Atari launches replica 2600 console to go with all its replica 2600 cartridges

If you examine Atari issuing a brand new cartridge of a brand new Atari 2600 sport and your first thought was, “What am I supposed to play this on?” there’s a solution for you. Today, the corporate introduced the Atari 2600+, a $130 retro console with a cartridge slot that may settle for classic and fashionable Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges, plus a $25 CX40+ joystick and $40 CX30+ paddle controller bundle that seem to more-or-less faithfully re-create the originals.

All objects are presently out there for pre-order and can ship in November 2023. The console features a 10-in-1 sport cartridge with Adventure, Combat, Missile Command, Haunted House, Yars’ Revenge, and some different 2600 video games.

The Atari 2600+ takes its design cues from the early-Eighties revision of the unique console, with faux wooden grain on the entrance and 4 management switches. But Atari says the console is simply 80 % as massive as the unique console, “making it simpler to match into fashionable dwelling areas.” The console additionally has an HDMI output and makes use of USB-C for energy.

The factor in regards to the 2600+ which will flip off some retro-gaming fanatics, nonetheless, is that it makes use of a software program emulator to play video games on a Rockchip 3128 Arm SoC. This is similar strategy taken by some aftermarket consoles that take the “{hardware} cartridge, software program emulator” route, like Hyperkin’s RetroN 77, which runs a model of the Stella emulator.

Software emulation can add enter lag and introduce inaccuracies that weren’t current on the unique {hardware}, and Atari’s compatibility record for the 2600+ (PDF) lists a handful of unplayable video games and lots of extra untested ones, regardless of the “no cartridge left behind” advertising copy. That stated, there are a number of video games marked as playable on Atari’s compatibility record that aren’t suitable with the RetroN 77.

Without utilizing the unique {hardware}, one of the simplest ways to get shut to 100% compatibility is to use a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which is a contemporary chip that can be utilized to emulate the unique {hardware} with all of its flaws and quirks intact. Using software program emulation and a commodity Arm processor seemingly makes the system low-cost and simple to produce, and at $130, it is actually inexpensive than the $500 Analogue Nt (which used chips harvested from “undesirable” or non-functional NES methods), the $190 Super Nt, or the $220 Analogue Pocket (each of which use FPGAs).

The system additionally consists of 256MB of RAM and 256MB of storage, sufficient to open the likelihood that the gadget could also be hackable and usable to run different kinds of video games, as each the NES and SNES Classic Editions had been.

The Atari 2600+ is just not to be confused with the Atari VCS, an AMD Ryzen-powered (however growing older) mini desktop PC that additionally emulates outdated Atari video games however does just a few different issues on high of that.

Listing picture by Atari