The ATARI 400 mini review - Is it worth $120?!

[@MetalJesusRocks]

I didn't own an Atari 8bit computer back in the day, I was a C64 kid in the 80s. What Atari computer games would YOU recommend I check out?

[@boyonthephone1]

Don't know anything about it but I'm intrigued

[@thorstenguenther]

Alley Cat, Amaurote 128, Animal Party, Archon, Archon II: Adept, Ballblazer, Bosconian 128, Cavelord, Centipede 5200, Crownland, Cytron Masters, Dandy, Drol, Dropzone, Druid, Fort Apocalypse, H.E.R.O., International Karate, Jet Boot Jack, Juice!, Jumpman, Jumpman Junior, Kennedy Approach, Lode Runner, Marbled, Necromancer, Night Mission Pinball, Oil's Well, Quasimodo, Slotmachine (by Axis Komputerkunst), Spelunker, Star Raiders, Stealth, Time Pilot, Unicum, Xagon

[@jeffdidnot]

Henry, Jet Set Willy, Satan's Hollow, Mr Do's Castle, Master of the Lamps

[@retrovisions_]

Blue Max is a gem to play Also Hardball is one of the most realistic baseball games for the XE line.

[@retrovisions_]

@@thorstenguenther HERO is great on just about any system .

[@peterpayne2219]

This was literally my first computer (the original, not this tiny one), back in 1982. I learned BASIC and 6502 assembler and sold one program to a computer magazine (Antic or Analog, can't remember now) for $75. I am so utterly going to buy this, even though I have a healthy collection of Atari 8-bit emulated games on my Mac and PC. Great video!

[@troessler11]

Antic and Compute! were great magazines - I read every one cover to cover. Do you remember the game? I also wrote a ton of Atari Basic games

[@Joe-Rad]

Mine is coming today! I am super excited. My first gaming memories were Atari 800 and XE/XL games. I ordered the 8bitdo retro keyboard to go with it. I am going to play through Ultima 4 first ❤.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

I love that 8bitdo clicky retro keyboard!

[@The_RadicalOne]

Man, I’m actually pretty impressed Witt this. I’ll probably look ti get one later down the line.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Wish i could say the the same. I had really high expectations on this since i always have been a "spokesperson" for "the Atari 8-bits was/is slightly better than the C64"-sake !. But what they did above is making something complicated from something simple. My recommendation: Emulate it on hacked "A500 mini" or "PS classic mini" instead. Remember, this is emulation too, so it doesn´t even matter much.

[@sillyolryan]

Atari 400 was my first computer. I spent hours typing basic programs in from the back of computer magazines , tweaking the codes and saving them to cassette tape. (I was an unusual kid, I guess)

[@EdmundSampson-pd7vi]

I bet it served you well , and you're on the big bucks now

[@peterpayne2219]

Remember typing in programs printed in magazines? Lol.

[@clutch2827]

Same. Except my friend convinced me go to Apple. I wanted an Atari 800 for the longest time.

[@troessler11]

Me too! So many times the program would stop loading off cassette just before it was done. The day I was only enough for a disk drive (much later in life) was a game changer.

[@markbcrich]

I don't have a 400 Mini yet. But, I noticed BASIC was enabled. So, for the games on your USB stick, disable BASIC and try running them again. If BASIC is enabled on a stock Atari, it resides in RAM and may conflict with a game that is trying to access that same RAM. On a stock Atari, you hold Option when you power it on in order to disable BASIC.

[@fontyyy]

Well remembered!

[@hodeyfu7617]

Press option while booting. The 400/800 non xl/xe shouldn’t have basic enabled. Another trick is find an image of fixxl or hmtranslator.

[@fontyyy]

I bet it's got way over 64k anyway, so it's a moot point. 400 - 16k 800 - 48k 600xl - 32k (16k taken by built in BASIC) 800xl - 64k (16k taken by built in BASIC) So the 600xl could run anything the 400 could, the 800xl could run anything the 800 could without holding Option. BASIC was on a cartridge on the 400 and 800. Holding Option to allow the game to use the full 64k meant a stock 800 couldn't run that game. But they (all of them 400, 800, 600xl and 800xl) were easily (if you had soldering skills) upgraded to 128kb.

