Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer review, pics, and info of software studio that allows you to easily program cartridges for Atari 8-bit computers like the Atari 800, Atari 800XL, Atari 600XL and Atari 1200XL. Simple design and easy to use, this software system takes existing Atari ROMs in XEX and ATR form and allows you to program your own 8mbit flash cartridges that look and perform just like the Atari 8-bit computer cartridges from the 80s.

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review – It Comes With

Atari Maxflash Studio Software Installation Disk
Atari Maxflash USB Programmer
3rd-Party USB Cable

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review – It DOES NOT Come With

Blank 8mbit Flash Cartridges (but Atarimax does sell them, and 1mbit carts separately)
Atari Games or Atari ROMs (but Atarimax website suggests websites to obtain the ROMS from and even suggests Atari 800 emulators to test them on

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review

Can “any idiot” use this? I purchased my Maxflash unit and software as a complete novice hobbyist. I own my original Atari 800XL from my childhood and a ton of ancient floppy diskettes with a mish-mash of game titles to use in my original 1050 disk drive. I dug my Atari from storage and was enjoying playing games of M.U.L.E., 7 Cities of Gold, Blue Max, and more after decades of storage. Unfortunately, due to age, my diskettes had become very glitchy and I was researching options other options as replacing cartridges and diskettes on ebay was becoming expensive. Long story short, I was only barely familiar with emulators and playing Atari 800 games on my PC, I was using an original (and even on an old-school CRT television)!

Because of my naivete and complete inexperience with emulators and the like, I was hesitant to go with Atarimax because the website (and the forums) seemed too advanced for me. I’m no idiot, but I just wanted something simple I could “plug and play”. After reading a lot of it, I wasn’t even quite sure what the system came with. I thought it came with thousands of XEX files I could just pull up from the software. Wrong!

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review – Pics

I purchased the Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer PLUS a 5-pack of 8mbit Flash Cartridges to store the games and got to work. The software itself is super-simple to use. Even a beginner (like me) could play around with it for 5 minutes and understand every feature. The hardware is beyond-easy too. Just plug the USB from your computer into the Programmable Cart and then insert the male end of a blank cart into the female end of the Programmable Cart and you’re ready to simply drag and drop games from your library onto a cartridge. Once you have your library set up, you’re good to go to just click a synchronize button to program the blank cart. A minute later, I had more than 20 Atari 800XL “arcade game” carts on my newly programmed cartridge (with plenty of empty cart space to spare). ALSO, these 8mbit and 1mbit carts are RE-PROGRAMMABLE and very easy to erase. You can even edit the cartridge menus (change colors & fonts etc).

Simple, huh? Yes, but only if… you’re familiar with emulators and likely have folders filled of Atari 8-bit ROMS. If you’re unfamiliar, a novice, hobbyist or whatever… I had some difficulties setting up the emulators and converting ZIP files to XEX files or ATR files or whatever. I got through it, but it was no easy task as someone who just wanted to “plug and play”.

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review – Bottom Line

If you’re familiar with Atari emulators, you’ll have no problem converting your ROMS to a cart with this fast & easy program. If you’re a noob to emulators and searching for sites that feature 8 bit ATARI ROMS that the Atarimax system works well with, you might struggle a little to get going as I did, but that was just temporary. Once you download a credible emulator and set that up correctly, download your ROMS, THEN the Atarimax system is fantastic. If you already have all of that and know all about it, by all means BUY IT.

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review Price As Tested

$59.99 for Cartridge Programmer & Software PLUS I bought a 5-pack of 8mbit carts for $99.95 (free shipping on both). A decent chunk of change, but for a customizable library of literally thousands of games, it is worth the price tag, IMHO. I likely will never need more than the 5 carts to establish my own tremendous library of Atari 8-bit games.

Atarimax Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Review – Suggested Emulator & Software
Sites

Atarimax Suggested Emulator for ease of compatibility for the Atarimax USB Cartridge Programmer – Atari800Win Plus (find the latest version) – github.com/Jaskier/Atari800Win-PLus/downloads

http://a8.fandal.cz/games.php