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American entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell is a legend in American video game lore. He is linked to his two most famous creations, Atari and the restaurant chain Chuck E. Cheese. These are not, however, Mr. Bushnell’s only interesting endeavors. One of the lesser known of these is Axlon, a toy company originally intended as a computer peripheral manufacture. Although the company only lasted ten years, it created a number of interesting and innovative products. Attempting to merge a toy company with a technology company, Axlon deserves it’s due in history’s spotlight.

Before Axlon

In 1972, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded video arcade game manufacturer Atari releasing Pong and setting into motion popularizing video games for the masses. 4 years later Atari expanded into home markets by developing the Atari Video Computer System (VCS/2600) cartridge based gaming system. In time, this became Atari’s most iconic product but would cost Bushnell control of his company. Atari didn’t have the capital needed to successfully market the VCS despite early successes in the coin operated arcade market. In need of a cash flow solution Bushnell, now the sole owner of the company sold Atari to Warner Brothers for 28 million dollars in October of 1976. Adjusted for 2024 inflation, that translates to around 155 million dollars.

Bushnell was now a wealthy man, and the VCS became one of the biggest American consumer electronics products during the late 70’s and early 80’s. Atari would keep expanding finding success in the home computer market as well. Bushnell would stay with Atari mostly a figure head during the late 1970’s with control of his company quickly slipping out of his fingers.

Bushnell is an outspoken guy, and almost from the first day Warner Brothers’ executives in suits started showing up into Atari’s offices he had criticisms. Warner Brothers saw Atari’s gaming endeavors as just another product rather than a new creative art which relied upon a work atmosphere of creative support. The laid back atmosphere in which Atari was founded (Hot tubs, parties, and a very casual dress code) didn’t fly with Warner Brothers executives who brought in a corporate attitude and expected compliance with business norms. The fiction between Bushnell and Warner came to a head in 1978 when he was “mutually” fired from Atari.

Bushnell could have easily sat on his duff counting his money for the rest of his days. However, he was far from done innovating the video game industry or consumer electronics. Soon he was dipping his hands into a number of companies during the 1980’s. Bushnell’s best known venture post-Atari is the animatronic hosted family pizza restaurant and arcade chain known as Chuck E. Cheese. Much like Atari, it had its share of ups and downs but became a iconic brand for many decades.

Axlon’s Beginnings

Axlon was founded by former Atari product manager John Vurich on April 1st, 1980, with Nolan Bushnell coming aboard the company one year later (1). Bushnell’s involvement was part of his venture capital startup firm Catalyst Technologies Venture Capital Group. Vurich and Bushnell met at Atari when Bushnell took an interest in Vurich’s work on computerized pinball machines. Vurich had some pretty innovative ideas from a forward thinking “electronic wallet” and a somewhat more far fetched “flying motorcycle with wings”. Axlon’s first products would be a little more down to earth.

Axlon jumped upon opportunities in the robust home computer market during the early 1980’s with memory add-ons. Vurich stated in an interview to the Arizona Republic in 1982 that “microcomputers are limited by their memory, not the processor that is the heart of the machine” (2). As the home computer industry gained popularity during this era a marketplace developed for 3rd party hardware. Axlon sold add-on memory modules both for Atari 8-bit series and Apple II series computers. By 1982 this would include an external device named RAMdisk 320 which offered an additional 320K to the Apple II and Apple III computer systems (using data bank switching). This was an extraordinary improvement in the amount of memory for a personal computer during this era. This power wasn’t cheap however, at $1395 in 1982 dollars and the expense limited them to mostly corporate usage.

One interesting early Axlon product is the Datalink 1000 handheld computer. Datalink was marketed as a handheld telecommunication terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data over standard land phone lines via early BBS services such as CompuServe. You could theoretically check stocks, news, or make airline reservations with the small device. It included a tiny keyboard, small 16 character LED display, and the ability to operate on battery power. Datalink possibly was too ahead of its time as it would vanish from shelves almost as soon as it arrived. This was possibly due to several factors including; competition from similar devices, the limits of these devices in a pre-internet world, trouble with distribution, and the overall shakeup in the American computer market during 1983-1984. Soon after Axlon changed tactics and would shoot for shelf space at Toys R Us rather than the local computer store.

