Six Months In: Where are you at with the VCS? (Informal poll)

[Atarick]

So I've had the VCS for about 6 months and thought wanted to do a sort of informal poll/at a-glance for where the owners are with it. I'll kick it off. 

 

Bottom line: Great console for me, does what I expected and I see potential. Was an ideal first console to share with kids while getting to channel and rediscover past games I loved. 

 

How often do you play it? 3-4 times a week.

 

Favorite game: Pixel Cup Soccer

 

Most anticipated game: Chaos Chassis

 

Game that surprised you most: Unsung Warriors. Very cool retro feel with some cool features, and awesome gameplay.

 

Biggest letdown: 1 life in Centipede Recharged? Really? 

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: Antstream Arcade with the retro controller. 

 

Mods you've made/installed: None, getting ready to install Windows. 

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Crystal Castles; Adventure; Checkered Flag

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: Had a few more games optimized for the classic controller; added the Activision Games; leaned in to the proprietary Atari catalogue a bit more (such as adding emulators for Lynx, Jaguar, etc)

Edited November 11, 2021 by Atarick

[+SabertoothRetro]

Bottom line: A flexible machine that has cool retro and indie content, access to modern games via streaming services, and the ability to double as a moderately powered mini-PC or emulation box. I've been impressed by the continued refinements from Atari and look forward to seeing where they take it. 

 

How often do you play it? 4-5 times a week.

 

Favorite game: Black Widow Recharged

 

Most anticipated game: Food Fight

 

Game that surprised you most: The Darkside Detective. This is a series I simply would have never checked out if not on the VCS. I had a blast playing both games. 

 

Biggest letdown: Probably Tailgunner. I want to love this. Great presentation, but I could just not vibe with the controls. 

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: Definitely Antstream Arcade. 

 

Mods you've made/installed: 16GB 3200 MHz RAM, 1 TB SSD

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Demons to Diamonds, Yars' Revenge

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: Included online leaderboards, trophies and a more refined OS and UI. 

[zzip]

Bottom line: I use mine as an Emulator/ScummVM/Steam/Kodi Box for the living room.   Currently running Ubuntu but considering switching to Batocera. 

 

How often do you play it? A few times a week

 

Favorite game/Most anticipated game/Game that surprised you most: To be honest I haven't purchased anything off the Atari store yet, but I keep seeing games that look really good, so I do plan to start checking them out

 

Biggest letdown: That you seemingly can't give internal SSD drive boot priority over eMMC,  I had to put grub on a flashdrive which works, but needlessly consumes a USB port.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: I like that they started selling 7800 games individually.  I never owned a 7800 so don't own these games.

 

Mods you've made/installed: 1tb m.2 SSD

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Adventure, Crystal Castles,  Miner 2049er (since it shows up on Atari's IP list now)

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: If they allowed users to add their own games/emulators to Atari OS dashboard,   maybe I wouldn't need to dual-boot!

[+swlovinist]

Bottom line: The VCS is an interesting blend of streaming services and games, offering something to die hard fans who are wanting to play Atari games on a new Atari modern device.  

 

How often do you play it? Weekly/Monthly

 

Favorite game:  Thrustlander 

 

Most anticipated game: Donut Dodo

 

Game that surprised you most: Recharged Series in general is awesome.  

 

Biggest letdown:  Rollout of new exclusive games

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: Antstream Arcade service is great.  

 

Mods you've made/installed: None

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Crystal Castles, Warlords, Gravitar 

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it:  Offers more frequent new game releases along with more variety of Atari classics from 8-bit/Atari ST  era.   

Edited November 11, 2021 by swlovinist

[stirrell]

Bottom line: I love it. I will be honest that I had low expectations, especially after the reviews, but I like the game selection in the Atari store and am impressed with how it handles Windows.

 

How often do you play it? A little bit almost every day. It is the only game system I really play.

 

Favorite game: Thrustlander

Most anticipated game: Neko Ghost, Jump! I don't know what it is about it, but this game looks like a lot of fun to me.

Game that surprised you most: Thrustlander. I can't believe how well it controls with the Classic controller and just how well done a game it is.

 

Biggest letdown: Honestly, I wasn't really prepared for how short Sigi would be. I think there was as much gameplay in the Unsung Heroes Prologue.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: The classic joystick is great. I really dig it.

 

Mods you've made/installed: Nothing internal yet but I have an external SSD with Windows 10. Everything else is stock.

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Gravitar

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: Brought over Atari 8-bit, ST, Lynx and Jaguar games and got more small developers to publish games.

[Mockduck]

Bottom line: I am having a great time with it! More than expected. It's a solid fun device with a good curated list of games for it, and its online functionality makes Antstream and such an unexpected hit on it.

 

How often do you play it? Just about every day for a bit.

 

Favorite game: Jetboard Joust

Most anticipated game: Breakout Recharged

Game that surprised you most: Sigi: A Fart for Melusina. I expected it to be kind of bad, and it is actually super fun and well made.

 

Biggest letdown: Classic Controller twist functionality not working on PC.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: I like the Modern Controller a lot more than I thought I would. It has become my current "default" for PC as well.

 

Mods you've made/installed: None.

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Demons to Diamonds.

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: Was able to unearth some dormant retro licenses by convincing the people in charge to release the Taito collections, Capcom collections, Data East, and especially Activision Classics. 

[joeatari1]

Bottom line: I really like it.  It's different than what the big 3 are offering.

 

How often do you play it? 2 or 3 times a week. (I have a lot of home projects going on right now so not as much play time as I would like.)

 

Favorite game: Favorite full game currently is Centipede Recharged.

