Do NOT Buy the AtGames Blast Without Watching This

[@Ren-bo7bj]

Oh goodness, as a Sega fan AtGames is never a good sign to me. Emulators running under Win98 look, sound, and feel better than some of these lazy system on a chip reproductions with hardware inaccuracies.

[@notkobun42]

legit KGen from 1997 is better than AtGame's crap and KGen is a far from perfect emulator. Ironically KGen was the emulator used on the PC Sega Smash Pack compilations too.

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

Evercade uses a Linux based kernal and achieves way better emulation than AtGames ever could!

[@bigbe3tsdrumming]

AtGames destroyed their reputation with their Sega Genesis 'clone' console being absolute dog crap.

[@n_ulltroll]

dog shit you mean?

[@azurewarrior2000]

That, and getting ahold of Ms. Pac-Man's royalty rights from under Namco's nose and winning the lawsuit when they really shouldn't have.

[@SuperNormalMan]

I HATED that console. Not only was the sound chip the wrong pitch, half the games on it were crappy Chinese games.

[@MasterZebulin]

@@azurewarrior2000 They can go bust for that reason alone!

[@DawnLong-s3k]

At least King Of The Monsters 2 plays with no problem. The music plays much slower on the Firecore Genesis, though.

[@CalTheHogNosedBat]

Not defending, but maybe because a lot of TVs have a USB port too, they probably assumed it'd be powered through the TV.

[@shampine]

That's what I thought too with that short ass USB cable. Roku's are known for this with the basic streaming devices.

[@gswanson]

@@shampine Yeah I just got a Roku with this sort of setup and it plugs right into my TV. Anyway... I have so many USB cables all over the place it's not really a huge issue.

[@RageyRage82]

Actually, that is the intention. But, the intended function of course, is pretty flawed. I had an Amazon Fire stick, and it came with a short USB cord, maybe a foot long.

[@BigHairyMarty314]

Man, 90's kids like myself were really spoiled rotten with the TV Boy and its collection of 127 unlicensed 2600 games.

[@greenaum]

Aw yeah!

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

The AtGames Sega Genesis compilation is horrible The Rerez channel made that very clear. The button inputs are all delayed. The audio is broken for every single game. And even though it says "80 Games" on the package, it's actually 40 (badly emulated) Sega Genesis games and 40 other games not published by Sega... even though Sega partially worked with AtGames to make the plug-and-play. Needless to say, Sega learned their lesson and made their own mini consoles.

[@jakobe856]

Yeah I had one of those before. It was awful. It was a good thing Sega went to M2 to help make the Sega genesis mini instead.

[@kjetilfrugard8395]

Apparently the AtGames Sega Genesis HD console was rushed into production, so it was basically not finished at the time it shipped. However, they supposedly made a revision with newer hardware and software that actually worked as intended. But by that time, most people had moved on.

[@MusicMan32K]

They actually made a version of the Namco one with the arcade roms on it a year later after the botched one with the NES/Famicom versions. They renamed it the Namco Arcade Flashback. That's the way to go if you want it.

[@ToaderTheToad]

Honestly, I was expecting AtGames to be lying with their claim that an arcade version would be released later too Props to them for doing the bare minimum

[@ShanetheFreestyler]

The reason Atlantis is on the Activision Flashback Blast is because Acti bought out Imagic many years ago along with Absolute Entertainment. In fact, Atlantis was part of Activision Anthology for the PS2 as well as Cosmic Ark and Dragonfire among others. And for the Absolute side, Pete Rose Baseball, renamed just "Baseball" since they had already lost the right to use the name by that point. (The cartridge graphic for it in game were modified to remove Pete Rose as well as the Absolute logo.) And while we're talking about Activision Anthology, that collection also included Commando, despite being a Capcom game since the 2600 version was done by Activision and they re-licensed the game just for this collection. Something similar happened several years ago with Midway re-licensing Data East's BurgerTime and Irem's Moon Patrol for Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2 since they where the US distributes of those games. That was like if Atari decided to re-license Pac-Man and Pole Position from Namco for their collections because they were the US distributor. You just don't see that every day! Oh, and of course, I think anyone should avoid AtGames not just because they make poor quality plug and play consoles, but because they're the reason Namco can't re-release Ms. Pac-Man and have to edit her out of any other games she's been in!