A Switch to Fun and Games

In late 1983, the decision was made to pivot Axlon from electronics peripherals to electronic toys and games. The downturn in home video game and computer markets in 1983 factored heavily into this decision. By 1983 there were seven major home gaming systems available on top of a dozen home computer options. This included offerings by toy manufactures Coleco, Milton Bradley, and Mattel. This crowding caused a saturation in the marketplace which compounded by disappointing products leading to fading consumer interest leading and a economic downturn market wide.

Bushnell stated in an 1985 interview for The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour “that it simply made more sense to see a Silicon Valley electronics company go into toys rather than the opposite which contributed to poor results” (3) . Some of Axon’s initial toy offerings were strongly non-tech based including a line of trivia card add-ons for the popular Trivia Pursuit board game. Axlon also started selling RC trucks that were rebranded from Japanese toy companies. These early efforts were designed for quick and easy cash building allowing capital for the young company as they sought out grander ambitions.

We are the robots

Nolan Bushnell had his hands in numerous companies in his post-Atari career including a short lived personal robotics manufacture named Androbot. Hoping to ride the wave of the 1980’s personal computer boom, several companies bet on a market developing for personal robots. Dreams of robotic butlers making you a drink after a hard day at the office or walking the dog were as much fantasy then as now. The technical power needed for such a device to be effective or intuitive just didn’t exist in 1983. These robots also required ownership of expensive home computers since they had little onboard computing power of their own.

Introduced to the public at the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show the little robots created some initial buzz. The buzz wore off quickly when Androbot failed to deliver on any of the basic promises along with their expensive price tag (the most basic unit, Topo I cost $495 US dollars in 1983. The company would love over 3 million dollars in the first five months of its existence with sales of less than $50,000. (5). Axlon made a deal with Atari to sell a very basic robot named “Androman” for the popular Atari 2600 video game system, scheduled to be released in 1984. (4) When the deal fell through due to the collapse of the home video game market, the company backs another victim of the gaming crash of 83-84.

The catalyst for transforming Axlon’s technology into the toy market was likely influenced by both an attempt to recover Androbot costs and to ride a wave of toy based robots from other companies such as Tomy. A modified and less capable version of Androbot’s small “F.R.E.D.” robot was sold under Axlon as “Andy” for both the Atari 8-bit computer systems and the Commodore 64. These were not manufactured in large quantities and are quite rare today.

A small programmable stand alone toy robot named Compurobot showed up in late 1984. The toy itself is very similar to a scaled down version of the Big Trak toy by Milton Bradley, not so much a robot as a programmable motion toy. The little Compurobot in programed via a series of buttons on the toy, and included a light, and 3 different speeds of motion if it needed to scare the cat more quickly. Compurobot shares more than a passing resemblance to Vincent, from the film the Black Hole. Either Compurobot was different enough not to send lawyers from Disney into a frenzy or Compurobot didn’t sell enough to show up on anyones radar.

Compurobot was likely developed outside of the US by an Asian toy company and simply rebadged by Axlon. This little robot does have a bit of a confusing history with some variations labeled as “George: The Computer Robot” from CGL Electronic Toys in the UK. And might have been a watered down version of Compurobot II originally sold as a make-it yourself kit sold by several companies and also sold assembled by Axlon. There was also a Compurobot III featuring similar functionality as the previous versions but with a different outer shell complete with non-functional arms. There were a few more robot pals Axlon offered including Talkabot, a basic remote controlled robot toy with a built in walkie-talkie. There was also Spybot, another remote control robot with a microphone allowing you to hear what your gross big sister is talking about in the other room.

One of Axlon’s most ambitious robot offerings came in 1987 with the Tech-Force robotic battle set. These remote programmable robot toys could battle each other via small programmable computer modules. Axlon must have thought they had struck gold with Tech-Force as they were planning an animated tie-in series called “Tech-Force and the Mo-to Monsters” which would have interacted with the toys though audio cues (6). The price of the starter kit ($250) or it’s complexity might have kept the toy from reaching main stream success that Axlon was hoping for. The animated TV show never appeared on screens and planned additional action figures never populated store shelves.

