When Atari introduced the Gamestation Go, I didn’t anticipate to be this . Retro handhelds are all over the place proper now, and it feels as if there are extra Atari collections than precise video games. Actually, what number of repackaged variations of Pac-Man do we want? However this handheld console launch feels totally different. It’s not attempting to money in on nostalgia with a handful of ROMs; it’s a severe try and make Atari’s library playable, pleasing, and sensible in 2025. That’s why I’ve already pre-ordered mine.
The Gamestation Go is due for launch 24 October and will likely be bundled with greater than 200 video games inbuilt, spanning the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and the arcade. You may get the titles everyone knows – Asteroids, Breakout, Missile Command, Tempest, Warlords – alongside licensed basic video games from Jaleco and PIKO Interactive. There’s even the addition of the Atari Recharged Sequence, which immediately makes this greater than a closed Atari shrine and one thing a little bit extra expansive.
(Picture credit score: Atari)
Controls that respect the video games
Together with the paddle and trackball, the Gamestation Go contains a keypad, a D-pad, bumpers, and A/B/X/Y buttons, all inbuilt. The SmartGlow system lights up the precise controls you want for every sport, so that you by no means should guess whether or not Centipede desires a paddle or a trackball.
Personally, I really like the addition of the trackball. It’s a characteristic designed purely to let Atari’s getting older hits be performed the best way they have been meant to be. Video games like Centipede, Marble Insanity, and Crystal Castles all demand that clean, brushed spinning movement, and having it constructed right into a handheld seems like a small miracle. It’s tactile, exact, and makes a world of distinction in contrast with attempting to approximate it on a D-pad.
In truth, this new Atari console has the identical design really feel because the Sinclair GamerCard; each have a nostalgic soul and a clear, trendy method to controls and kind. Each have the DNA of the unique design inbuilt and expanded upon for a brand new viewers.
(Picture credit score: Atari)
Constructed for now
A variety of retro handhelds get the nostalgia proper however the fundamentals fallacious. The Gamestation Go avoids that lure. It has a 7-inch color show, WiFi for updates, save choices, HDMI out for big-screen play, and USB-C for exterior controllers. There’s even a pop-out stand, and the rechargeable battery lasts about 4–5 hours.
It’s not pretending to be a contemporary powerhouse. The Gamestation Go is not attempting to topple Nintendo Change 2 or Steam Deck. As a substitute, it’s a tidy, versatile solution to revisit Atari’s historical past with out digging by means of cable piles, blowing into cartridges, or trying to determine methods to join getting older {hardware} to trendy TVs – the Gamestation Go simply plugs in for large display screen Tempest.
For me, that is private. I grew up taking part in Area Invaders, cross-legged in entrance of a black-and-white TV, straining to make out the blocky shapes. The thought of revisiting these video games on a brilliant color display screen, in consolation, seems like a full-circle second.
I nonetheless haul my outdated Atari 2600 out of the loft to play Missile Command, but it surely’s at all times a precarious job, and the gamble that this time, the outdated console will not begin. The Gamestation Go saves me the difficulty, the identical video games, in sharp color, performed anyplace.
(Picture credit score: Atari)
If you wish to discover extra choices, learn my record of the most effective retro sport consoles for different methods to play basic video games. And when you’re impressed to make as a lot as you play, take a look at our information to the most effective software program for sport improvement, as a result of a handheld like this may simply rekindle the urge to construct your individual arcade classics.
The Atari Gamestation Go launches in October 2025 for $179.99 / £134.90. It’s out there to pre-order now from GameStop, EB Video games, and Atari.com.
This isn’t the most affordable handheld round, but it surely’s one of many few that feels prefer it’s been constructed with care. For as soon as, retro gaming isn’t about squinting on the previous. It’s about making these video games price taking part in once more, with the fitting controls.
