Atari Flashback
 | |
| Atari Flashback | |
| Designer | Legacy Engineering AtGames |
| Manufacturer | Atari, S.A. AtGames |
| CPU | various |
| Graphics | various |
| RAM | various |
| Media | built-in media |
| Release | Flashback: 2004 Flashback 2: 2005 Flashback 2+: 2010 Flashback 3: 2011 Flashback 4: November 13, 2012 Flashback 64: 2013 Flashback 5: October 1, 2014 Flashback 6: September 15, 2015 Flashback 7: October 1, 2016 Portable: 2016 Flashback 8: September 22, 2017 Portable (rev. 2): September 22, 2017 Blast! 1: September 27, 2018 Blast! 2: September 27, 2018 Blast! 3: September 27, 2018 Flashback 9: October 24, 2018 Flashback 9 Gold: November 15, 2018 Portable (rev. 3): 2018 Flashback X Deluxe: October 21, 2019 Portable (rev. 4): 2019 |
| Added to museum | Flashback 2: May 10, 2019 Flashback Blast! 3: March 19, 2020 Flashback Blast! 3: November 29, 2020 |
Atari Flashback is a series of dedicated consoles designed to resemble classic Atari video game consoles.
They have the ability to play the original games released on those consoles, although they all have dedicated games stored on internal storage and don't have support for the original cartridges. Prior to the Flashback 3, Atari Flashback devices had a chip designed to run the original games through hardware. From the release of the Flashback 3 onward, the devices contained an emulator running on ARM-based hardware.
It is possible to modify the Flashback 2 and Flashback 2+ devices to support original cartridges, and the motherboard was designed specifically to allow this by Legacy Engineering, although modification isn't officially supported by Atari.
Contents
Atari consoles represented by Atari Flashback devices
The original Atari Flashback resembled an Atari 7800 and included custom NES ports of Atari 2600 and Atari 7200 games. All other Atari Flashback units were designed to resemble and play Atari 2600 games exclusively.
Versions
The Atari Flashback, Atari Flashback 2, and Flashback 2+ were designed by Legacy Engineering and manufactured by Atari. The Flashback used the NES clone chip, the Novatek NT6578, and had custom-designed ports of the games to the NES hardware. The Flashback 2 and Flashback 2+ used a custom Atari 2600 clone chip designed by Legacy Engineering titled the 'Michele'.
From the Atari Flashback 3 in 2011 onward, the consoles have been designed and manufactured by AtGames, and use an emulator running on an ARM-based CPU.
The Atari Flashback 64 was also developed by AtGames and is a version of the Flashback 4 with 64 games and wired joysticks.
Legacy Engineering designed a portable Flashback concept but wasn't able to release it before AtGames acquired the license to make Atari Flashback devices. However, portable versions of the Atari Flashback were designed and manufactured by AtGames:
- The Atari Flashback Portable: Ultimate Classic Game Player was released in 2016 and contained 60 games.
- The Atari Flashback Portable was released on September 22, 2017, alongside the Flashback 8, and contained 70 games.
- The 2017 Atari Flashback Portable also had a deluxe version titled Atari Flashback Portable Deluxe that contained 70 games.
- Another Atari Flashback Portable was released in 2018, alongside the Flashback 9, and contained 80 games.
- A fourth Atari Flashback Portable was released in 2019, alongside the Flashback X, and contained 80 games.
Atari Flashback
This system used the Novatek NT6578, an NES clone chip. The 20 included games were developed by Legacy Engineering in 2004 based on Atari-developed games that were originally released for the Atari 2600 and Atari 7800. It came with two wired joysticks.
