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Atari - 5200 (a5200)

Background

a5200 is an Atari 5200 emulator based on Atari800 2.0.2, originally written for the GCW Zero. It is fast on low-powered hardware and aims to be plug and play: it has an open-source BIOS built in, and an on-screen keypad for the 5200 controller's twelve keys.

The a5200 core has been authored by

  • Petr Stehlik
  • zx81
  • Alekmaul
  • wavemotion-dave

The a5200 core is licensed under

A summary of the licenses behind RetroArch and its cores can be found here.

Extensions

Content that can be loaded by the a5200 core have the following file extensions:

  • .a52
  • .bin

RetroArch database(s) that are associated with the a5200 core:

BIOS

The core has AltirraOS built in and runs without a BIOS. To use the original one, set the BIOS core option to Official and place it in RetroArch's system directory:

Filename Description md5sum
5200.rom 5200 BIOS - Optional 281f20ea4320404ec820fb7ec0693b38

Features

Frontend-level settings or features that the a5200 core respects.

Feature Supported
Restart ✔
Screenshots ✔
Saves ✕
States ✔
Rewind ✔
Netplay ✔
Core Options ✔
Memory Monitoring (achievements) ✕
RetroArch Cheats ✕
Native Cheats ✕
Controls ✔
Remapping ✔
Multi-Mouse ✕
Rumble ✕
Sensors ✕
Camera ✕
Location ✕
Subsystem ✕
Softpatching ✕
Disk Control ✕
Username ✕
Language ✕
Crop Overscan ✕
LEDs ✕

Core options

The a5200 core has the following option(s) that can be tweaked from the core options menu. The default setting is bolded. Settings marked (Restart) take effect when the content is restarted.

Audio

  • High Fidelity POKEY (Restart) [a5200_enable_new_pokey] (OFF|ON)
  • Audio Filter [a5200_low_pass_filter] (OFF|ON)
  • Audio Filter Level [a5200_low_pass_range] (5%|10%|15%|20%|25%|30%|35%|40%|45%|50%|55%|60%|65%|70%|75%|80%|85%|90%|95%)

Input

  • Controller Hacks [a5200_input_hack] (OFF|Dual Stick|Swap Ports)
  • Pause acts as Reset [a5200_pause_is_reset] (OFF|ON)
  • Digital Joystick Sensitivity [a5200_digital_sensitivity] (Auto|5%|7%|10%|12%|15%|17%|20%|22%|25%|27%|30%|32%|35%|37%|40%|42%|45%|47%|50%|52%|55%|57%|60%|62%|65%|67%|70%|72%|75%|77%|80%|82%|85%|87%|90%|92%|95%|97%|100%)
  • Analog Joystick Sensitivity [a5200_analog_sensitivity] (Auto|5%|7%|10%|12%|15%|17%|20%|22%|25%|27%|30%|32%|35%|37%|40%|42%|45%|47%|50%|52%|55%|57%|60%|62%|65%|67%|70%|72%|75%|77%|80%|82%|85%|87%|90%|92%|95%|97%|100%)
  • Analog Joystick Response [a5200_analog_response] (Linear|Quadratic)
  • Analog Joystick Deadzone [a5200_analog_deadzone] (0%|3%|5%|7%|10%|13%|15%|17%|20%|23%|25%|27%|30%)
  • Analog Device [a5200_analog_device] (Analog Stick|Mouse)

General

  • BIOS (Restart) [a5200_bios] (Official|Internal (Altirra OS))
  • Interframe Blending [a5200_mix_frames] (OFF|Simple|Ghosting (65%)|Ghosting (75%)|Ghosting (85%)|Ghosting (95%))
  • Hi-Res Artifacting Mode [a5200_artifacting_mode] (None|blue/brown 1|blue/brown 2|GTIA|CTIA)

Controllers

Port 1 can be one of two device types, set in Controls > Port 1 Controls > Device Type:

  • Atari 5200 Joystick (OSD Keypad) - the default: L shows and hides an on-screen keypad, and A presses the highlighted key.
  • Atari 5200 Joystick (Direct Keypad Buttons) - the keypad keys sit on RetroPad buttons instead.

Port 2 is a plain Atari 5200 joystick. The Controller Hacks option maps player 2 to player 1's right stick for the dual-stick games (Robotron: 2084, Space Dungeon), or swaps the ports for Wizard of Wor.

Joypad

RetroPad Inputs OSD Keypad Direct Keypad Buttons
Joystick up (digital) Joystick up (digital)
Joystick down (digital) Joystick down (digital)
Joystick left (digital) Joystick left (digital)
Joystick right (digital) Joystick right (digital)
Fire 1 / select key on the keypad Fire 1
Fire 2 Fire 2
Keypad # Keypad #
Keypad * Keypad *
Keypad 0 Keypad 0
Keypad 1 Keypad 1
Keypad 5 Keypad 5
Show/hide on-screen keypad Keypad 9
Keypad 3 Keypad 3
Keypad 7 Keypad 7
Pause Pause
Start Start
Joystick (analog) Joystick (analog)
Keypad 1-9 Keypad 4/6 (X), 2/8 (Y)

Other Atari 5200 cores