Next in Part 2: Axlon has a major toy industry hits with a robot cat and a bear that won’t shut up.

(1) Chapin, D. Thinking Ahead. The San Francisco Examiner Wed, Nov 10, 1982. Page 39

(2) Burns, S.,Home computers but firms in chips. The Arizona Republic, November 18, 1982. Page 52

(3) MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, PBS, “Battle of the Bears:, Unknown date (Est. December 1984).

(4) Androman Press Release, Androbot, 1983.

(5) Chin, K. Robot-maker Androbot Pulls Stock Offering. InfoWorld, November, 14 1983.

(6) Robinson, T. New War Toys Stir Up Their Own Fight. The Los Angeles Times, February 10, 1987. Page 80

This past holiday season you had a choice of four different Atari branded video game consoles for the Tiny Tim or Bob Cratchit in your life. This might seem like a visit from a 1980’s Ghost of Christmas Past, when you could choose between the ancient (but cheap) 2600 Jr., the computer based XEGS, the 7800, or the then-new Lynx handheld. The 4 current Atari offerings all are focused more on the past than present. This is nothing new for Atari, which seems to have mainly existed as a nostalgia brand since the death of the Atari Jaguar in 1996.

Atari has been passed around from company to company since the late 90’s, reemerging from time to time when public tastes yearn for a dip into the pool of 1980’s gaming. I have a lot of love for the Atari brand which accounts for a majority of both my home video game and arcade game collection (I even own an Atari ST computer). I have enough self reflection to realize much of this is due to my age as a Gen X’er. But when the Ghost of Christmas Gaming Future visits us, will they show us an Atari future beyond the constant repackaging of old content, or will Atari ever showcase the ability to create new innovations in gaming?

Is Atari really Atari anymore?

Before I become too much of a Scrooge around the modern incarnation Atari, let us look at the somewhat convoluted history of its ownership. Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1972. Soon after, Al Alcorn developed the break out product for not just Atari but the early video game industry, Pong. Pong was a worldwide sensation transforming Atari into the leader of the video game industry for the next decade. After the success of a home version of Pong, Atari next developed what would become the Atari VCS (Video Computer System) a.k.a 2600 home system.

Atari didn’t have the revenue needed to properly market the 2600, so in October of 1976 Bushnell (now the sole owner of the company) sold Atari to Warner Brothers for $28 million. The following years would be Atari’s “Salad Days” with successes in home gaming, coin-op gaming, and home computers. Atari became a cultural juggernaut, one of the most famous companies in the USA. Bushnell would be fired from Atari by his own design which led to Ray Kassar being brought in by Warner Brothers in 1978 to head the growing company as CEO. The hippy “start up vibe” of Atari soon melted away with the loss of Bushnell, replaced with a more corporate seriousness in upper management. This cultural shift at Atari resulted in talented employees leaving and starting their own companies (Activision, Imagic) along with gradual decline of quality at Atari.

A number of disappointing new products (The Atari 1200XL computer, the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, the Atari 5200 system), new competition (Colecovision, Intellivision), and a price war in the home computer market sent Atari’s profits into free-fall. By 1983 the video game market crashed, with Atari reporting a loss of $532 Million for the year. In July of 1984 Warner Brothers sold and broke Atari in half. The consumer division was sold to Commodore 64 inventor Jack Tramiel becoming “Atari Corp.” and the coin-op division was retained by Warner Brothers becoming “Atari Games”.

Atari Corp. initially planned on only selling home computers but eventually would get back into the home gaming market releasing a smaller, cheaper Atari 2600 and the 2 years late to market Atari 7800 Pro System. Despite the Atari 7800 having close to the same hardware capability of the market leading Nintendo NES, the first ten titles 7800 released were versions of classic arcade games from 1980-1983. The Atari home systems took a beating from the Mario Brothers, essentially becoming a third place player behind Nintendo and Sega in an industry they once dominated. Atari Corp. did have some success (mostly in Europe) with the Atari ST 16-bit computers, but the 2600 and 7800 mostly sold as bargain basement gaming devices. As the 1990’s debuted, Atari tried their hands with new consoles, including the 16-bit color handheld Lynx (1989) and the 64-bit home console Jaguar (1993). Despite some technical firsts for both systems, neither enjoyed marketplace success.

