https://www.goto10retro.com/p/atari-2600-vs-atari-7800-which-should [https] Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts SubscribeSign in Share this post [https] Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ Which Should You Get? Copy link Facebook Email Notes More Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ Which Should You Get? Modern Retro Gaming [http] Paul Lefebvre Feb 05, 2025 6 Share this post [https] Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ Which Should You Get? Copy link Facebook Email Notes More 5 1 Share Looking to start your Atari retro gaming journey? One of the best ways to do so is with the new Atari "Plus" systems. These systems let you use original 2600 and 7800 cartridges and easily connect to modern televisions. This means you get the joy of collecting cartridges while having some modern conveniences. The Atari 2600+ was release first in 2023 and the Atari 7800+ was released in 2024. Let's take a look at the differences to see which makes sense for you. Overall there are more similarities than differences. Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. [ ] Subscribe Atari 2600+ As its name suggests, the 2600+ is styled to look like a shrunken Atari 2600 with it iconic design and woodgrain finish. The Atari 2600+ comes with a single standard joystick and a 10 in 1 game cartridge that contains 10 2600 games that you can choose using DIP switches on the cartridge. To be extra clear since I see this question asked a lot: Yes, the 2600+ can play Atari 7800 game cartridges. However, you'll need to get a compatible two-button joystick to use with any games that use both buttons. There is also no visible Pause button, which was a feature of the Atari 7800, but you can simulate that using the console A/B switch. Atari 7800+ The 7800+ is styled to look like a smaller Atari 7800, which has a sleeker and slightly more modern design. The 7800+ comes with a wireless joypad and single 7800 game: Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest. The wireless joypad connects using a 9-pin DIN plug that works with any Atari system, even original 2600 or 7800 systems, and a USB plug to use with something more modern. Summary With either system games are emulated using either the Stella (2600) or ProSystem (7800) emulators. At $130 are either of these system worth owning? For a lot of people, I think the answer is yes. Although you can easily find Atari 2600 or 7800 systems available on FaceBook Marketplace for about the same price as these two systems, they are not easy to hook up to a modern television and even if you do get them connected, the picture quality is poor1. These Plus systems use HDMI making it trivial to get a high-quality picture on any TV. If you already have a collection of old Atari cartridges, then either of these systems is a no-brainer. Plus, you can also use your existing 9-pin controllers with them. Sure, you could just set up the previously mentioned emulators on your own computer or a Raspberry Pi, but that may not give you the nostalgia kick you're looking for. I find it fun to scour flea markets, yard sales and Facebook Marketplace for cartridges. The biggest downside of these two systems is that they only play cartridges. I'd still like the ability to put some hard-to-find game ROMs on an SD card to play with the system and its original controllers. Alas. Since both have the same capabilities you should choose that one that speaks to you the most. Some people prefer the 2600 design and some are fond of the 7800 design. So, which one do I have? Until recently, I didn't have either. I actually already own an original Atari 2600 and an original Atari 7800 so have been a bit lazy about getting one of the Plus systems. However, I recently decided I wanted the better HDMI connection and wireless joypad so I ordered the Atari 7800+ when it showed up in a lightening deal on Amazon ($106!). It arrived just a couple days later and here are my thoughts. Looking at the Atari 7800+ The box it came in is well designed. Certainly this modern Atari seems to have some packaging mojo as the Atari VCS I got last year was also incredibly well packaged. I love that the box has the old-school "Have you played Atari today?" slogan. [https] [https] [https] Here you can see the 7800+ with its accessories. Not shown are the two USB-C cables and HDMI cables that are also included. [https] It is much smaller than an original Atari 7800, which you can see below. [https] The 7800+ has the multicolor bar on the front, which my US Atari 7800 does not have, probably because it is an older one that also says "7800 ProSystem". My understanding is that the multicolor bar was used on European 7800s. The Atari 7800+ is