Retro

Hands-On: Atari Gamestation Go

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Pros
✔️Large screen, HDMI out, and range of context-sensitive control. Can optimize games for 4:3 or 16:9 optimization. Can load ROMs for many classic systems via microSD card

Cons
✖️Small selection of Atari 5200 and 7800 games. No button-mapping for user-added ROMs

Score: 9️⃣ (out of 10)

Once, the Flashback consoles provided just about the only way to relive the early days of Atari videogaming. Lately, however, in addition to a range of mini remakes like the Atari 7800+ (now available in a Pac Man edition) the market has been saturated with a range of products that provide retro experiences on the go. Most of these, though, have had smaller displays and have been sold with unlicensed game files.  Previous sanctioned Atari handhelds have included AtGames’ nearly decade-old Flashback Portable (with a 2.8″ display and bundled with up to 80 games) and My Arcade’s  Pocket Player Pro (with a 2.75″ display and bundled with 100 games).

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Retro Games goes full-size 32-bit with the A1200

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Retro Games, Ltd. has won fans for its miniature recreations of classic computers like the Commodore 64, Atari 400, and Amiga 500. But the usable keyboards on its larger recreations of the Commodore 64/VIC-20 and ZX Spectrum have provided a more authentic retro experience. Now, the company has revealed plans for a full-sized Amiga recreation, the A1200, complete with a numeric keypad, gamepad, and mouse. Preorders should begin in November, but the products aren’t expected to ship until next June.

Intellivision Sprint updates Atari’s rival with wireless controllers, HDMI and USB expansion

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When many of the game consoles (and a few of the computers) of yesteryear were being reintroduced as plug-and-play “mini” versions loaded up with a selection of games, AtGames took a break from repeated reintroductions of its Atari 2600 “Flashback” series to create homages to two of that console’s competitors, the Intellivision Flashback and ColecoVision,Flashback, both preloaded with 60 games (plus one bonus in a store-exclusive version).

Now that Atari has the rights to the Intellivision brand, hardware design and original game library, it’s creating a modern incarnation of the original Intellivision dubbed the Intellivision Sprint with a few improvements, which include wireless, rechargeable controllers and HDMI video. The product has been designed by Retro Games, which has earned high marks for both mini and full-size recreations of the Commodore 64 and other retro gaming platforms, and for its use of USB ports for adding additional games. Alas, as with Retro Games’ TheC64 and upcoming The1200, there’s no cartridge slot for playing the original physical games and homebrews. However, a USB connector will allow taking the digital selections far beyond the 45 games (for Intelivision’s 45th anniversary) that come included with the retro console.

Alas, there haven’t been any modern recreations of the ColecoVision on the horizon since the FGPA-based CollectorVision Phoenix, available only through eBay. The company has said it’s not planning another production run or sequel.

The Commodore 64 Ultimate gets the ultimate GUI of 1982

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There have been no shortage of Commodore 64 revivals big and small. This fall, though, fans of the pioneering computer will get an official reboot from its new owner. While games have been the primary application behind modern recreations of classic computers, followed by a renewed exploration of BASIC, those computers also had their share of productivity applications. And some of those early applications ran in an early graphical interface called GEOS. Now, Commodore, Inc. has noted that GEOS will be included with all flavors of the Commodore 64 Ultimate, making it easier for those familiar with modern GUIs to find their ways around and making more of a distinction between consoles and true home computers with great game libraries.

Comm-adored 64: A retro reincarnation

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The Commodore 64 Ultimate has USB and HDMI connectors.

If you’ve ever seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, you’ll remember Charlie Bucket’s joyous disbelief when (Spoiler Alert!), Willy Wonka tells him that he’s giving him the chocolate factory. Those emotions have no doubt been felt by Christian Simpson, the Commodore superfan YouTuber who has orchestrated the purchase of the Commodore trademarks and who has become the co-founder and CEO of the “new” Commodore.

Simpson has wasted little time in getting the band back together to launch a low-risk proposition, a reincarnation of the Commodore 64 with a few crucial nods to modern connectivity such as USB and HDMI. The Commodore 64. However, Commodore 64 fans recently had a crack at a reliving the product’s glory days via The C64, which, while designed primarily as a video game machine and based on emulation, can run virtually all Commodore 64 software. It even includes a VIC-20 mode!. (The company behind TheC64 also produced The Spectrum recreation of the ZX Spectrum, but hasn’t sold it in the U.S.)

In contrast, few of the Commodore 64’s contemporaries have gotten much in the way of a 21st Century reboot. In contrast to the beloved breadbox, enshrined as the best-selling computer model of all time, Sean Harrington has taken on one of the least popular computers of all time, the Mattel Aquarius. And since at least 2023, a Polish team called Revive Machines has been looking to do for the Atari 800XL what the new Commodore has done for the Commodore 64. Last month, they showed that they are getting close.