One of the best controllers of all-time hands down is the Atari 2600 joystick. If you think it’s terrible then you either haven’t played many Atari 2600 games or you must have used one really badly worn out and crap joystick back in the day.
I'm enjoying this thing. If you already have a bunch of carts, it's a must-own. Be prepared to clean the contacts on any of the carts that have thin PCBs, particularly Activision. That this plays 7800 titles is a huge bonus.
Man right in the nostalgia!!! If I was a collector this would be my go to for playing Atari games to keep my “real” 2600 in working condition so the kids don’t kill it 😊
You are the only reviewer (I've seen so far) who prefers the 16:9 aspect ratio. And I thought I was the weird one... One other thing you may want to consider when cleaning carts with an alcohol swab. I just tried to load my Keystone Kapers and the damn thing refused to load. After some alcohol swabbing still no loading. Then I resorted to taking apart the cart and using an ink eraser on the contacts. I reassembled with a prayer and plugged that s.o.b. in and it worked!!! Anyway, great video and I'll seeya on the next one, Bill!!!
I cleaned every one of my 50 plus original 2600 cartridges. No problem 99% of the time. But… If you have a problem, and I got into the habit of doing this… Power off the 2600+, remove cartridge and replace with new one, power on, and try it from there. Don’t switch cartridges with the power on, because it’s still reading your first game’s RAM and crashes with the next cartridge you put in.
"Who asked for this thing?" I did. I've been asking for years. Because it's not like an NES mini or a Sega Genesis mini. Those have preloaded games on them. The Atari Flashback is like those because it has preloaded games and has cheap wireless joysticks that aren't Bluetooth so they need line of sight to work. This new 2600+ actually plays the original cartridges, and not pre-loaded rom files. So you aren't limited by current property licenses. This is so much better than the minis.
When being chased by the Scientist or FBI Agent in E.T., use the button to run faster. Watching you try to escape using E.T.'s walking speed was killing me.
This is this a really cool piece of hardware for people who might want to get into retro Atari gaming, but don't want to hunt down a CRT for the original hardware. I have a soft spot for the 2600 as it was one of my dads consoles he shared with me and my brother. We played Kaboom and Pitfall together, which I look back on fondly. So this has been a must buy for me and they even released some brand new cartridges as well on their shop. Mr Run and Jump was a really good homebrew game that they made official and reprinted an enhanced version of Berzerk after their purchase of the IP. Atari will probably never be at the top again or even sniff the top, but a tight, niche community could be born from this.
Great job on the vid. I recognize the store, and as it turns out, I ended up having a convo about you with one of the employees of the store. I bought some Atari stuff and he mentioned how you were coming in to the store and that you'd be doing a video on this. He didn't mention you or your channel by name, just that a youtuber was coming in to do a vid, and now I stumble upon your channel and this vid and the pieces all fall into place.
Bring on the 5200+ as a mini. Moreso- I would love a retro style but modernized sleeker 600XL+ with working keyboard, not a mini console. Build Pico 8 in and maybe add inthe originsl Atari basic. I suggest the 600XL case because its smaller and us hard core retro nerds could also use it and a main PC keyboard (make it Bluetooth capable with up to 3 devices, and keyboard replaceable switches, backlit double shot like the RK84). I'd pay $249-299 for it as described. Offer an Epyx Ergo stick ($29) that works on the 2600+ and 5200+. Also offer a retro full size trackball ($49) and weighted spinner ($29). The price has to be higher than we want because there a lit of plastic tooling and a quality keyboard. The trackball and the spinner needs some weighted heft to not slide all over when in use so extra costs on those. The brains of the 5200+ and 600XL+ would be the same (think product family like the originsl 8 bit era) but the 600XL+ is game programmer minded dev focused unit with keyboard and Pico 8. Consider the pair mini and pro. The 600XL could serve as the replacement for the VCS (fresh start playing to the buyer's emotional nostalgii vibes, and currtent Pico 8 growing trend), and tieing into the existing Atari store and offering compatibility with the VCS games. Hire me Atari, heh
I bought mine a few days ago. I'm a little bummed out that it only came with one controller considering there's multiplayer games on the 10 in 1 cartridge, but I'm still enjoying it. I might even try checking out some of the local game stores for more games one of these days.
