Official Atari 2600+ Console & Joystick - HDMI Output - Includes 10 Games

Honestly an amazing console! I'm 23 and wanted to get into retro gaming and didn't want to just get any emulator system I love owning physical copies of my games and I love the fact that this is an official Atari console and this console has been perfect. I was able to find some of my dad's old games and it's very easy to find them online too and it's been really fun. I picked up another joystick and it's been fun playing 2 player games with friends. I've owned this console a few months now and there has been no issues at all. The update process is very easy to do on a PC with the update tool and it seems like there's a lot of support from Atari for this console and I even see on their website that they are making brand new game cartridges for this system! The graphics quality is great and very clear and I love the design of this console, it feels and seems to be very well built. It's been definitely worth the purchase for hours of gameplay it's been awesome!

The 2600+ plays Atari 2600 and 7800 game cartridges. If you already own some carts or want to collect them, this is a great way to play them on a modern TV with HDMI. The build quality of the 2600+ console and joystick is quite solid. And it looks just like an original 2600, albeit sized down a bit by 20%. So it's smaller than the original but not too small in my opinion. It currently plays 39 out of 40 of my carts and I understand there are a few other officially released carts not supported yet. Atari is currently working on a firmware update to address those games and it should be released shortly. Check out the Atariage 2600+ forum for the latest information. Several 7800 games require a 2-button joystick to play properly but the 2600 joystick only has 1 fire button. Atari will be releasing a new 7800 2-button gamepad to address this. I wish they had released this gamepad at launch. But if you have an original 7800 controller it will work with the 2600+. (As will any original 2600 controller for all 1-button games.) The box does not come with a power block, but any USB power block will work with it. I have a drawer full of those laying around so this was not an issue. The console can also be plugged directly into the USB port of your TV if it has one. Overall this is a very nice piece of hardware and with updates it will get even better. Highly recommended if you want an authentic looking and feeling Atari 2600 experience on a modern TV. 4.5 Stars overall. I will reevaluate after the new firmware is released and when they release a 7800 controller. Update: I see a few reviews mentioning that their cartridges would not load. Atari cartridges are multiple decades old at this point. The metal contacts on the carts need to be cleaned. Just clean them with isopropyl alcohol and a Q-tip. (See YouTube if you need a demo.) I had several carts that did not load initially, that work fine now once properly cleaned.

Yeah, it's an emulation box - but one of the better (best?) ones out there. Think if Nintendo allowed cartridges on the NES or SNES minis (and made the console a little larger) and that is kind of what you have here with Atari's offering. Controllers and games (including the 10-in-1 and new ones being produced) work in the old Atari's as well as vice versa (that includes your original controllers too). There are a small amount of games that don't work and a lot of homebrew doesn't (to be expected on emulation machines), however (as seen in the picture) I was able to boot up a rather obscure PAL multicart from Australia and it worked (though Ice Hockey was played on a black screen instead of white). Like another reviewer stated, maintaining old Atari units are getting cumbersome and are more and more for the hardcore hobbyists and tinkerers. Those who just want to play their old games and maintain a collection of Atari carts they can easily play will love this little unit. That goes for me who dug up my old carts a few months ago but haven't been able to test my original 2600 to see if it even works (let alone try to figure out the cable math to hook it up to a modern TV). This thing is just easy and fun. It doesn't come with a power plug but the USB will plug into any TV with a USB port and will power the console that way (so you don't need an extra wall adapter if you don't want to use one). Everything else looks and feels like the original 2600, which is kinda wild. I'd probably give it a 4.5 in a vacuum, but will give Atari the benefit of the doubt as far as furthering game compatibilities with updates as well as supporting future original 2600/7800 game releases. This has the potential to breathe a lot of life into retro gaming as whole and I'm all for it.

This is just like the old one except it hooks up to our new tvs. HDMI ports. Plays all the old games and the games from the 7800 too. You need a usb charger for it. I am using a 1 amp charger and no problems. The joystick is stiff. It will probably take time to break in properly. I got a long usb cord and a lond HDMI cable so I wouldn't have to sit right up in front of the TV. You get a usb cable with the unit, but it's pretty short.

