2600 Flash Cart

[Hatta]

I just saw over on atariage that they are finally taking preorders for the long awaited Harmony cart. It's only $50, which is a real bargain for a retro flash device. They're not in production yet, and they're not taking money, just putting you on a list so they'll have enough in the first run to get one to everyone.

This thing will supposedly run every Atari 2600 game up to 32k, as well as Supercharger games. It supports SD(HC) cards, but also has a little flash so you can just burn the cart over USB with some platform independent software. This looks like the real deal guys, anyone who has a 2600 needs one of these carts.

You can preorder the cart here, and you can find out more about the cart in this thread.

[Hobie-wan]

I don't think I really need one, but very cool.

[Dakinggamer87]

That is pretty cool but I think I got plenty of Atari 2600 games at the moment..

[Hatta]

Alright, but IMO it's worth it just for the Supercharger support. With the expanded RAM those are some of the best games on the system. You've got the only RPG for the 2600(dragonstomper), one of the best shooters on the system (communist mutants), and a *hugely* improved version of Frogger. Think about it, for the price of 1 modern game you can have every 2600 game on one cart. How else are you going to play Swordquest: Waterworld?

When you look at the Intellivision Cuttle Cart 3 for $150, the Neo Myth MD for $150, Apple IIgs for $135, etc., the Atari 5200 flash cart for $130, the Coleco flash cart for $130 etc, this thing is really cheap. And really, who knows how long this niche hardware is going to be available. It's not like DS flash carts that are being produced by the millions. And really, better to spend $50 on a kick ass piece of hardware and support development in the retro community than to spend the same $50 on 50 carts.

[noiseredux]

I understand the need to use this for homebrew, but I kind of hate that "every game on one cart" mentality. To me I'd rather seek out and collect games that I want one-by-one than just instantly have every game and not know how to choose which one to play.

[Hatta]

Personally I love it. I have no problems pacing myself when I have a ton of ROMs available. I guess I'm just more of a hardware collector than a software collector. Brand new hardware for a 30 year old machine is a lot more interesting to me than hunting down copies of software that's easily available on the internet anyway. Being able to reward people who actually make new hardware instead of just hoarding original stuff is a big plus too. It keeps the scene vibrant.