_Translator:_ The price is not small, but if you take everything into account, that is: - joystick - cartridge - beautiful looking console - possibility of using original cartridges - possibility of connecting Paddle the price seems justified. If we wanted to use Paddle on a PC and an emulator, for example, we would have to spend a considerable amount of money on an adapter. And the Atari 2600+ has two controller slots. The joystick also costs a bit.
This is pretty cool, but the Analogue systems do this pretty well too for SNES, Genesis, and a bunch of handhelds. Also, they have the Duo shipping which is for PC engine/turbo graphix. And then next year, it'll be Nintendo 64. Analogue is a company that does this well, but their hardware stays on sale for a short time and then its never to be seen again. I wish i got my hands on the NES one. I want the Duo system, which i might circle back to, but i don't have any games for it and most of them so far, i've been able to emulate on my Analogue Pocket and dock it to my TV without issues.
The 2600 was my family's first game system. I think we got it in like 1980. I remember going to Toy r Us and getting the "Limited" Edition of the M*A*S*H game that came with a T-Shirt for my Dad. I loved a lot of the Activision or off brand games like Keystone Capers, Fast Freddie, Megamania, River Raid, and the like. I remember playing lots of Adventure, Superman, and yes even E.T.. I no longer have any cartridges but this makes me want to get them again even if I can play them in EmuDeck on my LCD SteamDeck (64gb upgraded to 1TB). Thanks for the nostalgia!
This was the machine the entire comment section was asking for every time Atari came out with a new flashback console. But now, everyone demands FPGA or nothing. It's a never-ending dance.
I recently hooked my modded Atari 2600 with composite video out, via a retro scaler 2x, to my 55" flatscreen TV to play with my teenage kids on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Joust was our favorite that afternoon, Missile Command came in second. These games might be bare bones, but the simple gameplay loop, gets you hooked in no time! "Just one more time...!" I really like what Atari - or the people that own the brand - did, but IMHO it's too expensive. If it was somewhere between €75 - €90 for the basic set, I would have bought one.
If you’re looking to build out an Atari 2600 game collection in very good to excellent condition like clean front label clean end label and with the manuals, you’re looking at $15 -$30 a piece.
This is way coo... i still have my 2600 and games... river raid was one of my favs and superman and warlord with friends over.... First time you get the hold the ball and talk crap to your friends and then try to destroy there castle.
When I was young I loved this console and I don't know why I put so many hours into it other than I had it all to myself. I remember putting the most time into Adventure, Yars Revenge, Starmaster, and Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back. Today I'd say some of the best ones to play other than just for nostalgia (That I don't think you mentioned) are Jungle Hunt, Fathom, Frostbite, and Seaquest.
as a 7800 fan, I'm amazed more people aren't ripped about the lack of dual-button controller support! I tried it with a 2-button controller and both buttons just behave like the 2600 single-button. So to sell it as a console that plays 2600 and 7800 games is disingenuous, since you need both buttons for a lot of the games
Ok. Brought up some really good points. But I think you are wrong on one thing. Could be an outlier maybe not. I have a 7 yr old. He plays the 2600 more than his PS4. I kinda had to get him his own for Christmas so I can have mine back. He's learned that graphics don't need to be "pretty" to have fun. As far as price point goes, I actually don't think that's bad. That's literally the price of one game these days. You can say $70 is but in reality it's more like $120+. Mortal Kombat one to actually have a complete and I mean complete game is about $130 (to have the extra characters, finishers). Here you essentially have a new (old) console and you can get ALOT of games on the cheap . I've got about 36 games since this came out (and keystone capers!) And if you take the average of them I paid roughly 2.60 each. Btw, the kid is a Demon Attack fan 😂 Like I said though, I totally get what you're saying but I think we can't pass judgement until sales figures come out. We know it's not going to even come close to numbers of the big 3 but if the numbers are good enough we might see more good things coming from Atari. And last thing, the joystick (minus the stiffness) is great. A stick and a button. No complicated button configurations to know. Just one button. I think the simplicity will also encourage new fans to give this a shot as well But that's just my 2 cents. Great video and keep up good work
I did not expect rural to be followed by a 20 minute drive. Rural you may or may not be, but far from remote. Under thirty minutes is fine, it's even good for your vehicle to drive that at least twice a month. I probably wouldn't have commented if you'd said at least an hour. Which, ideally things would be within at least a 60 minute unassisted cycling ride, but I don't think that's your thing. I live in a city. It's twenty minutes just to go across it. 13 minutes (15-20) meets a table top arcade seller. It's 29 minutes a horrible route to a more dangerous city or 31 to overpriced retro, in another city. They're are some places if I want to shop there are 49 miles, 57 minutes or an hour eleven minutes, with good traffic away. The nearest place where I'd prefer to be is 42-47 miles away or one and a half hours. I don't get out there once a week over a month 😪
Unfortunately the 2600+ won't play 5400 games. 7800 yes though. It's a nice idea. We have a ton of retro game shops here... I'm currently using a retron 77..but I'm planning to get a 7800+ to use 7800 + games.
