Atari VCS 4 Years Later: Now on Life Support?

Looks like an interesting system

I keep forgetting this thing even came out.

I have had one for two years and just bought a second one. I love the system and use it for.PC and have over 30 games (including two of yours). The fact that they basically don't work out of the box unless you flash the OS is really bad though.

The design is gorgeous and I love the classic controller

I would have bought this system on day 1 if it weren't for 2 issues: The price was pretty high and almost every game is available on Steam. I love Atari, but I think this system came out a little late and too expensive. Thanks for the video, John!

One other comment - Wade Rosen never talks about the VCS. Ever

I got mine during the Black Friday sale two years ago. It's not a bad system, it's very niche. I've played some wonderful indie games on there that I had overlooked in the much more crowded stores. It's definitely not a daily driver for me, I'm more of an XBOX and PC man. In fact, I fired mine up a couple days ago for the first time in a few months to see what all was new in the store. It's nice to see that games are still being released for it and I hope Atari continues to support it because I continue to support Atari.

I kind of feel Atari had no idea what the loyal fan base really wanted till starting the kickstarter. They learnt a lot in a short amount of time and re-released the 2600+ for modern displays and now the 7800+ which have received far less criticism. However being emulation SOC systems still drives some of us away. I really feel if they released a new 8bit system much like the 8bit guy did it would be well perceived. A new "retro" system with real hardware and new 8bit games released would really bring the era back to life.

I just picked up the VCS "All In Bundle" for Black Friday, it was finally in a price range I could deal with. I already had gotten the 2600+ and then the 400 Mini when it went on sale awhile back. I've always been an Atari fan since the VCS/2600 in the late 70's then computers in the 80's. Still have all my original equipment which I have been restoring and updating.

Tech like this is designed intentionally with a dedicated and passionate community in mind. Even long after Atari stops supporting it there will continue to be a committed moding, homebrewing and indi developing community keeping it alive for years to come.

Atari VCS is here to stay. Not going anywhere. It's the best Atari Console ever made. I've fully upgraded it and use Win10 and play GTA5 on it. I love it. It's worth the money for it's uniqueness. Atari has thought of a Motherboard swapping out upgrade, with new tech. It's here to stay not left behind

Life Support? Nah, I just bought 2. With the BIOS password, some additional RAM & a M.2 SATA SSD and a few minutes to change some setting and you have a utilitarian Windows 10/11 PC with a TPM plus it can emulate up to the 6th generation of consoles (Gamecube, Dreamcast, PS2, I have not tested Xbox yet. If you are really daring you can set up an $80 hackintosh, from a thread in the TonyMacX86 forum people have gotten MacOS Sonoma to run with accelerated graphics. A 2c/4t APU with half-decent graphics has a million and three things you can do with it

The VCS should be the main console with the 2600+/7800+ being the retro replacements for one's original consoles. VCS is more or less for online, so basically it has enough power to get online and play games online. Basically like a video game console version of Roku.

At 100 dollars this is a great buy. It normally costs that much or more for two controllers. I just picked up a spare at 100. I had no idea these were going so cheap. Lots of fun stuff you can do with this system. Thanks!

I almost became a backer when this was announced. I passed and I waited. I didn't see much about it, but I found a Best Buy deal where the All in Bundle was $99 so I bought it. I did upgrade the memory, I do have external hard drives, and run Windows10 on it and have since 2020 or 2021 whenever it was I bought it. I like it, use both controllers and a bunch of 3rd party ones. I think a newer VCS may come out at some point in the future.

I had mine for 2 months before I bricked it. Very upset but I loved it in that 2 months. Might get a replacement unit. 😊🤷‍♂️

Atari should keep supporting it. They already have Yars Rising. You can use any controller on it. I used a PS4 controller it worked had to use ear phones to get audio and move the cursor to side. Atari could add Arcade Atari games and buy retro game titles to the store. They need the system to study negatives and positives before making a new online console

I really like mine. I'm just upset they don't do any marketing. Only people that already owns it knows what it is, and people that "heard" of it don't know what it is 😂 when I say it has new titles I get looked at like I'm drunk

Ive had mine for a few years. One question i do have is, if it's phased out, what happens to the games that were purchased? Can we still play them, or do we lose it?