[@Asquaredgamereviews]

The fact that hdmi and power cable match the color is amazing.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

"Amazing" ??...Then what do call the Gallileo space telescope or vaccines against Polio and TBC ?. Electric Tesla cars that make 300 miles on an 45 minute loading session, or doing geneaology based on just your dna/a traditional blood sample ?. 5G networks or...well, a "Xbox series x" ??... 🙄

[@garrettwright5632]

OMG! Loved seeing Loderunner!! I used to play it in the 80's on our local library PC's. Had to pay 25 cents to play for an hour...oh those were the days.

[@Johnenoch226]

That was a favorite, and Archon.

[@garrettwright5632]

@@Johnenoch226 For sure!! Loved Archon!

[@sodapopinksi667]

I think that was the first PC game I ever played. It was a friend's dad's pc.

[@BrianJonson]

Great review! I did preorder this and look forward to receiving within a few days.

[@hallgeirhansen9124]

Will defenitly buy. Love minis!

[@islygon]

Already ordered.. It is on its way! I am looking forward to messing with this one, as I also was a Commodore 64 kid.. so I am not super familiar with the Atari computer line! Great review! Thanks!

[@brantipoohs6716]

Although Bruce Lee is a 1 player game, you can control the enemy characters with the 2nd controller. Best feature of the game🔥🔥🔥 BBC micro and 800xl were legendary

[@MichaelRGibson]

great review. Getting mine today.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Have fun!

[@wasakawakawaka2028]

This is very cool. I wish more companies would allow for mini consoles/pc’s. I’ve got a few of them now and this is definitely on my list for my next purchase

[@kumarp3074]

I got mine a little early as it was delivered yesterday. The Atari 400 was our first gaming system. I think my sister convinced my parents to buy one for school work but we wound up just playing games on it. Unfortunately our 400 broke at some point and we got rid of it. I picked up a Atari 800XL a few years ago since I had all of our old cartridges. I'm just reluctant to use it too much due to it's age. The 400 Mini is perfect for playing all those old games without having to worry about breaking vintage hardware.

[@lutherdrache399]

Thank you so much for this review. I learned my first programming language of the 400 and I've been a fan for a long time. I may shell the 120 in the name of nostalgia!

[@patrikknoerr9777]

I'm actually quite excited about the product. There are many games preinstalled, that I like and you can load others over USB. I have no emotional attachement to the actual Atari, because I grew up with the VC20 and C64, so I don't mind the missing userport, and I am not really interested in applications. So for me, it is a small gaming platform and I am not missing anything there.

[@EyeOfLion]

I always appreciate all of your videos

[@MrQuaazga]

Thanks for this info. I am interested in this Atari since I've never played eighties games before. You really make my day!

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Glad I could help!

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Have you ever heard of a concept called emulation ?. If 80´s games (with a absolute minimum of system requirements) is your thing, you can do it in plenty of ways; Computers, web plates, game consoles or mobile phones. The easiest way is to purchase some "Kinhank 60.000 games" kind of game console (costs around 50 bucks online). They have done all the work with emulating twenty systems or so, for you. 80´s systems/games will most likely run PERFECT for you, trust me !. 90´s systems though, more like "hit and miss". Anyway, that alternative is around half price of this complicated and weird Atari emulation system above. Then you play more technological matured games from the 80´s too, such as Turbografx, NES, Sega master system or, not to mention: Arcade games !. Probably the funniest and the most graphical impressive games from the era !.😁

[@darthv72]

the lack of an opening top is a missed opportunity for an SD card slot. I said the same thing about their A500 mini and the lack of SD slot where the floppy disk was molded into the casing.

[@danjmcs]

Great review! I've been considering one, since the same as you, all my prior retro history is primarily Commodore 8-bit and Amiga, other than the real early Atari home consoles. Definitely pushes me closer to pulling the trigger. Love the added functions of the joystick and wish they'd have done something more like that on the C64MINI stick.

[@Nebulous6]

Since you know the Amiga, the Atari 8-bit will seem very familiar to you.

[@danjmcs]

@@Nebulous6 Oh yeah, i'm very familiar and used Atari 400s and 800s back in the day, just never owned one and or had the space for one now, but these smaller multi-model types definitely make that more of a realistic possibility now.

[@dan_evilrobot]

I've never played/own the original Atari 400 computer system and of course, so I'm kind of a sucker for getting the mini consoles. So I pre-ordered mine.