By 1994 Atari Games (who also produced home software under Tengen) was squished into a merger of Time and Warner Brothers becoming Time-Warner interactive. Two years later it was sold off to Midway Games. 1996 marked the end of Atari Corp., which was unable to find an audience for its final product the Jaguar home system. Atari Corp, would reverse merge with laptop hard drive manufacturer JTS, who went bankrupt in 1999. The last Atari Games branded arcade game would roll off the assembly line in 1999, meaning neither of the original Atari companies would continue into the 21st century.

JTS sold the remaining assets of Atari Corporation’s corpse in 1998 to toy company Hasbro who planned to create new software based on Atari’s classic properties. One year later, Hasbro sold Atari’s assets to French software company Infogrames for the purpose of creating a better name brand recognition in North America. During this era Atari’s name was licensed for use of countless retro products from t-shirts, hats, pens, and “plug-and-play” game devices. Atari had become a zombie brand; a once well-known brand name now used strictly for its brand recognition with a massive lean into selling products based on nostalgia.

Atari has mostly been the exclusive property of Infogrames since 2001 despite a number of mergers, renaming schemes, and bankruptcies. The current Atari company has little to do with the original one, other than ownership of the classic assets – and not all of them mind you; post 1984 Atari Games arcade game titles such as Gauntlet, Paperboy, and others are owned by Warner Brothers. Modern uses of the Atari branding have been attached to everything from hotel chains, crypto currency, hats with speakers, and cheap nick knacks. Currently, Atari seems to be focused on nostalgia-centered gaming, leaning away from the somewhat shadier usages of its branding. Leaning into the brand as a symbol of Gen-X 1980’s culture has helped keep the name in the public view (now known as Atari Interactive) but has offered little in new gaming innovation since the 1990’s.

The current line-up

Atari Interactive offers four different gaming systems entering into 2025 with two of those systems being pretty much the same with some minor differences. All of these offerings are rooted in Atari’s past titles, gaming systems, and history. This is not necessarily a negative, and Atari is far from the only company who offers these retro themed gaming products. What does differentiate Atari is that these are the only products they sell. Atari hasn’t produced a new IP or innovative device in the last decade that has not been based mostly an old Atari product from the 70’s or 80’s.

Atari 2600+ and 7800+

The Atari 2600+ was developed by the Austrian company Plaion and resembles a 4/5th scale version of the original 4 switch woodgrain adored version of the Atari 2600. Hardware wise, the unit is an emulator which loads the program from a cartridge into a bios for play. The 2600+ is compatible with most original 2600 titles and controllers, outputs to HDMI, and is also able to play 7800 games. The system has been on sale since 2023.

This year Atari Interactive released the Atari 7800+, which is essentially the same system functionally as the 2600+ with a few differences. The outside shell resembles the original 7800 from 1986 (smaller than the original again, like the 2600+) with the European release style “fat rainbow” metal logo plate. The 7800+ is missing the expansion port offered on early original 7800 systems. The 7800+ ships with a reproduction of the European only CX78 gamepad which are now wireless (North American 7800 owners originally received the extremely uncomfortable Pro-Line Joysticks). Atari Interactive has offered several new titles for the systems mostly made up of re-released classic titles, enhanced versions of classic titles, and previously released “home-brew” games. These new releases are also compatible with the older vintage systems which is a nice touch.

I received an Atari 7800+ for Christmas this year (the original 7800 has always been one of my favorite systems) and I really do like it. It came packed with Bentley Bear’s Crystal Quest, a platformer much in the vein of Sega’s Wonderboy. My wife and I had a blast playing the overly difficult platformer Bounty Bob Strikes Back on Christmas Day. I normally play my vintage systems on a period correct CRT (aka non HDMI) TV but the 7800+ looks great on our 65 inch modern TV. Even older games like the classic 2600 Adventure really pop on a new TV. There is a switch on the back to maintain the original 4:3 ratio as well on a new TV. The 7800+ cannot hook up to a non-HDMI TV natively, which is a shame. I didn’t seem to have any issues playing my older original cartridges on the system, although I have read some paddle controller based games do not function as intended. I did notice some delay occasionally with the wi-fi controllers.

