Ataribox

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Originally Posted by The Rotting Corpse of Atari

Inspired by classic Atari design elements (such as the iconic use of wood, ribbed lines, and raised back); we are creating a smooth design, with ribs that flow seamlessly all around the body of the product, a front panel that can be either wood or glass, a front facing logo, indicator lights that glow through the material, and an array of new ports (HDMI, 4xUSB, SD). We intend to release two editions: a wood edition, and a black/red edition.

As you can guess, those ports suggest modern internal specs. It also means that while we will be delivering classic gaming content, we will also be delivering current gaming content.

We know you are hungry for more details; on specs, games, features, pricing, timing etc. We’re not teasing you intentionally; we want to get this right, so we’ve opted to share things step by step as we bring Ataribox to life, and to listen closely to Atari community feedback as we do so. There are a lot of milestones, challenges and decision points in front of us in the months ahead. We’ll be giving you lots more information and status updates as we progress, and we are thrilled to have you along for the ride!

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Link with pics

This appears to be a solution looking for a problem to me.

Oh yeah.

Just fucking no. We don't need more shit like this in the market.

PC Gamer compared it to an NES Mini. If it's an actually competent Flashback at the right price, then I may be interested, especially if they go up through the Jaguar on it or at least don't limit it to 2600.

It's not going to be a flashback like device.

I don't get the point of this at all.

It's going to be a micro-console for retro-ish (but not necessarily emulated) downloadable games.

Hey, it could play Skyrim! That's exciting!

I have a hard enough time finding a reason to buy a real console these days.
They'll have to do better than 'It's got wood!'

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

It's going to be a micro-console for retro-ish (but not necessarily emulated) downloadable games.

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If they're emulated, they're not retro in any typical case. If this thing only plays retro games, it has no value whatsoever.

I am so buying this over that crap Switch [/s]

So...it's a coincidence that it's got the exact same ports as a Raspberry Pi, right?

According to a French note to investors via Eurogamer, they're going to try to crowdfund this. I'm ready to vote with my money by pledging $0.

What is this, 2013? People don't even crowdfund GOOD ideas anymore.

I'm sure people will be very excited after the Ouya.

On the other hand, anything with a USB port and an app gets funded by 500% on Indiegogo so who knows.

Don't believe me? Found this after looking for 2 minutes: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/s...e-innovation#/

This shit is just a train wreck waiting to happen. You want to sell old Atari games? Make a fucking Atari collection again and you're good to go. This isn't going to make any real money outside of fucking hipsters and faggots.

Saucy!

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

I'm sure people will be very excited after the Ouya.

On the other hand, anything with a USB port and an app gets funded by 500% on Indiegogo so who knows.

Don't believe me? Found this after looking for 2 minutes: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/s...e-innovation#/

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I backed Ouya, probably turned it on 3 times. It was a fun little idea that was dramatically underdelivered - like most crowdfunding.

I don't like to hate on consoles but the 2600 sucked. It sucked in 197-whatever and it sucks today. Just because people worked magic within its limitations doesn't mean it wasn't painfully limited.

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Originally Posted by James

I don't like to hate on consoles but the 2600 sucked. It sucked in 197-whatever and it sucks today. Just because people worked magic within its limitations doesn't mean it wasn't painfully limited.

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All videogames were painfully limited in the 70s. Still, there were good games like Kaboom, Warlords, Yar's Revenge and Hero on the console.

I have an app on my iPad with arcade perfect ports of 18 Atari games and 83 perfect ports of 2600 games.

Why would I need this?

They say it will play modern games, but what sort of modern games are they talking about?

I had so much fun with the 2600 when I was a kid. Looking back, the only thing that was clearly garbage even at the time was that joystick.

A while back I watched a postmortem on Pitfall that went into how it was programmed. That game is REALLY impressive knowing how they had to create it. And when I say they, I mean he. All of those games were mostly made from start to finish by one person. It must have been a really fun time/place to make games.

