The Flashbacks system's released in 2004 . Like wow you could seriously find yourself down a rabbit hole , because the first one was more like an Atari 7800 with some 7800 games on it , well it didn't go over very well , because the thing used different hardware or something, so now a second one was born with an option of modding it so you could have your own Cartridge port . Later on with each new Flashback you got things like SD card slots , hidden games , hidden features like the controller tester , wireless controllers and much more . Then you got Atari Flashback Blast, Flashback for current consoles , Flashback's also have different designs and features. On top all that you got different names like Flashback + to X to Gold and more . Atgames makes a bunch of other Flashback systems as well , like Sega , Colecovision, Intellivision , the Legends series and some more.
@@blackenedheart9592 none had a a cart port but the flashback 2 could be modded to add a cart port if you modded the case with one and wired it to the main board
I can confirm that this also works for the flashback 12 gold (same as the 50th, just had a better firmware, and a few extra games) And honestly, just go with the A.T.A.R.I. package. There might be one, maybe 2 games you can't find in that, but I seriously doubt it. It's totally worth the few extra easy steps.
I have a Flashback 12 Gold on the way. Can't wait to play it! I already have an OTG cable and a bunch of games on a micro sd card, ready to go, including the original 2600 Space Invaders.
I was able to upgrade firmware on my AFB 12 Gold no problem. Found roms and had to shorten every name, no spaces or symbols. Finally started working off USB.
I can confirm that using this firmware update on anything less that a 50th will essentially turn the device into a Atari 50th Gold FB. It will not however allow you to add art and roms as shown and also shuts off the SD access. I believe it is because the script includes only that option with the usb cable as used in the video and not the the built in SD slot. I have not confirmed this but I imagine the use of this cable with the FB 9 that I have would work the same way. As it stands now, I "upgraded" my Atari FB9 to a FBGold9 with 10 additional buitl in games and with the SD card option still intact. To which, there was much rejoicing!
I have a non-gold version of the 50th Anniversary edition, 3070. I presume I'd be safe flashing the latest custom firmware? I note on another forum, it says to install the official 1.1.1 firmware first, but there isn't any for the 3070, just the 3080 gold.
I saw “Space Shuttle” as you were flashing through the new Advanced library, and now I’m wondering how well it plays - if at all - since it used the VCS’ black and white switches.
Wow. Great step by step instructions! I just did this with my Flashback 12 Gold, and though it took it back a firmware version, from 1.1.1 to 1.1.0 (the updated version mentioned in your comment), having hundreds of games was well worth it! I had a bit of a problem when trying to write the rom folder from the download to the flash drive, but then remembered I hadn't yet unzipped it with 7-Zip. It worked fine after that, of course. I'm so glad I got this thing. The paddles it came with are not very good, as they're far too hard to turn to make them enjoyable to use, but I have a paddle pack coming for my 2600+, and from what I understand those paddles are really good. With this said, the ones that came with the FB may just need to be worn in.
Finally got the paddle pack for my 2600+. The paddles are most definitely better than what came with the FB12G, with just enough resistance when turning. I also checked to see if they might be made by the same company, and they still could be, but there are differences. The paddles with the AFB12G are, again, quite hard to turn, and when I pulled the round knob off the round pole it goes onto to has splines, whereas the ones for the 2600+ have that D like shape, where the round pole has that straight cutoff on the one side, like it's been ground down a bit, not splines. If I remember correctly, the original 2600 paddles were like this too.
Stumbled into your channel while looking into the Flashback Gold 50th. I already have a Flashback X Deluxe, and have it loaded with games, but it didn't come with paddles. So, I just ordered this solely for the paddles, 😂. I've been in the mini console modding scene for awhile now, among my collection are the NES mini with every NES and SNES game, Sega Genesis mini with every Genesis, 32x and a select few Sega-CD games, PSOne Classic with a few extra PSOne games, and TheC64 Maxi and a few games added. It can become quite the rabbit hole, but well worth it to relive different parts of my childhood. Now if they would only come out with a Magnavox Odyssey II mini, my first console.
My first console was also an O2, and on TWO different occasions, I had the rare and collectible KC Munchkin. Also spent MANY hours playing UFO and Pickaxe Pete!
@@GenXGrownUp I have a non-functional Atari 800 and a semi-functional 600 (keyboard doesn't work). ABSOLUTELY worth having as a strictly games machine, AND I have physical cartridges for ALL the games I would have contemporaneously regarded as "the arcade classics" except for Berzerk and Zaxxon. Would love a 'mini'....
didnt work the first time but after reflashing 1.1 again and starting again it worked the second time ..thanks for the vids we would be lost without them
Here you go Jon and thank you, found this video very interesting and useful. I am enjoying the home brew games from the link you provided. Some of the games were amazing!
Yes, good tutorial here. I take it this little guy is running on Android, too? Seems like a whole lot of these novelty devices have a little green robot under the hood.
I tried two different usb sticks but both of them didn't work. The boot menu on the Atari Flashback Gold just booted normally. Will get a brandnew usb stick and try one more time. Is it important how the usb stick is named when fomatting?@@GenXGrownUp
Great informative video! Have my Atari 50th on its way - cheap! The USB splitter cable(s) and USB sticks are coming too, thanks for the links! Already bought 2 sets of new Atari Paddles from Amazon (they are incredible btw). Putting this all into a gutted 4 player sit down cocktail cab from the late 70s. Have an actual Atari 2600 in there now with a Harmony cart but it's kind of a pain to change games. This'll make it much easier.
1000 thanks for this idea and help! I have just ordered the appropriate cable, as well as a new USB stick, both should be in the mailbox tomorrow. I also think that I get everything else done. Otherwise I am very happy with the new 50th Anniversary console. Currently I switch back and forth between this and my Flashback 9 Gold (the one with the SD slot), which is of course also a possibility; I only ever have to change the cable to the game screen.
@@GenXGrownUp UPDATE: it worked!! 😁 However, I have copied an SD card, which already contains all Atar games, to the USB stick. All in all, it was a "job" of two minutes. Thanks again for the tip!!!