[@stonent]

So a few years ago these blast consoles were $4.88 each at Walmart so I bought the entire collection they had which consisted of Activision, Atari (Centipede), Atari (Asteroids), and Space Invaders. I never got around to trying them out because the HDMI dongle was too bulky to fit behind the TV. I'll need to buy a HDMI to HDMI cable to allow the dongle to hang down behind the TV.

[@Lynxan]

Yep, got most of mine that way too.

[@metronome8471]

Same

[@Motwera]

Same (but at Marshalls in Canada)

[@retroprogamer7009]

2:30 Well the USB Ports on your TV are just a few inches away if at all. Mine are directly next to the HDMI Port. So a short Cable is enough in most cases

[@battra92]

Those Namco archives collections on Switch are great and worth a video itself.

[@PhilipMarcYT]

Is it worth it? No, it's junk. Just buy an Android box, install the emulators, add the roms, and play whatever. I actually use my hacked PS4 Pro to play PS2 games (upscaled in HD/16:9) and it's a really nice experience.

[@marccaselle8108]

Or buy a RetroPie system and have fun that way 🙂

[@PhilipMarcYT]

@@marccaselle8108 Yeah, there are so many ways now.

[@thetechn1que518]

Yep, or a Mister if you want an authentic experience on a CRT. Or a Mini PC if you want to emulate more powerful hardware. But there’s a market for devices like that, since these better options for enthusiasts need a certain amount of effort and basic computer skills.

[@narayanbandodker5482]

2:29 I guess they assume you will plug it into a spare USB on the TV itself, but yeah the short cable may not reach from the HDMI to a USB depending on your specific TV

[@The_Mills_Member_2008]

I'm surprised that he didn't mention how the screenshot of Mappy on the box of that Namco AtGames Plug & Play was from that Atari Homebrew made by Champ Games. The fact that AtGames did this is just pure insulting.

[@retrovideogamejunkie]

I freaking hate the " soft pixel" filter ...just no retrogamer people like that thing ...

[@waynerowlinson6177]

I purchased all of the AtGames Flashback Blast "consoles" on clearance at Walmart for $6.99 each. I didn't even open them after seeing John Hancock's review. I just like to have them for my collection. I do have several Flashback Consoles as well, and overall do like playing on those. My favorite way to play games is on original consoles, but adding more wear and tear on them makes me nervous. My plan is to play with my grandchildren when they are old enough, and I'd like to do it on the original consoles. For 99% of my retro game playing, it is RetroPie on a Raspberry Pi 4. Otherwise it is an emulator on a PC. Great video as usual. Thanks.

[@Thehauntedbubos-so3zo]

Fun fact the flashback blast have the same off pitch audio problem as their genesis

[@JeffreyPiatt]

It's the same Fireblast hardware /software platform emulation

[@edrosa3485]

This video should be titled "don't buy these but watch anyway 'cause it's POJR."

[@ravensmadhouse75]

AtGames dug their own grave with their Genesis Clone, and dug it even further with the Flashback handhelds. And AtGames blocked a lot of users on Twitter over their rage. They tried coming back with their Legends Arcade & PInball home uprights, but the damage was already done.

[@kjetilfrugard8395]

Fun fact. The Space Invaders version seems to be the the same as the one that's included with the later Atari Flashbacks. However, it's actually not the 2600 version. Nor is it the original arcade version. On a closer look is seems to look like the Famicom version, but it's actually a Android version that are using the sprites to closely mimic the Famicom one. Why? No one knows, except Taito and AtGames.

[@riversarcadereview385]

good review...I believe I will stick with MAME

[@AngryCalvin]

I have the Activision Atari2600 collection I paid $5 for. An absolute steal. I just wanted to have licensed versions of these games. Pitfall, River Raid, and about half of the releases for the 2600.

[@BlueMSX.]

i knew the Namco one was shaky, but they really dropped the ball with the full line. Great video Pojr!

[@micshork]

There was one with Disney Games in it as well. It was called “The AtGames Adventure Flashback Blast!”

[@kjetilfrugard8395]

And it even have the NES port of Maniac Mansion.

[@Lee-wk3cb]

The controller being trash is more than enough reason to not get any of them ever.

[@rainydayman2k]

Atlantis being included on the Activision collection makes sense if you remember Activision owns the rights to the Imagic library.

[@SchardtCinematic]

I still like my old Jaks Pacific Ms Pacman that had Mappy and other versions of games

[@Lynxan]

I got most of these on clearance at Walmart. The best one to me was the Paddle one. It comes with two in the box and if you get two of them you can connet them both for four player Warloards, good times.