Hah, my first console as well and the games as you said were mostly crap but seemed great to me at the time. Adventure has really stayed with me over the years for some reason and it was really just a block you moved around and attached random things to which you then had to figure out what to do with. That joystick was a hand cramp demon and total agony. I'm not sure if I still have my original 2600 or not as it could be in a box somewhere with the moves since then. But the 2600 led onto the ZX spectrum, C64, C128D, Amiga A500, a 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium III, Conroe etc up to the 7950X3d and 7900XTX I have today. So that little 2600 sparked something in me that has cost me a shitload of money over the years. Hmmmm, thinking about it I might instigate legal proceedings LOL
I love the idea of this but I already have two of the Atari Flashback units and none of my original cartridges so $130 is hard to justify especially with the convenience of emulation on the Steam Deck.
Cosmic Ark has a "strange shape" since all iMagic Atari games were that style of cartridge casing. It's one of the things that set them apart (I think iMagic employees were people that left both Atari and Activision to form their own company). Anyways I gotta disagree with you @21:49 saying "most games are pretty terrible" - they're only terrible if you're gonna compare them to the graphics of games nowadays. When playing Atari games now it reminds me how back in the late 70's/early 80's that this was some of the best looking games out there other than the C64, ColecoVision, the arcade, etc. These games were made when gameplay was king, graphics were secondhand (not only out of necessity, but technically as well).
Great video.... and you nailed it. I have old school stuff, but i just like atari and ill throw some cash at an easy "new" way to play. This item is for guys like me..... people like me who love atari and have a bin full of cartridges.
As a collector .130 bucks aint that bad ..it was probably 100 bucks dues to inflation ...but the fact that u can use the games is what sells this as a old school guy... You can get it for an old loved one in the fam.
atari 2600 (probably a clone of it) was the first console I've played. But I am not very nostalgic about it. The games werent great to my taste. I remember the first time ive payed to the NES, that really shock me lol!
Who asked for this? You are apparently unfamiliar with the Atari community.. 😅. You should check out the homebrew scene... It's quite impressive... Hell even Ed Fries of Xbox fame put out Halo 2600 for the system
Atari 2600+ ➡ amzn.to/47EtOsJ
miyoo Mini Plus+ ➡ amzn.to/3N8GShL
One of the best controllers of all-time hands down is the Atari 2600 joystick. If you think it’s terrible then you either haven’t played many Atari 2600 games or you must have used one really badly worn out and crap joystick back in the day.
I'm enjoying this thing. If you already have a bunch of carts, it's a must-own. Be prepared to clean the contacts on any of the carts that have thin PCBs, particularly Activision. That this plays 7800 titles is a huge bonus.
One of the first games I ever played was pitfall. one of those few 2600 games that still hold up even today.
Same that tarzan sound will forever be in my memory.
Gosh I love this video. Awesome to see you hunting down the hardware.
Man right in the nostalgia!!! If I was a collector this would be my go to for playing Atari games to keep my “real” 2600 in working condition so the kids don’t kill it 😊
Why did they put the very few to nobody would use B&W/Color Switch on the front and the frequently used Difficulty switches on the back?
You are the only reviewer (I've seen so far) who prefers the 16:9 aspect ratio. And I thought I was the weird one... One other thing you may want to consider when cleaning carts with an alcohol swab. I just tried to load my Keystone Kapers and the damn thing refused to load. After some alcohol swabbing still no loading. Then I resorted to taking apart the cart and using an ink eraser on the contacts. I reassembled with a prayer and plugged that s.o.b. in and it worked!!! Anyway, great video and I'll seeya on the next one, Bill!!!