Nice how-to but worth noting that you don't have to update to the custom firmware to add your own few games (like you did in the first step) I was able to do that right out of the box.
i didn't grow up with the atari though , my gaming journey started with the O.G nes entertainment system then the sega genesis but this was an interesting video much props for the respect to the viewer ( me ) giving me the confidence to do it you sir earned yourself a new sub .
i just got the atari 50 aniversity flash back with 110 game no paddles i just finish the hack plus the extra work i failed 1 sd flashed drive but i did it on another and wow too maney games thank you soo much jon majer props to you thank you.
Now what you need to do is find a really small (physically) flash drive, open up the console, wire up a USB socket in parallel to the existing one, place it in the cartridge port, then make a mini cartridge shell to fit around the small USB drive, so that you can plug it in by plugging a mini-cartridge into the cartridge slot. Sure, it would be a lot of work, but how cool would it be? :)
@@GenXGrownUp just a quick fix here. Space Invaders, frogger and Pac-Man are NES roms and do not work in a real 2600 vcs. The hardware here is some kind of raspberry pie, the only Atari Flashback with real Atari 2600 vcs hardware was the Flashback 2. In theory it could run all 16 bits games but never found a patch or firmware to do it. You can buy the Atgames Legend console to do that, even if it's probably the same board inside.
Excellent video. This one convinced me to take the plunge. I bought both the flash back and the cable using your links. As you stated in the video, I hope they send you your three cents for each of my purchases. ;). Thanks again!
It would be neat if someone came up with a way to flash this entire game library to the Flashback as if it came with the games, as in not having to keep the USB flash drive connected if you want to play them.
That's not going to happen without a hardware modification to actually give the devices enough flashable memory. As it stands, there's just no space to put this volume of data.
@@GenXGrownUp Good point. It's unfortunate that they're so stingy with things like that, giving very little room for expansion. It reminds me of PSUs in some prebuilt desktops, especially older ones, where you were lucky if you could add even a single drive, as many of them didn't even have 10 watts to spare.
Wow! Thank you for making this video! Now I most definitely have to get my hands on one of these bad boys! I love how you added Space Invaders, E.T., Pac-Man, and Ms. Pac-Man!
I finally got this working after a lot of trial and error. I ordered the drives and OTG cables recommended but the AFBG would not read the drives. I eventually found an old 512mb drive and used that and everything worked. I suspect the problem was formatting the recommended drives in Win 11 which doesn't have the same functionality as older versions as it wouldn't let me change the size of the drive and some of the other settings were different as well. I did use FAT32 but the allocation unit sizes seemed a little wonky. So... if you have problems it could be the format tool in Win 11 or maybe he drives I got were somehow different. I'm going to try formatting on my work PC which is Win 10 still. There may also be ways to get the Win 11 formatter to work but I didn't get that far, and some of the other partition tools I have didn't work either.
I have 1 question: Can I skip the part where you copy a handful of rom-files into that "game" folder? And by not doing that will the "Ext. USB Drive" option not show up in the menu? I would rather don't have that option there. It is just a couple of games and I will do the next step where I get 1000 games.
So I retired this on my Atari Flashback 12 Gold. I used file listed in this video. It now comes up with 901 games with pictures. Amazing! Have to recheck firmware. Got a little squirrely when changing pages. Not sure it it would still work if I reflashed it with 1.1.1. Thank you for this video Peace.
As you said, make sure you have a "Good" flash drive. I purchased a new 16g flash drive and started over with update. After that I can now seemlessly scroll between pages without any hiccups. I can also play any game without locking up or freezing. Works like a charm. Thank you for all your work making this video!!@@GenXGrownUp
this is awesome. I had been using Brad From the 80s custom firmware with my 50th Gold console with a build called Nexus Slim but it kept freezing the system after 10 minutes of play. This build will hopefully allow me to use my system for more than 10 minutes at a time. I plan on getting a Flashback X this week to get the Nexus Slim working.
@Draxxon Lives It works fine with the Atari X and custom firmware 1.21 from Atari age but it runs sluggishly with the custom firmware from Brad from 80s. I tried all kinds of usb sticks. Happy to have a system that works with Nexus and also happy to have a reason to keep the 50th Gold Console from this video.
Just picked up one of these and tried out the new firmware. It works great. But, the paddle controllers still aren't as good as the originals, right? There's a bit of lag on them?
Jon!!!! This is an AMAZING video tutorial! I hope my incoming FBX will still do all this that the FBX Gold will do. I am definitely going to be busy this week. Haha! I already ordered an OTG cable. I am either going to supercharge my X, or brick it!!! LOL! I can’t wait!!
By chance on the advanced renamer could you please do a tutorial on having to change a26 to bin. Reason I ask I have the rca composite Atari flashback 9. The a26 doesn't show only if I type bin to replace a26. Thanks!!
And another question (got a ton of 'em today). The "Just Atari games" category. is that populated with the updated games too? Or is that category hardwired to have what shipped in the box?
No problem, Joe. 😀 If you've booted to the expanded USB drive, Atari games will make that filter so long as they're tagged correctly in the metadata of the ini file included with the Nexus bundle. At least that's how I remember it - I'm not sitting in front of my FB right now to verify. The file is all-games.ini and I believe the variable is "Genre=atari" where the value can be comma delimited to meet multiple criteria. (i.e. Genre=atari,paddle) Maybe Draxxon will see this and straighten me out if I've missed anything or misremembered.
They released a new UPDATED CFW this week for the updated paddle rom which restores box art. I tagged you on Twitter with it. I don't want to put the link in here, as URLs in comments tend to end up in spam.
@@GenXGrownUp Jon, are you going to do a video on this update to the 1.1 update? It's just dumb luck that I found it buried in this discussion. And, yes it works great!
Success! Got it all on there. Works great. Danke. Is there any way to get art and descriptions and whatnot for the ones under "Ext. USB Drive?" I realize it would take some manipulation of files on my end, but I wonder if that would work at all.
