The Atari+ Platform: Bringing Back Retro Consoles the Right Way
Story by @GIJoeRepairShop
The original Atari 2600 has released in 1977. That is nearly 50 years ago! Old Atari hardware is getting harder and harder to find, while Atari cartridges are often rotting in antique shops across the country. Television technology has also left the original Atari consoles far behind. Finding a working cathode ray tube (CRT) television and a working Atari television adaptor is becoming a harder, and more expensive, task by the day. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to play your old collection of Atari games on your modern television in high definition, using a wireless controller?
Enter the Atari+ platform! On November 17, 2023, a revamped Atari Inc., introduced the Atari 2600+ at an affordable $129.99. The console looks very much like the original. However, it is about twenty percent smaller. It features the four-switch configuration, as opposed to the original six-switch (“heavy sixer”) configuration. The Atari 2600+ is a modern gaming machine. It runs off of one USD-C connection, rather than the huge, clunky power adaptor of the original. It also features an HDMI output for crystal clear graphics and sound. With Atari systems, compatibility is everything. The Atari 2600+ is fully hardware compatible with all original controllers. The DB9 port on the console can accept either modern joysticks that come bundled with it, or joysticks that have been sitting in your closet for forty years. Atari even sells a six-foot DB9 extension cable so that you don’t have to sit right up at the television if your knees aren’t as good as they were in 1982. The extension cable allows this author to enjoy gaming from the comfort of his couch!
Hardware compatibility extends to the existing library of Atari console games. The Atari 2600+ runs an emulator that is compatible with more than ninety percent of the original Atari cartridges. Atari helpfully provides a compatibility checklist on its website. So, nearly all of your old games are playable again, this time in HD. (Pitfall in HD is fantastic!) For folks who might not have original cartridges, the Atari 2600+ comes with a ten-games-in-one cartridge. Just by flipping dip switches, players can choose between such classics as Missile Command and Yar’s Revenge.
On November 29, 2024, Atari introduced the Atari 7800+. Much like the 2600+, the 7800+ is a faithful emulation of the original Atari 7800, and includes the same modern features as the 2600+. One of the best features of the Atari+ platform is the compatibility of game libraries. The 2600+ and the 7800+ have been built to run both 2600 and 7800 games. So, if you own one system, you can play games from either system. It instantly doubles the amount of games available for each system. It is also an opportunity to explore games from a system you may never have owned. Atari also features on their website the ability to purchase homebrew 2600 and 7800 games that have become popular since the 1980s.
Atari continues to innovate and enhance the Atari+ platform. Recently, Atari celebrated the fortieth anniversary of Pac-Man by releasing a special edition of the Atari 2600+ in yellow, along with controllers in each of the colors of the Pac-Man ghosts. Atari has also released wireless controllers for the Atari+ consoles. Yes, there was an Atari 2600 wireless controller in the 1980s, but it was enormous. These wireless controllers fit within the form factor of the original joysticks.
Atari’s reentry in to the world of console gaming is very much a breath of fresh air. Their attention to detail and integration of modern technologies, all while keeping the maximum hardware compatibility with old hardware is the right approach for twenty-first century gaming.