[@jimmyju76]

a few years ago my dad got me and bro some for Christmas and loved them, definitely worth it

[@TheExistentialNerd]

Didn';t read comments but the reason the Imagic game appears is Activision bought up Imagic IPs sometime back in the mid to late 80s.

[@Gojiro7]

so is the take away from this that you should avoid Atgames physical products like the plague but their digital releases are really steller?

[@johnny-becker]

You would think with 2600 games, which I think had a max of 2kb per cart, would be the easiest to emulate to perfection. 7800 I get might have some flaws, but 2600, pretty much the first mass-produced home video game console, and being ~50 years old, there is no excuse not to have a exact duplicate of a Atari 2600 system.

[@romfighter]

i actually somehow got the atari collection one complete for about 8 dollars from the thrift store... looks interesting but glad i didnt pay full price as i would not consider it worth it

[@MrClawt]

I would love to see a video on spooky games for spooky season!

[@marccaselle8108]

I made a spooky version of visual pinball x with the following tables. Elvira and the party monsters Scared Stiff Monster bash Freddy A Nightmare on Elm Street Tales from the crypt The Addams family.

[@MT-cd7cs]

Find myself saying ‘itsssss POJR’ every so often through out the day 😂

[@jimbox114]

My son received the Legends collection as a Christmas gift last year. Used it once and not its sitting in storage to never be used again. Pure trash.

[@metronome8471]

Atgames Pong Blast console is the BEST 1st generation console made. Secondly the space invaders port from what I understand is a custom version. It's used in place of 2600 version because the IP holder reasons.

[@hammersampson]

There is an Atari paddle version of the Blast. I have it and it’s glorious!

[@SNARC15]

Zaxxon did come out on the 2600 via Coleco, but I wouldn't really consider it a quality port.

[@Ariel-025]

First. And to be honest, AtGames quite have an ego problem I guess.

[@PhilipMarcYT]

AtGames = 💩 Which is why I've never bought any of their products.

[@Ariel-025]

@@PhilipMarcYT Better just buy the official mini consoles like the NES Classic.

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

AtGames only "decent" flashbacks were the Intelivision & Colecovision models (the Dollar General versions that is). The Blast were okay when they marked them down to around $5 (like at my local Walmarts), and for aspect ratio goes most TVs have their own aspect ratio option in their setup menu. As for the short cord these devices can run on 5V so they expect you to use the USB port that is also common on most HDTVs (a no clutter approach). I was told by fellow employees that they had a high return rate. Activision bought out Imagic during the great crash so they own their IPs in fact Activision still produced some of their games afterwards including Atlantis (the Blue or White labeled versions in a Activision shell). They were also included in most of their Activison Anthologies for various systems/PC. Oh the Space Invaders port was used by another company (can't remember) that made a cheap handheld Space Invaders years prior to the blast. If I recall it used a Mega Drive on a chip instead of a NES on a chip.

[@notkobun42]

The Intellivision ones are quite good for AtGames products, yes -- but I've heard the Coleco one is just okay with cheaply made controllers compared to the INTV FB's near perfect replicas of its' respective controller (infact the Intellivision Flashback goes for a lot on eBay simply because people want the controllers) -- and I think Coleco had some emulation issues regarding both speed and sound on most of the games on it whereas Intellivision had some minor sound bugs and a Tower of Doom bug and that was about it. Shame AtGames kind of bombed the Coleco one as that had a lot of potential but I do agree the Intellivision one is actually quite decent. Side note that pisses me off: Tommy Tallarico killed off a potential Intellivision Flashback 2 which supposedly would've attempted both HDMI and to try to get some licenses (i.e. Disney for TRON games and even potentially Data East/i-Mode for BurgerTime?) because he claims the relationship was "toxic" but couldn't give any examples as to how that was the case. Likely was just his hubris as always getting in the way.

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

@@notkobun42 That is why I said "decent" not good nor great (one step below good). The real issue on the Coleco Flashback was slowdown on a couple of games, but the controllers (and overall quality) were still leagues better than the Genesis plug & plays with the exception of their last one.