[@mikeranscombe]

I had exactly the same issue with the CX stick in Lee and when I tried Alley Cat. So much so I got a replacement from Amazon as I thought it was faulty, but the second one was the same. I’ve resorted to using the joystick from the C64 mini but it’s a shame the CX stick has these issues as it looks cool.

[@yogibear2k220]

This thing really fascinates me. I never even new it existed until I was a review for it on KZbin. I have never heard of it either and I grew up in the 70's Maybe it did not make much of a hit here in the UK? It's the only mini consoles that has since the PS One (which people slated and I never understood why, I loved it!) I am definitely thinking of getting one. Thanks for the retrospective, Jason. You really do the best job of reviewing these classic mini consoles.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

??..You didn´t have Atari 8-bit computers in the UK ?..Really ?. In Sweden, Commodore´s "home computers" were kings the whole time during that era, starting from the "Vic 20" up until the "Amiga 1200".-But on second place, DEFINITIVELY the equals from Atari !. Sure, i heard sometimes of things such as "Apple" or "Macintosh", but i always thought that that was for the professional´s or/and, business users. Well, as i discovered in more recent times, you had ALOT of internal "home computers" to choose from on the british islands !. "Sinclair", "Amstrad", "Sam coupé" or even a dedicated educational computer from the BBC !. I guess Atari corp. just figured; "Bah,..it´s not worth it !. We´re aiming at West germany instead !".🤔

[@yogibear2k220]

@@gevaliasvittne7150 hi, I am not saying we never did, but, even though I was into technology my family wasn't. They hated everything to do with technology and was mainly interested in gardening which I hated with a passion and still do. So, i never got to see or hear about the latest technology until I went to college in the early 90's where I got my Amiga. We did have a Speccy when I was younger, but I was hardly allowed to touch it. They wanted to use it as a business computer. Laughable now if you think of it.

[@neilloughran4437]

@@gevaliasvittne7150 I was born in 1968, the Ataris were definitely sold in UK but were not as popular as the C64 and Spectrum computers due to their price The 400 was one of the first colour computers I ever saw back in 1981/82. I believe the XL line was a way for Atari to both modernise/simplify and lower costs on the hardware. The earlier Atari was a 70s computer and so there were a lot of chips inside compared to later ones.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Interesting. So a non-XL Atari 400 or 800 was much pricier than a Vic 20/64 from the period of, say 1978 to 85 ?. I was born in ´71 and had a really vague notion of what "computers" was all about before 1982. But then the electronic trade business came up with the idea/concept of "home computers" in ´82 (starting with the hard pushing of the Vic 20, primarely advertised with its cassette player, a happy boy who did some computer entertainment tasks on the screen, and with his sexy booby mum standing beside him) and change was in the air. But one thing was for sure, and that goes for almost the whole 80´s: There were no such things like "cheap computers" !. None, except one, of my buddies had brand new computers from their parents. My Atari 800 was used too, and i remember when i picked it up with my grandpa´ back in ´86 or ´87. It was 80 british sterling in that time´s worth of money, and diskdrive was not included (only two games on cassettes and a "Basic" cartridge). I knew a turkish immigrant guy at the time who was THE THIRD owner of a C64 !. It had a bunch of cracks and scratches on it, some keys were loose and his joystick was ape shit. But the system worked !. Another guy had a used "Commodore +4" and, funny as it might seen, he obviously liked it too ! (yes, HE WAS truly a nerd in every sense, with "Old spice" as his cologne of choice). "The early days of 8 bit´s history" was a really fun time to be a kid in, full of new innovations, concepts and pirate games on (big) floppies or cassettes. Later, when the japanese came along with their more matured 8 bit techology, i did´nt care much. Cartridge prices was heavy salted anyway, at least before 1990, and pirate games on cassettes was a fraction of that prices. And my old black "Atari 2600" still offered instant booting of "Hero", "Demon attack" or "Enduro", so why bother. "Super Mario" and his band was a thing for the next generation, and among them, my brother, born in ´78. @@neilloughran4437

[@Mark-mu4pj]

Very cool mini Atari, think i'll get this asap, haven't played Atari games in ages, this would fill that itch, have a good Easter weekend everybody.

