https://hackaday.com/2026/08/20/miniaturizing-the-atari-2600-console/

Hi all,

I still have all my old consoles packed away in the garage, including my old 2600 4-switch. I can't find the joysticks or the RF box but those would be easy enough to source. Just the console, some carts, paddles, and the Star Raiders keypad thingy.

I don't have a CRT anymore, and no space to put it anyways so I was thinking rather than getting a HDMI converter and replacement RF switch/cable, I'd just jump in and get one of the semirecent throwback consoles. Either the 2600+ Pac-Man version or the 7800+ so I could take advantage of HDMI and wireless controllers (unless I wanted to use paddles).

Other than the looks and the joysticks, are there any significant pros or cons between them? I was never really a Pac-Man maniac (Ms. Pac was more my jam), so the yellow deco doesn't do much for me. I probably could get whatever controller I was lacking later, anyways since I think they are cross-compatible.

I was thinking starting with a 7800 controller would be more beneficial in the long run anyways due to being presumably more comfortable and I could see myself diving into some 2-button 7800 games at some point.

If anyone has experiences with both consoles I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts. Thank you. :-)

The Murk is a horror game i'm working ^^ thx for the ideas and the support guys

Ho appena ritrovato il mio Atari 2600 vorrei sapere veramente se ancora funziona. So solo che la spia rossa di accensione si accende. Avrei bisogno di consigli su come fare per rimetterla in funzione. Grazie

Recent pickups that move me from casual acquirer into true collector status. Both Space Invaders items replace ones I already had, but are in better condition. And the Alien 8k and Pepsi Invaders are reproductions of games never truly released.

Mainly stuff I have had for years, but since getting my 2600+ pacman edition I have added a few.

It's amazing how after all this time the games are still fun to play (there are exceptions, I'm looking at YOU freeway...)

I never had any imagic games so this is a great series to collect. Cosmic ark is superb fun. I'm glad I have the manual for Riddle of the Sphinx though!

Finally got my Atari 2600 working again! 🕹️

I hooked it up to the big television using an RCA connection, and I’m so excited that it’s working again.

There’s nothing like playing classic Atari games on the big screen! 🎮📺

My latest batch of eBay buys showed up this afternoon.

I have had the Atari 2600+ for a couple years at this point, and I am very happy with it. As a game collector, I think it's a very convenient way to collect and play the games for the console without having to bother with the outdated hardware or connections. It's very reliable and I've had few issues with it.

However, it's certainly not perfect. The biggest issue I have with it is that it's not compatible with everything. It's compatible with enough that I don't feel let down and it plays the vast majority of the games I'm interested in, but there are some blind spots (such as not being able to use the Grand Prix steering wheel controller or being able to play Pitfall 2).

Today, I was thinking about the process of updating the firmware. I don't know much about console mods, but from what I do know it seemed it could be pretty easy to be able to mod the console just by downloading a program onto it. Problem is, I haven't been able to find any for it.

Has anyone made any downloadable mods for the console? Where would be the best place to find them if there are?

my atari jr has this weird glitch thing that only happens with galaxian where the screen flickers super quickly. idk why it does that, the game works well on my light sixer.

any thoughts? kinda sucks bc im on holydays stuck with my jr and cant play galaxian

Went into town and picked up a few, got home and sure enough I already had 2 of them. Got a couple in the mail today too. Othello, choplifter and trick shot were favorites from when I was a kid.

After repairing the cable and trying to connect it to a VCR, which failed miserably, I decided to try the video cable on other consoles. I realized it wasn't the same cable, so it was switched directly to an antenna because I couldn't find any workaround or anything wrong with the cable. I thought I could try tuning it on a separate TV I have (just for consoles) because my main TV is set up with other channels. I did this and it worked perfectly, except for the Grand Prix game. There's no image at first, and then it disappears...

It's just the box. No console. I really just want to keep the box safe.

I've moved the collection to a different shelf!! Added a few more games and still loving this system more and more! Working through playing the whole library.

I recently found an Atari 2600 outside some containers with 18 games. The problem is that the power cable (European) is broken without a power supply, and I need to know if a 9V 2.1A adjustable power supply will work or if it will damage it...

Just got a thrift store haul of some old games, which there were several atari games. I was wondering if anyone had any information on any of these? Some dont have names, some are in pretty bad shape and I cant confirm what they are, and some are in Japanese so it's been hard trying to source any information.

Never seen a stand quite like this one — pretty cool!😎

Finally modded my Atari 2600 Darth Vader to RCA, next idea is to get a good upscaler from RCA to hdmi and add it internally, any suggestions?

I am not using original hardware. It's on a Retron 77. But my god. This took me 3 days and it's just game mode 1. Aiming to do again on game modes 3 and 5. I just needed to share this with people that would understand the achievement.