Awesome! No, you can't easily get clean art/names for the Ext Drive, but it's not very tough to bring those into the rom folder and edit the .ini file to include them in the main menu.
Thanks for the great Video GenXGrownUp! , and thanks to all involved in every part. I have many ways to play a lot of these games, but this may be the very best so far.
Hi... Really looking forward to trying this but where did you get the files from to populate the game folder? At first i thought it was those from the new rom folder but that then turned out to be your more advanced section. Thanks. eil
I'm not aware of any limitation, but I knew that 4GB was way more than enough to hold every 2600 ROM ever, and I wasn't going to use the drive for anything else.
Hey Jon, I saw your video about the Atari flashback portable and I remembered that there is also a version of the atari retro handheld which has a micro sd card slot, and I saw that you only reviewed the first version, could you make a video about the one that does have an sd card? it also includes atari 7800 games and you can actually emulate them in .a78 format.
Question: After doing all of this, do I still need to keep the expansion USB drive connected in order to view all the additional games plus their boxart, or does the final process update the device itself to run them straight from the device?
That's a good question and not entirely obvious from my video. You will need to boot with that USB connected anytime you want to play the full list of games. What's happening is, the FBG is looking at that drive as it if were the internal storage. If you boot without the drive plugged in, then your FBG will behave just as it did before the upgrade.
Great instructions. One thing I noticed is that after the firmware update, the Space Invaders Arcade game that is included with the base console becomes unplayable and the display image no longer shows up. It displays and plays as normal once the USB is unplugged. Does anyone know why this is?
I noticed that as well, but didn't mind because, as you noted, unplugging the USB stick restores it, and with the upgrade I can play the proper Atari Space Invaders! 👾
@@GenXGrownUp Indeed, the proper 2600 version is a classic! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one experiencing that. Thanks Jon, terrific channel and content.
Sorry for the (stupid probably) question... but once you overwrite the firmware, is it possible to go back to the original in case something goes wrong? No chance of bricking the console?
Hi, Tails. Like any firmware update, there is always the risk of an interrupted process causing a problem. I've done this particular update at least a dozen times (during filming, as you might imagine), and hundreds more have done so and commented on my videos, and no report of getting a bricked unit. Additionally, with this upgrade, you can just unplug the USB stick and your FBG will act just like it did before the upgrade (I mention this at the end of this video).
Each time you fire it up with the upgraded memory stick plugged in, it will take a while to boot. It's not awful, but on the order of maybe 20 seconds or so.
i did buy this and I didn't really enjoy it due to the controls on joystick didn't respond properly, and I decided to return it. I am sure if the joysticks were better for me i'd keep it.
It seems to me that once you use the dongle and create a new ROM folder, you have to always use it. You cant just go back to just using the power adapter with the original game list. Is that right? and why cant you jsut take the games you like from the downloaded rom folder and put it in the game folder.
There's no accessible storage available to place the hundreds of games & their artwork, so the USB serves as external storage when you want to play those. However, as I mention in the video, at any time you can remove the OTG cable and the unit will function just the way it did before any modifications.
Does this system come with paddle controllers ? Kaboom and Breakout are meant to be played with paddle controllers,... or a computer-mouse would do as well.
i was able to update the firmware to version 1.1.1 with no issues but whenever i try to flash the atari it nevers pops up with the update firmware screen, just the regular boot up screen, i have no clue what im doing wrong
Each instance of this problem has been resolved by a different USB stick. I wish I could tell you what the FBG doesn't like about some sticks, but try a few others from different manufacturers.
Thanks. Sure. If you used the full two-part upgrade, all of those already have artwork. You cannot add art for items in the game folder, but those in the rom folder support that through the all_games.ini file.
Thnx A LOT to all involved into this. GREAT tutorial video and also incredible the roms and art pack. At the moment, I'm not able to do this trick as I tried at least 10 USB drives with different sizes and the FB Gold 50th does not "sees it" to allow the firmware update. Do you have any idea of a USB stick I can buy that truly works and is recognized by the console?. Many thanks in advance guys!!. Also.. subscribed to the channel since now !!!
Hi, ckultur, and welcome. I was just corresponding with another viewer via email over the last few days and he experienced the same problem, but finally fixed it by purchasing a new USB stick. I've emailed him to find out exactly what it was and I'll provide a link when he gets back to me.
And I've got the link for you. I'll also add that to the video description. Note this is not the one I used, but has been verified as working by another viewer: amzn.to/3Z5k0Tm
@@ckult No problem at all. You'll be pleased to learn that the original E.T. is there, in addition fo the "fixed" E.T. that addresses things like colors and falling-in-the-hole hit detection!
this sounds awesome! this is all the games? So... my question is, what am I losing by switching over to this firmware? Next question is can I ever flash it again to being the stock device i bought?
I talk about that right at the end of the video during the summary. If you boot without the USB installed, your Flashback will behave just as it did before.
Thanks so much for the instructions!! The paddle games for my atari 50th flashback gold dont work too accurately with the original firmware. when i turn the controller knob to the right the paddle on the screen slows down and you have to turn the controller knob more to compensate. it makes the paddle games rough to play. im wondering if this issue still happens with the updated firmware?
I've heard this described, and I have noticed it just a bit as well. To the best of my knowledge, this firmwae doesn't have any impact on controller performance; just update to allow for adding games.
@@GenXGrownUp oh well. either way i will be updating it and still giving it a shot. I ordered the part off amazon and used your link so enjoy the 3 cents! LOL. thanks again for the tutorial!
@@GenXGrownUp UPDATE. I got the cable (amazon shipped it overnight with no extra charge) and the same paddle issue is happening. bummer. hopefully this can get fixed somehow. BUT HEY, at least i can play 9873249162347861238746 atari games now on the flashback! LOL
Hi, I’m thinking of getting a 50th just for the Atari games from my childhood. Would the VCS be a better way because it has more games available? I’m very interested in your way to expand the amount of games via a USB. Im not as good with computers as your self would you sell a ready to go USB/cable pack so just plug and play. Thanks Grant
If you are looking to primarily play the 2600 games from your childhood without a lot of computer tinkering, a unit like this (with expandability) is a better path than the modern VCS.