powered by USB C and comes with two cables (plus an HDMI cable), but does not come with a USB power plug. I had an extra one in my office that worked fine. I expected the wireless joypad capability to be built into the 7800+ itself, but it is not. You have to plug in the dongle in order for it to work. The joypad connected quickly and easily. I do like the wireless ability, but the joypad is not great. I'm not sure if there was a lag or if it is just not good quality, but I found it incredibly difficult to play most games with it. Ms. Pac-Man in particular was hard to steer, often missing turns. [https] The Bentley Bear game looks pretty good, but I found it difficult to play. It also didn't work right out of the box. I had to change the difficulty switches on the front so that the left was set to "A" and the right set to "B" otherwise Bentley would not be able to shoot or jump with the buttons. The graphics are great, though. [https] The picture quality is also great. I set the output to 4:3 and everything was nice and sharp, perhaps even too sharp as it really makes those fat pixels stand out! You can really see the fat pixels in something like Donkey Kong, Jr for the 2600. [https] My 7800+ came with firmware 2.0 -- the version is shown when games are loading. A beta firmware update was released in December 2024 (2.0.1.2), but it may not be available right now. I'll wait for a final release before I try to use it. Speaking of game loading, it is surprisingly slow. You plug in a cartridge and turn on the 7800+, which takes a moment, and then there is a "Loading game" screen that takes 15 to 20 seconds to actually load the game. Considering game cartridges are small (2K to 16K), I would think they could be dumped and launched more quickly than that. One nice thing is that you can swap cartridges without having to turn it off and on. The new game will be detected and loaded when it is plugged in. However, I do also find it surprising that the game disappears when you unplug the cartridge. Considering it's all running in the emulator it sure seems like it could keep running even when the game is removed. Clearly that is a design decision, probably to eliminate confusion of a game running when nothing is plugged in. I have about 109 Atari 2600/7800 games to use with the 7800+. I did not try all of them, but I tried a wide variety. Most games worked, but I had a lot of trouble with Activision games. In particular, I could not get these to work: Skiing, Seaquest, Stampede, Megalomania, Spider Fighter and Ice Hockey. I also could not get Journey Escape to work. These may just be a case of dirty cartridges on my end as they also were a bit finicky with my actual 7800, although they work fine with my old 2600. As an aside, there is a settings screen for the Atari 7800+. The skimpy manual makes no mention of it, but you can access it by holding down Select+Start when you turn it on with no cartridge inserted. It lets you tweak some display settings. Overall, the 7800+ has been really fun to play with this and I loved seeing some of these old games on my big LCD TV with sharp graphics instead of the blurry, fuzziness I get with my original 7800. However I am disappointed in the joypad. I'll be doing some more testing with real Atari joysticks and perhaps also see if I can find a "game mode" setting for the TV to see if it might help things. [https] Do you have an Atari 2600+ or 7800+? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Leave a comment 1 Yes, you can modify older systems to update the picture quality, but most people are not going to bother with that as soldering is needed. 6 Share this post [https] Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts Goto 10 Retro: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts Atari 2600+ vs. Atari 7800+ Which Should You Get? Copy link Facebook Email Notes More 5 1 Share Previous Discussion about this post CommentsRestacks [htt] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [htt] badqat 4d Liked by Paul Lefebvre Got the 2600+ on release and the 7800 controllers when they became available. If I needed two, I'd have taken advantage of that flash sale, but can't justify picking up a 7800...yet. Expand full comment Reply Share [htt] Siegfried 4d Liked by Paul Lefebvre I suppose that anything that uses bank switching, extra chips or extra RAM can't work. Expand full comment Reply Share 1 reply by Paul Lefebvre 3 more comments... TopLatestDiscussions No posts Ready for more? [ ] Subscribe (c) 2025 Paul Lefebvre Privacy [?] Terms [?] Collection notice Start WritingGet the app Substack is the home for great culture Share Copy link Facebook Email Notes More This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts