Uploaded July 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In June 2011, Atari finally decided to go with a different approach and contracted another company, AtGames, to develop the next Flashback model. The Flashback 3 featured 60 games and a limited-edition poster. It was originally shown with a box that touted support of an SD card for loading games (much like a Harmony cart), but that feature was soon dropped, and the system was released without it. AtGames have been around since 2001 and they have a reputable and successful track record. For the Flashback 3, they decided to ditch the expensive and flawed all-in-1 chip approach and turned to an ARM-based processor running an emulator.
The system was redesigned so that the controller ports were now on the front of the system. The same problems with them (being upside-down and too large for any controller but Flashback joysticks) exist. The internal pcb is much smaller now.
One noticeable difference with this model is the TV Type switch was removed. As such, Secret Quest is now unplayable since you aren't able to access the status screen to change active objects or see the re-entry code (to save and continue games). Nice lack of Q&A testing there, AtGames. Guess they forgot Secret Quest was on the FB 2/2+, which included a TV Type switch (this is a problem AtGames wouldn't correct until FB7!). Both the system, joysticks, and packaging now feature the original Atari logo. The control panel no longer has a cheap sticker with the text; instead, all the text is raised and molded into the plastic, including the logo. The raised outline around the control panel now has rounded corners at the top. The joysticks with this model have a looser feel to them (think Atari's original CX10 joysticks, compared to the more-common CX40), but otherwise are the same, flawed controllers from the FB2/2+. The sub-category menus were dropped for a simple, alphabetized one across 6 pages. Pressing both Start and Select will bring you to the menu - gee, why didn't the previous models offer a simple solution like that? Once again, not all the games are originals or ones that "defined a generation" as the box claims, since several unreleased prototypes and one hack are included. But as you can see, there are only half as many.
Some of the games included or omitted are questionable. 3 different baseball games are included, but only 1 of 3 football games. EarthWorld and FireWorld are included, but not WaterWorld. All but 2 (Football and Tennis) are included, but one of them (Basketball) was an unreleased prototype). The manual includes the briefest of descriptions for each game (1 or 2 sentences), and a few title typos have crept in (Ex: Combat Two is spelled accurately onscreen, but as "Combat 2" in the manual). The poster shows 153 screenshots of different games, with 2 or more of the same game. One of them (Frog Pond) shows the title screen from an earlier prototype version, which was actually included with the previous FB2/2+, instead of the final version).
The custom emulator also isn't as accurate as Stella or even Z26, and has its share of issues, though none of them are bad enough to render games unplayable. Some of the sounds are too high (in pitch) or just wrong (such as the Swirl flying in Yars' Revenge), and there seems to be some frame rate issues which cause some blurriness (ex: the music in Haunted House, the cursor in Missile Command, or the Yar in Yars' Revenge). There's also some major issues with Battlezone - particularly with the radar screen having broken graphics (the exact same issue the FB2 and 2+ have!) and not showing all the enemies accurately or at all. A small dot also occasionally appears above you. There's also some slight graphics glitches with Missile Command (the ground isn't completely flat). The flashing colors that denoted when the VCS was thinking (with games like Maze Craze, Video Checkers, and Video Chess) are gone. Maze Craze shows a gray bar across the bottom of the screen when thinking, and the screen colors are wrong. Still, compared to all the issues with the FB2/2+, these aren't that bad, and besides the paddle games (which have been altered to use joysticks), Battlezone is the only other borderline unplayable game.
In June 2011, Atari finally decided to go with a different approach and contracted another company, AtGames, to develop the next Flashback model. The Flashback 3 featured 60 games and a limited-edition poster. It was originally shown with a box that touted support of an SD card for loading games (much like a Harmony cart), but that feature was soon dropped, and the system was released without it. AtGames have been around since 2001 and they have a reputable and successful track record. For the Flashback 3, they decided to ditch the expensive and flawed all-in-1 chip approach and turned to an ARM-based processor running an emulator.
The system was redesigned so that the controller ports were now on the front of the system. The same problems with them (being upside-down and too large for any controller but Flashback joysticks) exist. The internal pcb is much smaller now.
One noticeable difference with this model is the TV Type switch was removed. As such, Secret Quest is now unplayable since you aren't able to access the status screen to change active objects or see the re-entry code (to save and continue games). Nice lack of Q&A testing there, AtGames. Guess they forgot Secret Quest was on the FB 2/2+, which included a TV Type switch (this is a problem AtGames wouldn't correct until FB7!). Both the system, joysticks, and packaging now feature the original Atari logo. The control panel no longer has a cheap sticker with the text; instead, all the text is raised and molded into the plastic, including the logo. The raised outline around the control panel now has rounded corners at the top. The joysticks with this model have a looser feel to them (think Atari's original CX10 joysticks, compared to the more-common CX40), but otherwise are the same, flawed controllers from the FB2/2+. The sub-category menus were dropped for a simple, alphabetized one across 6 pages. Pressing both Start and Select will bring you to the menu - gee, why didn't the previous models offer a simple solution like that? Once again, not all the games are originals or ones that "defined a generation" as the box claims, since several unreleased prototypes and one hack are included. But as you can see, there are only half as many.
Some of the games included or omitted are questionable. 3 different baseball games are included, but only 1 of 3 football games. EarthWorld and FireWorld are included, but not WaterWorld. All but 2 (Football and Tennis) are included, but one of them (Basketball) was an unreleased prototype). The manual includes the briefest of descriptions for each game (1 or 2 sentences), and a few title typos have crept in (Ex: Combat Two is spelled accurately onscreen, but as "Combat 2" in the manual). The poster shows 153 screenshots of different games, with 2 or more of the same game. One of them (Frog Pond) shows the title screen from an earlier prototype version, which was actually included with the previous FB2/2+, instead of the final version).
The custom emulator also isn't as accurate as Stella or even Z26, and has its share of issues, though none of them are bad enough to render games unplayable. Some of the sounds are too high (in pitch) or just wrong (such as the Swirl flying in Yars' Revenge), and there seems to be some frame rate issues which cause some blurriness (ex: the music in Haunted House, the cursor in Missile Command, or the Yar in Yars' Revenge). There's also some major issues with Battlezone - particularly with the radar screen having broken graphics (the exact same issue the FB2 and 2+ have!) and not showing all the enemies accurately or at all. A small dot also occasionally appears above you. There's also some slight graphics glitches with Missile Command (the ground isn't completely flat). The flashing colors that denoted when the VCS was thinking (with games like Maze Craze, Video Checkers, and Video Chess) are gone. Maze Craze shows a gray bar across the bottom of the screen when thinking, and the screen colors are wrong. Still, compared to all the issues with the FB2/2+, these aren't that bad, and besides the paddle games (which have been altered to use joysticks), Battlezone is the only other borderline unplayable game.