I have a hard time going back and playing the 2600. Except for Kaboom, I can play Kaboom anytime, anywhere.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Saucy!

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Hey I have a virtual hatred of hipsters these days... that and bronies. They are the worst bottom-feeding scum to populate the internet.

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Originally Posted by cigsthecat

I had so much fun with the 2600 when I was a kid. Looking back, the only thing that was clearly garbage even at the time was that joystick.

A while back I watched a postmortem on Pitfall that went into how it was programmed. That game is REALLY impressive knowing how they had to create it. And when I say they, I mean he. All of those games were mostly made from start to finish by one person. It must have been a really fun time/place to make games.

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You should read Racing the Beam. The best book on video games yet written.

I can't wait to play Hard Drivin' 2020 and Pit Fighter Revolution!

Give me a sequel to Todd's Adventure's in Slime World and I'm in.

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Originally Posted by sedition

Give me a sequel to Todd's Adventure's in Slime World and I'm in.

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Aw man, I loved that game! Played the hell out of it on the Lynx. Hugely underrated. Maybe I'd have a use for this after all...

Seriously, give me 30 or so PS3-caliber updates to STUN Runner, Blue Lightning, Road Blasters, and other Lynx games and I'll buy it. Exclusives and a low entry price.

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Originally Posted by sleeve

Aw man, I loved that game! Played the hell out of it on the Lynx. Hugely underrated. Maybe I'd have a use for this after all...

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Did you ever hook up two Lynx and play it multiplayer? Pretty awesome co-op and versus.

Red Baron with linked-up Lynx was also great.

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Originally Posted by sedition

Did you ever hook up two Lynx and play it multiplayer? Pretty awesome co-op and versus.

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No, I never did but I always wanted to! Imagine an 8-player co-op Metroid-style game in 1990. That's what Slime World was.

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Red Baron with linked-up Lynx was also great.

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You mean Warbirds? Always wanted to try versus on that one, too. I was the only kid on the block with a Lynx :(

You guys realize the old Atari is not this iteration of Atari.

Exactly. Look at what Konami and Capcom have become and then add two deaths and resuscitations. That's who is making this.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

You should read Racing the Beam. The best book on video games yet written.

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I just may do that.

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

You guys realize the old Atari is not this iteration of Atari.

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We're like 4 different versions of Atari's deep, or maybe it's 5? I've lost count.

I can't imagine any scenario where this thing isn't a flop, but I would probably be interested if they pack in some decent paddle controllers and an new Warlords game.

This thing would entirely justify its existence by simply letting people play superior 5200 ports with better controller options than the 5200 actually got. 5200 Kaboom and Super Breakout with a proper paddle controller would be manna from heaven.

(Put out a massive trac-ball controller like the 5200's though. That thing made for some sweet Centipede.)

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Originally Posted by sleeve

No, I never did but I always wanted to! Imagine an 8-player co-op Metroid-style game in 1990. That's what Slime World was.

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My brother and I had one and our best friend had one, so we got to battle in some two player slime world on long car trips. Really fun. Yeah co-op was cool. Versus was like Towerfall, with multiple rooms and your own screen, in the 1990s. Sleeve, we just made this sound like the best game ever made.

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Originally Posted by sleeve

You mean Warbirds? Always wanted to try versus on that one, too. I was the only kid on the block with a Lynx :(

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yes Warbirds!!! Pretty fun as well with the linked Lynx.

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Originally Posted by Bacon McShig

This thing would entirely justify its existence by simply letting people play superior 5200 ports with better controller options than the 5200 actually got. 5200 Kaboom and Super Breakout with a proper paddle controller would be manna from heaven.

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Atari 800 computer versions of both of those games support paddles. Both are very similar to the 5200 versions.

I'd like to try the C64 versions of some of those 2600/5200 games on the C64. I do know that the 2600 trackball works with games like Centipede on the C-64, but I've never tried the 2600 paddles with games like Breakout on the computer.