[@gerardo_contreras]

heck yeah! I got it, one more for my mini colection

[@awwrelic]

I'm certainly thinking about getting this...I own TheC64 Maxi (with the fully functional keyboard) and like RetroGames' products. I also own an Atari 600XL which handles many of the 400 and 800 titles, but not all of them (Gorf is incompatible, for instance) so it would be nice to have something that will work with the rest of the line. And it would also be nice to not have to hook up my 5200 when I just want to play its games :)

[@JetmanUK]

You need to take the controller apart and loosen the two screws which are holding the PCB to the top part of the joystick. Doing this made it much easier to go left and right for me. It's not perfect but much much better. You seem to have to have a very light touch to make the stick work reliably. It's tough to change how you use something which you have used since the early 80's though!

[@desertfish74]

Short circuiting?

[@JetmanUK]

@@desertfish74 I think the board is just too close to the plastic at the bottom of the joystick, loosening the screws gives it a little room and left and right are easier to hit without hitting down too.

[@MrPoestyle]

Great video !!!! Mine came today but I didn't have time to mess with it . I've never messed with the Atari 8-bit games , but I have a 5200 . I am really looking forward to messing around with this and adding games to it .

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

GOOD LUCK !!..No pun intended. YOU WILL NEED IT !. Rarely have i seen such a complicated setup, made for handling such a simple basic task: Emulate Atari´s 8-bit serie that started back in 1978 !.

[@OriginalGrasshopper]

@@gevaliasvittne7150💯This thing is sooo confusing! I have spent the past two days adding ROM’s and it is needlessly complicated to get them running. I don’t see why it doesn’t recognize which Atari computer the file is for and why so much joystick mapping is needed.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

@@OriginalGrasshopper Exactly !. How can there even being a thing like "mapping" ?. These games are made for one button joysticks; "One button + a 4 way direction´s control"...There´s nothing to map god damn it ! (and for the Atari 5200, there should of course be a virtual solution for the numerical keypad on the screen, like most other 5200 emulators typically has). And what the heck is that nonsense with the joystick movements, like ""Oh, you should push harder for going diagonal or looser for vertical trajection"" blah, blah, blah ?.-An "Atari joystick: The Einstein mathematically physical edition" ?..(younger users maybe prefers to hook up a Xbone or a PS4 controller to their "400 mini", so what about them then ?). But what´s really crappy here is the fact that "400 mini" can´t figure out WHICH in the Atari´s 8-bit serie, a specific game ROM is best suited to play on !. You have to go in MANUALLY and check the squares to tell it to it !. "Basic"/"not Basic", "XL/"not XL", "400"/"600"/"800"..."Experimentation is so much fun, hurray !".-And there was THOUSANDS of games released for the Atari 8-bit range too !. Good luck with that one Mr Donahue !. "Atari 400 mini" is a child of the Marijuana legalisation movement....

[@Underhownd]

I've been on the fence about this one. I didn't grow up with any type of gaming computers from the 80s, but I have played the C64 and Amiga Minis from this company. So it's good to hear they're behind this. It's also good to hear about controller compatibility options since there's only so much you can do with a one button joystick, although it is interesting to hear how they tried to "modernize" the classic 2600 controller design.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

I think if you already have the C64 and Amiga minis you are probably good. So many games of that area came out on both...and the Amiga was definitely the most powerful of them.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Hack your "A500 mini" and you have a bunch of excellent emulators you can play from.-Including the "Atari 8-bit" and "ST" libraries (= tens of thousands of titles !). "PS Classic mini" is another good choice for "Atari 8-bit" emulation. The machine in the video above is too complicated and too weird though. Simply not worth the money. 😑

[@SpecialAgentBillMaxwell]

Disabling BASIC used to be mandatory for certain games back in the day. It freed up RAM. They wouldn't run with it on. Not sure if that works the same here, but might be something to keep in mind.

[@sebastienkneur1280]

I hope next iteration would be an Atari ST mini. I wanted so much to have one when I was younger. All my friends had one.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

No shit !!..Ha-ha, i know EXACTLY what you talking about !. But an Atari ST or a Amiga wouldn´t have matter much for me, because i just LOOVED the games and the graphics on them both. Anyway, THE ST KEYBOARD LOOKED SO AWESOME !. Like, from some future laboratory/offices, in some sci-fi movie about people who live in caverns because of the nuclear radiation. Anyway, if a "ST mini" ever show up, i will only purchase it if it´s far better than the edition above. They did something complicated and weird from something simple here, and it´s just not worth the money. Emulate Atari 8-bit computers on your hacked "A500 mini" instead. It´s better and it´s free. Remember, the product above is "Emulation on a SoC concept" too !. There´s not a huge difference you know.

