Video Games

That a home game console might accurately reproduce an arcade game experience became credible toward the tail end of the second generation of those devices (ColecoVision, Atari 5200) and picked up significant steam when Nintendo entered the market. But SNK’s Neo-Geo Advanced Entertainment System broke ground by running essentially the same code on the same hardware found in arcade machines. In fact, a variant of the hardware was designed for public coin-op play. However, the exorbitant price of the device and the games themselves were far beyond what most home users could afford, and the Japanese genre-skewed game library (weighed heavily toward fighting games) made it a niche status symbol in the U.S.

The 2026 remake from Plaion Replai is shaping up to be an excellent full-sized recreation that uses ASICs to create a better gaming experience than emulation and promises build quality worthy of the original gaming experience. The retro remake specialists has scored big points with its full-size recreations of the Spectrum ZX and Intellivision although it has had to delay recent products such as the The Spectrum Collectors Edition (which ships with a thermal printer), and The A1200, its generically branded Amiga follow-up to The C64 Maxi. With Atari registering a trademark for 800XL, a popular model from the brand’s 8-bit era, and independent hardware developer Dennis Shaw announcing completion of the MiniST (a modern recreation of an Atari ST-series 16-bit computer), few retro home computers and game consoles are being passed over for a 21st Century revival.

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.