Im not saying this to troll but does anyone actually give a shit about Atari anymore? I can unequivocally say I do not. I didn't 20 years ago. The 2600 is goddamn ancient and everything they did after that was either shit or got steamrolled.

NES Classic was a big hit because the people who grew up with the system have strong feels and also often young kids that they want to introduce the games to. SNES Classic probably will be a big hit because the games are great and it has strong nostalgia.

Trying to revive this brand is like trying to revive some old ass car brand only your grandpa cares about. It would be better if "Atari" named it something that didn't remind people of a company that has failed like 5 times over.

I think you're too young for similar nostalgia to the NES, and I may even be, depending on which years are the most nostalgia-forming. However, the undeath of the brand is a problem regardless. I doubt even the most crazed Atari fans didn't give a damn about Infogrames or the current trademark holder.

The people with Atari nostalgia are literally 50+ years ol
They don't give a damn

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I think you're too young for similar nostalgia to the NES, and I may even be, depending on which years are the most nostalgia-forming. However, the undeath of the brand is a problem regardless. I doubt even the most crazed Atari fans didn't give a damn about Infogrames or the current trademark holder.

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Does Infogrames still exist? The thing is that Nintendo is still a successful company (more or less). I can play SMB3 on my NES Classic and oh wait here is a new Super Mario from the same company that made that one. Whereas this is some zombie company like those Chinese ones that resurrect brands from when America actually made stuff.

Also there have been like 8 Atari Flashbacks for all the people who actually did have nostalgia for the company.

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Originally Posted by Joust Williams

The people with Atari nostalgia are literally 50+ years ol
They don't give a damn

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Yeah......I'm almost 50 years old. :(

I have nostalgia for Atari, because it was my earliest experience with video games in the arcade (Kee Games Tank) and the 2600 (It's VCS dammit!).

I have some interest in what this is going to be, but short of having a ton of 2600, 5200, 7800, Jaguar and arcade games loaded on it with some cool controller options, I doubt that it would be worth my money.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Does Infogrames still exist? The thing is that Nintendo is still a successful company (more or less). I can play SMB3 on my NES Classic and oh wait here is a new Super Mario from the same company that made that one. Whereas this is some zombie company like those Chinese ones that resurrect brands from when America actually made stuff.

Also there have been like 8 Atari Flashbacks for all the people who actually did have nostalgia for the company.

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That was my point. The flaws are less related to nostalgia and more related to the reanimators that are asking us to pay to develop this.

The same shit happened with the Commodore brand. A bunch of sketchy foreign holding companies keep trying to slap the logo on generic crap.
The only halfway interesting thing was the C64 styled PC, but that ended up being over-priced and kind of half-assed.

I was 7 years old when Atari split up the first time in 1984. It's been mostly downhill since then.

1984 was when Jack Tramiel took over. He put the 7800 on mothballs and concentrated on computers to get back at the Commodore board for ousting him from his own company.

The arcade division was still churning out hits like Gauntlet and Roadblasters.

I think people too often overlook the arcade angle. The same thing happens with Sega.

Tramiel's best console was probably the Lynx (from Epyx), that is one system way ahead of its time.

No doubt about that. It was the Dreamcast of portables.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I think people too often overlook the arcade angle. The same thing happens with Sega.

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True, but with Atari it was a little more complicated. In 1984 they actually spun off the arcade division into a totally separate company, run by different people. The home computer (and later console) division was run by a bunch of incompetents.

The reason the Lynx was so good was because it was originally developed by Epyx, as kingoffighters points out.

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Originally Posted by sleeve

True, but with Atari it was a little more complicated. In 1984 they actually spun off the arcade division into a totally separate company, run by different people. The home computer (and later console) division was run by a bunch of incompetents.

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Great point. I had forgotten about that wrinkle.

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The reason the Lynx was so good was because it was originally developed by Epyx, as kingoffighters points out.

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Yeah, they passed on the NES but bit on the Lynx. Those two systems deserved to have their fates reversed. The success (and then monopolistic bullshit) of the NES cost us so much horsepower for so many years.

