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Atari 5200

The Atari 5200 is the video game console version of the Atari 800 computer developed by Atari. It was released in 1982.

Although software is not directly compatible between the Atari 5200 and the 8-bit Atari computers it was based on, most Atari 5200 emulators are compatible with software designed for either system.

This system scrapes metadata for the “atari5200” group(s) and loads the atari5200 set from the currently selected theme, if available.

Quick reference

  • Emulator: RetroArch
  • Core: libretro/atari800
  • Folder: /userdata/roms/atari5200
  • Accepted ROM formats: .rom, .xfd, .atr, .atx, .cdm, .cas, .car, .bin, .a52, .xex, .zip, .7z

BIOS

MD5 checksum Share file path Description
281f20ea4320404ec820fb7ec0693b38 bios/5200.rom
06daac977823773a3eea3422fd26a703 bios/ATARIXL.ROM
0bac0c6a50104045d902df4503a4c30b bios/ATARIBAS.ROM
eb1f32f5d9f382db1bbfb8d7f9cb343a bios/ATARIOSA.ROM
a3e8d617c95d08031fe1b20d541434b2 bios/ATARIOSB.ROM

ROMs

Place your Atari 5200 ROMs in /userdata/roms/atari5200.

ROMs in the .a52 format require an additional selection of the ROM type at the start of the emulator and sometimes that selection screen is not visible and requires a blind button press. You can convert the .a52 files into a different format, .car, which contains additional information so that the selection screen is bypassed. The method of doing that inside the emulator together with a list of this information for all known Atari 5200 ROMs can be found here: Cartridge Type Code List

Emulators

RetroArch

RetroArch (formerly SSNES), is a ubiquitous frontend that can run multiple “cores”, which are essentially the emulators themselves. The most common cores use the libretro API, so that's why cores run in RetroArch in Batocera are referred to as “libretro/(core name)”. RetroArch aims to unify the feature set of all libretro cores and offer a universal, familiar interface independent of platform.

RetroArch configuration

RetroArch offers a Quick Menu accessed by pressing [HOTKEY] + South button (B SNES) which can be used to alter various things like RetroArch and core options, and controller mapping. Most RetroArch related settings can be altered from Batocera's EmulationStation.

Standardized features available to all libretro cores: atari5200.videomode, atari5200.ratio, atari5200.smooth, atari5200.shaders, atari5200.pixel_perfect, atari5200.decoration, atari5200.game_translation

ES setting name batocera.conf_key Description ⇒ ES option key_value
Settings that apply to all cores of this emulator
GRAPHICS BACKEND atari5200.gfxbackend Choose your graphics rendering
⇒ OpenGL opengl, Vulkan vulkan.
AUDIO LATENCY atari5200.audio_latency Audio latency in milliseconds, turn it up if you hear crackles
⇒ 256 256, 192 192, 128 128, 64 64, 32 32, 16 16, 8 8.
THREADED VIDEO atari5200.video_threaded Improves performance at the cost of latency and more video stuttering. Use only if full speed cannot be obtained otherwise.
⇒ On true, Off false.

libretro/atari800

libretro/atari800 configuration
ES setting name batocera.conf_key Description ⇒ ES option key_value
Settings specific to atari800
ATARI SYSTEM atari800.atari800_system Choose what Atari System to emulate
⇒ 400/600XL/800 (48K) (OS B) 400/800 (OS B), 800XL/1200XL/XEGS (64K) 800XL (64K), 130XE (128K) 130XE (128K), Modern XL/XE (320K CS) Modern XL/XE(320K CS), Modern XL/XE (576K) Modern XL/XE(576K), Modern XL/XE (1088K) Modern XL/XE(1088K).
VIDEO STANDARD atari800.atari800_ntscpal Switch frequency and resolution by region
⇒ NTSC NTSC, PAL PAL.
SIO ACCELERATION atari800.atari800_sioaccel Speeds up file loading (a few games will not load)
⇒ Off disabled, On enabled.
HI-RES ARTIFACTING atari800.atari800_artifacting Artificial color filters to mimic actual hardware
⇒ Off disabled, On enabled.
INTERNAL RESOLUTION atari800.atari800_resolution Enables alternate resolutions for some games
⇒ 336×240 336×240, 320×240 320×240, 384×240 384×240, 384×272 384×272, 384×288 384×288, 400×300 400×300.
Settings specific to atari5200
JOYSTICK HACK (FOR ROBOTRON) atari5200.atari800_opt2 Treats the second analog stick as joystick 2
⇒ Off disabled, On enabled.

Many required settings for the emulator are not exposed to RetroArch or EmulationStation but need to be set inside the emulator itself. You can access this menu by pushing in [L3] or the [F1] key.

Controls

Analogue joysticks are supported only via hard-coded mouse inputs (bypassing RetroPad and default controls). The analog sticks of gamepads are not supported. This makes some games unplayable unless you connect a mouse.

Sure that it's not possible to remap them?

Here are the default Atari 5200's controls shown on a Batocera Retropad:

Troubleshooting

Further troubleshooting

For further troubleshooting, refer to the generic support pages.

  • systems/atari5200.1638321420.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 4 years ago
  • by atari