Atari Flashback 2
This system used an Atari 2600 clone chip designed by Legacy Engineering titled the 'Michele'. It contained 42 games and came with two wired joysticks.
| Title | Developer | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe | Atari | 1978 | |
| Adventure | Atari | 1980 | |
| Adventure II | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | Based on the Adventure assembly code. |
| Aquaventure | Atari | 2005 | Previously unreleased, developed in 1983. |
| Arcade Asteroids | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | Edit of the 1981 Atari version with graphics resembling the arcade version. |
| Arcade Pong | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | |
| Asteroids Deluxe | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | |
| Atari Climber | Dennis Debro | 2004 | Released in 2004 as Climber 5. |
| Battlezone | Atari | 1983 | |
| Caverns of Mars | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | |
| Centipede | Atari | 1982 | |
| Combat | Atari | 1977 | |
| Combat Two | Atari | 2005 | Previously unreleased, developed in 1982. |
| Dodge 'Em | Atari | 1980 | |
| Fatal Run | Sculptured Software | 1990 | |
| Frog Pond | Atari | 2005 | Previously unreleased, developed in 1982. |
| Hangman | Atari | 1978 | |
| Haunted House | Atari | 1982 | |
| Human Cannonball | Atari | 1978 | |
| Lunar Lander | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | |
| Maze Craze | Atari | 1980 | |
| Millipede | Atari | 1984 | |
| Missile Command | Atari | 1981 | |
| Off the Wall | Axlon | 1989 | |
| Outlaw | Atari | 1978 | |
| Pitfall! | Activision | 1982 | |
| Quadrun | Atari | 1983 | |
| Radar Lock | Atari | 1989 | |
| Return to Haunted House | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | Based on the Haunted House assembly code. |
| River Raid | Activision | 1982 | |
| Saboteur | Atari | 2005 | Previously unreleased, developed in 1983. |
| Save Mary | Atari | 2005 | Previously unreleased, developed in 1989. |
| Secret Quest | Axlon | 1989 | |
| Space Duel | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | |
| Super Breakout | Atari | 1981 | Only accessible by pressing up on the joystick 1 time, down 9 times, up seven times, and down 2 times. |
| Video Checkers | Atari | 1980 | |
| Video Chess | Atari | 1979 | |
| Warlords | Atari | 1981 | Only accessible by pressing up on the joystick 1 time, down 9 times, up seven times, and down 2 times. |
| Wizard | Atari | 2005 | Previously unreleased, developed in 1980. |
| Yars' Return | Legacy Engineering | 2005 | Based on the Yars' Revenge assembly code. |
| Yars' Revenge | Atari | 1982 |
Atari Flashback 2+
This system used an Atari 2600 clone chip designed by Legacy Engineering titled the 'Michele'. It contained 42 games, and some of the games that exhibited flicker on the Flashback 2 have been improved. It came with two wired joysticks
Atari Flashback 3
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 60 emulated Atari 2600 games. It came with two wired joysticks
Atari Flashback 4
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 75 emulated Atari 2600 games. Unlike the previous consoles, it came with two wireless infrared joysticks.
The Atari Flashback 4: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition was released on December 4, 2012. It included everything in the Atari Flashback 4 plus two paddle controllers, five posters, and a copy of the original Atari joystick patent signed by Nolan Bushnell.
Atari Flashback 64
This Walmart-exclusive system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 64 emulated Atari 2600 games. It had two wired joysticks.
Atari Flashback 5
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 92 emulated Atari 2600 games. Like the Atari Flashback 4, it came with two wireless infrared joysticks.
The Walmart-exclusive version came with two wired joysticks.
Atari Flashback 6
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 100 emulated Atari 2600 games. It came with two wireless infrared joysticks.
Atari Flashback 7
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 101 emulated Atari 2600 games. It came with two wireless infrared joysticks.
The Atari Flashback 7 Deluxe came with two wireless paddle controllers and two wireless joysticks.
Atari Flashback 8
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 105 emulated Atari 2600 games. It came with two wired joysticks.
The Atari Flashback 8 Deluxe comes with two wired joysticks and two wired paddle controllers.
Atari Flashback 8 Gold
This system had an ARM central processing unit and contained 105 emulated Atari 2600 games. It came with two 2.4 GHz wireless joysticks.
The Atari Flashback 8 Deluxe comes with two 2.4 GHz wireless joysticks and two wired paddle controllers.
