Dr Manhattan

You can pay me not to go.

I'm calling out all the people who said that nothing good ever came out of Atari after the Tramiel era. You couldn't be any more wrong. These games were genuinely good. You know what? I'm going to give the Atari Box the benefit of the doubt. I'm going to hope for the best. Good things can still happen in life, and once you stop believing that you become THIS GUY. Nobody wants to be that guy. Besides, the best thing that has come out of the Atari Box announcement is that the Atari community finally has it's own Wojak / Feels Guy. Can you dig it?

I agree with this completely. Maybe it's because they're the smallest player on the market. For whatever reason they do seem to be using this to create buzz about the Nintendo brand more than anything. Nintendo thinks they can constantly get away with burning consumers but I'm not entirely sure that's true. Although I loved it, the Wii U was a sales disaster. The 3DS is amazing, but it hasn't come close to the sales of the Nintendo DS. Until the Wii came along Nintendo was facing an ever decreasing market share. That trend continued with the Wii U. Funny story, when I saw the unveiling of this product at one of Nintendo's last E3 press briefings people in the audience actually booed when the presentation was over. And I won't lie to any of you. I'm going to be out there hunting the SNES Mini with the rest of you. I've also got a lot of nieces and nephews. They've already asked if I'm going to help them find one. Last time I was able to secure two NES Minis. One for me, one of my brother and his kids. They're still playing it. I'm hoping I have the same kind of luck. Being a Nintendo fan is a special kind of misery. I've always loved three companies. Atari, Nintendo and Sega. Only one of those company has consistently treated me like garbage over the past several decades. Still, I have to say that I love my Switch. Right now it fits into my life more than any of my other game machines. So I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment when it comes to this company. They abuse me and I keep coming back for more. I've purchased every Nintendo console at launch since the original SNES. Best of luck everyone. It would be neat to check back in a few months and see which of us was able to score the SNES Mini.

So it occurred to me today that the scalping situation will actually be a lot worse than last time. This is the sequel to one of the most horded and scalped collectible items in the history of gaming. Everyone knows what happened last time. I think that's really going to bring out the greedy speculators in droves. Adding to the hysteria is the "never before released" Star Fox 2. You'll also see a lot of gamers, who are not usually scalpers and speculators, who say "well I'll buy two just in case." Allegedly Nintendo is going to produce "significantly more" units this time. However they're also warning people that the product won't ship beyond the end of the year. I don't know what else to say. The way this company does business is really scummy, and I've been a Nintendo fan for decades. There's always a "shortage" with their consoles, but with the exception of the Wii, at the end of a hardware cycle their sales figures are always much lower than the competition. Clearly the demand isn't as great as this company would like you to believe. Meanwhile I can walk into literally a dozen different stores and by a Sega Genesis plug and play or the Atari Flashback console without problem. The Atari Flashback consoles have been in production for over a decade. They're always easy to find, always readily available. I know that the Atari market is much smaller than Nintendo, but something tells me the last Atari Flashback console was produced in greater quantity than the NES Mini. I worry that this thing will sell out faster than last time. A lot of fans will get burned. They'll rush to Nintendo's social media pages and complain. Nintendo won't care because to them a sale is a sale. They don't care who buys the product, just so long as they make the sale.

Of course. most Nintendo fans are just going to bend over and take it. However I'm sure they'll be some who say no and will refuse to play the game. I'm going to do my part by trying to help my friends and family get one without having to jump through hoops. I'm always in the stores. Honestly, the best alternative would be to simply build or buy a Raspberry Pi mini console.

I can't wait to never find this thing in stores. It's going to be a real treat. I can't wait to talk to store employees who tell me they don't have any in stock, knowing full well they have a few stashed in the back for themselves. In all my years I've never seen the announcement of a product generate so much anger and ill will towards a company. Feelings are still very raw over Nintendo's handling of the NES Mini. There are a ton of negative comments on Nintendo's social media pages. On top of that there's a Switch shortage going on. I honestly believe that Nintendo will sell every SNES MIni unit they make, all 12 of them, but I also feel you can only screw over your loyal customers so much before they throw up their hands and walk away. I have a few friends whose kids work at places like Walmart and Toys R Us. These kids openly told me the store employees took all the NES Mini consoles and made sure that none of them got to the sales floor. It was a scalper's dream come true. Saw this on ebay earlier today.

