Anyone bought the Atari Harmony flash cartridge?

[Gurner]

Their only point of sale I can find doesn't seem to work.

http://harmony.atariage.com/

Correct me if I've done something wrong – it's like the links aren't active.

[kevman3d]

Never bought one (since I don't have a 2600) but all the links work fine for me.

To order one, just click the order link - or use this URL: http://harmony.atariage.com/order.html

[Gurner]

Strange, it's not working in Chrome or Firefox. Maybe because I don't have Paypal. (yet)

[Gurner]

Just to clarify – can you select country?

The selections aren't links in either of my browsers.

Cheers.

[kevman3d]

At the top (in very tiny letters) is a link that says "order with Paypal"...

• When you click this, you'll see that the page looks slightly different. (And that link switches to "order with google wallet" so you can swap it back)
• Select "Other" and a drop-down and yellow Paypal "Add to Cart" option will appear.
• Add the selection to the Cart
• You'll be taken to PayPal.
• Click "Check out" if you're happy, and you'll go to the PayPal payment page.
• If you don't have a PayPal account, just click the "Don't have a Paypal account" and it'll let you enter your credit card information to buy.

Its in PayPal that you usually set the delivery address...

Works here - I'm in Firefox on Windows... Obviously I didn't buy the cartridge...

[Gurner]

Thanks heaps for checking – it works on my phone browser, just not on the Mac!

Cheers again.

[kevman3d]

That uber-tiny link and text at the top of the page was pretty silly and incredibly hard to see.

I'm not sure what's wrong, but I also tested the site at work on my Mac and it worked fine there in both Chrome and Firefox, but at least your phone saved the day!

But hope you managed to buy it ok. I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun when it arrives.

I'm thinking of getting one of the Atarimax CF cartridges for my 600XL next time I have a need to get more cartridges for it. I think I spent more on the 7 carts I have here then it costs for that CF based cartridge. Of course, its not quite the same as having the actual cartridges, with their labels, wear and tear... That whole "authenticity" nostalgia...

[Gurner]

I agree with you on the "real cart" experience – I have a SNES flash cart, and the day I got it was the day I stopped collecting SNES games in the flesh.

Sure, it's great to have loads of ROMs and play them on the real console, but it is kinda cool getting a new cart and playing that one game for ages and knowing you own it in your collection.

I find with the flash cart I flip from one game to another with less time dedicated to a single game.

[Gurner]

I did end up buying this after all – I'll post what it's like running this here on PAL once it turns up.

[kevman3d]

I did end up buying this after all – I'll post what it's like running this here on PAL once it turns up.

Awesome! Be interested in hearing how it goes with the good old 2600.

but it is kinda cool getting a new cart and playing that one game for ages and knowing you own it in your collection

Yup - One weekend I did 5 solid hours of Pacman... Then the other day I spent 2-3 hours of centipede - and had a wife-vs-me tournament.

The only game I couldn't spend more then 10 minutes playing was the 8-bit Galaxians - its a pretty poor conversion. Unfortunate, because I loved that game and bought it based on the experience with the excellent versions of the other game carts I bought.

I find with the flash cart I flip from one game to another with less time dedicated to a single game.

I think its kinda like a big menu at a restaurant... You get too many options, and you end up wanting to try a bit of everything...

[Gurner]

OK, after using the atari 2600 Harmony Cart for a while with PAL ROMs...

- Most homebrew ROMs are available as NTSC only, so colours display incorrectly / speed is full-speed 60hz. Luckily there are a few guys on Atari Age who are doing PAL 60 conversions that run like a dream
(Both Full-speed AND Full NTSC-style screen-height)

- So, it turns out the PAL Carts we've been using in NZ are running slower than the NTSC versions that are used in the States.
I really had believed that they had been programmed to run the same speed. (Example, Jungle Hunt. I have the physical cart and tested alongside PAL 50 and PAL 60 ROMs on Harmony.

- PAL 50 ROMs are common, and will run on Harmony exactly as a physical PAL cart, but after experiencing games as the programmer intended, I found myself hunting down all the PAL 60 conversions I could find.

- The Harmony cart itself runs like a dream, with no hassles and only took two weeks to arrive. For under NZ$100 delivered, it is definitely worth the investment, especially for the huge numer of Homebrews out there, many of which are top notch.
Very, very highly recommended, esp. being able to email the guy making them via Atari Age.

[kevman3d]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like it ended up being a pretty good deal - apart from having to hunt down PAL versions of various ROM's obviously!