I only ever managed to make it work with a 2015 MESS core i still keep around. But even so, it’s not good enough. MESS doesn’t emulate the 5200 properly, there are a lot of problems and in some games you can’t even emulate two buttons. Which makes games like Moon Patrol unplayable.
I don’t know any other way to emulate this system in RA. And i have no idea what’s the atari800 core the above poster is talking about.
If course thank you for everyone’s reply here, I am going NUTS, I just want to play a claissc that I was addected to years ago…QIX…
I downloaded the mess_libretro.dll and dropped it in the CORES folder, roms didn’t work (is ther more setup than that for cores ?). I think there was a problem with the BIOS as I have understood that 5200 rons require a BIOS to run but, I am not an expert here, to be honest this is the first time i tried to run 5200 rom.
Looks good (crossing fingers)if it works like it should. Do I just need to download it and install it or do I need to just go into RetroARch and update it, then try it ?
IS there any bios to deal with ? I didn’t see anything on the site above.
To all, I did a search on running 5200 games but, I did’t come into anything on here. Is there a thread I should look at ?
Where can I download this ? I checked in RetroArch, I didn’t see it listed in the cores to update ?
I didn’t know about atari800 core, that’s cool
I run it with MAME core
I done a guide for Hyperspin Android but everything is the same afaik for other platforms
Just need the roms bios and hash files in the right place
I found the Atari800 CORE… atari800_libretro.dll, I really want to avoid MESS if I could, I have heard nothing but problems with 5200 games…
And the link here…
http://dl.free.fr/getfile.pl?file=/2wzBjKjP
Dropped it into RetroArches CORE folder, went into RetrArch, Load Core and it shows Atari800 3.1.0
Is there any docs how to set this up with RetroArch and does it need the bios ?
If it NEEDs the bios how do you set it up so I can run 5200 games (a52 or bin files)
It exactly like the official atari800 core. From my memory can check later .Hit esc or f1 i thinks. Then go to system/find system rom and choose the folder that contain the bios.returnto main settings and save setting. Restart core. Rom/ bin should boot.
Ok, thanks, I’ll try it AS soon as I get home from work… Maybe some QIX is in my future ! Been looking forward to this one for a while.
If you think of anything else I need to do, please let me know, I have been battling this one for a while and would love it just to work !
Thanks, that is the same version I found above.
If you can think of anything else on setting up the BIOS in RetroArch, let me know, or is it just setting up the Directory > System/BIOS when in the core ?
I build it today from my github so it can t be the same : )
confusing… got to the point to find the system rom, can now load load game from Load Content menu of retroarch. but keeps coming back to test mode. went into Run Atari program, and it wont allow changing to previous directory, awaiting better integration of this to in retroarch/libretro…
I will look at later
Looking over the files, they have not been updated in over a year 
but, I will update the file I dropped into RetroArch cores folder already (teamviewer is awesome)
Thank you so much ! So Excited to play 5200 again… One of my all time fav Atari systems
Thanks for the links, i’ll try this later on
If you look at the commit ,in my github,the libretro one is only a fork of it. i fix windows build today.
For the folder pb, before i lookat, you can also use an atari800.cfg to setup the rom but it not as simple as the builtin gui. I have no windows to test for now. But i bet wine can do the job.
I can test it for you if you want. I am runnning WIndows 7 x64 that I am using it on…
I am using Emulation Station for my front end. So I am looking for something so I can run the roms via that.
What do you mean by the atari800.cfg ? Do you have an example so I can see the formatting ? Do I need to do that for each game ?
I forgot to define dir separator for win so now it shoud allow to browse outside the current dir.
i cross compile a win build with the last commit here
awaiting better integration of this to in retroarch/libretro…
The Atari 800 core works?
This golden nugget of info may have just made my night. One of those few systems I haven’t gotten working.
The closest thing in the MAME/“MESS” core I got working was the GX4000 but the screen was all tiny as hell. lol
Ho, i forgot to add the A5200 key this version should handle them.
for the few test i have done , i’m not familiar with A5200 as i use this core for a800 games , so when i start an 5200 game (in my case QIX (1982) (Atari) [b2].bin a 32K cartridge) screen is black , i have to hit a key ,then menu ask me for the format of cartridge , if i choose 2chip 16k 5200 cartridge then the title screen of the game appear . i have to hit F4 to start game.