Atari 2600 - Classic Defined In One Big Number

Here it is... The greatest console of the 1970's. Being released in 1977, what is it that made the 2600 such an iconic console? Let's find out.

The classical Atari 2600

If you go back to 1980, note this: most consoles back then were made of wood. Mattel's Intellivision, the Colecovision, and many other consoles from Telstar, all of these shared common traits with the 2600 and were trying to rival Atari's home consoles. You see, back in the day, there were an awful lot of consoles to choose from. Today, the number is taken down to three. There is one thing, though. None of the 2600's "rivals" were as powerful, or as well-marketed as the one from Atari. Here are a few things that made the wooden console "special".

Mattel's Intellivision

The wooden hardware made it very pleasing. Though the console was improved several times, and one of them was a Darth Vader Edition, it's still the first one that caught many people's eye. The system would come with two Atari 2600 controllers, two paddles, and the console itself. The joysticks are great, and even if it has one big red button, it was super enjoyable. Compare this to the Intellivision controller. That thing is just bad. I mean, the "joystick" is a disk that doubles as a button, there is a numeric keypad on the front (cause that's what we need on a controller) and if that wasn't enough, there are two buttons on each side. Yeah, how about having 17 buttons on a controller. I hope you have a fun time using this monster. At least the Colecovision would let you take out their controller to use a 2600 joystick or one from Sega Genesis.

There was also another great thing with the Atari 2600: the huge library of games. I mean, wow. From Pac-Man, to Space Invaders, this thing has them all. That played a big part in popularizing the cartridges. The successors, the 5200 and the 7800, had backwards compatibility with the 2600. That is a good thing, and I expect to see that in future consoles.

To sum up, the 2600 from Atari definitely doesn't fail. It's a classic from Atari that is meant to show where we started and how excited we all were for the games. It's a remarkable console that is meant to be remembered for a long, long time.

Atari 2600 Darth Vader Edition

RetroBit Super Retro Trio Review

Being a taste of the classics, the Super Retro Trio is looking forward to bring the good memories back, by playing NES, SNES, Super Famicom and Sega Genesis games. With a solid hardware and several ports for the controllers, is the Retrobit's latest console worth to be checked out? Let's find out.

From the moment you unboxed the console, there are several things to be noticed: the system comes with two SNES - like controllers, an AV and a Composite cable, a travel adapter, an instruction manual, and the console itself. Picking the system up may surprise you, because of just how light it is. In terms of dimensions, the console is about the same size as a Nintendo Super Famicom. There are three ports for the cartridges, and on the front there are all the controller ports to play your games. One thing to note, though, is that the console doesn't emulate the games, but it actually plays them. It's nothing else than just a Frankenstein combination of the NES, SNES and the Sega Genesis. Another advantage is the AV and Composite output, so these games can be enjoyed on a good-old CRT television. 

The controllers are great. I mean, fantastic. They are a 1:1 clone of the SNES controllers. The previous generation, the Retro 2, came with a pair of cheap controllers, trying to clone the originals. So it's nice to see this time around that they actually made them right. Not all people have a retro collection, perhaps they just started collecting games.

The games run fantastic on the console; I was surprised to see how well the games run on the system. Having no lag at all, plus adding the AV and S-Video output, this console is really a good replacement for the older systems.

To sum up, this console is amazing. I was very surprised to see such a well-build console and controller, and not only that, but the fact that the games run perfectly, it's safe to say that the latest console from Retro-Bit is a true replacement for the much older systems.