The 7800+ (and 2600+) are great little products but I predict they will have a limited life span or interest outside hardcore gaming players, especially the 7800+. The original 7800 was never a big seller and it is not as well known to the mass public when compared to the original 2600, or Nintendo’s classic home systems. Considering the 2600+ and 7800+ use emulator technology, it would have beneficial to include the ability to save game progress or upload cart contents into the system itself. Considering how tiny some of the memory requirements of these vintage titles are this seems like it would have been easy to do. Some of Atari Interactive multi-game cartridge 2600+ rereleases use dip switches instead of a menu to choose between games, which is outdated solution when they could have easily created a menu driven selection device of some kind.

Atari 400 Mini

The Atari 400 Mini is similar to the previously discussed devices but less useful. This is a small scale recreation of the original Atari 400 8-bit computer but with a non-functional keyboard, non-functional cartridge slot, and 25 built in games. Although you can download other games via a USB port (something that the 2600+ and 7800+ strangely do not offer), the 400 Mini is not compatible with original Atari 8-bit computer cartridges.

I find this to be an extremely odd offering from Atari, losing the retro functionality of a vintage computer and turning it strictly into a plug and play gaming system. For $129 you do get a number of classic games and a nice recreation of the original CX40 joystick for finger blistering fun. I personally feel this product has even less long term appeal than the 2600+ or 7800+ thanks to its limitations and limited appeal. The Atari 8-bit computers were indeed a success back in their time, but are far from the cultural milestone of the competing Commodore 64 or Apple II series. This seems like something a very specific hobbyist would buy as shelf dust collectable more than anything.

Adding to a confusing naming scheme, the Atari VCS is not a recreation of the original Atari 2600 VCS per se, but is definitely inspired by it. Released in 2021 (originally announced in 2017), the VCS is sort of a “PC in a box” allowing a user to boot into a number of operating systems, buy things from Atari’s store front, and play pre-loaded classic Atari titles. The VCS offers both a remix of the original CX40 joystick and a more modern Xbox inspired controller. The console design is a sharp looking reworking of the classic 2600 look.

The hardware was criticized upon its release as underpowered, and 5 years later it is now woefully so. Don’t expect the VCS to be able to run anything super demanding in the audio/visual department. Most software is available in other places like Steam. Touted originally as an open PC device, it just doesn’t have the muscle to do anything remotely taxing. Support for anything resembling premium software titles has been spotty over the years and internet forums are filled with both eager fanboys of the VCS and those who are bitterly disappointed with the device. The device is somewhat upgradable but one has to ask if is it worth the bother when so many better options are out there for gaming? With its open hardware promises, it’s easy to compare the system to the failed Ouya from 2013 or the more successful modern Steam Deck.

In 2022 Atari pledged their support for the system but admitted to it being a sales disappointment. As of the end of 2024, you can pick up a loaded VCS bundle for under 200 bucks directly from Atari. I even saw a number of “cyber xmas sales” over the last month for the system under 150 clams. It would be a safe bet the VCS has numbered days on this planet and like any system that specifically runs on downloaded or streamed content its entire future usefulness is in doubt. Ask any Ouya owner.

The Future

A look on atari.com shows their current software offerings. Almost every title is a remake of a vintage Atari arcade game, Atari home game from the 1980’s, or classic game from another company: Food Fight Culinary Combat, Missile Command Recharged, and several versions of Roller Coaster Tycoon just to mention a few. Atari offers a handheld gaming system branded with Atari’s logo which is simply a reskin of Hyper Mega Tech’s Evercade compatible device (with Atari classic games installed of course). Need an Atari Joystick decanter? How about a Pong yoga mat? Atari branded coffee? They can even sell you a teddy bear with an Atari T-Shirt.

