When I unwrapped the Tiny Arcade Atari 2600 on Christmas morning, er, afternoon, I could not believe how cute it was. Then I played it, and it blew my mind.
The Tiny Arcade Atari 2600 is billed as the world's smallest playable Atari 2600, and boy, is it tiny. Despite its miniature size, it is packed with details. The packaging shows the retro TV, complete with rabbit ears, in a wood-paneled room with hideous carpeting, as befits anything from the late 1970s. The TV has little foldout legs on the bottom.
The details on the console are equally impressive. All the switches are labeled, and the faux wood on the front looks just right. The "cartridge" is actually a menu button. They even included the RF converter, a confusing feature for younger gamers but a core memory for me. The joystick is a perfect reproduction of the classic controller.
I was already sold at this point, but then there were the games. I fired up Pong first, and even without a paddle, it was a blast. The most surprising inclusion was Tempest, one of my all-time favorite arcade games. It's a little wonky with a joystick, like Pong, but totally playable. Asteroids looks ridiculously good on the tiny screen. Pac-Man is a faithful reproduction of the worst version of Pac-Man. The other included games are Breakout, Centipede, Combat, Warlords, Missile Command, and Millipede.
One thing GenXGrownUp noticed that I didn't is that not only does it keep track of high scores, but the scores persist even after a power cycle, which is just another great detail in this impressive toy. Another pleasant surprise was that the batteries were included, eliminating the search for batteries and a tiny screwdriver. However, the absurd amount of tape and plastic inside ensures that you have to do a little work before playing. I can't recommend this enough for any retro gaming fan.
Previously: Atari's 2600+ gets retro gaming right
