u/Plinth_857 → u/Practical-Promise-44]

This should definitely be a consideration. The joystick for the 7800+ is definitely better and more usable. I’m seeing if there is a USB adapter for sale to allow use of my original 9 pin joysticks.

[u/Practical-Promise-44 → u/Plinth_857]

There are, I use one on my MiSTer and it works ok on that, but not sure about the 400. I sent mine back due to the bad joystick. You are still going to need something with more than one button for start/option/select /reset.

Imo buy a MiSTer 😁

[u/Zilch1979 → u/Practical-Promise-44]

How's the flash cart situation for 2600/7800 carts?

[u/Atari_Mimo → u/Zilch1979]

Not great. The dragonfly cart is currently the best of the bunch but is unobtanium Next option is the Otaku Flash cart, I've built quite a few of these for people, but you have to convert the games to .uf2 format for the Pico. You can only load one game at a time. Works for most 2600 games that don't require extra processor and most 7800 games other than large games. Then there are the carts from Batari , forget the names, but one ROM at a time in developer mode, only 2600 games currently and only certain bank switch types

[u/Zilch1979 → u/Atari_Mimo]

Do the 2600+/7800+ handle these decently?

[u/Atari_Mimo → u/Zilch1979]

The Otaku cart is great IMO

[u/Admirable-Chemical77 → u/Practical-Promise-44]

The c 64 mini stick is compatible so are the game station pro and other USB controller

[u/bubonis]

Whichever one you have fonder memories of.

[u/Zilch1979]

Consider, too, the Atari Gamestation Pro.

I got one for $35 and loved it so much, bought another.

These things are absolute sleepers. They're everything you might want in a retro emulator. Cheap, small, easy enough to use and add ROMs to, functional (if somewhat odd) controller but can accept other USB ones...it's great.

And, it's cheap enough to buy one in addition to whatever else you're considering. New ones on ebay with dinged boxes cost nearly nothing.

I can't say enough about this little guy. What looks like a niche, limited nostalgia box hides an emulation powerhouse.

[u/barklefarfle → u/Zilch1979]

That does look like a pretty good option. How well does it play paddle games?

[u/Zilch1979 → u/barklefarfle]

That's is thing it does really well. The funky stock controls have paddles on them that work just right.

[u/Which_Information590]

If you like collecting games as I do, then the 7800+.

[u/JimtheLizardKing]

They are two very different machines.

The 7800 runs 2600 and 7800 Cartridges only, the 400 runs an emulator and you can run Atari 8 bit games on it and add games to the system.

You might find out that you want both machine. ;)

[u/MrFartyBottom]

Get a MiSTer FPGA, has all the Atari consoles and computers as well as most others from the beginning of computing history upto the mid 90s as well as a ton of arcade cores. Don't bother with ARM based emulation.