Whatever the case, very few of the titles that remain genuinely playable and compelling today are included. No Pac-Man, no Space Invaders, no Pitfall!, Frogger or River Raid – either these were more difficult to source as they were produced by third-party companies, or they’re being saved for individual release later. The range of available games is also light on bona fide classics. There are also countless unofficial mini-consoles and handhelds that contain emulations of all the classic Atari titles – or you can just play many online for nothing. The build quality isn’t as good, but if you just want to jump on and play a few ancient shoot-’em-ups, it’s good value. This series has also included rare and prototype games and comes with two controllers. The latest in the officially licensed Atari Flashback series of consoles, by contrast, is available for around £80 and comes with over 100 games built in. There’s no getting away from it – this is an expensive way to relive those old days of blocky graphics and bleeping sound effects. Other games are available to buy at £25 each, and you can purchase a package containing two paddle controllers for £30 which also comes with a four-game cart featuring Breakout, Night Driver, Canyon Bomber and Video Olympics. Fans of the original will get a rush of memories with every flick of the power switch and jab at the fire button.įor just under £100 you get the machine itself, all the necessary cables (you’ll need a USB plug), plus one CX40 joystick and a 10-in-one cart featuring Combat, Missile Command, Video Pinball and other classics. You even get a reproduction of that wooden front panel. As well as two joystick ports (which allow you to plug in the original pads, if you have any that still work), the console has switches to select game difficulty, as well as reset and choose game modes, and you can opt between colour and black and white graphics – all features from the original 2600 models. Perhaps even more than the mini consoles from Sega, Sony and Nintendo, it captures the technical and aesthetic features of the original machine. Now it is back as the 2600+, in a mini format, with HDMI connectivity for modern TVs and a cartridge slot that will play not just newly manufactured carts, but most of the original 2600 and later 7800 titles. It was a machine that brought seminal arcade experiences to 30m homes around the world. Even for those of us never fortunate enough to own one, the image of it was everywhere, from Grattan catalogues and comic book adverts, to TV programmes and movies such as ET, Electric Dreams and Gremlins. From its wood veneer fascia to its chunky carts and the legendary CX40 joystick, the machine evokes the very dawn of the games industry, before Sony, Microsoft or even Nintendo arrived to dominate it all. The Atari 2600 is, for a certain generation of gamers, the most nostalgia-igniting console ever made.
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