No Kung-Fu in the 130, but it is in the upgrade. Thanks for asking, but I don't sell the upgrade kit. If you're worried it's too complex, it really isn't. In the description of this video are Amazon links to the cable and known-working USB sticks. Give it a try - I believe in you, Grant!
Does it copy the content of the usb stick to the internal memory of the flashback 50th or you have to always use it with the otg dongle to play the added games
There's a new community firmware which includes the 1.1 firmware and still supports the 1000+ game USB expansion. t.co/bfoN7v4edY
The rom folder link is gone ? why that
All links are still in the video description.
Now that is what I call a great complete Atari 2600 for everyone reliving their Atari 2600 moments.
Same link but now we're waiting for the 1.1.1 update...
the 1.1.1 update is up
Waited for this video before pulling the trigger. Just ordered my flashback and OTG cable. Hyped to get this going!
The Flashbacks system's released in 2004 . Like wow you could seriously find yourself down a rabbit hole , because the first one was more like an Atari 7800 with some 7800 games on it , well it didn't go over very well , because the thing used different hardware or something, so now a second one was born with an option of modding it so you could have your own Cartridge port . Later on with each new Flashback you got things like SD card slots , hidden games , hidden features like the controller tester , wireless controllers and much more . Then you got Atari Flashback Blast, Flashback for current consoles , Flashback's also have different designs and features. On top all that you got different names like Flashback + to X to Gold and more . Atgames makes a bunch of other Flashback systems as well , like Sega , Colecovision, Intellivision , the Legends series and some more.
Which model could use a cartridge port?
Im curious about the one with the cartridge port too
@@blackenedheart9592 none had a a cart port but the flashback 2 could be modded to add a cart port if you modded the case with one and wired it to the main board
Just got this and added the games. MAN! This is really a gem. Being a BIG retro gaming guy I give this a 10/10. It really is an easy process.
Love hearing success stories. Thanks for popping back by and reporting your experience. 😀
I can confirm that this also works for the flashback 12 gold (same as the 50th, just had a better firmware, and a few extra games)
And honestly, just go with the A.T.A.R.I. package. There might be one, maybe 2 games you can't find in that, but I seriously doubt it. It's totally worth the few extra easy steps.
I have a Flashback 12 Gold on the way. Can't wait to play it! I already have an OTG cable and a bunch of games on a micro sd card, ready to go, including the original 2600 Space Invaders.
I was able to upgrade firmware on my AFB 12 Gold no problem. Found roms and had to shorten every name, no spaces or symbols. Finally started working off USB.
I can confirm that using this firmware update on anything less that a 50th will essentially turn the device into a Atari 50th Gold FB. It will not however allow you to add art and roms as shown and also shuts off the SD access. I believe it is because the script includes only that option with the usb cable as used in the video and not the the built in SD slot. I have not confirmed this but I imagine the use of this cable with the FB 9 that I have would work the same way. As it stands now, I "upgraded" my Atari FB9 to a FBGold9 with 10 additional buitl in games and with the SD card option still intact.
To which, there was much rejoicing!
Excellent. Thanks for the data, James. Very valuable for other viewers.
I have a non-gold version of the 50th Anniversary edition, 3070. I presume I'd be safe flashing the latest custom firmware? I note on another forum, it says to install the official 1.1.1 firmware first, but there isn't any for the 3070, just the 3080 gold.
This is GREAT! It made me buy this 50th Anniversary console :-)
I hoped that the extra section will be installing SD card slot on place of the dummy one to use SD cards like a mini Atari cartrage.
I saw “Space Shuttle” as you were flashing through the new Advanced library, and now I’m wondering how well it plays - if at all - since it used the VCS’ black and white switches.
Yeah, I'm sure it's going to suffer from the missing switch. 🥲
Select plus up is b&w switch.
Wow. Great step by step instructions! I just did this with my Flashback 12 Gold, and though it took it back a firmware version, from 1.1.1 to 1.1.0 (the updated version mentioned in your comment), having hundreds of games was well worth it! I had a bit of a problem when trying to write the rom folder from the download to the flash drive, but then remembered I hadn't yet unzipped it with 7-Zip. It worked fine after that, of course. I'm so glad I got this thing. The paddles it came with are not very good, as they're far too hard to turn to make them enjoyable to use, but I have a paddle pack coming for my 2600+, and from what I understand those paddles are really good. With this said, the ones that came with the FB may just need to be worn in.
Finally got the paddle pack for my 2600+. The paddles are most definitely better than what came with the FB12G, with just enough resistance when turning. I also checked to see if they might be made by the same company, and they still could be, but there are differences. The paddles with the AFB12G are, again, quite hard to turn, and when I pulled the round knob off the round pole it goes onto to has splines, whereas the ones for the 2600+ have that D like shape, where the round pole has that straight cutoff on the one side, like it's been ground down a bit, not splines. If I remember correctly, the original 2600 paddles were like this too.
just got mine for christmas and had to do this. Thank you very much & merry christmas.
Happy holidays!
Thank you so much for this. I'm playing games I haven't played in almost 40 years. My brothers are going to be coming over to play Atari soon.
👆 This is exactly the kind of thing I love to hear. Thrilled for you and your brothers - time to get your Atari on! 😁🕹️
TIME PILOT... every time I watch another of your videos, I recall another game I consider essential !
Haha! Gotta love Time Pilot! 😀
Bought a few of these over the yrs, though you still cant beat OG Hardware
100% agreed!
Stumbled into your channel while looking into the Flashback Gold 50th. I already have a Flashback X Deluxe, and have it loaded with games, but it didn't come with paddles. So, I just ordered this solely for the paddles, 😂. I've been in the mini console modding scene for awhile now, among my collection are the NES mini with every NES and SNES game, Sega Genesis mini with every Genesis, 32x and a select few Sega-CD games, PSOne Classic with a few extra PSOne games, and TheC64 Maxi and a few games added. It can become quite the rabbit hole, but well worth it to relive different parts of my childhood. Now if they would only come out with a Magnavox Odyssey II mini, my first console.
