Feeling a bit Nostalgic?



If you need a little Atari fix in your life, and you just do not feel like using Mame. Or perhaps you want to sit in front of the TV like you did 25 years ago and play some of those old Atari games, well here is your chance. Check this out:

         

This was created by Curt Vendel, whose company Legacy Engineering Group designs other home video game and video arcade products, and is also responsible for the server this website is running on, the Atari Museum. This has a number of original and a few new homegrown games for the old Atari 2600. My game, Human Cannonball (as ported to the 2600) and a version of Space Dual are both ported on this device, so there is another good reason to go buy one.

Here are a few links where you can buy one today:
Atari Flashback 2 Plug and Play
Atari Flashback 2.0

Included games

The available games are arranged into four categories selectable from an on-screen menu. Once a game is selected, the only way back to the menu is to use the power button to turn the console off and on again.

The games listed below as hacks used other games' code as a starting point and modified their gameplay or appearance. Homebrews were written from scratch by Atari fans in the 1990s and 2000s. Unreleased prototypes are games which were developed by Atari Inc. in the 1970s and 1980s but never sold to consumers; some of these games may have bugs or be incomplete. A few of the games listed are new and exclusive to the Flashback 2.

Adventure Territory

  • Adventure
  • Adventure II, a sequel to Adventure that is built on its original assembly-based game code
  • Haunted House
  • Return To Haunted House, a sequel to Haunted House that is built on the original Adventure's assembly-based game code combined with graphics from the original Haunted House)
  • Secret Quest
  • Wizard (unreleased prototype)

Arcade Favorites

  • Arcade Asteroids (hack) of the original Atari 2600 Asteroids with the sprites changed to outlines to more accurately portray the arcade version
  • Arcade Pong (exclusive to the Flashback 2), a version of Pong which can use paddle controllers if attached
  • Asteroids Deluxe (exclusive)
  • Battlezone
  • Centipede
  • Lunar Lander (exclusive)
  • Millipede
  • Missile Command
  • Space Duel (exclusive)

Skill and Action Zone

  • 3D Tic-Tac-Toe
  • Aquaventure (unreleased prototype)
  • Atari Climber (homebrew), released in 2004 as Climber 5
  • Combat
  • Combat 2 (unreleased prototype)
  • Dodge 'Em
  • Fatal Run (only released in Europe)
  • Frog Pond (unreleased prototype)
  • Hangman
  • Human Cannonball
    •
  • Maze Craze
  • Off The Wall
  • Outlaw
  • Pitfall! (originally released by Activision)
  • Radar Lock
  • River Raid (originally released by Activision)
  • Save Mary (unreleased prototype)
  • Video Checkers
  • Video Chess
    •

Space Station

  • Caverns Of Mars (exclusive)
  • Quadrun (originally sold only by mail order through the Atari fan club)
  • Saboteur (unreleased prototype)
  • Space War
  • Yars' Return (exclusive)
  • Yars' Revenge
    •

Paddle Games

The console also includes two hidden titles which require the use of paddle controllers. The Flashback 2 does not come with paddle controllers, so these games cannot be played unless the user has an original set of Atari 2600 paddle controllers. To access the hidden paddle game menu, the user must press up on the joystick 1 time, pull down 9 times, push up 7 times, and pull down 2 times (this represents the year 1972, in which Pong first appeared). The code must be entered steadily and without pauses (enter it too quickly and it won't work).

  • Super Breakout
  • Warlords

Curt also developed the USB Joystick, a device that connects to your PC, Mac, or Linux machine, and lets you play some of those old Mame (or other emulator games with the feel of the old Atari classic. Check it out, it is avaialble here



Atari