For my authentic Atari experience, this needs to ship in a large Montgomery Ward paper bag full of cartridges and a broken second joystick.

Toss in a couple of unrelated cables from a ham radio kit just for fun and we're *solid gold*.

I brought up the arcade side, because it wasn't ran by Tramiel. The one great thing that TW did right was divide them before selling them.

Roadblasters is awesome, I always forget Atari made that.

Roadblaster was my most played Atari Lynx title. It was an excellent port.

The only game I ever had for my Lynx was Electrocop.

I had enough to fill the big case or close to it. I loved that thing. I never had a Game Gear in part because if it.

edit: I had a friend a year ahead of me in high school that had one, and we'd link them on school trips.

In hindsight the market for Lynx was limited outside of future PC Master Race Reddit posters.

Nintendo should have named theirs the Game Peasant.

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Originally Posted by kedawa

The only game I ever had for my Lynx was Electrocop.

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STUN Runner was awesome (and the best Lynx game), although the last level was almost unplayable due to framerate. I don't know how I ever managed to finish it.

I don't know. I'd have trouble picking anything over Ninja Gaiden. The fact that we're arguing arcade ports on a 1989 portable is amazing though.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Roadblaster was my most played Atari Lynx title. It was an excellent port.

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I played that a lot on my Nomad back in the day, it's a great portable game.

Ninja Gaiden was an excellent port, there are no losers here.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Im not saying this to troll but does anyone actually give a shit about Atari anymore? I can unequivocally say I do not. I didn't 20 years ago. The 2600 is goddamn ancient and everything they did after that was either shit or got steamrolled.

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Don't get too used to me saying this but I agree completely. I'll admit my dislike for Atari is a long-held prejudice from when I was 10 or so, but it's never gone away. Today's shambling corpse wearing the skin of Atari isn't helping with this any.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I had enough to fill the big case or close to it. I loved that thing. I never had a Game Gear in part because if it.

edit: I had a friend a year ahead of me in high school that had one, and we'd link them on school trips.

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I still buy games for the thing. I don't even know where I've put some of the boxes for the games though.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d7...ections016.jpg

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/att...9&d=1500512674

Honestly, I think I'm more interested in getting a Lynx than I am in this new thingie.

And no love for Todd's Adventures in Slime World? I loved that game.

I think it was sleeve that mentioned it yesterday.

That would have required reading the thread.

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Originally Posted by Diff-chan

Im not saying this to troll but does anyone actually give a shit about Atari anymore? I can unequivocally say I do not. I didn't 20 years ago. The 2600 is goddamn ancient and everything they did after that was either shit or got steamrolled.

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QFT. Zero Fucks Given.
Sixteen-bit is when gaming started getting good. To me, Tengen (Atari Games Corp.) is the real deal as far as Atari is concerned - stuff like Klax on TG-16, Paperboy & RoadBlasters on Genesis, etc. and other arcade titles.
Ataribox is liable to tank hard. Why not just put their games on existing systems like PC, PS4, XO instead?
Atari, Inc. is over-rated. Their ST computer is forgettable. Amiga shot that one down.

Lynx was one thing Atari did get right. It had a good library. The launch price likely didn't help it, since $180 in 1989 dollars (or $321.47 in 2011 dollars) was a bit more expensive than the Wi-Fi Vita's 2011 launch price of $250.

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Originally Posted by gameoverDude

Sixteen-bit is when gaming started getting good.

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Are you ~30-years old, an idiot, or both?

Atari 8-bit computers were pretty powerful for the time, and many of the games are still playable today. Not saying there is a market for a flashback system for that though, as most kids who grew up during that era had the 2600 (maybe the 5200) and not the home computers.

I'm glad I had those bad games like Ms. Pac-Man, Phantasy Star, Castlevania III, and SMB3 while I was waiting for gaming to start getting good.

