The venerable video game company Atari is offering preorders for a new console it previewed earlier this year: the Gamestation Go, which will be released in October for $180 (plus $8 shipping).
On its website, Atari shows off a colorful portable device with a 7-inch screen and multiple ways to control games including trackpads, a trackball and even a numeric keypad. Atari says the console will come bundled with 200 built-in games including Pac-Man, Centipede, Asteroids and Balls of Steel. It includes Wi-Fi connectivity, USB-C ports and a battery life of about 4 to 5 hours, according to the site.
The site also touts “SmartGlow” technology that lights up the section of the controller to be used, depending on the game.
This isn’t the first time Atari has packaged its retro library of games to make them accessible to new audiences. In the last few years, Atari has released throwback versions of its Atari 2600 and Atari 7800 consoles. But the Gamestation is the first Atari mobile console with those games bundled in.
The console has an HDMI port to connect to larger screens.
Swimming against the stream
Atari’s colorful console is a far cry from Nintendo’s new Switch 2 or upcoming PC-gaming portables such as the new ROG Xbox Ally, systems meant to play the latest AAA games. With its retro library, Atari is bucking the trend.
“The major, Western game publishers are fixated on making higher-end hardware and putting most of their chips on genre trend chasing. As a result, they don’t have clear identities,” said Chris Plante, the co-founder of the games site Polygon and host of the video games podcast Post Games.
“Atari is retro gaming,” Plante said. “Every decision they make feeds into that. Their studios specialize in remasters. Their hardware’s design echoes their discofied retrofuturistic aesthetic. And they’re quietly amassing a war chest of beloved retro IP, many of which didn’t even come from Atari.”
In addition to Atari classics from multiple console eras, games from Jaleco and PIKO International, such as Bases Loaded and Bad Street Brawler, are touted on the Gamestation Go web page.
Plante said that Atari’s portable system appears to be riding the popularity of a growing retro gaming scene. In contrast, modern game companies with little interest in the throwback gaming chase an increasingly segmented pool of players .
“Atari has a long road ahead of them,” he said. “But these little bets may one day pay big.”