Welcome. I'm holding out hope for a mini Atari 8-bit. 😀
My first console was also an O2, and on TWO different occasions, I had the rare and collectible KC Munchkin. Also spent MANY hours playing UFO and Pickaxe Pete!
@@GenXGrownUp I have a non-functional Atari 800 and a semi-functional 600 (keyboard doesn't work). ABSOLUTELY worth having as a strictly games machine, AND I have physical cartridges for ALL the games I would have contemporaneously regarded as "the arcade classics" except for Berzerk and Zaxxon. Would love a 'mini'....
didnt work the first time but after reflashing 1.1 again and starting again it worked the second time ..thanks for the vids we would be lost without them
Glad I could help.
I wished we could figure out how to add Atari 5200 & 7800 games to it. Maybe Coleco Vision Games Intellevision Games etc.
Here you go Jon and thank you, found this video very interesting and useful. I am enjoying the home brew games from the link you provided. Some of the games were amazing!
You're so welcome, Alan. Thanks for watching, commenting, and coming back to give Thanks! I hope you have an absolute blast! 🥰
Thank you for showing us how to do this. I appreciate it.
You are so welcome!
Yes, good tutorial here. I take it this little guy is running on Android, too? Seems like a whole lot of these novelty devices have a little green robot under the hood.
I'm getting one of these for Christmas. Can't wait to add on the files! Thank you!
Hope you enjoy it!
That was really insightful, thank you so much. My Atari Flashback 50th Anniversary is being delivered tomorrow!
Yeah! Time to expand that bad boy! 😁
I tried two different usb sticks but both of them didn't work. The boot menu on the Atari Flashback Gold just booted normally. Will get a brandnew usb stick and try one more time. Is it important how the usb stick is named when fomatting?@@GenXGrownUp
Alright, UPDATE: new usb stick works! This is so cool, I am beaming like a 10y old on christmas eve. 901 Atari Games - yay, happy days!@@GenXGrownUp
I love the earlier models of the Atari minis that had the SD slot…Awesome vid
Thanks very much!
@@GenXGrownUp awesome thank you
This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this! I add the games and I am having a blast.
Fantastic!
Great informative video! Have my Atari 50th on its way - cheap! The USB splitter cable(s) and USB sticks are coming too, thanks for the links! Already bought 2 sets of new Atari Paddles from Amazon (they are incredible btw). Putting this all into a gutted 4 player sit down cocktail cab from the late 70s. Have an actual Atari 2600 in there now with a Harmony cart but it's kind of a pain to change games. This'll make it much easier.
1000 thanks for this idea and help! I have just ordered the appropriate cable, as well as a new USB stick, both should be in the mailbox tomorrow. I also think that I get everything else done.
Otherwise I am very happy with the new 50th Anniversary console. Currently I switch back and forth between this and my Flashback 9 Gold (the one with the SD slot), which is of course also a possibility; I only ever have to change the cable to the game screen.
You're quite welcome. I hope you have a blast! 🕹️
@@GenXGrownUp I bet I will, thanks! 😉
@@GenXGrownUp UPDATE: it worked!! 😁 However, I have copied an SD card, which already contains all Atar games, to the USB stick. All in all, it was a "job" of two minutes. Thanks again for the tip!!!
@@BIBO_67 Fantastic!
Nice how-to but worth noting that you don't have to update to the custom firmware to add your own few games (like you did in the first step) I was able to do that right out of the box.
Thank goodness because it looked complicated with all he just did, thanks.
It was part of the instructions, so I didn't skip it.
I hope this kind of stuff - being able to play homebrews and all in the new upcoming 2600+
Great video! Thanks to the great instructions, my new Atari Flashback 50th is filled to the brim with awesome 2600 games! Kudos, man!
Glad I could help. Enjoy! 😀
i didn't grow up with the atari though , my gaming journey started with the O.G nes entertainment system then the sega genesis but this was an interesting video much props for the respect to the viewer ( me ) giving me the confidence to do it you sir earned yourself a new sub .
Thanks for watching and for the kind words! 😀
I didn’t grow up with Atari either but I’ve been going back and exploring the games
i just got the atari 50 aniversity flash back with 110 game no paddles i just finish the hack plus the extra work i failed 1 sd flashed drive but i did it on another and wow too maney games thank you soo much jon majer props to you thank you.
Glad it worked out, Nicholas. Enjoy! 😁
Thanks! I'm so stoked to be playing Midnight Magic pinball again!!!!! Awesome vid man! I'm in Atari heaven!
That's great to hear. Hope you have a blast! 😀
Now what you need to do is find a really small (physically) flash drive, open up the console, wire up a USB socket in parallel to the existing one, place it in the cartridge port, then make a mini cartridge shell to fit around the small USB drive, so that you can plug it in by plugging a mini-cartridge into the cartridge slot.
Sure, it would be a lot of work, but how cool would it be? :)
THANK YOU, JON!!!
My pleasure. Let me know how it works out for you.
@@GenXGrownUp OMG!!! All worked out perfectly!!! Sooooo many games!!! THANK YOU!!!
Well that answered my questions about the Atari Space Invaders ROM...
Glad to help clear that up. 😀
@@GenXGrownUp just a quick fix here. Space Invaders, frogger and Pac-Man are NES roms and do not work in a real 2600 vcs.
The hardware here is some kind of raspberry pie, the only Atari Flashback with real Atari 2600 vcs hardware was the Flashback 2.
In theory it could run all 16 bits games but never found a patch or firmware to do it.
You can buy the Atgames Legend console to do that, even if it's probably the same board inside.
Excellent video. This one convinced me to take the plunge. I bought both the flash back and the cable using your links. As you stated in the video, I hope they send you your three cents for each of my purchases. ;). Thanks again!
Pennies, pennies, pennies! Yeah! 😉 Thanks, and glad you enjoyed the review.