I cleaned every one of my 50 plus original 2600 cartridges. No problem 99% of the time.
But…
If you have a problem, and I got into the habit of doing this…
Power off the 2600+, remove cartridge and replace with new one, power on, and try it from there.
Don’t switch cartridges with the power on, because it’s still reading your first game’s RAM and crashes with the next cartridge you put in.
"Who asked for this thing?"
I did. I've been asking for years. Because it's not like an NES mini or a Sega Genesis mini. Those have preloaded games on them. The Atari Flashback is like those because it has preloaded games and has cheap wireless joysticks that aren't Bluetooth so they need line of sight to work.
This new 2600+ actually plays the original cartridges, and not pre-loaded rom files. So you aren't limited by current property licenses. This is so much better than the minis.
I asked for it too!!!
I think they need to bring back the Atari 5200 the controller on that system was one of a kind.
They're making a 5200 controller for this device
When being chased by the Scientist or FBI Agent in E.T., use the button to run faster. Watching you try to escape using E.T.'s walking speed was killing me.
This is this a really cool piece of hardware for people who might want to get into retro Atari gaming, but don't want to hunt down a CRT for the original hardware. I have a soft spot for the 2600 as it was one of my dads consoles he shared with me and my brother. We played Kaboom and Pitfall together, which I look back on fondly. So this has been a must buy for me and they even released some brand new cartridges as well on their shop. Mr Run and Jump was a really good homebrew game that they made official and reprinted an enhanced version of Berzerk after their purchase of the IP. Atari will probably never be at the top again or even sniff the top, but a tight, niche community could be born from this.
My wife and I both still have our old 2600s. We've both got Cosmic Ark.
Oh wow. This brings back some memories. Used to play Yars Revenge for hours.
Great job on the vid.
I recognize the store, and as it turns out, I ended up having a convo about you with one of the employees of the store. I bought some Atari stuff and he mentioned how you were coming in to the store and that you'd be doing a video on this. He didn't mention you or your channel by name, just that a youtuber was coming in to do a vid, and now I stumble upon your channel and this vid and the pieces all fall into place.
Small world.
Bring on the 5200+ as a mini.
Moreso- I would love a retro style but modernized sleeker 600XL+ with working keyboard, not a mini console. Build Pico 8 in and maybe add inthe originsl Atari basic.
I suggest the 600XL case because its smaller and us hard core retro nerds could also use it and a main PC keyboard (make it Bluetooth capable with up to 3 devices, and keyboard replaceable switches, backlit double shot like the RK84). I'd pay $249-299 for it as described. Offer an Epyx Ergo stick ($29) that works on the 2600+ and 5200+. Also offer a retro full size trackball ($49) and weighted spinner ($29). The price has to be higher than we want because there a lit of plastic tooling and a quality keyboard. The trackball and the spinner needs some weighted heft to not slide all over when in use so extra costs on those.
The brains of the 5200+ and 600XL+ would be the same (think product family like the originsl 8 bit era) but the 600XL+ is game programmer minded dev focused unit with keyboard and Pico 8. Consider the pair mini and pro.
The 600XL could serve as the replacement for the VCS (fresh start playing to the buyer's emotional nostalgii vibes, and currtent Pico 8 growing trend), and tieing into the existing Atari store and offering compatibility with the VCS games.
Hire me Atari, heh
most manuals are available online at atari age
I bought mine a few days ago. I'm a little bummed out that it only came with one controller considering there's multiplayer games on the 10 in 1 cartridge, but I'm still enjoying it. I might even try checking out some of the local game stores for more games one of these days.
_Translator:_
The price is not small, but if you take everything into account, that is:
- joystick
- cartridge
- beautiful looking console
- possibility of using original cartridges
- possibility of connecting Paddle
the price seems justified. If we wanted to use Paddle on a PC and an emulator, for example, we would have to spend a considerable amount of money on an adapter. And the Atari 2600+ has two controller slots. The joystick also costs a bit.
