With all the hundreds of millions of dollars Atari must have been making with their NFTs, it’s weird that the company now bearing that name even feels the need to dabble in electronics, but here they go — again.
A few years back, the company now known as Atari surprised me (and, I suspect, many others) by actually shipping their long-promised retro VCS console. The final product looked super nice, updating the plastic and wood look of the original console from back in the 1970s with some modern styling. Inside was a Linux-based computer with a custom user interface, and it came packed with emulator software that could play original Atari 2600 games. It also could run any other game that could be run under Linux, and Atari contracted with developers for some new games based on the old classics to add value to the system.
I was tempted, but I have enough computers in my life at the moment and very little desk space. Just looking around, I have two desktops, my work laptop and a PlayStation 3. On a rack next to me is a PlayStation 5. On a small table next to my desk is a Sega Saturn. Behind my monitor is an Analogue NT+ and a Switch and two KVM switches to manage the mess.
I have enough stuff on my desk, is what I’m saying here. For a system that won’t play any of the actual Atari 2600 cartridges I have hauled through time from the 80s, it doesn’t bring joy to my life.
Today, since I had long ago gotten on their mailing list by expressing interest in the VCS, they sent me this e-mail about their new (old) console, the Atari 2600+.
Enjoy your favorite 2600 and 7800 games on the Atari 2600+!
Over 30 years in the making, this all new Atari system pulls double cartridge duty and is fully equipped with HDMI and widescreen mode for connectivity to modern TVs.
Jump right in with the included CX40+ Joystick and a 10-in-1 game cartridge that features some of Atari’s most famous games like Adventure®, Missile Command®, Yars’ Revenge®, and more.
Okay, now that was intriguing. I could plug in all my cartridges (including my absolute favorite, River Raid). I could explore the Atari 7800 games I never played because when that console came out, I had an actual Atari 800 computer and was playing that. I mean, I can explore those things already in emulators, but…
Hold on. Is this just an emulator?
Well… it makes sense, when you think about it. The original Atari 2600 was intimately tied to the technology of CRT-based televisions, a tech almost nobody has in their homes anymore. Emulation lets them connect to HDMI and then on to modern monitors and TVs.
The hardware does add value. As well as emulating the Atari 7800 (which also supported the Atari 2600 carts), it supports joysticks and paddles that could be attached to the original hardware, although I am not sure if the original controllers would work with the modern hardware. They might, I just don’t know.
The price is $130, which is cheaper than the original console was in 1970s dollars. The original price of $189.95 in 1977 would be equivalent to $920 in 2022 dollars. I saved up a long time for mine.
There are other consoles that can also take these cartridges, but they don’t have an Atari logo that lights up when you play, I don’t think.
When I got this e-mail, I had a moment where I wanted this console, even though I really don’t have space for it, and I have every 2600 game downloaded to my PC. But then it happened, like it always does when I think of the Atari 2600. My hands started to cramp up. I remembered just how painful playing that console was. I… I can’t do it to myself again. I just can’t.
And anyway, this weekend is Retro World Expo in Hartford. Maybe I’ll find that Vectrex I’ve been thinking of.
I have no idea whatsoever where I would put it, though.