@@GenXGrownUp 👍
It would be neat if someone came up with a way to flash this entire game library to the Flashback as if it came with the games, as in not having to keep the USB flash drive connected if you want to play them.
That's not going to happen without a hardware modification to actually give the devices enough flashable memory. As it stands, there's just no space to put this volume of data.
@@GenXGrownUp Good point. It's unfortunate that they're so stingy with things like that, giving very little room for expansion. It reminds me of PSUs in some prebuilt desktops, especially older ones, where you were lucky if you could add even a single drive, as many of them didn't even have 10 watts to spare.
Glad I found your channel. 1977 here! Subscribed---keep making videos! Thanks
Welcome aboard! Glad to have you. 😀
Wow! Thank you for making this video! Now I most definitely have to get my hands on one of these bad boys! I love how you added Space Invaders, E.T., Pac-Man, and Ms. Pac-Man!
I finally got this working after a lot of trial and error. I ordered the drives and OTG cables recommended but the AFBG would not read the drives. I eventually found an old 512mb drive and used that and everything worked. I suspect the problem was formatting the recommended drives in Win 11 which doesn't have the same functionality as older versions as it wouldn't let me change the size of the drive and some of the other settings were different as well. I did use FAT32 but the allocation unit sizes seemed a little wonky. So... if you have problems it could be the format tool in Win 11 or maybe he drives I got were somehow different. I'm going to try formatting on my work PC which is Win 10 still. There may also be ways to get the Win 11 formatter to work but I didn't get that far, and some of the other partition tools I have didn't work either.
Did you format to max size. One variable is that I formatted my drive to just 4GB. the AFBG might have a drive size limitation.
I have 1 question: Can I skip the part where you copy a handful of rom-files into that "game" folder? And by not doing that will the "Ext. USB Drive" option not show up in the menu? I would rather don't have that option there. It is just a couple of games and I will do the next step where I get 1000 games.
Sure you can, SNUIF. If that folder is absent or empty, the "Ext. USB Drive" option just won't appear.
So I retired this on my Atari Flashback 12 Gold. I used file listed in this video. It now comes up with 901 games with pictures. Amazing! Have to recheck firmware. Got a little squirrely when changing pages. Not sure it it would still work if I reflashed it with 1.1.1. Thank you for this video
Peace.
Very nice!
As you said, make sure you have a "Good" flash drive. I purchased a new 16g flash drive and started over with update. After that I can now seemlessly scroll between pages without any hiccups. I can also play any game without locking up or freezing. Works like a charm. Thank you for all your work making this video!!@@GenXGrownUp
Just bought one of these, thanks for putting all this information up :)
Glad I could help!
That's all I ever wanted! I'm buying one right now.
Good stuff. Nicely explained.
Much appreciated!
Cool video thanks for the info!
You bet! 😀
this is awesome. I had been using Brad From the 80s custom firmware with my 50th Gold console with a build called Nexus Slim but it kept freezing the system after 10 minutes of play. This build will hopefully allow me to use my system for more than 10 minutes at a time. I plan on getting a Flashback X this week to get the Nexus Slim working.
@Draxxon Lives It works fine with the Atari X and custom firmware 1.21 from Atari age but it runs sluggishly with the custom firmware from Brad from 80s. I tried all kinds of usb sticks. Happy to have a system that works with Nexus and also happy to have a reason to keep the 50th Gold Console from this video.
Tried Nexus Pure on 50th Gold and also freezes after 10-15 minutes unfortunately (latest FW 1.1). Not sure if there's fix for that.
Hi Jon and team, i'm John (53, so an OG GenXgrownup) from The Netherlands. Thankx for the vid, it made the proces so easy.
Hi, winkelstein. Does that make you a '70 baby? Glad the upgrade worked for you - enjoy! 😀
@@GenXGrownUp born in 69, year of the moonlanding 🙃 love your work, i’m a frequent visitor
@@winkelstein Thanks. I'm a '69er myself, born just one month before the landing. 😀
Just picked up one of these and tried out the new firmware. It works great. But, the paddle controllers still aren't as good as the originals, right? There's a bit of lag on them?
Wow!!! How awesome, I'm in!! Definitely going to do this!!!!!!
Thanks, Buck. I'm glad you enjoyed! 🕹️
Will it also play the Starpath games like Phaser Patrol and Escape from the Mindmaster (which was a multi-load game)?
Yes. Both are included in this upgrade. 😀
The mad atari genius at work
Jon!!!! This is an AMAZING video tutorial! I hope my incoming FBX will still do all this that the FBX Gold will do. I am definitely going to be busy this week. Haha! I already ordered an OTG cable. I am either going to supercharge my X, or brick it!!! LOL! I can’t wait!!
You can do it!
I am intrigued! I have a FB9 and love it but I would love to have the box art for added games. I also see it works for the FB9!😊
i have Flashback 9 gold you can put all games with Box art for Atari 2600 atari 5200 atari 7800 atari 800 atari 400 etc on it.
does it slow down everything when you have box art?
No. It works great.
@@Vampire_born_in_2006
It does? Please tell me more!
@@DamienLeader
no if you have a 50th X or 12 then you need a powered usb dtive@@Vampire_born_in_2006
In the folder "emulator" is a file called "wireless". Would it be possible to use the Atgames remote controllers on this 50th anniversary console?
I suspect it's possible. Particularly because there's a warning about wireless controllers not being available anytime you plug in the paddles.
By chance on the advanced renamer could you please do a tutorial on having to change a26 to bin. Reason I ask I have the rca composite Atari flashback 9. The a26 doesn't show only if I type bin to replace a26. Thanks!!
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Thanks!
You are very welcome, Tales. Thanks for watching and especially for your kindness! 😀
Can you tell me if Sorceress Apprentice works? It doesn't work for me, it takes me back to the home page, while if I insert it externally it works
Oh snap, that old flip stick got tossed faster than a boring old instruction manual! 😂
Hahah! This comment literally made me laugh out loud. I guess I can store some cat memes on it, but it was worthless for this project! 😁
Great follow up video Jon! Keep up the awesome work :-)
Thanks a ton!