[@notkobun42]

@@JeremyLeePotocki Yes, I mentioned the speed and sound on the coleco but honestly I feel even with the complaints I heard on the controllers they gotta still be better than the Genesis ones because I had the AtGames Genesis and jesus christ those controllers are bad. I'd rather take the supposed "eh, feels a little off but I'll get used to it" coleco controllers over the "this feels way too cheap" genesis controllers. Plus the Coleco controllers aren't powered by Infrared like the Genesis ones were. Imagine having to point those controllers within the line of sight of the console... yeesh. Never worked for any of the systems they did, I'm surprised they kept trying to push that crap -- at least both the INTV and CV FBs didn't get that treatment. And yes, AtGames did get better with their final Genesis console (not entirely there yet but afaik it seemed like improvement was absolutely made) but I'm still glad SEGA ditched them because their Genesis Mini is leagues better.

[@TheDarkThunder]

Pitfall 2 would have sold me, especially if it had the Second Quest like on the 5200, I’d like to try that one again,

[@Earths1stgamer]

I bought them at Bed Bath and Beyond on clearance a few years ago for 3.50 a piece and i never even opened them.

[@karatgaming5792]

Seeing how broken the AtGames consoles are, I'm quite glad I never bought them. Just play the Namco compilations on far better systems like the Switch and PS4 instead, it's far more worth your dollar!!

[@MusicMan32K]

They actually got better though. After these were poorly received, they reversed course and made the decent Flashback Legends console and then a plug and play version of their Arcade console

[@DannyCasrtol]

Man i love that ending song

[@greenaum]

I dunno if it was the same company, but at least a couple of "Atari 2600" consoles actually used the NES-on-a-chip, with fresh versions of 2600 games written to run on NES hardware, but *look* like they were Atari. Does the version of Asteroids you showed flicker like it should? Might be what's happening here. For which there really is no excuse, NES-on-chip needs to be dead and buried, it's obsolete hardware itself, been around since the 1990s.

[@metal_kitsune]

It's pretty cool that they come out with these things, but you might as well just get a cheap pc if you want to play emulated retro games. Always the better option for me.

[@henzelman5218]

ive had one of those. It was yellow gamepad with 20 games, only issue was that s&k was slow, but nonetheless loved it

[@visitperaiagreece]

I had the Flashback 2, which was the best version, in my opinion.

[@thomasgebert6119]

I mean, anyone watching this channel would likely have the most fun with a MiSTer than buying a premade thing like this.

[@tattoomaniacsalina]

You're supposed to use the usb port on the back of the TV with those

[@Ultrapub]

Activision bought out the entire Imagic archive sometime after they died, that’s why Atlantis is there.

[@AngryCalvin]

I wish there were more Imagic games included. Fathom, Demon Attack, Venture, etc.

[@skystoyhunts7225]

I never heard of those until now

[@Mabus_Incarnate]

Thanks POJR

[@nabtoad49]

I had this 6 years ago but lost it.

[@CapJetDare3.0]

I have the pacman one, the truth is that the only thing that is worth that is the beautiful keychain that was included, from there the rest is not worth it at all.

[@Mrshoujo]

Ummm... "Burning Rubber" is Bump N Jump. Try completing the 1st course & not crash into any other car.

[@Lewiiugamepad]

For me, I never picked one of those in the store or even cheaply second-hand because they never grabbed my attention. They are soulless in my opinion like they lack charm and genuine care. Even the bad Megadrive/Genesis had charm on the way the console looked from the exterior. A minimum of care like at least someone cared in the team to make it a presettable product. The Blast! series for me, are just wireless Megadrive/Genesis basic white controllers with some ROMs inside. It’s not interesting or nostalgic to me.

[@calebprenger3928]

i bought a few of these at walmart when they were dumping them for $4 each.

[@cliffjumper1984]

These are hot garbage. I picked the Namco one up on clearance, for 4 dollars I basically paid 1.33 for each time it worked.....

[@FeralInferno]

AtGames just keeps racking up the gaming sins. No power brick is unforgivable!

[@notkobun42]

imo AtGames' only decent products were the Atari Flashback (Not hard to mess up Atari eh- oh wait the Atari Flashback Blast kinda did but the game lineup makes up for it I suppose) and Intellivision flashback (Ironically the INTY FB units had Intellivision Productions breathing down their neck so I guess that's how you get AtGames to output a remotely decent product! Not worth the $90 or higher they go for nowadays but for the original $40 I would've been pretty happy even with its' flaws) units, anything newer than that they tried to replicate and they flopped miserably... Just thinking about the SEGA Genesis units... oh god, those were awful. But yeah, expected these to be terrible. Especially since nowadays you have better options and there's no real reason to pick these up at all. The NES-rom controversy with the Namco one was enough to scare me off, especially since I'm pretty good at Arcade Dig Dug and NES Dig Dug doesn't feel right for some reason, and the NES Pac-Man port feels slower than usual.

