Flashback 2 review

[Flojomojo]

I just posted this on Amazon. It's way too long for one of their reviews, but there are forty games on this thing!!!

 

EDIT: moved the Radar Lock comment, added some praise for Climber! It's still too long.

 

Imagine yourself at a flea market or garage sale. There's a big shoebox with 40 different Atari cartridges in it for 75 cents each. Interested in that dusty old junk? Maybe, maybe not ... but what if it were all neatly self-contained in one tidy, legally licensed package? Cool!

 

What an improvement this machine is over the original "Flashback" console! The Atari Flashback 2.0 uses updated Atari 2600 VCS hardware, joysticks with the original "classic" feel, and 40 games built in. The joysticks aren't as nicely rubberized as the originals, but they feel similar, and if you had one of these systems in the 1980's, they'll immediately feel familiar to you.

 

The hardware is well built and is quite faithful to the original controls. A nice touch: the included joysticks are compatible with vintage computers and consoles from the era, too. Hardwired AV cables provide cleaner video than the original system did, and allows you to attach this toy to any modern TV set, and an AC adapter lets you play without running out of battery power like similar toys. Modern users might be annoyed with the crude graphics and sound, plus the fact that you need to get up and turn the thing off and then on again to change games. There's no pause button should you need a bathroom break. That's the way things were in the 1980's, and that's the price we pay for fidelity to the source material.

 

The console's built in 40 games are separated into "Adventure," "Arcade," "Space," and "Action/Skill" categories. There's enough variety here for everyone. Many of these games are "homebrews" and unreleased prototypes, meaning that unless you are a die-hard collector of Atari trivia, you haven't played these games elsewhere. Not even on an emulator running ill-gotten ROMs.

 

The manual is brief but to the point. A dedicated site with more complete game instructions is expected at www.atari.com but in the meantime, the fan site www.atariage.com has rules and "game select matrices" for most of the games on this unit.

 

The full list of games: 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, Adventure, Adventure II, Aquaventure, Arcade Asteroids, Arcade Pong, Asteroids Deluxe, Atari Climber, Battlezone, Caverns Of Mars, Centipede, Combat, Combat 2, Dodge'm, Fatal Run, Frog Pond, Hangman, Haunted House, Human Cannonball, Lunar Lander, Maze Craze, Millipede, Missile Command, Off the Wall, Outlaw, Pitfall, Quadrun, Radar Lock, Return To Haunted House, River Raid, Saboteur, Save Mary, Secret Quest, Space Duel, Space War, Video Checkers, Video Chess, Wizard, Yars' Return, and Yars' Revenge. Supposedly, there are some secret hidden "easter eggs," but I haven't found them yet...

 

How did the games turn out? Well-known games came out just like the source material. That's good! They deliver a solid, nostalgic game experience. "Battlezone" (a last minute replacement for a homebrew that didn't make it-- and is MUCH better than the poor Flashback 1 version), "Missile Command," "Centipede," "Millipede," "Adventure," "Haunted House," "Combat," and "Yars' Revenge" -- many of these were included on other plug & play units as well as "Atari Anthology" and they work just fine here. If you're into Atari, you may well already have copies of these as they're pretty common. If not, you're in for a treat! Also included are the Activision mainstays "Pitfall!" and "River Raid," a nice touch.

 

Some other old, familiar games don't hold up so well. They come off as primitive, but it's nice to see them here in the spirit of "family fun": Outlaw, 3D tic-tac-toe, Hangman, Video Checkers, Video Chess, Dodge'Em, Space War, Human Cannonball, Maze Craze are all here and playable. You might like them for some quick plays, but I would wager that many adults, let alone modern kids, would find them ugly and boring.

 

Some rarities are included for those of us who don't like to spend hundreds of dollars on Atari games. "Secret Quest" and "Off the Wall" are weird little games that are fun in their own way. "Radar Lock" appears to use the beautiful Solaris engine for an Afterburner-like game which is worth playing. "Fatal Run," only released in Europe, appears to use the Pole Position engine and adds some violent crash-em action to the racing. "Quadrun," an obscure title that fetches big bucks on auction, isn't much fun to play, and the game's main gimmick, a synthesized voice, didn't work on my unit. The manufacturer stated there was a problem with some of the chips in the early run which would be fixed later; since this was the only flaw I could find, I think I'll live with it.

