# Atari 2600 Returns as New Compact Handheld



## Taleweaver (Sep 1, 2017)

I won't lie: that looks pretty darn good. I'm not interested personally, but I imagine this is a nostalgic's wet dream (after the hat, of course  ). Yup...I foresee a lot of people will love what Pain is doing. 


seriously...with that kind of name it's hard _not _to make a pun: "Pain is bringing it", "the handheld is made by Pain", "Pain knows what old gamers want", "Pain guarantees the old school game feeling", ...I could just go on.


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## Reploid (Sep 1, 2017)

wait... two buttons? Unlike. uh. One?


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## JellyPerson (Sep 1, 2017)

inb4 this is the real ataribox


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## zoogie (Sep 1, 2017)

Composite AV? :/

I guess it's ok if you have a CRT handy (like me)


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## BvanBart (Sep 1, 2017)

Why do I miss ET on this list?


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## JellyPerson (Sep 1, 2017)

No E.T. _*and*_ no Pacman. This is trash.


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## hobbledehoy899 (Sep 1, 2017)

But will it be running on actual 2600 hardware like the Flashback 2 and 2+?


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## NANASHI89 (Sep 1, 2017)

At least it's not being made by a certain crud-tier plug and play developer....


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Bubsy Bobcat (Sep 1, 2017)

So it's essentially an Atari Flashback but as a handheld? Well, that's kinda neat. Not gonna get one though.


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## hobbledehoy899 (Sep 1, 2017)

NANASHI89 said:


> At least it's not being made by a certain crud-tier plug and play developer....


Come on, Jakks Pacific's Namco decks were damn-near identical to the original arcade cabinets!


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 1, 2017)

atari never had a start and select button this thing is 100% not Retro!


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## NANASHI89 (Sep 1, 2017)

hobbledehoy899 said:


> Come on, Jakks Pacific's Namco decks were damn-near identical to the original arcade cabinets!



I meant the idiots responsible for Sega's plug and play thingies.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Veho (Sep 1, 2017)

Bladexdsl said:


> atari never had a start and select button this thing is 100% not Retro!


I beg to differ.


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## Tomy Sakazaki (Sep 1, 2017)

NANASHI89 said:


> At least it's not being made by a certain crud-tier plug and play developer....
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I really dunno if PQube isn't actually reusing the same hardware that AtGames used on their portable iteration of Atari Flashback. ( this one http://atgames.us/Atari-Flashback-Portable-Game-Player-AP3228.htm ).
Recently in Brazil a company called Tectoy released an older AtGames' Genesis hardware (they had imported the portable AtGames' Genesis before and now are importing Atari Flashback 7) with a more proper mold in actual size of the older Genesis/Mega Drive console. Those things are essentially OEM hardware that may get rebranded and re-stylized when imported by other companies.


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## hobbledehoy899 (Sep 1, 2017)

NANASHI89 said:


> I meant the idiots responsible for Sega's plug and play thingies.


Oh, those twits. Carry on then.


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## DinohScene (Sep 1, 2017)

Looks neat but... idk I never really fancied Atari,


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## zoogie (Sep 1, 2017)

JellyPerson said:


> No E.T. _*and*_ no Pacman. *This is trash.*


I see what you did there.


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## TVL (Sep 1, 2017)

It doesn't include Combat (or Space Invaders, or Smurfs or E.T). I don't get who buys these things. But if you are going to make something like this I think it would be cool if you created an online leaderboard for the games since 99% of Atari VCS games are only about racking up points which is boring as hell when the scores are not even saved.

Edit: Maybe it's real hardware running inside though, then it might be a little bit of a chore to make that happen.


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## Abu_Senpai (Sep 1, 2017)

Ah..okay. So this is what that tease a month ago was about.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Sep 1, 2017)

Abu_Senpai said:


> Ah..okay. So this is what that tease a month ago was about.


Nope, that's a full fledged console. This is just another random "flashback" handheld. 

As to the news, meh. Looks neat, but I'd only buy something like this if it supported actual 2600 cartridges.


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## Abu_Senpai (Sep 1, 2017)

Tom Bombadildo said:


> Nope, that's a full fledged console. This is just another random "flashback" handheld.
> 
> As to the news, meh. Looks neat, but I'd only buy something like this if it supported actual 2600 cartridges.



