Atarick

I am admittedly biased, I have a VCS and enjoy it thoroughly, but $249.99 s an absolute steal for this system, in my opinion. At that price point it's kind of unrivaled as a retro emulation box, as you're then basically competing against Flashback systems, a Raspberry Pi, or a used console. For a new device that's an awesome deal. Debating getting one for my Atari-loving father as a Christmas gift now.

The system is crying out for an Adventure-style game or remake. That kind of reboot would be/could be a real calling card for the system. That and Crystal Castles IMO have big potential for a modern reboot, and could serve as a non-"Reloaded" edition. Instead, imagine a VCS exclusive Adventure or Castles that is just the "version" of that game for the new Atari system, similar to how games like Asteroids were launched for the 5200, 7800, etc. Even if only temporarily exclusive to the VCS, or a special edition, I'd imagine that could be a draw for at least a few holdouts.

Kind of surprised that hasn't been any mild marketing of this, but again that takes money. Best thing Atari could do is try and time the release of Food Fight and/or Asteroids right before the holiday (Asteroids I know is 14 December), do a mild internet marketing campaign on the usual blogs and places, maybe try to possibly advertise it a couple places, and see if people bite around the holidays. Probably wouldn't hurt to take another $20-30 off either as a promotional rate.

Great game, lots of fun. All at once gives me Star Tropics mixed with Castlevania vibes. Love the retro feel but it wasn't intuitive for me at first- how does a player save progress during play? I didn't see save state markers like in Unsung or a save slot option.

So I've had the VCS for about 6 months and thought wanted to do a sort of informal poll/at a-glance for where the owners are with it. I'll kick it off. Bottom line: Great console for me, does what I expected and I see potential. Was an ideal first console to share with kids while getting to channel and rediscover past games I loved. How often do you play it? 3-4 times a week. Favorite game: Pixel Cup Soccer Most anticipated game: Chaos Chassis Game that surprised you most: Unsung Warriors. Very cool retro feel with some cool features, and awesome gameplay. Biggest letdown: 1 life in Centipede Recharged? Really? Feature you unexpectedly love: Antstream Arcade with the retro controller. Mods you've made/installed: None, getting ready to install Windows. Your "Recharged" Wish List: Crystal Castles; Adventure; Checkered Flag I'd love the VCS even more if it: Had a few more games optimized for the classic controller; added the Activision Games; leaned in to the proprietary Atari catalogue a bit more (such as adding emulators for Lynx, Jaguar, etc)

Great points Bill. I've wondered if an easy solve to a price drop is "gifting" a couple games and maybe a coupon for existing owners. I'm sure that's easier said than done (though they essentially just did this with the 2 emulators) but considering most who backed were die hards, that might appeal to them. For instance, if they could somehow get an Activision Vault or add a couple Jaguar games in addition to the Combat/Food Fight relaunch they've rumored, that could be a win for all. Long term, I think a renewed, relaunched VCS with improved internals and, say 50+ available games and a more competitive price is the only way upwards. Get this thing around $300 for a bundle with improved specs and they could have something.

This thread is a train wreck. Anyways, I am most interested in seeing how all this plays out after the Amico release. The thing about the Amico I think is possibly most limiting (besides the controller) is the fixation on JUST providing PG content. Obviously it's working for them now and makes a great soundbite, but we'll see. Many of the games look very similar and one dimensional to me as well. I don't fault people for liking it and besides the obvious comparison with Atari because they are a "legacy" company releasing a new crowdsourced console, they don't seem that similar to me. Tommy has done a great job with marketing and licensing, and Atari did poorly on that. Maybe they can recover, but they failed the PT Barnum "give the crowd a show and they'll pay for anything" test. While the delivery of Amico games stumps me, they did great at drumming up support. The beauty of gaming today though is something for everyone. The Amico looks dull to me but they would accuse me of burning money by buying a VCS. Watching my brother stalk online forums to get a PS makes me laugh, as he did seeing a VCS in my TV console. I had a Flashback. It rocked. The VCS is more fun to me though. As denizens of the gaming world we all get a vote. Whatever, choose with love. And I would offer that a mild marketing push after releasing 5-7 more games, a couple exclusive to the VCS, with a $75 price cut, around Christmas or just after, would do wonders for sales (though I agree with Bill we're talking like 20k total, at best). But obviously Atari (see thread) hasn't excelled at maximizing the marketing department of late.

