With retro videogame prices on the rise, are there any alternatives? Well possibly.
Atari
Atari needs no introduction. founded June 27th 1972; Atari Corportation is well known for it’s early personal computers of the time as well as it’s classic videogames. With the release of the Atari 2600 videogame console on September 11th, 1977, they brought videogames into the home. Before the Atari 2600 videogames were still played in arcades and geared towards gobbling up coins and being addictive, Atari helped change the landscape of videogames by making a console with purchaseable game cartridges with a one-and-done transaction model and allowing developers to make games for their consoles. Many of Atari’s best-selling videogames are ports of popular arcade titles of the time such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Even though the graphics were noticeably worse than their arcade counterparts, the conveinience of being able to play these titles at home made the 2600 blow up in popularity and it still has a very loyal community of fans to this day.
Atari Gamestation Go
The Atari Gamestation Go (Originally called the Gamestation Portable) is expected to release in October of this year for $179.99. The Game Console will boast over 200 retro videogames and a varied button layout designed to be as acurate to the buttons used on the original videogames as possible. As the name suggests, this will be a portable console with a rechargeable battery however it will also have TV capabilities as well.
Game Library
As mentioned, The Atari Gamestation will have over 200 videogames on it. These games are not all from the Atari 2600 era, in fact many of them were never on Atari platforms! The Gamestation will have games from several different consoles, arcade cabinets, eras, and companies including: the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari Arcade, Atari Recharged, M-Network, Balls of Steel, Jaleco 8-bit, Jaleco 16-bit, Jaleco Arcade, Piko 8-bit, Piko 16-bit, and Pico Arcade. Some notable games include Galaga, Centipede, and three different versions of Pac-Man.
Value
With over 200 games and retailing for $179.99,that’s less than 90 cents a game. this value is very good for retro videogame fans. in order to play all of these games, you would need to buy several different consoles and arcade cabinets that alone would cost you well over the price of the Atari Gamestation and that doesn’t even include purchasing the individual videogames themselves. Because of this, I feel that the Atari Gamestation is an essential part of retro gamers’ arsenal and is a very good purchase for its price.
You can pre order the Atari Gamestation Go here:https://atari.com/products/atari-gamestation-go?srsltid=AfmBOooH_kgBjV2fUsc6uX5149LiyaFn7A5IeVGRa5q5FL0KGFjo7zcx