Seriously? So they are really bringing out something new huh? Oh and i am actually glad this wasnt what that tease was about. (Actually wait a minute that tease showed a pic of the console and yeah your right. How did i get the idea that, this was what that tease was about (facepalm)


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## The Catboy (Sep 1, 2017)

It's cool and all, but I've personally never been a big 2600 fan. I had one growing up, played it here and there, but it was only for short bursts of time. I might know someone who might want this.


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## Kinqdra (Sep 1, 2017)

Awww, can't believe this doesn't include Space Invaders :/

Would've been the most amazing christmas present for my dad.. 
but who knows, maybe they'll figure out a way to add games like they did with the nes classic..


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## slaphappygamer (Sep 1, 2017)

Ka-BOOM and keystone capers were my favorites. Sadly, they didn't make the cut. I'll stick to emulating this system on my Psp.


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## Pleng (Sep 1, 2017)

T-hug said:


> innovative plug and play TV joystick



What's innovative about it?


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## Dust2dust (Sep 1, 2017)

That joystick! I hope they made it tougher than the original.  The thing would break just looking at it.  Seriously, it didn't take a lot of gameplay to break it.  Flimsy plastic pieces inside.


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## VitaType (Sep 1, 2017)

Guess they think that they can top the NES/SNES minis by having something similar, but "even portable"... I'm _under_whelmed by this product.



Pleng said:


> What's innovative about it?


You seem to be not up-to-date with your English. The word "innovation" and its variations dont mean anything. It's like e.g. the word "awesome". It's a word you say if you feel the need to say something, but you have nothing to say


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## mightymuffy (Sep 1, 2017)

Looks nice (that handheld) but agreed with most: little more than a curio, and I don't see myself picking one up.



VitaType said:


> You seem to be not up-to-date with your English. The word "innovation" and its variations dosn't mean anything. It's like e.g. the word "awesome". It's a word you say if you feel the need to say something, but you have nothing to say


If you're gonna be an arse and pick up on something like that at least make sure your own post is waterproof: 'dosn't'? Is that 'don't' or 'doesn't'? ...Neither really work from a grammatical point of view in that sentence anyway.. So be careful in future, and remember if you get just 2 letters mixed up, that's your whole post urined....


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## VitaType (Sep 1, 2017)

mightymuffy said:


> If you're gonna be an arse and pick up on something like that at least make sure your own post is waterproof: 'dosn't'? Is that 'don't' or 'doesn't'? ...Neither really work from a grammatical point of view in that sentence anyway.. So be careful in future, and remember if you get just 2 letters mixed up, that's your whole post urined....


I don't think my whole post got ruined by this small mistake.
I criticised the phenomenon that marketing departments and media which repeats marketing statments uncritical leads to a brainless use of words. It leads to the "zombification" of language-usage and therefore also to the "zombification" of thinking.
That hardly is on the same level as the annoying correcting by "grammer nazis" you seem to accuse me.
The proper usage of grammer indeed is useful and should be striven for, but my ridiculing of zombie-english serves a different purpose then making me feel good by humiliate others. It's about pointing out zombie-english. It's not about a crude "saving the language" agenda, it's about supporting clear thinking and fighting propaganda.
_Please excuse me_ that you feel attacked or at very least annoyed by that... but there is no need to insult me (I'm refering to address me as arse).


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## proflayton123 (Sep 1, 2017)

Never had an Atari so I'm tempted


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## Byokugen (Sep 1, 2017)

I call BS.... no E.T.


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## DKB (Sep 1, 2017)

It would have been cool if Atari would have released Swordquest: Airworld ™ with this. Just like how Nintendo released Starfox 2 with the Mini SNES..but..whatever.


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## osaka35 (Sep 1, 2017)

neato!


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## Enryx25 (Sep 1, 2017)

Switch clone? It's ok because it's a retroconsole.


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## Alkéryn (Sep 2, 2017)

@GhostLatte Gimme that joystick


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## V0ltr0n (Sep 2, 2017)

No pitfall 2? Fuck this pos. 
They'll probably find a way to hack it and put more games on it like with the nes plug and play console. It has potential. Not sure about that dpad/disc....thingy tho.


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## hobbledehoy899 (Sep 2, 2017)

V0ltr0n said:


> No pitfall 2? Fuck this pos..


Pitfall was made by Activision...