[@jpupz]

I had a 400 when I was a kid. My absolute favorite games for it were Journey to the Planets, Mountain King and Wizard of Wor.

[@jessragan6714]

You were rockin' with Roklan!

[@ScottWozniak]

Wizard of Wor is such a great conversion. I also love Shamus and Jumpman Jr. To this day, I still love Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" music because of Mountain King! 🧡

[@IRWPD]

Like that fact it comes with matching HDMI and USB cables.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

That is a nice touch. 👍

[@cmgray74]

I was a Atari kid in the 80's. Try Alternate Reality: The Dungeon or Alternate Reality: The City. I played them for years. Not sure how it would play on this system as both are multiple disk games. Always liked Blue Max, Zaxxon, and Donkey Kong but I believe you had them already. Rescue on Fractalus and Star Raiders. This unit will definitely be on my buy list.

[@Cool_Retro]

Nice review. I will be buying one soon. I would check out Necromancer, Blue Max and Rescue on Fractalus.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

I wouldn´t recommend it since modern Atari has made something complicated from something simple, with this mini console here obviously. But if you´re still gonna do it, don´t miss "The very, very, first iteration of ""Castle Wolfenstein"" " from 1981 on it ! (there´s a sequel from ´84 as well). It reminds of "Berzerk" but has an actual storyline, and it has comical features too !. "Bc´s quest for tyres" is great too, as well as "Pitstop", "Karateka" and "Boulder dash".

[@RondoOfBloodX]

Awesome another Mini Console for the collection.

[@UNIRockLIVE]

Great review jeebz

[@RobertCatiller67]

Thanks for this video! Great job going through all of the features, pros & cons of this unit. 🤘🤘

[@MetalJesusRocks]

Thanks for watching!

[@Nebulous6]

If you don't already have an Atari 8-bit in your collection then this is a great option. It'll save you the situation I have where there's an Atari 400 on one floor, an Atari 800 on another, and an Atari 800XL at another location. So many great games on these machines.

[@rafaelbarrera2612]

I want one, I was deprived in The Eighties of this fun machine, now I shall have it ! ❤

[@jaminallen3119]

Great review, thanks

[@SecretOfMonkeyIsland784]

I have the A500 mini and for a long time it had a number of emulation bugs with WHDLoad and Retro Games took years to fix them via firmware updates, due to this id be cautious buying a mini console from them again.

[@truebnb]

Some other reviewers have also been saying they had trouble with specifically Lee and the CXStick as well. Wonder if it's possible a future FW update can resolve that "balance" issue they were talking about, if it can be enabled/disabled or is just physically part of the CXStick hardware (as other controllers don't seem affected).

[@AndyS-A]

I've still got my real Atari 400 (With a 1050 Diskdrive) that still works with my original floppies. Nice to see the review and this might be something I'd go for. If they released an 800XL with a working keyboard and virtual drives then I'd rip their arm off to get one! Seen a few other reviews you did and they were really interesting. Games I'd suggest? Well you've played quite a few I'd recommend, so for the ones you didn't mention.. The Scott Adams Series (text adventures) were great! The Infocom series - same. Archon by EA was brilliant. Seven Cities of Gold and M.U.L.E were classics! (I'd play those off the ones you've seen in your colleciton there). Rescue on Fractulas nearly killed me ha ha! You'll see why maybe if you play it.. International karate and Karateka were brilliant. I used to love playing Montazumas Revenge and the mountain king music was great. Passionately from a music demo disk was brilliant (and very sad :( ) Star Raiders had me hooked forever. Miner 2049er was my favourite platform then you have the Atari arcade games; Defender, Donkey Kong, Pacman, Galaxian, Centipede etc. Vangard and Zeppelin were good fun. Lode Runner was a classic. Temple of Apshai looks terrible, but was actually a great game. Ultima III was absolutely awesome. I played this game to death absolutely amazing, brilliant, fantastic RPG game. Wonderful doesn't even come close. Caverns of Mars II was like Scramble from the arcade. And last but not least Atro Chase and Preppie! Keep your content coming and have fun!

[@ironmanrip9742]

Does the Xbox style Atari modern controller work with it? To unlock games?

[@OriginalGrasshopper]

Yes. Any USB third party controller will unlock the two hidden games. I even tried it with a $10 no-name/generic controller and it unlocked them.