[@NoobSIayer69]

Correct title: Do NOT Buy anything from AtGames

[@ramgladore]

I bought these games just for the sake of collecting. I never opened them.

[@FaTBoYs_GaMInG_N_NoNsEnSe]

Awesome video brother have a great week

[@ashtraydekay6624]

I got 2 of them for four dollars each, back in 2020.

[@tylerd4884]

many tvs have usb ports near the hdmi, that's why the short cord

[@jasonz7788]

Thanks pojr

[@TODAYWEARETALKINGABOUT]

Can you do video on interesting bootleg consoles Don't mean nes on chips style consoles like every tech youtuber done to death (and solja boy dropshipping joke) But i mean dandy and strange ones like the nes penguin or generation nex (which I'm happy to finally own but need flashcart)

[@RageyRage82]

Novelty crap that is too crappy to even be considered novelty crap lol! Honestly, companies just trying to cash in on old games, without any care for accuracy, and a genyine experience. But, that is why I almost always choose emulation nowadays, because the emulation community will treat these games with so much more respect, and you have the options that YOU choose. But third party companies doing things like this? Meh.

[@RolandoMarreroPR]

I would like that Genesis 3 button style 6 buttons controller as a wireless or usb controller for PCs and Switch!

[@notkobun42]

The BIG6 controller by Retro-bit seems like what you're looking for, there's a USB variant and it's licensed by SEGA too.

[@RolandoMarreroPR]

@@notkobun42 Thanks! I forgot that retrofit made these!

[@Wreckedftfoxy]

they are expecting you to plug ur atgames blast into the tv's usb port

[@inranglhood60]

Meh, I bought them all for around $2.50 each when they were on clearance. They're, alright...

[@ihopeitsnotasamsquanch]

More like "Do NOT Buy The AtGames Blast AT ALL"

[@shampine]

Nobody goning to mention the other sin AtGames commited hording ms. pac-man so now Namco had to replace her with pac-mom. They went as far as to replace her in pac-land arcade archives version so they won't have to pay AtGames for using her.

[@tigrux]

Pojr is ready for a brand of shampoo and conditioner as sponsor.

[@jessragan6714]

Ha! Ha ha! If you thought getting NES versions of arcade games was bad, the Data East Blast unit gives you ATARI 2600 versions of arcade games! Talk about a breathtaking disappointment.

[@Leahi84]

Lol, they even reused the Sega controller molds they have.

[@TheSteveTheDragon]

You get better value from a cheap chinese knockoff console from aliexpress.

[@samuraiyue]

What a waste of money

[@inranglhood60]

Where's the pong version? It was interesting to finally get a paddle plug and play

[@NorthSidney]

450 Smith Dale

[@XDBroSoft]

Wasn't gonna buy them, since i dont like the Atari Flashback

[@SoulforSale]

The paddle edition was pretty decent.

[@otaking3582]

I wasn't gonna buy them anyway.

[@DevinOwens-wf6nk]

Yeah just buy the sega genesis mini

[@otaking3582]

@@DevinOwens-wf6nk Or do what I do and download ROMs on your computer

[@ChanceRoth]

Dat smile. 😁

[@phorchybug3286]

Too late. Mom got one for me. (The friggin sap)

[@typerightseesight]

I remember when my grandma got a roku and asked me to set it up and I couldn't figure it out because it was wifi but it came with a usb cord and no power adapter. I knew it wouldnt work via usb because its just a power usb on the tv and then it clicked your suppose to power it via usb and operate it via wifi. HOW DUMB. lol

[@kjetilfrugard8395]

LOLI bought one yesterday for about 3.50.

[@jeredwagner9132]

Second =) Happy new content Wednesday folks!

[@EuSouRCS]

This is what we got from companies who condemn "piracy" and emulation.

[@JeffreyPiatt]

They assume your TV has a USB port with power close enough to your HDMI port to power the console directly off the television. The most modern TV's have this to power usb drives it also releases them from getting a UL approved power brick the device it's on the end user to buy a fire hazard.