This is pretty cool, but the Analogue systems do this pretty well too for SNES, Genesis, and a bunch of handhelds. Also, they have the Duo shipping which is for PC engine/turbo graphix. And then next year, it'll be Nintendo 64. Analogue is a company that does this well, but their hardware stays on sale for a short time and then its never to be seen again. I wish i got my hands on the NES one. I want the Duo system, which i might circle back to, but i don't have any games for it and most of them so far, i've been able to emulate on my Analogue Pocket and dock it to my TV without issues.
The 2600 was my family's first game system. I think we got it in like 1980. I remember going to Toy r Us and getting the "Limited" Edition of the M*A*S*H game that came with a T-Shirt for my Dad. I loved a lot of the Activision or off brand games like Keystone Capers, Fast Freddie, Megamania, River Raid, and the like. I remember playing lots of Adventure, Superman, and yes even E.T.. I no longer have any cartridges but this makes me want to get them again even if I can play them in EmuDeck on my LCD SteamDeck (64gb upgraded to 1TB). Thanks for the nostalgia!
This was the machine the entire comment section was asking for every time Atari came out with a new flashback console. But now, everyone demands FPGA or nothing. It's a never-ending dance.
I was raised on the 2600. It's very tempting to me, but I worry that I would get bored of it very quickly.
I recently hooked my modded Atari 2600 with composite video out, via a retro scaler 2x, to my 55" flatscreen TV to play with my teenage kids on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Joust was our favorite that afternoon, Missile Command came in second. These games might be bare bones, but the simple gameplay loop, gets you hooked in no time! "Just one more time...!"
I really like what Atari - or the people that own the brand - did, but IMHO it's too expensive. If it was somewhere between €75 - €90 for the basic set, I would have bought one.
If you’re looking to build out an Atari 2600 game collection in very good to excellent condition like clean front label clean end label and with the manuals, you’re looking at $15 -$30 a piece.
I wish they made a Colecovision like this.
There is a colecovision like this.
Colecovision Flashback.
This is way coo... i still have my 2600 and games... river raid was one of my favs and superman and warlord with friends over.... First time you get the hold the ball and talk crap to your friends and then try to destroy there castle.
When I was young I loved this console and I don't know why I put so many hours into it other than I had it all to myself. I remember putting the most time into Adventure, Yars Revenge, Starmaster, and Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back. Today I'd say some of the best ones to play other than just for nostalgia (That I don't think you mentioned) are Jungle Hunt, Fathom, Frostbite, and Seaquest.
as a 7800 fan, I'm amazed more people aren't ripped about the lack of dual-button controller support! I tried it with a 2-button controller and both buttons just behave like the 2600 single-button. So to sell it as a console that plays 2600 and 7800 games is disingenuous, since you need both buttons for a lot of the games
The only complaint I have is that they haven’t made a new 7800-compatible controller, so most 7800 games can’t actually be played.
Ok. Brought up some really good points. But I think you are wrong on one thing. Could be an outlier maybe not. I have a 7 yr old. He plays the 2600 more than his PS4. I kinda had to get him his own for Christmas so I can have mine back. He's learned that graphics don't need to be "pretty" to have fun.
As far as price point goes, I actually don't think that's bad. That's literally the price of one game these days. You can say $70 is but in reality it's more like $120+. Mortal Kombat one to actually have a complete and I mean complete game is about $130 (to have the extra characters, finishers). Here you essentially have a new (old) console and you can get ALOT of games on the cheap . I've got about 36 games since this came out (and keystone capers!) And if you take the average of them I paid roughly 2.60 each. Btw, the kid is a Demon Attack fan 😂
Like I said though, I totally get what you're saying but I think we can't pass judgement until sales figures come out. We know it's not going to even come close to numbers of the big 3 but if the numbers are good enough we might see more good things coming from Atari.
And last thing, the joystick (minus the stiffness) is great. A stick and a button. No complicated button configurations to know. Just one button. I think the simplicity will also encourage new fans to give this a shot as well
But that's just my 2 cents. Great video and keep up good work
Keystone Kapers is my favorite 2600 game easily. Most 2600 games don't hold up but this one does. Oh and beat 'em and eat 'em of course
Waaaaay before my time, but I'm glad it exists for the generation of gamers who came before me
No one asked for this!? Are you KIDDING!?