[@scissormandvd]

Great video as always :)

[@Phoenix2312]

4:13 You just solved my biggest concern... I loved an old game called SHAMUS on the 400... And it wasn't one of the built in games... :) But if I can find a ROM, I am ROCKING!

[@danielt.8573]

I'll buy something from them if they make a full size, fully working Amiga computer preferably with an internal power supply and no extra buttons on the keyboard.

[@Johnenoch226]

Metal Jesus with an Atari review. It is Good Friday!

[@seanc2482]

Would love if they ever made an Apple IIe classic system. Would be great to revisit Castle Wolfenstein, Aztec, Bolo, Bilestoad, and Sammy Lightfoot

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Hey "Castle Wolfenstein 1981" WAS on Atari 8 bit serie ! (just like its sequel from ´84 !). One of my favorites on the system actually.

[@carbonara2144]

I think its good that ppl make these mini-versions of the venerable classics. Ofc they usually leave a lot to be desired as they are not direct copies of the originals. I have used many of these machines back then in the 80's so I collect working originals as these new production machines don't do anything to me. Having one is just the same as using a Coinop collection in an original Xbox.

[@mymusic3354]

Great video, I've seen some of your other videos where you are recommending games (With John Riggs) Just subscribed to your channel, this console looks interesting, I might eventually pick one up.

[@radio2rancid]

Man, I grew up with one of those commodores that like a babysitter had, and they had some of the best games

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Most of ém were released on Atari 8-bit computers too. Personally i have always thought that Atari 8-bits was/is slighty better than C64 (the colors, the sound/music abilities, and sometimes even with graphical solutions). But the similarities between the two is much more obvious than the differences of course.

[@bigstretcha994]

MJR ur a legend I love all ur content so awesome I love ur channel. Please upload more I need more content I watched every video over ten times.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

More to come!

[@silverian]

Nice to see Boulderdash and other classics in this mini. When you placed 3DS next to it, I realized how small it is.

[@MetalJesusRocks]

I know, right?

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Well,...you don´t need to restructure your work area because of the "A500 mini" either, right ?..😳

[@ghostman2k782]

Great video! Now I want to play Defender 😊 Will you be reviewing the Way Back Powermini Arcade Handheld system? I keep seeing ads for it here on YT.

[@_Matthias_0815]

Interesting device. I might get myself one at some point. But I am exited for the A500 Maxi, wich was announced for release at the end of this year.🤗

[@MetalJesusRocks]

You and me both!

[@_Matthias_0815]

@@MetalJesusRocks Will you do a review of the Maxi version? I still enjoy my The64 Maxi. Also, I think I get myself an Evercade. Wich one do you prefer, the Handheld, or the living room Version?

[@captjc]

If they put out a maxi version of this and the Amiga, I’d totally get it. However the minis just seem to be a waste of money to me. I’d just go with a pi 400 and retropie.

[@_Matthias_0815]

@@captjc I get that they have to start somewere, and luckiely for me The64-Mini and The A500-Mini we're successful enough to warrant a true size Version. The only Thing I wonder is, if Retrogames really goes for the A500 Case Whith the Maxi. Since the PCB will be significantly smaller, than what was originally in the Case. I Love the A500, I will buy it. But I wonder if for this full size product the A600, or better the A1200 Case would be a better option. In terms of Software, the Mini emulates all three Systems.

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

@@_Matthias_0815 ....Plus alot of others if you hack it !. "Atari 8 bits computers", "Atari ST series" and "C64" for example....

[@b.o.4492]

MJR have you tried side loading the 5200 version of Centipede or PAC-Man? I’m not sure of the settings to be using in order to be able to contol the games properly. Figured I’d ask you.

[@alanguitars]

I have to get one of these. Wow, I remember MULE; I've not played that game and many others in probably 30+ years.

[@wordsovsean8905]

I can't comment on the Atari as I don't have it, but The C64 Maxi doesn't play close to 50% of the games I download for it. I can normally find a version that works after trying multiple different files, bit its frustrating. I use C64 Forever as my PC C64 emulator and that has a success rate of about 98%, almost always being sble to play the files the Maxi won't. Plus C64 forever allows me to map controls and supports a wider variety of controllers. It looks like the Atari has a few more options for controls and mapping, which is nice and I wish the C64 was updated with similar support. Not sure I'll pick this one up as the game catalogue doesnt appear ro be as appealing as the C64 and Amiga, but overall it looks interesting enough. I'd like to see a Spectrum one actually, as that's a massive and varied library to dig into.