I ultimately decided to get a 2600+ mainly because of its HDMI connectivity, and to be sure 2600/7800 games have never looked better on a modern TV. The aesthetics of the console are also quite nice - it looks like a classic woodgrain 2600 in about 3/4 scale and the various switches have the same feel as a classic 2600. That said, there are a few disclaimers for prospective buyers. 1. If you have any homebrew titles, you effectively have to get the beta firmware upgrade from the AtariAge website (at least as of March 2024). The 2600+ is effectively a Stella emulator, and when you use a cartridge, the emulator looks for the corresponding ROM. Version 1.0 of the firmware simply couldn't play homebrews. Updating the firmware is not hard, but it takes some effort. 2. Additionally, the 1.0 firmware had its share of bugs, with some games not playing correctly, some difficulty switch settings were backwards, etc. 3. The console is a little too faithful to the original design - in particular, the controller jacks are on the back of the unit just like on the original 2600, but it would be more practical to have the jacks on the front. 4. The cord on the included joystick is quite short, much like the cords on original 2600 controllers. However, in the year 2024, you probably don't want to sit 3 feet from your 60 inch TV the way you did your 19" CRT back in the 80s. 5. There's no USB power brick in the box. Sure, everyone has one, but come on. Additionally, to do firmware updates, you need a USB-C cord which supports data transfer - a micro SD card slot would have been much appreciated. All in all, it's a fun system, and if you have a 2600/7800 library it's worth a purchase.

Full disclosure: I have yet to set up and use my new 2600+, so keep that in mind while reading this review. Also, keep in mind that's the point of my review. I can't set it up because I can't turn it on. It doesn't come with any kind of power-generation unit. Yeah, it's got a nice helpful USB-C cable which is supposed to do that, but there's nothing to plug it into. While I knew it didn't come with one, what I didn't know, and find inexcusable, is that there is absolutely zero information about what kind of power unit is required for it. As someone who works in IT, I'm well aware that devices like this have power needs ... which are articulated exactly nowhere. The only information provided is on the "Quick Guide" card which pictures the aforementioned USB-C cable being connected to some kind of plug that then goes into a wall outlet (I've attached photo to my review). Sadly, the picture doesn't disclose anything of consequence about whatever it is I need to plug this thing into. I get it. A charger is needed. But which kind? I can't even begin to tell you. Nor, for that matter, can Atari ... because they don't even bother to try. They just show you a picture of something and hope you make more sense of it than they thought to provide.

This was such a thrill to activate this unit. Many of us 20th century gamers grew up with the 6507-equipped CX-2600 with its 160x192 pixels in 128 colors with 128 bytes of RAM in a RIOT chip. We still have the dozens, even hundreds of cartridges and controllers, but our ability to maintain our heavy-sixers and light-fours is steadily waning away. We can rebuild our boards with capacitor and resistor kits, but the CPU chip is impossible to find. Also, the video played on a modern video panel jitters and flickers. All of these problems are now gone. This new unit plugs right in and goes to work without a hiccup. The old controllers plug right in and work. Games do the same. The unit is of quality construction on the outside though the switches are very clunky. Image reproduction is excellent with 4:3 and 16:9 ratios available. The slow downs: 1. finding a wall nub with a USB-C connector to plug into this unit is necessary; just as in the 1970s, everything here is strung together by short wires which means gamers have to sit up close to their huge video panels to play games; the unit is in a reduced size similar to the Atari flashback series of consoles; the included cartridge has dip switches which all original games did not have; it's a shame this unit does not play the 5600 series games. I highly recommend this unit. Giving up on updating and maintaining our forty five year old consoles is now possible. The buyer will not regret this purchase and play Atari for another forty years.

I was so excited when I saw Atari was re-releasing the 2600. I have about fifty 2600 games but my vintage system didn't run properly, and this release solved that problem for me! I set it up within 5 minutes; it was super easy. I already had the USB to C block, and the HDMI just plugged right into the TV. The controller that came with the system is stiff, but I also had a few original controllers, and they work great in the new system. I'd recommend looking for an original controller to use, or you may just need to be patient and brake it in. The cords are a huge negative; they're so short that you'll need to basically sit in front of the TV to play, and even at that, the cords are stretched thin. The system works great, but it is disappointing that additional purchases are going to need to be made (controller, longer HDMI cords, USB to C block, etc.) to play. Overall, it was definitely worth it to be able to play all the games I had.