This is something I'm curious about. When does "real" Atari begin and end for most people? Is it just Bushnell and Dabney Atari? Warner Communications? Tramiel Atari? Hasbro Atari? Infogrames? Atari Interactive? Atari SA? Someone show me the cut off point. I might be getting a little blasphemous here but it's all Atari to me. Sure, there was the golden era that I will always cherish. That era begins and ends at certain arbitrary points of my choosing. But I'm just glad that the brand is still alive and relevant in the modern era. The idea of walking into a store and seeing Flashback products and game collections makes me happy. Maybe it's just cheap nostalgia but I'm grateful my old friend is still around in one form or another.

Not much tooling in the tiny little shell. Controller tooling probably just modified from the original.

I had originally planned to get either a Neo Geo AES or consolized MVS this year. That might still happen but I want to find the perfect CRT TV first. I'm also in the market for an Atari XEGS. I've always wanted one and I've decided that now is the time.

I talked to these folks at E3 and they had a new box, similar to the Retro Bit Generations but carrying a different name. They were demoing the system using an old Game Boy title. The developer was there and he admitted to the problems with the original Retro Bit Generations. He also said the product was rushed, which is why he felt it had so many problems. Although I can't remember what he called the new product, he did say that Capcom, one of their working partners, had not yet agreed with them on a name. Now I know one guy working a booth can't speak for the whole company, but he did tell me that he would love to give people who bought the original Retro Bit Generations the chance to exchange it for the new product. I don't know if that will happen, but if it does, I can respect them for standing by their customers.

I always heard that the NES Mini was created to clear out old Wii parts. Which explains why they discontinued the thing so quickly. I also heard that the reason they didn't just dump them all on the market at once was because they knew they only had so much to go around, so they tried to trickle them out slowly over time. I don't think their plan worked though because now there's a ton of unsold product sitting on ebay. I'll welcome a SNES Mini, but I'll also believe it when I see it. Not a peep about it at E3 to the retail community.

This sounds like a recipe for disaster.... and I'm totally on board. I will give these people my money just to keep the Atari name alive. The Atari Game Band was funded successfully, I'm willing to bet they get the dough for this project as well.

Am I crazy or isn't this just the same toy that was released by Matchbox many years ago? I'm pretty sure that it is. Edit: Yup. http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/1985/armoured_cyclone I don't even think these are his photos.

I would like to try that one myself. The only ACA Neo Geo game I've purchased on the Switch was Shock Troopers, but I liked it so much I'm thinking about buying a few others. These Neo Geo games are a great match for the Switch hardware.

I've been sucked into that black hole. Pointless busy work games that lead to nothing. Endless cash grabs. Pay to win scenarios. Never again. It's a disgraceful business model. Back on topic for a moment, I'm starting to think that it's time for Atari to play their hand. A person can only take so much endless speculation and teaser hype before they lose interest and walk away. Don't want to undermine the big reveal. Get to it already Atari.

What if they launch a Kickstarter for this thing like they did with the Atari Game Band? Will anyone here support it?

I am incredibly saddened to hear this news. Mr. Robinson was a great guy, and a huge influence on my childhood. I will aways have special memories of Intellivision and that's largely thanks to him and the Blue Sky Rangers. I encountered him several times at E3 and various retro gaming conventions. He was always a gracious gentleman. This was a guy who really loved his work and it showed. I remember seeing him driving around Los Angeles one time in a convertible. I started freaking out because it was the first time I saw him in person. I will always appreciate everything he did for the Intellivision brand and for retro gaming in general. He will be dearly missed.

Where are people suddenly getting the $80 price point? Pretty sure that's wrong. The developer himself told me $40, which is the same price as Hyperkin's HD NES clone.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier. The kid who made this product is a new engineer that just joined the company a year ago. I say "kid" because I swear he looks like he's in his 20s. It always makes me happy to see youngsters embracing the 2600 . He was a perfect gentleman. He was very patient, answered any question I had, and personally demoed the console to everyone who came along. He was extremely enthusiastic about this project. You could tell it was his baby. He also personally convinced the company to let him make it despite management concerns that it might be a "risky project." I have to say that I admired his dedication and enthusiasm. It gives me great hope for the RetroN 77. I kept telling him that he needs to check out AtariAge and sign up. Hopefully he'll become a member.

Difficulty switches, bxw mode, etc implemented through software front end. Supports cartridge hot swapping. Carts go in backwards