Atari should make a Yars 2 Rising coming soon and work on a Atari VCS bundle with Yars Rising 1. They could make Yars Rising included free download with VCS with instruction in box. Then they could sell more systems and invest in upgrading there online store and other future opportunities.

I just got mine in the mail after purchasing for $99 during a Black Friday sale. Installed and overclocked a 32gb kit of Kingston Fury 3200 ram and am now trying to find the best version of Steam OS to install on it. Is there an official Steam OS? Is there a better choice between Bazzite and HoloIso? Not much updated info out there. Lots of info from 2-3 years ago though.

OMG I always thought you were bald til the hats off comment! LOLOLOLOL

I was unable to enjoy mine. Sold it, don't miss it. I think for anyone who is nostalgic, you're better of getting something else, such as the atgames or the atari 50 collection or the stuff from myarcade. Thing is, I don't think we've quite gotten the perfect nostalgia machine for atari. And I think it's a tall order because people want to play with their favorite controllers, but they also want to have custom controllers, play with old controllers, play with cartridges.

I personally think it's silly to try to support old controllers. And I also think the new controllers have mostly been flops. MyArcade was supposed to have been looking at releasing 2.0 of their atari with new controllers. Was really looking forward to that, but nothing for many months on that. And we've got CES coming up again so that makes it a year after showing off a prototype.

people say they want to play atari, but actually they want to play old games including and LIKE atari games. So they want to play namco games, and NES games and activision games and arcade and they want to experience a few new games. They want use controllers that work well and are dependable and I think when crappy toy companies try to make controllers, they fail and get bad reviews and reputations. Bettger to just support existing good controllers or partner with a controller company like 8bitdo or to publish a spec so pepole can make or buy custom arcade based controllers.

I might be getting one for Christmas 😂

Got it at Walmart for $80 for the bundle. Worst case, it's a mediocre controller and a few hours of fun with installed software.

Just ordered the walnut model on black friday for $100. Already bought ram, ssd, and plan on installing ChimaraOS. Make it an Atari Steambox even if underpowered as it may be.

I just got the 400 mini- it's on sale too.

Atari needed to put Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 and their other RTC games.

I got the Wooden One for $200 3 weeks ago. I wanted the full aesthetic instead of the plane black for 100. I liked it. Bought alot for black friday on the market place. And made the 2TB on it windows instead of using the Flashdrive. Best of both worlds. And then I did 32gb of ram. Pretty solid. Having fun with it. Your page helped alot for what games I should aim for first.

Watch eta prime for perfomance boost option.

You guys pick up the classics...Got me the quest 3 few weeks ago thats pretty much a gamers system too but does a lot more.

I enjoyed that man, thanks.

I don't think I'll get one but interesting to hear how it's panned out

What were you expecting its atari.

The VCS usually gets ignored or spit on, and neither of those is fair. No, it doesn’t do AAA titles natively, but there’s always Steam and Xbox Cloud Gaming for some of that. Atari’s first-party titles are all good, and there’s some great indies in there as well. But Atari seems to be treating their own console as an afterthought, which is part of the reason the damn thing isn’t selling.

I love my VCS despite its limitations. I don’t pretend it’s the best thing ever, but it’s fun and a worthy purchase. If the base system could have sold for $200 at launch, this thing could have seen a better life. More adoption means more games.

based on the ceo comments no, this project would not be greenlighted under him ... the reuse of retro designs has been suscessful so ... modern hardware is great ... for legacy games

I’ve never been interested in replaying Atari games, or remakes. I’m also not into quirky indy games, just not my thing. I never even bothered looking into buying one. I didn’t get into gaming until NES.

I wanted to get in on one of Atari's current console offerings over Black Friday weekend. After weighing all the options, I decided the clear choice for me was the VCS at $99.

I quickly ruled out the new 7800 and the 2600+ because those are strictly cartridge based systems. Those are truly "collector systems". I simply can't see myself chasing down vintage cartridges or waiting for new releases to slowly trickle out to build out my collection.

The Atari 400 mini was in consideration because it comes with a decent slew of games and has the ability to load basic programs, etc. Pretty cool. More games can be added, but you have to do some ROM searching and put together your own collection through some trial and error. More of a "tinkerer's console". The controllers are also wired out of the box.