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## Pleng (Sep 2, 2017)

mightymuffy said:


> If you're gonna be an arse and pick up on something like that at least make sure your own post is waterproof



Is that the sound of a missed joke flying over your head? 

I don't think @VitaType was calling me out. I asked "what is innovative about it" to ridicule the claim, and @VitaType just took it a step further by ridiculing the market in general


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## Psionic Roshambo (Sep 2, 2017)

With the Atari 2600 featuring simple controls, I would just go with emulation on a phone. Touch controls could work for it, but even the cheapest bluetooth controller would work fine.

The entire romset including some of the 8K homebrew's is under 3MB's.

But honestly there is only a handful of 2600 games that would still be fun to play today, 99% of the system's games are pure trash. The remaining 1% are decent to fantastic though so probably a good idea if some one wanted to play the system to look up a top 20 2600 games list or something.

I always liked Yars Revenge, Berzerk, Asteroids, Combat (if you have 2 players) Missile Command, plus a few more I am sure I will remember as soon as I hit post... lol

Edit: Oh yeah Pacman 8K homebrew and Frogger for the Tele something or other are infinitely better versions than what most people had.

 

People would have really enjoyed this version a thousand times better than the one Atari launched....

Edit 2: More on topic, this hand held thing looks cool to me, but the small screen at least for me would not be good  old age and bad eyes lol 

If I had good eyes I would probably want it, assuming it has micro SD support... hmmm that ancient 128MB MicroSD card I have would be perfect for it lol


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## VinsCool (Sep 2, 2017)

If I can run homebrew games on it, I'll buy it instantly.


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## RustInPeace (Sep 2, 2017)

This is poppycock, where is the ET game? While I'm at it with this balderdash, where is E.T. Go Come?


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## regnad (Sep 2, 2017)

Veho said:


> I beg to differ.



I spent many many many hours of my childhood in front of one of those!


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## VinsCool (Sep 2, 2017)

Veho said:


> I beg to differ.


I want to get one of those someday.


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## DarthDub (Sep 2, 2017)

I wonder if it'll be worth it as a collectors item?


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## leon315 (Sep 2, 2017)

Interesting, but where is E. T.?

How dare Atari forget one of cough " worst" COUGH... best atari game EVER??


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## mightymuffy (Sep 2, 2017)

Pleng said:


> Is that the sound of a missed joke flying over your head?
> 
> I don't think @VitaType was calling me out. I asked "what is innovative about it" to ridicule the claim, and @VitaType just took it a step further by ridiculing the market in general


No, you'll notice it was just a poor attempt to add the 'urined' joke rather than anything else...I've had it on standby for a while and this was the half-chance I saw to use it... didn't even read the subject to be honest: nobody fukkin laughed at it anyway either 
Unless the urined joke consequently flew over both your heads as well, in which case I feel a bit better!


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## Pleng (Sep 2, 2017)

Bugger.

Yea, totally missed that!


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## Dr.Hacknik (Sep 2, 2017)

I do like the Wood Aesthetics of the System. Also, if it's (supposedly) running Atari 2600 hardware; I wonder what the battery life would be? Would it be better than the Switch :3


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## bennyman123abc (Sep 3, 2017)

So, all this hype for a new console from Atari has been over a Atari 2600 ripoff officially licensed by Atari? Well, I guess I've seen everything now.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Sep 3, 2017)

bennyman123abc said:


> So, all this hype for a new console from Atari has been over a Atari 2600 ripoff officially licensed by Atari? Well, I guess I've seen everything now.





Tom Bombadildo said:


> Nope, that's a full fledged console. This is just another random "flashback" handheld.


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## netovsk (Sep 3, 2017)

My first console was an Atari 2600. 

It was bad even back then.

Every game felt like a complete waste of time.


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## DarthDub (Sep 3, 2017)

netovsk said:


> My first console was an Atari 2600.
> 
> It was bad even back then.
> 
> Every game felt like a complete waste of time.


Adventure was the best game ever. The ducks that would chase you and kill you.


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## Deleted User (Sep 3, 2017)

Pure trash.
For that price, I can get a RPi and make my own Plug'n'Play crap for just $30.


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## DarthDub (Sep 3, 2017)

Felek666 said:


> Pure trash.
> For that price, I can get a RPi and make my own Plug'n'Play crap for just $30.


10 bucks more and you can get a PSTV on exploitable firmware.


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## Reyn_the_Insane (Sep 4, 2017)

I will not buy this. There's no ET or Pac-man.


