On Christmas Day 1982, I unboxed my first video game console, the Atari 2600. Although it was released in 1977, it was new to me, and I'm pretty sure my parents gave it to me because of a 2600 game released around that time: ET: The Extra-Terrestrial. My parents knew that I was obsessed with this film, a transformative film that I almost missed because I was so scared to watch it.
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I was delighted. At seven years old, with huge brown glasses perched on my nose and a red alien shirt, I had one of the best Christmases of my life. Despite my love for the film, I didn't get very far in the game, which left me frustrated and confused. I had no idea that it wasn't because I was unskilled, but because it was bad. Even today people find the game too difficult and unclear to play.
(How bad? There were literally copies of the game buried for decades because it sold so poorly.)
The Atari 2600 came with Combat and two controllers. I played it for years, starting my path to becoming an avid gamer like millions of other kids at the time. If you had asked me a few months ago how many games I remember from the 2600 or its subsequent successors, the Atari 5200 and 7800, I would have had a hard time answering. I could name at most a dozen names.
CNET contributor Omar Gallaga, a huge E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial fan, was 7 years old when the film adaptation was released for the Atari 2600.
So, when Atari lent me the Gamestation Go handheld gaming console to try out, I was shocked to see dozens of games flooding my way. The moment I saw their cover, animated screenshots, or just the titles, memories quickly came flooding back to me. I've played many of them.
And the ones that I didn't manage to buy or try, I pined for them, pointing them out in the store or looking through the gaming magazines that came into my hands.
Asteroids, Berserk, Iceman, Night Driver and Yar's Revenge – so many games.
Old games, new console
Gamestation Go, which sells for $179, has about 200 games for Atari home consoles. But it also includes versions of arcade games including Crystal Castles, Food Fight and Tempest, as well as seven Balls of Steel pinball tables, Classic and 2600 versions of Pac-Man, and games from Jaleco and Piko Interactive such as Bases Loaded and Bad Street Brawler. Many games can be played in multiplayer mode by connecting a game controller.
It's a wide range of games, and Atari packs it into a nice hardware setup with a larger screen than the original Nintendo Switch.
There are no detachable controllers like there are on the Switch, but it makes up for that with a crazy array of controller options: the usual D-pad and shoulder buttons, as well as a dial you can spin (good for games like Breakout), a trackball wheel (for games like Centipede and Crystal Castles), and even a physical number pad, handy for some Atari 5200 games and, if Mattel Intellivision games are ever added.
It features an HDMI port, three USB-C ports, a headphone jack, and a micro-SD slot for side-loading additional games. A sturdy but flimsy-looking stand can support the system. An additional set of small buttons allows you to access settings, credit, select and launch. Instructions for using the game system, such as navigating through and exiting titles, are clear and accessible from the main menu.
You can perform system updates via the built-in Wi-Fi, but there's no app store where you can buy or download additional games.
Retro vs modern
The biggest problem I had with Gamestation Go was devoting time to games from past eras and ignoring the call of modern games on modern consoles and computers.
Did I really want to unleash an endless cascade of downward centipedes or play very slow tennis with action figures when I could be finishing up the second act of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 or jumping into a Marvel Rivals match with my friends?
Some gameplay elements of the old Atari games and some of their Recharged updates still hold up incredibly well. Missile Command still gets your pulse racing no matter which version you try, and it's fun to control with the included trackball, even if the size of the ball makes it difficult to use with the same precision as the one you might remember from the slot machines.
Balls of Steel pinball tables look and play great, even if viewing them on a horizontal screen poses a challenge to gameplay. With dial or trackball controls, the Tempest is still a perverse pleasure. I was especially drawn to arcade games that I either completely missed, like Cisco Heat All American, or that I remember throwing lots and lots of quarters into, like Asteroids.
Missing in action? ET, the game that started it all for me. But there is Steeplechase, with its animations reminiscent of horses, and Golf Ninjawhich, as strange as it may sound.
Get caught up in ET
I'm not a big fan of emulation, although I was interested in the possibilities home arcade cabinets which allow you to add many more games than those that come standard.
Gamestation Go makes it easy to access retro games, as long as you have access to the ROM files and a microSD card to store them. The process involves creating a set of folders to store the files and then booting from the microSD card when you launch the Gamestation.
In my testing, the Gamestation handled Sega Genesis and Atari 2600 games like a champ. However, online reports vary as to how well it plays games from more advanced consoles such as the original Sony PlayStation or Sega Dreamcast.
There is some controversy over ROMs, digital copies of game software. Most ROMs are copies of games that are still under copyright, meaning the original creators like Nintendo or Sega legally own them. Downloading or distributing ROMs without permission is illegal in many countries, even if you own the original game. However, some ROMS were available on Internet Archiveand there is no shortage of sites that collect game files and descriptions for many game consoles.
Atari offers this ability to play ROMs in hopes that you will find legal ways to acquire ROMs or only use ROMs from games where you already have a cartridge with the digitally purchased version.
The infamous Atari 2600 game ET: The Extra-Terrestrial is emulated on the Atari Gamestation Go. Although this game is not included with the console, it can be played using legally obtained ROM files if you can find them for sale.
With the sole purpose of finding out if ET was what I remembered as a child, I found a copy of the game after unsuccessfully trying to find a way to purchase it as a digital file or even a physical copy with ROM included.
The Alien's face appears on the title screen as a chiptune version of John Williams' theme plays. When I started this, I got goosebumps.
But that tingling feeling disappeared almost instantly when the game started. I instantly fell into a quagmire. I tried to find the tiny dots that represent Reese's Pieces, but I was repeatedly approached by FBI agents and scientists. I walked through the swamp. Again and again. Soon I was dead, my alien body turning white, which meant the loss of life. The disappointment I felt then was now combined with adult irritation at how poorly the game was designed. How dare they rush this game to tempt parents of kids like me from the 1980s? Who thought this could be fun?
After a few more irritated minutes, I turned off the game. There's probably an online walkthrough on how to beat ET easily, but I didn't even bother. At least I had enough for a few more decades.
ET for the Atari 2600, like many other things, is a thing of the past.
Is Gamestation Go worth buying?
As ET proves, not all early games were good. Many of them were and remain garbage. (Sorry, Swordsman.)
But Gamestation Go has plenty of gems to keep you hooked, even if it's only for short periods of time before you tire of the repetition and want to play something from this century.
But what a warm feeling Gamestation Go will give you when you first boot up and look at that long list of games you've dreamed about and dreamed about and spent weeks trying to master!
Is it worth buying? It really depends on how much nostalgia is worth to you these days, or whether the kids in your family are interested in retro gaming and imitation.
My inner seven year old, the one who would be in 8-bit heaven with so many games, says you'd be a fool not to do this. But as an adult, I have some doubts.