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Originally Posted by kingoffighters

Atari 8-bit computers were pretty powerful for the time, and many of the games are still playable today. Not saying there is a market for a flashback system for that though, as most kids who grew up during that era had the 2600 (maybe the 5200) and not the home computers.

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All of my friends were playing Vic-20, Apple IIe and C-64 by 1983. My room mate (while I was going to tech school in Phoenix) had an Atari 800XL. He had it shipped to Phoenix just to show me how much more powerful his computer was compared to my C-64. It was pretty cool, I'll admit that.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I'm glad I had those bad games like Ms. Pac-Man, Phantasy Star, Castlevania III, and SMB3 while I was waiting for gaming to start getting good.

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I was really disappointed that I had to play Archon, PSI 5 Trading Outpost, Seven Cities of Gold, Phantasie, The Bard's Tale, Donkey Kong and Galaga.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I think it was sleeve that mentioned it yesterday.

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He mentioned it in passing but didn't discuss it.

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Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

That would have required reading the thread.

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:rolleyes:

The soul still burns.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

I think it was sleeve that mentioned it yesterday.

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it might have been me.

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Originally Posted by Melf

He mentioned it in passing but didn't discuss it.

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uhh... we went back and forth about it for multiple posts. Slime time.

So you did! My bad. Yeah, that game's link feature is reason enough to own a Lynx. The game looks better than the Genesis version, too. The backgrounds are more detailed and animated.

TBH, I got bored of Todd pretty quickly. Looks great though.

Some of the older games did lay ground for amazing sequels- Tempest 2000, Tetris TGM series, Majestic 12/Space Invaders 4, Galaga '88, Pac-Mania, and the Namco Classics Arrangement modes (Pac-Man Arrangement any day) to name a few.

SMS is fine, but many of its arcade releases have been re-ported more faithfully onto newer systems. Any 8-bit that I play is usually an original title. That said, there are some good originals on SMS that I've played, such as Kenseiden and Alex Kidd (a true rival to the first SMB).

As for SNK, I think they should let the KOF series ride with XIV for a while, and revisit Ikari once. All they need for that is to make the gameplay like the overhead shooter action of the first two, and keep away from the third's beat-em-up action.

The classic Atari arcade games are as good as anything. The Lynx is the shit too, and a culmination of a lot of that school of thought. The problem is most people know those games by their shitty VCS ports.

I've never played Slime World, and it doesn't seem appealing. Is it really worthwhile without the multiplayer angle, because that's not likely to happen?

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Originally Posted by gameoverDude

SMS is fine, but many of its arcade releases have been re-ported more faithfully onto newer systems. Any 8-bit that I play is usually an original title. That said, there are some good originals on SMS that I've played, such as Kenseiden and Alex Kidd (a true rival to the first SMB).

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Don't trip. Alex Kidd is a great game, but no.

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Originally Posted by Vasteel

The classic Atari arcade games are as good as anything. The Lynx is the shit too, and a culmination of a lot of that school of thought. The problem is most people know those games by their shitty VCS ports.

I've never played Slime World, and it doesn't seem appealing. Is it really worthwhile without the multiplayer angle, because that's not likely to happen?


Don't trip. Alex Kidd is a great game, but no.

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At that time, the arcade had the definite advantage. It would've taken the NES to get some of Atari's earlier arcade titles done justice on a console. Atari had a shot at the Nintendo Famicom before it became the NES, but that deal went straight to Hell. After reading this, it's hard to not wonder what may have been if things were different. The deal may have been more beneficial to Nintendo than Atari, but chances are it would've beat going on their own with the 7800. Nintendo would've got the Famicom out sooner (Christmas '83). Some dispute with Nintendo about Coleco showing Donkey Kong on the Adam computer caused a delay, which allowed an insider trading scandal involving CEO Ray Kassar to kill it.

What if it did happen? That would've meant using Atari as a salesforce and even a developer. For Atari, this would have meant a system powerful enough to do their arcade titles justice or with minor compromises. Liberator might have been good on NES, if the rotating planet effect could be done (got to be some way, right?).

