My Arcade Atari Game Station Pro: Retro Video Game Console with 200+ Games, Wireless Joysticks, RGB LED Lights, Atari 2600/5200/7800 and More

I received this a little more than 24 hours ago, I am impressed with it so far. It has a lot of 2600 games along with a few 5200, 7800 and Arcade games. It has a lot of games I played as a child. It does have a lot of the popular titles for the 2600, just not space invaders pac man or galaga. This was super easy to set up, plug in the USB and HDMI to the TV, install batteries in the controllers and you are up and playing in 10 minutes. The controller works well and is responsive with little to no lag. Mine was shipped with update 1.30 right out of the box and was brand new. There's plenty of game ROMs on the internet to install along with tutorials on YT. Google is your friend on this one. There's tons of free open source games out there written by amateurs based on past games. I wouldn't ever suggest anyone download official ROMS illegally, it's best to pay for them and get them legitimately. I read a lot of the reviews for this on here, and I can't speak to their experience or expectations but it seems a lot of people don't understand that games can be added easily through use of the SD card slot on the side. There's even custom operating systems out there to add to make every game download to have cover art and description just like it has originally, instead of just a list on the SD card. Most ROMS are kilobites in size so a 32gb SD card will afford you space for over 10,000 games. (Yes you read that right 10,000 games). It won't run any Xbox PS games but the Xbox one controller is amazing on it, right of the box with default button mapping. PS 4 and 5 controllers work but some of the buttons are not standard use. My kids that grew up on Xbox and Wii can't fathom that this was all we had in the early 80's and 90's to do. I still have my original Atari 2600 and brought it out to compare with this. This is so much better, I think some people have a distorted memory of what the 2600 played like after seeing and playing this. The 2600 was like pushing a lawnmower with square wheels compared to this being a riding lawnmower. You can actually connect a USB C cable to the controller from the console if you have any lag on some games a 10 foot cable is all you really need being any farther away than that doesn't seem right as we had to sit 4 feet away from the TV originally because the cords were so short. Anyone that buys this and is disappointed in it needs to search YT for "Adding games to the Atari Gamestation Pro" before they throw it in the trash or return it. But if you still aren't literate enough after watching YT to get more games then ask a 10 year old they can do it for you.

Be prepared to be underwhelmed. The joysticks are an abomination to use. The sticks have very little travel. The B button is positioned quite awkwardly on the top of the stick, and the C button is right where you'd grip the controller. The trackball emulator is alright for what it does, but it's awkwardly positioned on the upper right side of the stick.The emulation is fine, but you can do better with OSS and a PC. Which brings me to the real reason this gets ONE star (a half-star if I could). NO support for firmware update for Mac OR Linux users. So you must have a Windows machine to update the device.In 2023, it's not difficult to provide Linux support for firmware updates. It doesn't have to be simple, nor does it have to have a GUI, though it takes a TRIVIAL amount of work to make a Linux firmware tool. I have made them myself, and i have used them for other devices like keyboards and portable music players. It's a TRAVESTY that in this day and age, you have to keep a Windows 10 (or later) PC around to update firmware for things like this. It's a trivial job to do and nothing Windows has makes it "better" suited for firmware updates. It's as if My Arcade can't port things to Mac or Linux?Fine, if the programmers at My Arcade are not versed in Windows, hire some. But to avoid Mac too? That's tragic. This could've been a decent emulation station *IF* it had better support for the millions of enthusiasts who like retro gaming but do NOT own a Windows machine.Sad. You really duffed this one, My Arcade.

This is my new favorite thing. But the out-of-the-box experience is admittedly weak... As this item arrives, it feels quality and the controllers are nice. But the game selection is not impressive (and my favorite console is the Atari 2600) and the UX/navigation is boring and confusing. There are only 130 actual atari games, and its missing many of the classics (probably due to licensing). The other 70 games are random NES/SNES/arcade filler, most of which are bad... Still there is Asteroids, Tempest, Centipede, Missile Command etc and in console and arcade variations. But the end result feels kind of like one of those cheap flashback systems. The controllers are gorgeous and feel very nice though-- in my opinion much better than the original cx40. But the button layout is awkward. Its not a problem for old one button games, but you'll keep forgetting which button is which on a 16bit title. It also includes all the accessories you need but it only has hdmi output. I would prefer an analog option for older tvs but there are adapters available. And the controllers take AA batteries which is kind of a bummer. So out of the box I would give this only 2 stars...Fortunately you can fix a lot of issues yourself. Start by installing the updated firmware (currently 1.30), which seems more complicated than it should be but there are plenty of tutorials on youtube. That improves the interface and rom loading experience. Then you can add a micro sd card of your own roms (games). It currently plays most any game on atari 2600/5200/7800, NES, SNES, game boy/color/advance, arcade (mame2003) and sega genesis/master system/game gear. This is where it really shines. There is no flashy interface for the games currently, just a text list, but new updates keep coming and certainly this will improve with time and hopefully support for colecovision/intellivision and c64. As it stands this is my new preferred way to play atari games, even over the retron77 and 2600+, but of which I also recommend, especially if you have cartridges too.