Combat for sure. So much potential there for something like Battlezone meets Metal Slug. Mine: 5. Crystal Castles 6. Checkered Flag 7. Yar's Revenge (Imagine a POV scrolling 3D shooter through barriers)

Thanks, that makes sense. Did the Flashbacks really sell more than that? Like by a lot? I'd have guessed 50-75K, but maybe that's a crazy number. I'd like to think they can bring those games over somehow, someday.

Please explain.

This came up in another thread but it would seem like Atari could easily launch something like Stella onto the VCS as a download/update that would allow for games to be processed via USB or other input, similar to the Flashbacks. On licensing, I have no idea how that works but I will say they should prioritize getting as many Activision games on the VCS as possible. It's a huge hole in the content library right now, given the mass appeal many of those games had.

I received mine in June, as a birthday gift. By way of background, I am old school gamer raised on Atari, arcade, and NES, as well as Sega Genesis and computer games. I have drifted in and out of using various consoles and gaming over the years. So heading into this, I had very low expectations. Part of that was born from the lead up and negative PR it got (mostly in hot take YouTube reviews), part of it was comments on this and other forums about lack of development, delays, inept or nonexistent support, Atari as a concept and company, etc. Ultimately, I am very happy with it. I enjoy the retro feel, modability, and performance so far. I have two kids under ten who I am slowly introducing to games and this was a great match. I had a series of Flashback machines and the like but those don't compare at all, in my opinion. My kids have fallen in love with games like Unsung Warriors and the classic controller, which takes me back to 1985 or whatever. It's a simple system that I plan to add emulators and other things (Batocera, etc) to over time. And I will freely admit I was not interested in buying a new console until I saw the combo of things here tied to Atari and retro/indie gaming. That has currency to me, and I know 99.9994% of the games are available on other platforms and that this current Atari isn't old Atari and all of that. Right now I use it for what I'll call casual daily or at least 3-4x a week gaming, not really active up on the Sandbox mode/PC mode side yet but plan to get to that soon. I enjoy knowing I can tweak that if I want to. To close, I am excited for the new games that may be on the horizon for the VCS and am enjoying going back in time with my kids on games I loved via the Vaults or Antstream, and hope more people will make their way to the platform over time so new content, hopefully, will keep coming. I know that there are other consoles, like the Amico, coming along that could fill many of my same asks but none of those games did anything for me and Intellivision was never a love of mine; Atari and Nintendo were. I look forward to playing the VCS more and while it will likely never capture the imagination of the gaming world it does all I could ask, and looks pretty good doing it.

Totally disagree on the last point. Half this thread is talking about how Atari failed to market and broadcast the new device, which easily explains part of it's limited appeal. Honestly given the tentative nature of the roll out, I'm not convinced that wasn't part of their intent. I have thought from day one they were nervous about potential large-scale production, not that it was ever in the cards. With the Jaguar on the other hand, Atari bet the moon. The advertising campaign was huge and expensive, and the low appeal of the games and funky controls threw early reviews in a tailspin, as did the price and belief the console would have been more interesting if it had dropped two years earlier. They put a lot of Jaguar consoles into production and moved a fraction of what they needed to break even. The current iteration of Atari, whether you call it Atari or not, was never in a position to have such a large scale "flop". Both any success or failure would be muted in comparison. That said, I have a VCS and thoroughly enjoy it for what it is. I am under no delusions about who this is going for, and think that if they HAD done an aggressive marketing campaign it would have been mocked, possibly even harder than many reviewers already did. At best this was a test balloon for Atari's appeal if a bigger investor came along to pump money into a future console. No idea if that has happened, but it's a far cry from what was happening in the 90s for Atari with the Jaguar.

Good to know, thanks. Hopefully they announce it once it drops via an eventual system update or whatever.

Good catch, I hadn't seen that. Makes me wonder if some of the flash drives I have with old 2600 ports (and a couple with NES games) would work. Those needed Stella but given that it is one of the most common emulation platforms, it would surprise me if it didn't work. May try that tonight.