Older gamers, and others, have been BEGGING for this for years.
I’ve never seen ET look so good, lol
I did not expect rural to be followed by a 20 minute drive. Rural you may or may not be, but far from remote. Under thirty minutes is fine, it's even good for your vehicle to drive that at least twice a month. I probably wouldn't have commented if you'd said at least an hour. Which, ideally things would be within at least a 60 minute unassisted cycling ride, but I don't think that's your thing.
I live in a city. It's twenty minutes just to go across it. 13 minutes (15-20) meets a table top arcade seller. It's 29 minutes a horrible route to a more dangerous city or 31 to overpriced retro, in another city. They're are some places if I want to shop there are 49 miles, 57 minutes or an hour eleven minutes, with good traffic away.
The nearest place where I'd prefer to be is 42-47 miles away or one and a half hours. I don't get out there once a week over a month 😪
Man, the nostalgia FOMO is killing me! I don't need it but I so want one!
Unfortunately the 2600+ won't play 5400 games.
7800 yes though.
It's a nice idea.
We have a ton of retro game shops here...
I'm currently using a retron 77..but I'm planning to get a 7800+ to use 7800 + games.
I asked for this for literally 20 years.
I believe a Sega Genesis controller is compatible with the Atari 2600, so you might want to try using that if you have one.
Hah, my first console as well and the games as you said were mostly crap but seemed great to me at the time. Adventure has really stayed with me over the years for some reason and it was really just a block you moved around and attached random things to which you then had to figure out what to do with. That joystick was a hand cramp demon and total agony. I'm not sure if I still have my original 2600 or not as it could be in a box somewhere with the moves since then. But the 2600 led onto the ZX spectrum, C64, C128D, Amiga A500, a 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium III, Conroe etc up to the 7950X3d and 7900XTX I have today. So that little 2600 sparked something in me that has cost me a shitload of money over the years. Hmmmm, thinking about it I might instigate legal proceedings LOL
I love the idea of this but I already have two of the Atari Flashback units and none of my original cartridges so $130 is hard to justify especially with the convenience of emulation on the Steam Deck.
Cosmic Ark has a "strange shape" since all iMagic Atari games were that style of cartridge casing. It's one of the things that set them apart (I think iMagic employees were people that left both Atari and Activision to form their own company).
Anyways I gotta disagree with you @21:49 saying "most games are pretty terrible" - they're only terrible if you're gonna compare them to the graphics of games nowadays. When playing Atari games now it reminds me how back in the late 70's/early 80's that this was some of the best looking games out there other than the C64, ColecoVision, the arcade, etc. These games were made when gameplay was king, graphics were secondhand (not only out of necessity, but technically as well).
Great video.... and you nailed it. I have old school stuff, but i just like atari and ill throw some cash at an easy "new" way to play. This item is for guys like me..... people like me who love atari and have a bin full of cartridges.
As a collector .130 bucks aint that bad ..it was probably 100 bucks dues to inflation ...but the fact that u can use the games is what sells this as a old school guy... You can get it for an old loved one in the fam.
2600+ can play 7800 games. The 5200 is too wide to fit in the 2600.
I’d be a lot more interested if it actually played the carts instead of just being a rom dumper/emulator.
KraCk A Tow? Karateka Care Ah Teck Ah :D Karate And Tech Ah?
Yep, I really screwed that up haha.
It does not play Pitfall II and I prefer an old Atari with AV modification.
Much cheaper and plays everything on original hardware.
atari 2600 (probably a clone of it) was the first console I've played. But I am not very nostalgic about it. The games werent great to my taste. I remember the first time ive payed to the NES, that really shock me lol!
What's an Atari five thousand four hundred?
Look like small that the 80´original console. doesn't it?
20 minutes to a city is suburbia, not rural living.
A city. Haha.
You bought a 2600+, and didn’t even know it only takes 2600 and 7800?
Not “5400?”
This was hysterical, dude!
Who asked for this? You are apparently unfamiliar with the Atari community.. 😅. You should check out the homebrew scene... It's quite impressive... Hell even Ed Fries of Xbox fame put out Halo 2600 for the system
Cracketaow
Hahaha.
You must not have any fun playing Atari 2600 games to say that most games are bad???
I asked for it. 😁