 

How are the homebrew and unreleased prototypes? A mixed bag. "Saboteur" appeared on Flashback 1 and is redone more faithfully here, but the game is unlikely to become a favorite. "Lunar Lander," while interesting and never seen before, is slow and flickery and looks nothing like the nice vector lines on the box. "Arcade Asteroids," "Asteroids Deluxe," and "Space Duel" are all tweaks on the old Asteroids game, offering a few different play modes but nothing radically new. "Yars' Return" and "Return to Haunted House" are modestly tweaked version of the originals -- in my opinion, these are sequels no one asked for.

 

Don't despair, though, because there are better homebrews and prototypes on this thing: "Arcade Pong" uses the old Atari paddles if you plug them in when you choose the game, which give you much more control over this simple classic. "Save Mary" has excellent gameplay and graphics. "Atari Climber," also available on the GameBoy Activision Anthology set as Climber 5, is a fun little game that originally appeared on 8-bit computers. Another remake, "Caverns of Mars," is a flickery, upside-down River Raid-esque shooter that gets very manic very quickly, like a classic game should. "Frog Pond" features the best digital insects I've ever seen, and "Aquaventure"'s smooth scrolling and multiple screens suggest an early NES game. "Wizard" is a maze-bound shooter that doesn't seem finished but is still compelling to play, and if you liked "Combat" and "Adventure," the unimaginatively titled "Combat 2" and "Adventure 2" are here for your amusement and are worth trying.

 

For the hacker, there are instructions on the internet to solder a ribbon cable to the motherboard and add an Atari cartridge slot. This would allow you to play just about any released Atari VCS cartridge, but will void your warranty should you mess something up. I wish there were a simple way to get some of my favorites into the system, like "Solaris" (iffy version on the Flashback 1), or any of the non-Atari games that didn't make it for licensing reasons.

 

This is a great value for people who like classic games!

Edited August 4, 2005 by Flojomojo

[+FujiSkunk]

Just to nitpick, Radar Lock is not a prototype or homebrew. It was commercially released by Atari in the late 1980s.

Edited August 4, 2005 by skunkworx

[Flojomojo]

Ahhh, nuts! You're right. I was looking at the AtariAge page for it,, which had no text inserted, just a link to AtariProtos.com

 

I saw "protos" and assumed it was unreleased.

 

It's totally Solaris slightly redone. I love Solaris, but I prefer space ships to jet fighters. I'm glad I never paid full price for it in cartridge form, but I wish Solaris was on this thing in addition to Radar Lock.

[DEBRO]

Hmm....nothing good (or bad) to say about "Atari Climber"?

[Flojomojo]

Crap, I left that out, too. I like Climber 5/Atari Climber just fine, and wanted to mention that you could play it on the GBA as well. Will edit this when it gets posted, sorry for the omission!

[mos6507]

My gosh, Tod Frye is finally vindicated after all these years with positive Save Mary reviews!

[Flojomojo]

Tod Frye is the man. And the Flashback 2 is better than the Playstation 2 in a few important ways:

 

- no loading times!

- no blood!

- no silly mascot games!

- no DVD playback problems!

 

The one thing they both suffer from is sequelitis. Yars' Return thrilled me on paper but not in practice. It's still a great little machine!

 

Thanks for the fun toy, Curt!

[King_Salamon]

Not that I'd call them silly mascot games but isn't Pitfall a game that would fall into that category? Pitfall Harry is Activision's mascot for the 80's! I like Pitfall and I hope Pitfall 2 is on the next Flashback unit!

 

Tod Frye is the man.  And the Flashback 2 is better than the Playstation 2 in a few important ways:

 

- no loading times!

- no blood!

- no silly mascot games!

- no DVD playback problems!

 

The one thing they both suffer from is sequelitis.  Yars' Return thrilled me on paper but not in practice.  It's still a great little machine!

 

Thanks for the fun toy, Curt! 

904329[/snapback]

[Flojomojo]

Mmmmm, the next unit. What I'd like to see:

 

Every game we've seen so far.