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Originally Posted by gameoverDude

At that time, the arcade had the definite advantage. It would've taken the NES to get some of Atari's earlier arcade titles done justice on a console. Atari had a shot at the Nintendo Famicom before it became the NES, but that deal went straight to Hell. After reading this, it's hard to not wonder what may have been if things were different. The deal may have been more beneficial to Nintendo than Atari, but chances are it would've beat going on their own with the 7800. Nintendo would've got the Famicom out sooner (Christmas '83). Some dispute with Nintendo about Coleco showing Donkey Kong on the Adam computer caused a delay, which allowed an insider trading scandal involving CEO Ray Kassar to kill it.

What if it did happen? That would've meant using Atari as a salesforce and even a developer. For Atari, this would have meant a system powerful enough to do their arcade titles justice or with minor compromises. Liberator might have been good on NES, if the rotating planet effect could be done (got to be some way, right?).

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Atari did release several of their arcade titles for the NES under the Tengen label, while games like 720 were licensed out to 3rd parties.

Tengen Tetris, anyone... and led to Klax.

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Originally Posted by Vasteel

Don't trip. Alex Kidd is a great game, but no.

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Agreed. But the Wonder Boy games make up for that. Shit, there are a LOT of good original SMS games. Penguin Land, Zillion, Golvellius, Phantasy Star... I'd love an SMS retro console.

Get you an analog nt mini.

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Originally Posted by Vasteel

The classic Atari arcade games are as good as anything. The Lynx is the shit too, and a culmination of a lot of that school of thought. The problem is most people know those games by their shitty VCS ports.

I've never played Slime World, and it doesn't seem appealing. Is it really worthwhile without the multiplayer angle, because that's not likely to happen?

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Excellent summary of the Lynx philosophy. The Lynx was the best place to find Atari arcade ports from the mid-80s to early 90s. Atari was right up there with Sega in terms of arcade prowess during that period, and this was the place to play those games at home.

I would say Slime World is more fun than most "Metroidvania" clones from indie devs that release nowadays. It's got 6 missions with varied goals that are selectable from the start, all of which are doable single player.

RoadBlasters has the voice that even the Genesis version misses. The arcade version has a suicide trick where you can slam into turrets for a shitload of points (which could lead to a full reserve tank, if your shooting accuracy has been good). With a 10x multiplier, this gets you 20,000 for one kamikaze. One player on Youtube grabbed 94K on a level doing this. Not sure if this works on Lynx.

STUN Runner is another good job, and maybe even a bit better than Lynx RB. Instead of polygons it uses a ton of scaling sprites, and does it well. If I had to pick ONE Lynx game this could be it. Ironically, the Amiga version is a tragic hot mess.

Lynx Rampage is by far the best version of that game too. Rampage doesn't hold up super well in general, but the Lynx version might be the exception.

I can't imagine playing Lynx on a screen larger than a cell phone though. That resolution is not good.

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Originally Posted by Frogacuda

Lynx Rampage is by far the best version of that game too. Rampage doesn't hold up super well in general, but the Lynx version might be the exception.

I can't imagine playing Lynx on a screen larger than a cell phone though. That resolution is not good.

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Can't deny it about the resolution, sadly. I wish Atari would've made the Lynx 256 x 224 like the NES. Only a year later, NEC did 400 x 270 with the Turbo Express- and it didn't cost too much more than a Lynx.

I just want a Lynx version of Space Harrier and a game like Crossed Swords for it.

While this is admittedly a low bar, the 'Retro' Handheld looks like a lot better idea than the 'box.

About $40 US?

Coming next Spring, priced 250 - 300 bucks, and have an AMD processor in it running Linux.

https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/26/...next-spring/#/

https://o.aolcdn.com/images/dims?qua...cdf4562bb16f22

https://s.blogcdn.com/slideshows/ima...nnamed-3-1.jpg

Nobody is going to buy that.

Four TNLers are going to buy that.

This is the antithesis of NES/SNES classic.