Legacy is a great thing in gaming. Nods to the past with modern gaming will continue as gaming progresses and moves forward like any art form. It is no wonder 99% of my Atari collection items are from before 1990 because in many ways the 21st century version of Atari never left that era either. Imagine if Atari still made a new system on the level of the Switch or Playstation 5, or even something completely different like interactive arcade games pushing the boundaries of technology. I love Atari and always will but I don’t need a new version of Food Fight or another recreation of Centipede. Give me something new. Give all gamers something new, otherwise the nostalgia well will eventually dry up and Atari will truly forever live only in the past. Hopefully Atari will awaken from their Christmas slumber and have an epiphany much like Scrooge did. God bless us, every pixel.

This past holiday season you had a choice of four different Atari branded video game consoles for the Tiny Tim or Bob Cratchit in your life. This might seem like a visit from a 1980’s Ghost of Christmas Past, when you could choose between the ancient (but cheap) 2600 Jr., the computer based XEGS, the 7800, or the then-new Lynx handheld. The 4 current Atari offerings all are focused more on the past than present. This is nothing new for Atari, which seems to have mainly existed as a nostalgia brand since the death of the Atari Jaguar in 1996.

Atari has been passed around from company to company since the late 90’s, reemerging from time to time when public tastes yearn for a dip into the pool of 1980’s gaming. I have a lot of love for the Atari brand which accounts for a majority of both my home video game and arcade game collection (I even own an Atari ST computer). I have enough self reflection to realize much of this is due to my age as a Gen X’er. But when the Ghost of Christmas Gaming Future visits us, will they show us an Atari future beyond the constant repackaging of old content, or will Atari ever showcase the ability to create new innovations in gaming?

Is Atari really Atari anymore?

Before I become too much of a Scrooge around the modern incarnation Atari, let us look at the somewhat convoluted history of its ownership. Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in 1972. Soon after, Al Alcorn developed the break out product for not just Atari but the early video game industry, Pong. Pong was a worldwide sensation transforming Atari into the leader of the video game industry for the next decade. After the success of a home version of Pong, Atari next developed what would become the Atari VCS (Video Computer System) a.k.a 2600 home system.

Atari didn’t have the revenue needed to properly market the 2600, so in October of 1976 Bushnell (now the sole owner of the company) sold Atari to Warner Brothers for $28 million. The following years would be Atari’s “Salad Days” with successes in home gaming, coin-op gaming, and home computers. Atari became a cultural juggernaut, one of the most famous companies in the USA. Bushnell would be fired from Atari by his own design which led to Ray Kassar being brought in by Warner Brothers in 1978 to head the growing company as CEO. The hippy “start up vibe” of Atari soon melted away with the loss of Bushnell, replaced with a more corporate seriousness in upper management. This cultural shift at Atari resulted in talented employees leaving and starting their own companies (Activision, Imagic) along with gradual decline of quality at Atari.

A number of disappointing new products (The Atari 1200XL computer, the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, the Atari 5200 system), new competition (Colecovision, Intellivision), and a price war in the home computer market sent Atari’s profits into free-fall. By 1983 the video game market crashed, with Atari reporting a loss of $532 Million for the year. In July of 1984 Warner Brothers sold and broke Atari in half. The consumer division was sold to Commodore 64 inventor Jack Tramiel becoming “Atari Corp.” and the coin-op division was retained by Warner Brothers becoming “Atari Games”.

Atari Corp. initially planned on only selling home computers but eventually would get back into the home gaming market releasing a smaller, cheaper Atari 2600 and the 2 years late to market Atari 7800 Pro System. Despite the Atari 7800 having close to the same hardware capability of the market leading Nintendo NES, the first ten titles 7800 released were versions of classic arcade games from 1980-1983. The Atari home systems took a beating from the Mario Brothers, essentially becoming a third place player behind Nintendo and Sega in an industry they once dominated. Atari Corp. did have some success (mostly in Europe) with the Atari ST 16-bit computers, but the 2600 and 7800 mostly sold as bargain basement gaming devices. As the 1990’s debuted, Atari tried their hands with new consoles, including the 16-bit color handheld Lynx (1989) and the 64-bit home console Jaguar (1993). Despite some technical firsts for both systems, neither enjoyed marketplace success.