Off the top of my head: Combat (i could see a grown up version of the mobile game that came loaded free being a nice addition) Crystal Castles (optimized for the classic controller would be ideal, also a possible free game) Berzerk as a 3D shooter A killer racing game, like Pole Position VCS Yars Revenge

Yeah this was both unsurprising an disappointing, as it seems like if there was one landing to "stick" here it would be the classic controller. That said, while I was sharing the YouTuber's view after his first video this one seemed a bit....sensationalized. I get it, it's missing the metal rod that appeared on the Medium site. But that was never codified as THE solution they went with, and I haven't seen dozens of reports of sticks snapping off (did his even break? I can't actually pin that down). Bottom line: they rushed it. That was evident from about mid-November on, when the Medium posts got more breathless and random orders started shipping. I also think, however, they have done the testing that they claim in his 2nd video to improve the initial quality. That said- they still need to QC the hell out of this thing because having classic controllers claimed as "new and improved" snap within days of purchase would be a tough meme to shake. Side note: watching random YouTube takes of the VCS has been one of the hidden perks of this thing. Can't get over how many people who pre-ordered this, and ostensibly knew of it's capabilities, are "pleasantly surprised the classic controller doubles as a paddle- cool feature!"

I guess my fascination with this stems more from the fact that someone active in THIS community, who is active in the gaming conversation and who has an opinion on various systems, etc., would not have a PC. That is a new one for me. Richard, as you say, I totally get that people rely on smartphones now- who would NEED a PC, as a rule, anymore, at home? Not essential. But I kind of find it shocking that a person who is an active gamer of his age would not have owned one. No judgment, just surprising. And I am happy to help the guy.

This is great. Also, they really, really need to get the Activision games on there. Stat. Maybe like a $9.99 Vault in the store for about 50-75 titles across arcade/2600/5200 releases. I don't remember any epic 7800 releases from Activision but I may be overlooking that. To my memory I only remember Double Dragon and Rampage.

I would love to see this too. I am getting more active into gaming again after a spell away and there are several I'd love to play. There are some stellar ones out there. What is that Indie Game streaming service on the VCS? Maybe make it a channel there?

Completely, also he says: "I've never had a PC before." Um. Wut? How can anyone born after say 1950 have never owned a PC? Ludicrous. Surely he's USED one. I mean that statement alone should lead one to presume his account was either hacked or he is doing some kind of prank.

I'm stumped. What is this?

Very reasonable review and well detailed. It confirms most of my suspicions (and hesitations) about it: slow frame rate for modern games, clunky hardware built in (meaning it would start showing its age after about a year, if not immediately), noticeable controller lag and cheap materials undercut their utility. I consider myself an aspiring hobbyist and a collector of sorts, thus why this thing appeals to me. I suspect any purchase of a VCS will have to be done simultaneously with adding RAM though. I have no idea how this thing will last as they continue adding more advanced games to the Atari store with that tiny amount of base memory.

He's one of strangest reviewers out there for me. I often find his stuff hilarious, but I can't reconcile the fact that half the time, I feel like I'm back in high school and he's some guy trying to sound cool while saying next to nothing. 1/3 of that review is him just talking about how the controller feels hollow. We take the long route to that assessment.

I've wondered about this too and got about 3 ideas. 1.) Increase the RAM and improve the processor. It would bump it up a level and make it more competitive with what's on the market now. 2.) Significantly increase the available games and Atari IPs. Maybe offer discounts or incentives to support Indie titles. I'm not paying $24.99 for Guntech, say. But if Atari gave an incentive for my 3rd purchase, like 25%, as a sign up bonus? Maybe. 3.) Find a way to optimize the classic controller for a modern title that comes included with the console. In another thread we've lamented how Atari never had a mascot or sort of signature icon character they owned. A Mario, Sonic, Zelda, etc. While we can't make up for lost history, if they took a gander at a killer Yar's Revenge title for the VCS, or a modern twist on Crystal Castles that played up the Bentley character, it could cultivate a whole new generation in a new way. Finally, bonus suggestion, already mentioned: the price. $389 is a lot for a console with unknown capabilities, no games, and a company with a mixed reputation (or a total unknown to consumers under 25). If they bumped the RAM or processor but kept the price under $400, with more games, I think they'd find a lot more takers. There is an audience for this, they just need to make some tweaks and rebuild their reputation with consumers, invest in games, and forge a more lasting relationship with developers and the mod community. Modest asks.