Atari 2600+ review – replica console comes close to absolute authenticity
No cartridge is left behind in Atari’s latest nostalgia play, which is well made and intentioned but ultimately limited in its broad appeal.
The mini console market was absolutely booming up until a few years ago, with the likes of Nintendo, Sega and even PlayStation all offering players a way to play each respective system’s hits with better ease of use via HDMI compatibility. And while on the surface the Atari 2600+ can seem like a retro console redesign cut from a similar cloth, the actual product is a lot more tangible in its design, while also staying respectful to the analogue era in terms of its functionality. This isn’t just plug-in-and-play, it’s a genuine love letter to fans who grew up with Atari’s classic 8-bit machine.
Atari 2600+ Design
Design-wise, what you’re looking at is an incredibly faithful recreation of the woodgrain panel four-switch VCS model of the Atari 2600 released in 1980, also known as “Woody”. By opting for this model as opposed to the one first released in 1977, it removes clutter whilst retaining much of the sophistication families with kids felt when coming to terms with how they’d now be able to play their favourite arcade games at home. From a distance, you could be fooled that the Atari 2600+ was the original, yet it’s when looking closer you realise it’s a tad smaller – by around 20%, in fact – which keeps the unit looking neat.
All four switchers – Power, TV Type (Colour or Black), Game Select and Game Reset – have a satisfying level of tactility to them, clicking and sliding with the thuds and clunks you’d never get from home video game consoles now. This appreciation for the analogue continues when you move to the cartridge slot, which at first can seem a tad big given that this smaller redesign still needs to accept the same-sized games, but is something I quickly got used to. The cartridge slot is also far less prone to stickiness compared to the original Atari 2600 while still keeping both new and old games secure during play.
Out of the box, the Atari 2600+ comes with the Woody unit itself, a CX40+ Joystick, all the necessary cables such as an HDMI and USB-C power cable and finally a 10-in-1 modern Atari cartridge with some of the best games on the console. Because while the emphasis here is not on having a limited number of titles built-in, the multigame cartridge included saves you the hassle of needing to constantly switch out cartridges by featuring little nubs on the back; the pattern of which works as the game selects. Even when the 10-in-1 is still inserted in the console during play, altering the pattern instantly swaps you to the next intended game.
Razer Barracuda X gaming headset review: most comfortable headset I've ever used
Atari 2600+ Features
The console’s ability to play original Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges will be of chief appeal to those who have a collection of games ready and waiting to go – and is the primary way it differs from other alternative retro unit options. However, unlike the hard work companies like Analogue have put in, ensuring that any inserted game is read by an FGPA chip that dupes the console into thinking it’s the original hardware, the Atari 2600+ still applies a form of emulation. This means, for as analogue-feeling as Atari’s replica is, it’s still a kind of façade, recognising the pins of any cartridge you insert and then simply loading up the correct game file.
It's not just the original games that the Atari 2600+ supports, but accessories too. The CX40+ Joystick port is the exact same as it was on the 1977 original, you see, opening the retro machine for two-player sessions in games like Combat, Dodge ‘Em and Maze Craze – all three of which are included on the 10-in-1 cartridge. As part of the review process Atari also sent me its new CX30+ Paddle Controller Bundle too, which uses the same controller port and works perfectly for Atari games that benefit from smooth movement like Night Driver and Video Olympics.
Atari 2600+ Performance
In fairness, latency was minimal, so providing you can get past this niggle, taking an original Atari 2600 game cartridge from the 70s and popping it into a modern wide-screen TV to see it play, still feels like witnessing magic. Plus, with the release of totally new Atari 2600 games like Mr. Run and Jump launching alongside the console, the doors are open for the community to develop even more games, provided they’re approved by Atari itself. A built-in USB-C slot does indeed open up the possibility for future updates to be applied to the console to support this new software.
Despite the reliance on emulation, then, the Atari 2600+ essentially operates as an original console owner’s dream. It removes the difficulty that can come with trying to get the classic system working on a modern TV screen, supports all your original 2600 and 7800 games, all while shrinking the model down to a neater size. The harder sell, however, will be for modern players who are totally new to this era of gaming. Because while titles like Pong, Video Pinball and Bezerk hold up (believe me, I’ve tested them), a lot of Atari 2600 feel archaic by today’s standards.
Take Pacman as an example. That, alongside Asteroids, is one of the few original cartridges I was able to test while using the Atari 2600+. It looked and played absolutely fine, much better than if you were to hook it up to a CRT television and play it on the original console, in fact. However, that doesn’t prevent this version of Pacman from being easily the worst one you could play today – and not at all like its arcade counterpart. It’s for this reason that the Atari 2600+ will be an odd prospect for players born in the late 90s onwards, where the novelty of playing arcade games at home no longer exists.
Overall thoughts on the Atari 2600+
Even still, the Atari 2600+ is an incredibly faithful remix of what is easily Atari’s most famous home console, shined up and perfected to run original cartridges beautifully on modern screens. Would it have been nice for the console to legitimately read said cartridges as opposed to just emulating them once inserted? Of course.
But by giving collectors the freedom to play their existing stack of games and supporting original accessories, it swiftly becomes the best way to experience all things Atari 2600 from the comfort of your sofa. To modern players it’ll have limited appeal as a strange link to the past, but for existing enthusiasts, it’s a more authentic way to revisit console gaming’s earliest generation.
Score: 4/5
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