By 1994 Atari Games (who also produced home software under Tengen) was squished into a merger of Time and Warner Brothers becoming Time-Warner interactive. Two years later it was sold off to Midway Games. 1996 marked the end of Atari Corp., which was unable to find an audience for its final product the Jaguar home system. Atari Corp, would reverse merge with laptop hard drive manufacturer JTS, who went bankrupt in 1999. The last Atari Games branded arcade game would roll off the assembly line in 1999, meaning neither of the original Atari companies would continue into the 21st century.

JTS sold the remaining assets of Atari Corporation’s corpse in 1998 to toy company Hasbro who planned to create new software based on Atari’s classic properties. One year later, Hasbro sold Atari’s assets to French software company Infogrames for the purpose of creating a better name brand recognition in North America. During this era Atari’s name was licensed for use of countless retro products from t-shirts, hats, pens, and “plug-and-play” game devices. Atari had become a zombie brand; a once well-known brand name now used strictly for its brand recognition with a massive lean into selling products based on nostalgia.

Atari has mostly been the exclusive property of Infogrames since 2001 despite a number of mergers, renaming schemes, and bankruptcies. The current Atari company has little to do with the original one, other than ownership of the classic assets – and not all of them mind you; post 1984 Atari Games arcade game titles such as Gauntlet, Paperboy, and others are owned by Warner Brothers. Modern uses of the Atari branding have been attached to everything from hotel chains, crypto currency, hats with speakers, and cheap nick knacks. Currently, Atari seems to be focused on nostalgia-centered gaming, leaning away from the somewhat shadier usages of its branding. Leaning into the brand as a symbol of Gen-X 1980’s culture has helped keep the name in the public view (now known as Atari Interactive) but has offered little in new gaming innovation since the 1990’s.

The current line-up

Atari Interactive offers four different gaming systems entering into 2025 with two of those systems being pretty much the same with some minor differences. All of these offerings are rooted in Atari’s past titles, gaming systems, and history. This is not necessarily a negative, and Atari is far from the only company who offers these retro themed gaming products. What does differentiate Atari is that these are the only products they sell. Atari hasn’t produced a new IP or innovative device in the last decade that has not been based mostly an old Atari product from the 70’s or 80’s.

Atari 2600+ and 7800+

The Atari 2600+ was developed by the Austrian company Plaion and resembles a 4/5th scale version of the original 4 switch woodgrain adored version of the Atari 2600. Hardware wise, the unit is an emulator which loads the program from a cartridge into a bios for play. The 2600+ is compatible with most original 2600 titles and controllers, outputs to HDMI, and is also able to play 7800 games. The system has been on sale since 2023.

This year Atari Interactive released the Atari 7800+, which is essentially the same system functionally as the 2600+ with a few differences. The outside shell resembles the original 7800 from 1986 (smaller than the original again, like the 2600+) with the European release style “fat rainbow” metal logo plate. The 7800+ is missing the expansion port offered on early original 7800 systems. The 7800+ ships with a reproduction of the European only CX78 gamepad which are now wireless (North American 7800 owners originally received the extremely uncomfortable Pro-Line Joysticks). Atari Interactive has offered several new titles for the systems mostly made up of re-released classic titles, enhanced versions of classic titles, and previously released “home-brew” games. These new releases are also compatible with the older vintage systems which is a nice touch.

I received an Atari 7800+ for Christmas this year (the original 7800 has always been one of my favorite systems) and I really do like it. It came packed with Bentley Bear’s Crystal Quest, a platformer much in the vein of Sega’s Wonderboy. My wife and I had a blast playing the overly difficult platformer Bounty Bob Strikes Back on Christmas Day. I normally play my vintage systems on a period correct CRT (aka non HDMI) TV but the 7800+ looks great on our 65 inch modern TV. Even older games like the classic 2600 Adventure really pop on a new TV. There is a switch on the back to maintain the original 4:3 ratio as well on a new TV. The 7800+ cannot hook up to a non-HDMI TV natively, which is a shame. I didn’t seem to have any issues playing my older original cartridges on the system, although I have read some paddle controller based games do not function as intended. I did notice some delay occasionally with the wi-fi controllers.