 

Most anticipated game: Chaos Chassis

 

Game that surprised you most: Unsung Warriors. Great story.  Looking forward to the full version (I backed their Kickstarter).

 

Biggest letdown: Not being able to exit any apps after watching for more than an hour.  I have to get up from my chair and push the power button.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: Streaming services. 

 

Mods you've made/installed: 500 Gb SSD for storing the games I purchase.

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: Millipede (or add Millipede functionality to Centipede, love that DDT)

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it:  Had a few exclusive games not found on any other platform and/or a unique mascot with an exclusive game.

[SizzleAtari]

Bottom line: I love the VCS, it does everything I expected and more. It's my favorite new gen console based on its versatility.

 

How often do you play it? Just about every day.

 

Favorite game: favorite game from the Atari store is Sigi: A fart for Melusina. Favorite game I've played on it is Cyberpunk 2077 from Steam on GeForce Now.

Most anticipated game: Unsung Warriors and The Spirit of the Samurai.

Game that surprised you most: Sigi: A Fart for Melusina and Black Widow Recharged. Love both games!! Also, Guntech, I finally gave it a chance, and I really enjoy that game as well.

 

Biggest letdown: Classic Controller. Never use it.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: PC Mode, at first I was scared to do any upgrades and put Windows on it. But, I finally upgraded Ram and speed, and this thing runs great now.

 

Mods you've made/installed: Windows, 16 GB Ram, and 3200 speed.

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: None.

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: had more games available in the store. More than half the games available are not anything I'm interested in.

Edited November 16, 2021 by SizzleAtari

[swingstate]

Bottom line: A neat way to mix and match modern games and retro fun. The controllers seem well made. 

 

How often do you play it? Almost daily.

 

Favorite game: Atari Vault - Centipede, Antstream - Joust. Also like Xbox and Stadia services. 

 

Most anticipated game: Rollercoaster Tycoon port

 

Game that surprised you most: Unsung Warriors was excellent. I even decided to support the Kickstarter campaign for a VCS full version copy.

 

Biggest letdown: The VCS phone App. That being said the apps do work well with a mouse and keyboard.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: PC Mode is neat though I think the Chrome partnership was a nice surprise. 

 

Mods you've made/installed: 32 GB RAM Kingston, 500 GB WD SSD internal with Windows 10.

 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: I think Combat could be interesting as a recharged game. Also third party titles like Joust and Pitfall....

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: had controller functionality for more of the apps.

[justclaws]

Bottom line: I love the VCS, as it's a TRUE Videogame Computer System, and is why I bought another.

 

How often do you play it? Just about every day. When I'm not playing, a friend will be, and I also use it as a spare PC regularly.

 

Favorite game: I know it seems a cop-out, but it entirely depends on my mood, and the VCS offers so much choice one way or another.

Most anticipated game: Again, it depends on my mood, but I like the excitement of the uncertainty what is coming. "The next surprise."

Game that surprised you most: Frog Hop - it looks so primitive, graphically, but it's still so much fun to play.

 

Biggest letdown: #1 - the lack of rapid improvements to the VCS Companion app on Android and iPhone.
(In general, I'd say the wider "Atari community" negativity... but then again, older Atari fans "dissed" the Jaguar as well, at launch.)

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: I'd say "Air Console", as it turns out that using a phone as controller works well, for some options.

Mods you've made/installed: One one system, nothing, and on another 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD. The 3rd, 16GB RAM, 128GB SSD.
 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: I'm happy to be surprised. The simple fact that they plan another series, and other remakes, is great.

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: All the things Atari have planned for it, could have been delivered earlier, of course.
I'm looking forward so much to the (never available in Europe) Atari 5200 games, replaying Lynx games and Jaguar games, and maybe past Atari computer emulators.

[VectorDreams]

Bottom line: VCS is a great console/PC hybrid IMO.  I love having it and its 2600 style in my living room.

 

How often do you play it? I play games on it (AtariOS) a couple of times a week or more if there are new releases to conquer.  Us it as my living room PC everyday with Windows 10.

 

Favorite game: Black Window:Recharged is killer in my book.  I also loved Mad Age and This Guy early on.

Most anticipated game: I am on the edge of my seat to see Food Fight.  Not so much because I am a huge fan of the original game, but because I am excited to see what a modern retro game looks like from Atari that is not a recharged.  Also, BPM Boy and Spirit of the Ninja have me excited as well.

Game that surprised you most: Mad Age and This Guy.  Though it would be OK and really got into it.  Then Atari reset all save games as I was half way through and I ended up replaying the whole thing through to the end.  Really cool puzzler.  Kinda like if Bomberman and Chips Challenge had a baby game!

 

Biggest letdown: One of the biggest issue areas of the VCS is the BT controllers.  There are still some bugs in the BT code.  The Modern controller only works in XBOX mode when it is connected.  And the controllers are not available in Chrome UI you have to have a keyboard and mouse.  It would be great if all this was fixed at some point.

 

Feature you unexpectedly love: I thought the PC side of the VCS was OK, but turned out it is a major feature for me.  Also, AntStream didn't sound all that great in the press releases, before the VCS shipped, but actually it is a killer retro game service.

Mods you've made/installed: I installed 32CG of RAM and 1TB of SSD Storage.
 

Your "Recharged" Wish List: I would love to see a "Recharged" Crystal Castles or a Cloak and Dagger.

 

I'd love the VCS even more if it: Released more retro inspired modern indie games while at the same time keep brining old classics like the 7800 games and 5200, VCS, 8-bit computer, Lynx and Jaguar.  Make it a one stop shop for everything retro new and old in the Atari universe and beyond.