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.