The 7800+ (and 2600+) are great little products but I predict they will have a limited life span or interest outside hardcore gaming players, especially the 7800+. The original 7800 was never a big seller and it is not as well known to the mass public when compared to the original 2600, or Nintendo’s classic home systems. Considering the 2600+ and 7800+ use emulator technology, it would have beneficial to include the ability to save game progress or upload cart contents into the system itself. Considering how tiny some of the memory requirements of these vintage titles are this seems like it would have been easy to do. Some of Atari Interactive multi-game cartridge 2600+ rereleases use dip switches instead of a menu to choose between games, which is outdated solution when they could have easily created a menu driven selection device of some kind.

Atari 400 Mini

The Atari 400 Mini is similar to the previously discussed devices but less useful. This is a small scale recreation of the original Atari 400 8-bit computer but with a non-functional keyboard, non-functional cartridge slot, and 25 built in games. Although you can download other games via a USB port (something that the 2600+ and 7800+ strangely do not offer), the 400 Mini is not compatible with original Atari 8-bit computer cartridges.

I find this to be an extremely odd offering from Atari, losing the retro functionality of a vintage computer and turning it strictly into a plug and play gaming system. For $129 you do get a number of classic games and a nice recreation of the original CX40 joystick for finger blistering fun. I personally feel this product has even less long term appeal than the 2600+ or 7800+ thanks to its limitations and limited appeal. The Atari 8-bit computers were indeed a success back in their time, but are far from the cultural milestone of the competing Commodore 64 or Apple II series. This seems like something a very specific hobbyist would buy as shelf dust collectable more than anything.

Adding to a confusing naming scheme, the Atari VCS is not a recreation of the original Atari 2600 VCS per se, but is definitely inspired by it. Released in 2021 (originally announced in 2017), the VCS is sort of a “PC in a box” allowing a user to boot into a number of operating systems, buy things from Atari’s store front, and play pre-loaded classic Atari titles. The VCS offers both a remix of the original CX40 joystick and a more modern Xbox inspired controller. The console design is a sharp looking reworking of the classic 2600 look.

The hardware was criticized upon its release as underpowered, and 5 years later it is now woefully so. Don’t expect the VCS to be able to run anything super demanding in the audio/visual department. Most software is available in other places like Steam. Touted originally as an open PC device, it just doesn’t have the muscle to do anything remotely taxing. Support for anything resembling premium software titles has been spotty over the years and internet forums are filled with both eager fanboys of the VCS and those who are bitterly disappointed with the device. The device is somewhat upgradable but one has to ask if is it worth the bother when so many better options are out there for gaming? With its open hardware promises, it’s easy to compare the system to the failed Ouya from 2013 or the more successful modern Steam Deck.

In 2022 Atari pledged their support for the system but admitted to it being a sales disappointment. As of the end of 2024, you can pick up a loaded VCS bundle for under 200 bucks directly from Atari. I even saw a number of “cyber xmas sales” over the last month for the system under 150 clams. It would be a safe bet the VCS has numbered days on this planet and like any system that specifically runs on downloaded or streamed content its entire future usefulness is in doubt. Ask any Ouya owner.

The Future

A look on atari.com shows their current software offerings. Almost every title is a remake of a vintage Atari arcade game, Atari home game from the 1980’s, or classic game from another company: Food Fight Culinary Combat, Missile Command Recharged, and several versions of Roller Coaster Tycoon just to mention a few. Atari offers a handheld gaming system branded with Atari’s logo which is simply a reskin of Hyper Mega Tech’s Evercade compatible device (with Atari classic games installed of course). Need an Atari Joystick decanter? How about a Pong yoga mat? Atari branded coffee? They can even sell you a teddy bear with an Atari T-Shirt.

Legacy is a great thing in gaming. Nods to the past with modern gaming will continue as gaming progresses and moves forward like any art form. It is no wonder 99% of my Atari collection items are from before 1990 because in many ways the 21st century version of Atari never left that era either. Imagine if Atari still made a new system on the level of the Switch or Playstation 5, or even something completely different like interactive arcade games pushing the boundaries of technology. I love Atari and always will but I don’t need a new version of Food Fight or another recreation of Centipede. Give me something new. Give all gamers something new, otherwise the nostalgia well will eventually dry up and Atari will truly forever live only in the past. Hopefully Atari will awaken from their Christmas slumber and have an epiphany much like Scrooge did. God bless us, every pixel.