Atari - VCS 800 All-in Bundle - Black Walnut

I love the Atari VCS which to me is a lot like a Nintendo Switch but for Atari fanatics. I love the design and controllers which remind me of 1977 all over again. Of course it can be used as a PC so if you have a SSD drive with Windows you can plug it in and use it for that purpose as well (emulators, etc). Out of the box you aren’t getting a lot of power to do a whole lot of heavy PC gaming but the memory and storage can be upgraded for the techy types. But mainly I bought it to enjoy as a game system, as pricy as it seems…the only downside is that it’s a total streaming machine so if your Wi-Fi croaks then you won’t be playing Atari today. It’s not going to outperform a Switch, PS4 or Xbox but I don’t think it was made to compete with them and if it was, it wouldn’t. But it does outperform at a nostalgia level. I would have to say this system is for Atari nuts only, anyone else who didn’t enjoy these classic systems in their prime may be disappointed

Excellent versatile system. VCS mode is light on content for the moment, but there are some quality gems available with more on the way. Easily install Linux, Windows, etc. to expand your options dramatically. Right now I have Ubuntu Linux installed running my Steam games, runs great! Don't go into it expecting xbox/ps quality, but for what it is, it's a cool little system.

Very fun little console/mini pc! The vcs has been great for old and new atari games. It comes w the atari vault vol.1 and ant stream arcade(a retro game streaming service). Both are very fun and have atari arcade and console classics. Ive included a few photos here. This consiel got me into the Atari homebrew and indie games! Theres a good amount on here and the devs chat frequently w the atari vcs community about what theyre working on and for feedback. Also installed windows and running my steam and gog games on here. Good amount of hardware mods that can be done as well. But none are required as this bundle comes pretty good as is. The controllers are great. The modern controller feels like a switch power A wireless controller. And the joystick is really fun to use and has rumble. Its openned up a new side of gaming for me! With that said I hope Atari continues to make improvements to the UI and OS. Plus keep bringing more Atari classics to the system.

I had an Atari growing up and I so wanted to like this, I did like the fact that I could have this as a multi boot unit and will use it as a PC. I'm going to continue to mess around with this and will update as it progresses. The games imho simply do NOT play the way that they used to, I'm using the joy stick as I do on my 2600. I cannot put my finger on it. I do think the design of the device is great and it does appear to be a quality piece of hardware. I hope that this does not turn into PC for the TV, but that is what it is starting to feel like. With that said - it is NOT a bad piece of hardware and should perform well once I upgrade storage and ram. Updates - it did take quite a bit of time for all of the updates to be applied to the system. I do NOT see this as a negative as other people do- thank goodness you can update and resolve issues. Do be prepaired for updates and this will take time, but it is worth it. This does display well on 75" TV in all resolutions - no lag or jitter - -granted I'm playing games from the 1980s so i do not expect there to be

Looks great! Performs OK. It’s more for the tinkering type as you can update the internals like memory and storage. Recharged games are neat. I did get a price match from Micro Center so I only paid $250.

Nice piece of kit; Nostalgia at its finest. The real wood is sweet touch. The attention to detail is beyond belief and the classic games have never played better, love that they are in 4K and the added rumble support for centipede and others has brought a tear to my eye. Thanks Atari

I love this Atari VCS it's more than I expected it to be got Windows 11 on it running all kinds of games and love the games at the Atari store to what a great lil system

Honestly I didn't expect much from this product. From the first day it was announced almost every website and podcast I regularly follow has universally panned it as over-priced and doomed to failure, and on those points, they may be right. But I purchased it anyway because of the nostalgia factor. I expected it would be buggy, slow, and pretty useless...but it isn't. It's not an Xbox series x or a ps5, it might not even be an Xbox one or a ps4, but it's not a Raspberry pi either. This thing is really slick and polished. I've only been using it for two days but everything I've tried on it has worked really well. Downloads are really fast. I purchased pixel cup soccer, which is about a 2 gig download and it finished in seconds. For me, that's faster than Steam and the PlayStation store. I launched into the YouTube app and tried to navigate with the Classic controller but it didn't seem to work with that controller (i didn't try the modern controller), so I launched the companion app on my smartphone. The companion app allows you to control your vcs through your phone and has a slick interface that emulates a mouse and or keyboard. Controlling YouTube with this app was intuitive and snappy. I played a couple music videos and found the picture quality to be excellent. I found the YouTube app plus the companion app to be an excellent combination and far superior to using a controller for input. This same companion app can be used to control other apps as well, such as Chrome and Netflix etc... The Atari is good for... Nostalgia... Streaming content... Airconsole.com and antstream.com playing Atari 2600 games playing old Atari arcade games Emulation A second PC in another room (ability to install other OSes) The Atari is not good for... running modern games competing with modern consoles not a lot of games available on the store just yet ABOUT THE PRICE... Is $400 too much? Yes AND No. Everyone knows that Microsoft and Sony subsidies their consoles because they know they can make up the loss in software and subscriptions down the line. They can afford it. I remember reading that the PS3 was losing $300 for every console they sold at launch. Atari can't compete with that. They have to sell it for a reasonable price, or lose their shirts. Unfortunately, that probably means they are pricing themselves right out of the market...but it's a catch 22, and I just don't see what else they can do about it. If you love Atari...buy this product. if you want a decent mini PC for the price...buy it. if you want to tinker with a neat little machine with a lot of heart, and very little hope...buy it. if you want to play anything modern...don't