I realize the VCS may be at the end of it's life cycle. But at $99, it's clearly the best value on offer. Even if support dies tomorrow, the system has hundreds and hundreds of classic Atari arcade and console classics available right now. Basically all of them.

Combine that with the new releases, reloaded titles, and other Indy titles available in a simple online store format, wireless controllers and paddle control out of the box, the choice was easy for me.

It's also a mini PC to boot with decent specs (better than a raspberry pi) so you can still tinker with ROMs, storage and memory upgrades, and even Steam.

I can imagine paying $300 back on release and having all the issues people had. That would really sour my opinion as well. But judging strictly on price for value as compared to Atari's other offerings right now, the VCS is clearly on another level.

Who knows. Maybe the boost from this holiday season will give it the second wind it needs. If not I don't even care because I'm content with the collection available to it right now.

What all will it run under Batocera/Recalbox?

Well folks, as of this AM it is sold out!

If you don't mind me asking (completely new to all these systems). What is the big difference between VCS and the new 7800+?

love my VCS, it's got some great homebrews and they're still coming! (Including your games!) The problem is Atari has not been marketing it correctly, probably due to the fact that Wade started right after it was released. I feel he should release a VCS 2.0 with his blessing and promote the crap out of it, I feel it could be much better marketed, with a USB pc mode stick in the box this time, it's been an honor to cover it for the past 3 years, here's to a jag mini by next christmas! btw, my VCS score is currently a B-

PS Hey John! I'd love to have you back on the channel for another episode of 'that atari show' to talk about your talking points, would love to discuss, let me know if you are free over the next few weeks/weekends, thanks brother, keep up the great work

I ordered one last week. Worst case scenerio, it's a Linux desktop after a RAM and storage upgrade.

Rip off the Atari garbage and slap on batocera.

4 years and STILL the biggest con, about as useful as a chocolate dildo.

Just got mine ordered and waiting. Been watching all your videos on it also to see what im getting into!

Had mine for a little over a year. I love everything about it but they should sell it with the upgrades pre-installed. Everything plays great on it, especially the Recharged games which are great. I love the newer games like Lunar Lander Beyond and Yars Rising. I’m sure the system is not a big moneymaker for them, but I sure did see a lot of people picking it up recently on sale. I would hope they stick with it, I think it’s got a lot going for it. The controllers alone are awesome, the design of the unit itself is beautiful. I think they need to throw their arms around it again and show some love and I think the community will respond.

I would love to see for example the option to pay with PayPal. I know several people in mij country who don’t own a creditcard. And they can’t buy games, only the free stuff.

While I am happy it is still 'around'... I wish there was a little more software support, and that there would be some kind of new console being designed to continue the legacy. Considering it takes a year or two at least to turn into something.. It would be nice to have 'the next' iteration to keep the hardware side of the business from going :poof:

At the end of the day, it's a tiny PC running a custom linux distro that features Atari's storefront. Atari provided ways to upgrade the RAM and internal storage, which is great, but everything on the storefront has to be designed with the base specs in mind. If they aren't planning on supporting it longer term, good side is that it's pretty much off the shelf hardware (AMD SoC, so driver support and whatnot should be fine) and Atari supports running it in PC mode, so a clean linux distro plus steam would make a great box for indie titles and emulation as you said.

If Atari intends to support the VCS going forward, they really need content and they should tie it in with their current efforts. Here's my take: If Atari's trying to get an active ecosystem based around their legacy platforms via modern re-releases (2600+ and 7800+, maybe The400), then anything that gets a cart release should also appear for download on the VCS and they should market it in that fashion. They have the VCS as a digital distribution option for those people that don't want to fuss w/ carts, and they have the console remakes for collectors and those who want physical releases. Heck, they could also throw in titles from their computer line and have an option to save the rom on a thumbstick for use on The400. It'd give users a legal resource for accessing roms, and companies (or indie devs) w/ IP rights an easy way to sell old software or homebrew titles directly through Atari.

I’ve had the VCS for 3.5 years and it’s still my favorite console. I hope the VCS has many more years of new game releases. It’s brought so many indie games to the spotlight that would have gone highly unnoticed on steam. The VCS doesn’t have an identity issue it’s an indie focused console which has a great community that follow it.