More homebrews, prototypes, and hacks.

More licensed games -- not just hte Activision stuff, either.

A way to play ROMs from flash memory!

[King_Salamon]

I'm all for some form of mini carts to put into the system... not standard 2600 carts but some mini carts that each have some number of games (5-10 games for $7.99) that fit into the same type of mini dvd cases like Nintendo DS games!

 

And then.... finally!!! We will see the return of the Atari Product Cartridge Catalog! (Oh... I must be dreamin')

[Shannon]

So is there a hack for this that enables the hidden "mystique" games?

 

Edited August 5, 2005 by Shannon

[Jacob Rose]

Tod Frye is the man.  And the Flashback 2 is better than the Playstation 2 in a few important ways:

 

- no loading times!

904329[/snapback]

 

No kidding! I think some of my Star Wars: Battlefront games are shorter than the load time! (Did I just admit that I stink at that game? )

[Rob Mitchell]

"Battlezone" (a last minute replacement for a homebrew that didn't make it-- and is MUCH better than the poor Flashback 1 version),

904138[/snapback]

 

So which homebrew did not make it?

 

And how's the gameplay of Lunar Lander?

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

Edited August 7, 2005 by Rob Mitchell

[Feralstorm]

Thrust was the homebrew that ended up being replaced by Battlezone

 

It's an unfortunate shame, but on the bright side Battlezone gets a do-over from the stunningly poorly ported FB1 version.

 

Makes me wonder, since there likely were at least a few people who bought the first Flashback and assumed that games on there accurately relflected their original 2600/7800 incarnations... How many will buy a Flashback 2 and go "Hey, they changed these games! Some of them got a LOT better!"

Edited August 7, 2005 by Feralstorm

[Flojomojo]

"Battlezone" (a last minute replacement for a homebrew that didn't make it-- and is MUCH better than the poor Flashback 1 version),

904138[/snapback]

 

So which homebrew did not make it?

 

And how's the gameplay of Lunar Lander?

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

905975[/snapback]

Thrust didn't make it, which is a shame. Battlezone is as solid as evern of course.

 

Lunar Lander kinda sucks -- looks and plays like a quasi-realtime Human Cannonball.

[Atari_Jaguar]

I'm all for some form of mini carts to put into the system... not standard 2600 carts but some mini carts that each have some number of games (5-10 games for $7.99) that fit into the same type of mini dvd cases like Nintendo DS games! 

 

And then.... finally!!!  We will see the return of the Atari Product Cartridge Catalog!  (Oh... I must be dreamin')

904712[/snapback]

 

That is the most kickass idea I have ever heard on Atari Age in my entire life. I am sending you 3 million dollars in small unmarked bills (mostly fives and tens) through FedEx. Don't ask questions just enjoy.

 

 

Doug

[Retro Rogue]

So is there a hack for this that enables the hidden "mystique" games?

 

904958[/snapback]

 

Yes, the same one that turns it in to a giant dildo.

 

[+FujiSkunk]

Forgive me for latching onto an older thread, but I figured that was better than creating yet another FB2 thread in a forum already choked with them.

 

I got mine today, at Wal-Mart. It must have been left over from the first batch, because Quadrun, Millipede and Haunted House have the tell-tale sound problems. Oh well, that makes me feel less guilty about my plans to crack it open for my very first soldering project.

 

I love this machine, warts and all. The new joysticks are a God-send, and I am eternally grateful to Curt and to everyone else involved for convincing the suits at Infogrames Atari that a system based on the old hardware actually would be worth selling.

 

Still, like most everyone else has said, there are plenty of warts, and they mostly have to do with the new games. Lunar Lander is playable, if not exactly easy on the eyes, but Asteroids Deluxe is a disappointment, Space Duel is confusing, and Yars' Return is downright unplayable. On the other hand, the new adventure games show a lot of promise, and Arcade Pong is a cool update. Getting legal copies of the homebrews, prototypes and rareties is also worth the price of admission.

 

So, to anyone who might still be on the fence, run out and snatch one (or two, or three) of these babies up as soon as you can. Just don't expect to be blown away by the new stuff.