And another question (got a ton of 'em today). The "Just Atari games" category. is that populated with the updated games too? Or is that category hardwired to have what shipped in the box?
No problem, Joe. 😀 If you've booted to the expanded USB drive, Atari games will make that filter so long as they're tagged correctly in the metadata of the ini file included with the Nexus bundle. At least that's how I remember it - I'm not sitting in front of my FB right now to verify. The file is all-games.ini and I believe the variable is "Genre=atari" where the value can be comma delimited to meet multiple criteria. (i.e. Genre=atari,paddle)
Maybe Draxxon will see this and straighten me out if I've missed anything or misremembered.
@@GenXGrownUp It would be nice if one could hack the rom to have other categories too. "All Activision, M Network, etc..."
Utter Atari sweetness
This is what the Atari VCS 2019 x86 box should have been
That would've been a great start, right?!
They released a new UPDATED CFW this week for the updated paddle rom which restores box art. I tagged you on Twitter with it. I don't want to put the link in here, as URLs in comments tend to end up in spam.
Great! Thanks, Joe. I'll throw the link here and in the community, too. t.co/bfoN7v4edY
@@GenXGrownUp Jon, are you going to do a video on this update to the 1.1 update? It's just dumb luck that I found it buried in this discussion. And, yes it works great!
@@swolfarnold Indeed. ruclips.net/video/IZ_BUVZMzHY/видео.html
Success! Got it all on there. Works great. Danke.
Is there any way to get art and descriptions and whatnot for the ones under "Ext. USB Drive?" I realize it would take some manipulation of files on my end, but I wonder if that would work at all.
Awesome! No, you can't easily get clean art/names for the Ext Drive, but it's not very tough to bring those into the rom folder and edit the .ini file to include them in the main menu.
when you mean a really good flash disk, is really true, i was frustraded but the fault was a bad one, now i have hundreds games, thanks
You bet!
Thanks for the great Video GenXGrownUp! , and thanks to all involved in every part. I have many ways to play a lot of these games, but this may be the very best so far.
Glad to help! Thanks for watching and for taking time to comment. 😀
Can you add 7200 games to this?
Not to my knowledge. If that changes, I'll try to let you now.
Thank you for doing this!!!!!!
You are so welcome! 😀
AWSOME but i wish id have atari 50th gold Anniversary
Lots of titles in there. Well played :)
That Donkey Kong 2600 remake 🤯🤯
Proof that Coleco didn't put enough care into the original.
That's a common rumor, but debunked by the dev himself: ruclips.net/video/Pm-mCaGM9pY/видео.html
@@GenXGrownUp
The modern version of Donkey Kong 2600 tells you that they didn't put enough care.
The proof is in the pudding...
@@EgGu-l9y I understand the impression, but the modern interpretation wasn't subject to the same budgetary and storage limitations.
@@GenXGrownUp
I think it got rushed out for Christmas or something along those lines.
Hi... Really looking forward to trying this but where did you get the files from to populate the game folder? At first i thought it was those from the new rom folder but that then turned out to be your more advanced section. Thanks.
eil
Those were just ROMs I had lying around. You can pull ROMs from the larger set into the game folder if you don't wanna do the full enchilada.
Great content and information! Thank you and thank you for the links to all the "goodies" to make this even more awesome!!
You're very welcome!
@@GenXGrownUp my Atari unit is suppose to arrive tomorrow - and I ordered the OTG cable from your link. Great to know how to update the firmware!!
@@markcossman200 Thank you!
2:42 - Is there a particular reason you formatted it at 4Gb? Is that a limitation of the system? Can it not read larger drives or something?
I'm not aware of any limitation, but I knew that 4GB was way more than enough to hold every 2600 ROM ever, and I wasn't going to use the drive for anything else.
The man DELIVERS and FAST ! Well done Jon ! We can count on you !
Aw, thanks, Paul. The original review was getting so many views this weekend, I decided to work through Sunday and knock it out. I hope you enjoy. 🕹️
There’s probably a rom for Pacman to emulate the screen flicker :)
Yes.
Hey Jon, I saw your video about the Atari flashback portable and I remembered that there is also a version of the atari retro handheld which has a micro sd card slot, and I saw that you only reviewed the first version, could you make a video about the one that does have an sd card? it also includes atari 7800 games and you can actually emulate them in .a78 format.
I'm not sure I have that one. Can you email me a link?
@@GenXGrownUp sure, which is your e-mail?
@@AtariYMas_008 jon@genxgrownup.com
Question: After doing all of this, do I still need to keep the expansion USB drive connected in order to view all the additional games plus their boxart, or does the final process update the device itself to run them straight from the device?
That's a good question and not entirely obvious from my video. You will need to boot with that USB connected anytime you want to play the full list of games. What's happening is, the FBG is looking at that drive as it if were the internal storage. If you boot without the drive plugged in, then your FBG will behave just as it did before the upgrade.
@@GenXGrownUp Thank you for that quick reply and confirmation! 🙂
Great instructions. One thing I noticed is that after the firmware update, the Space Invaders Arcade game that is included with the base console becomes unplayable and the display image no longer shows up. It displays and plays as normal once the USB is unplugged. Does anyone know why this is?
I noticed that as well, but didn't mind because, as you noted, unplugging the USB stick restores it, and with the upgrade I can play the proper Atari Space Invaders! 👾
@@GenXGrownUp Indeed, the proper 2600 version is a classic! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one experiencing that. Thanks Jon, terrific channel and content.
Sorry for the (stupid probably) question... but once you overwrite the firmware, is it possible to go back to the original in case something goes wrong? No chance of bricking the console?
Hi, Tails. Like any firmware update, there is always the risk of an interrupted process causing a problem. I've done this particular update at least a dozen times (during filming, as you might imagine), and hundreds more have done so and commented on my videos, and no report of getting a bricked unit. Additionally, with this upgrade, you can just unplug the USB stick and your FBG will act just like it did before the upgrade (I mention this at the end of this video).