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## tbb043 (Sep 4, 2017)

JellyPerson said:


> No E.T. _*and*_ no Pacman. This is trash.



Licensing costs. Atari doesn't own either of those franchises.

Pqube looks too much like Pube for my taste.





TVL said:


> ut if you are going to make something like this I think it would be cool if you created an online leaderboard



Just what a retro P&P needs, online connection...


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## JellyPerson (Sep 4, 2017)

It was a joke. The Atari versions of both those games suck. Hard.


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## Subtle Demise (Sep 4, 2017)

Why does everyone love the 2600 so much? Maybe I don't understand because I never grew up playing one. My first console was the 7800 and I Ioved it. It gets neglected so much, even with things like homebrew emulators. I think if you put a bunch of 7800 games on one of these plug n play things, people would enjoy it. Now the thing has the same sound chip as the 2600, but it had superior arcade ports, like Food Fight, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Centipede, among others.


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## MENTALDOMINANCE (Sep 5, 2017)

Well until they wise up and put actual REAL analog controls on it, all the paddle games are pointless.
REAL analog control = Potentiometer type rotating circular controller, like the original PADDELS & DRIVING controllers.
Using a lame analog joystick to play paddle games does NOT count!
You know what would be cool? If they made the joystick's stick rotate, like Ikari Warriors arcade, but was analog
instead of just a few digital clicks. Include that and have real paddle control, then it would be kinda cool.
I really do _not_ understand the popularity of these lame, inferior "mini retro" consoles that have become all the rage lately.
"Oh hey look! We stuck another ancient emulator that's probably existed for decades on some crap hardware with crap controls,
stuck it in a pretty case and yet.... People _still_ flock to it!"

I don't understand how any of the "Classic collection" game collection packs sell either.
I mean, who in this day and age is _not_ aware that you can download hundreds of emulators for free and grab the _entire_ library
of whatever system you're interested in? Plus multiple emulators exist for every popular system so you have tons of choices
that no commercial collection or retro mini consoles have. There's just zero reason to pay for this crap, yet every year they
do it and every year it's profitable.

Subtle Demise: Yeah, the 7800's audio sucks. Initially, Atari wanted devs to include POKEY chips in their carts, like how
PITFALL II did on the 2600, for enhanced audio. But no one did of course. Man they made some dumb moves!
They ruled the video game world but then, just like Commodore, dwindled it away by making stupid decision after stupid decision.


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## Pleng (Sep 6, 2017)

MENTALDOMINANCE said:


> I mean, who in this day and age is _not_ aware that you can download hundreds of emulators for free and grab the _entire_ library
> of whatever system you're interested in?



The majority of the population I would guess. And of the small percentage that _do_ know that it _can_ be done, most of them don't know _how_ to do it and have either no time, or no inclination, to research to research for themselves.


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## SuzieJoeBob (Sep 6, 2017)

Enryx25 said:


> *Game Boy Micro *clone? It's ok because it's a retroconsole.


Fixed that for you. Aside from missing the trigger buttons on either top corner, this illooks exactly like a GB Micro.


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## Redhorse (Sep 7, 2017)

I have to admit, I do love me some Tempest


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## air2004 (Sep 11, 2017)

Why isn't kaboom on here ?


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## TVL (Sep 11, 2017)

MENTALDOMINANCE said:


> Well until they wise up and put actual REAL analog controls on it, all the paddle games are pointless.
> REAL analog control = Potentiometer type rotating circular controller, like the original PADDELS & DRIVING controllers.
> Using a lame analog joystick to play paddle games does NOT count!
> You know what would be cool? If they made the joystick's stick rotate, like Ikari Warriors arcade, but was analog
> ...



Absolutely, agree so much it feels like I could have written that post if I was just a little more passionate about the subject. I would like to see paddle controllers make a return, really fun way to play games. Games like Arkanoid, Breakout etc. are semi-broken without them.

The thing about putting something in a nice package and sell it plays so well to the hunter gatherer brain, I don't know how alone I am in thinking it is a hollow and short lasting pleasure to buy stuff that you when you think about it have no need for and if you purchase it enjoy for a week tops (at which point you are on the lookout for something new and shiny).


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## Gizametalman (Sep 14, 2017)

No Battle Zone?
No Solar Fox?
No Seaquest?
No Space Invaders?


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