Hey, that long load time you talk about at 8:45. Does that happen every time, or just the first time?
Each time you fire it up with the upgraded memory stick plugged in, it will take a while to boot. It's not awful, but on the order of maybe 20 seconds or so.
@@GenXGrownUp Tkx. Didn't know if it was a first time cache build thing, or it's necessary every time.
i did buy this and I didn't really enjoy it due to the controls on joystick didn't respond properly, and I decided to return it. I am sure if the joysticks were better for me i'd keep it.
Fair enough!
Any idea if this extension pack will be available to download on the upcoming Atari plus?
The 2600+ doesn't have any accessible storage, but if some clever user determines a way to add storage via an OTG cable - maybe.
It seems to me that once you use the dongle and create a new ROM folder, you have to always use it. You cant just go back to just using the power adapter with the original game list. Is that right? and why cant you jsut take the games you like from the downloaded rom folder and put it in the game folder.
There's no accessible storage available to place the hundreds of games & their artwork, so the USB serves as external storage when you want to play those. However, as I mention in the video, at any time you can remove the OTG cable and the unit will function just the way it did before any modifications.
Does this system come with paddle controllers ?
Kaboom and Breakout are meant to be played with paddle controllers,... or a computer-mouse would do as well.
It does. See my review here: ruclips.net/video/2l3aZmghWsg/видео.html
How you games get dont know wat pls help thx
Just email emceemur.fans@gmail.com
i was able to update the firmware to version 1.1.1 with no issues but whenever i try to flash the atari it nevers pops up with the update firmware screen, just the regular boot up screen, i have no clue what im doing wrong
Each instance of this problem has been resolved by a different USB stick. I wish I could tell you what the FBG doesn't like about some sticks, but try a few others from different manufacturers.
Great video and really easy! Question- Is it possible to add artwork to the games on the USB stick? Thank you again!
Thanks. Sure. If you used the full two-part upgrade, all of those already have artwork. You cannot add art for items in the game folder, but those in the rom folder support that through the all_games.ini file.
@@GenXGrownUp thank you so much! Definitely did the second part.
I want it !!
There's a link in the description. Make it happen! 😀
Thnx A LOT to all involved into this. GREAT tutorial video and also incredible the roms and art pack. At the moment, I'm not able to do this trick as I tried at least 10 USB drives with different sizes and the FB Gold 50th does not "sees it" to allow the firmware update. Do you have any idea of a USB stick I can buy that truly works and is recognized by the console?. Many thanks in advance guys!!. Also.. subscribed to the channel since now !!!
Hi, ckultur, and welcome. I was just corresponding with another viewer via email over the last few days and he experienced the same problem, but finally fixed it by purchasing a new USB stick. I've emailed him to find out exactly what it was and I'll provide a link when he gets back to me.
And I've got the link for you. I'll also add that to the video description. Note this is not the one I used, but has been verified as working by another viewer: amzn.to/3Z5k0Tm
@@GenXGrownUp THNX a lot pal !!!. I just ordered them and will post here the results !!! Truly looking forward to test it and play E.T XD
@@ckult No problem at all. You'll be pleased to learn that the original E.T. is there, in addition fo the "fixed" E.T. that addresses things like colors and falling-in-the-hole hit detection!
this sounds awesome! this is all the games? So... my question is, what am I losing by switching over to this firmware? Next question is can I ever flash it again to being the stock device i bought?
I talk about that right at the end of the video during the summary. If you boot without the USB installed, your Flashback will behave just as it did before.
Does the Atari Flashback Gold also play 7800 roms?
No, not at the moment, anyhow.
Can you also add extra 5200, 7800 Jaguar and Atari Lynx games?
no
@Draxxon LivesCan you tell how?
Thanks so much for the instructions!! The paddle games for my atari 50th flashback gold dont work too accurately with the original firmware. when i turn the controller knob to the right the paddle on the screen slows down and you have to turn the controller knob more to compensate. it makes the paddle games rough to play. im wondering if this issue still happens with the updated firmware?
I've heard this described, and I have noticed it just a bit as well. To the best of my knowledge, this firmwae doesn't have any impact on controller performance; just update to allow for adding games.
@@GenXGrownUp oh well. either way i will be updating it and still giving it a shot. I ordered the part off amazon and used your link so enjoy the 3 cents! LOL. thanks again for the tutorial!
@@HMansion999 Yeah! 💰 Haha!
(Thanks. 😉)
@@GenXGrownUp UPDATE. I got the cable (amazon shipped it overnight with no extra charge) and the same paddle issue is happening. bummer. hopefully this can get fixed somehow. BUT HEY, at least i can play 9873249162347861238746 atari games now on the flashback! LOL
Hi, I’m thinking of getting a 50th just for the Atari games from my childhood.
Would the VCS be a better way because it has more games available?
I’m very interested in your way to expand the amount of games via a USB.
Im not as good with computers as your self would you sell a ready to go USB/cable pack so just plug and play.
Thanks Grant
If you are looking to primarily play the 2600 games from your childhood without a lot of computer tinkering, a unit like this (with expandability) is a better path than the modern VCS.
Is Kung Fu master in the 130? Or is that in the upgrade down load.
Do you sell the upgrade kit?
Thanks Grant
No Kung-Fu in the 130, but it is in the upgrade. Thanks for asking, but I don't sell the upgrade kit. If you're worried it's too complex, it really isn't. In the description of this video are Amazon links to the cable and known-working USB sticks. Give it a try - I believe in you, Grant!
Does it copy the content of the usb stick to the internal memory of the flashback 50th or you have to always use it with the otg dongle to play the added games
I explain this during the summary of the video. With the USB unplugged, the FB Gold will operate just as it did originally.
Do the paddles still work with games you add yourself?
They do.
Oh yes…… I wonder will this new hack work on the flashback x, and the retron 77?
FBX yes. RetroN could play all these ROMs (most at least), but the firmware & rom folder wouldn't map to it.
Do the paddle controllers work for these additional games?
Absolutely yes.