[@d.aardent9382]

My uncle was a 60s n 70s radio tv/electronics technician and got into computers very early on and built computers and sold Kaypros and some other pcs. He had an Atari 400 with loads of games on floppy discs that friends would give him and manuals on Basic programming and i played around with programming basic stuff making music and little animations. I wished i had stayed interested in all the programming stuff and got into computer tech stuff in school. My highschool junior year was the first time they had a computer science class and i took that to play with the different conputers. We did some programming a bit , but it wasnt anything grand. It was pretty lame class in the early times. Lol

[@SunderedHelm]

Just thought of this, but for like the original Star Raiders they maybe could have just allowed the machine to accept a keyboard in one of the ports...What sort of connections do those jacks accept?

[@troessler11]

I wondered the same. I loved Star Raiders. Truly one of the most epic games ever made.

[@swk38]

hope they continue with the minis, like an apple II, trs 80-coco/model I(III/IV), ti-99, and such

[@gevaliasvittne7150]

Yeah, like a "Tamagotchi mini". That would be awesome !.

[@johneygd]

I got already an original atari 400 and am fine with it, this mini classic version is however a must have in case you don’t own any atari system but want to play atari games anyway,then this mini classic version is for you.

[@kbramlett6877]

Astroids was designed for the 400 and 800 (not the XL) in mind because up to 4 players can play at the same time and those two computers in the Atari line were the only ones that had 4 joystick ports. You could play Asteroids on the other computers, but just not in 4-player mode, obviously. On a different note, I had the Atari 800 XL along with the 1050 floppy disk drive when I was a kid. It would be cool to see in a future update to have this system emulate the disk drive so that even more games could be played.

[@stuartsimpson2949]

It already emulates disk drives. There are *.atr files that are images of atari disks, which work if you use a usb stick

[@MaxAngor]

Thanks for the review. I just saw this a few days ago and I'd very much like it for my birthday in August (if it ever comes back in stock...)

[@ScottWozniak]

It's available on Amazon.

[@MaxAngor]

@@ScottWozniak Cheers!

[@bgjck]

I wonder the compatibility with homebrew games

[@EgGu-l9y]

Retro Games should update the games to run properly with the controller packed into the box. People don't buy retro consoles to have to use modern controllers with them. They buy them for the nostalgia using an old school style controller brings to them. Really sad they launched 2 games with bad controls. They should Take responsibility and update it to work properly.

[@Parms]

Check out Plastron which has awesome music! Also Miner 2049er, Henry’s House and Jet Boot Jack. There are tons of others that I liked but I’ll have to have a proper think.

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

If you want to see an early example of an "open world" game with a satirical bent, check out the Atari 8-Bit game "NYC: The Big Apple." You play a tourist and have to obey traffic and parking laws while trying to see various highlights of '80s Manhattan. Each tourist attraction is a separate minigame.

[@donny121able]

I still have it on cassette, used to play it for hours.

[@Charlie97L]

Are 4:3 and pixel perfect labeled backwards? Seems like it. I got mine and haven’t booted it up yet!

[@ClassicBee17]

Such a cool device!

[@shaundurrance3605]

I wonder if the usb Atari joystick can be used with the Game station Pro as well.

[@iio58]

What did you do to your USB to make it recognize? I've reformatted my 4GB USB to FAT32 and the mini 400 wont recognize it at all. I've put it in the rear of the machine, front ports, I've booted it with the USB already in, and also tried inserting once the machine is on. No method works - the USB is working fine as I put ROMs on it from my PC

[@mikesarahbell2633]

Hey, this might be a dumb question, but I was wondering if you could help me figure out where to get ROMs the legal way online, so I might purchase them? I'm not very adept at doing those kinds of things (obviously, LOL). Also, where did you get that 400 USB stick? Is there a way to purchase an already formatted USB stick with games already on it? Thanks!

[@JasonT-xp3kh]

Legal way? C'mon, man. If you can easily find it with a simple Google search, it's legal. You really have to dig to find the illegal stuff these days. Just Google the roms you're looking for. Hundreds if not thousands will pop right up. The real trick is to find good clean ones that work well with your particular emulation software. It's just trial and error. I'm practically computer illiterate and even I was able to figure it out pretty easily. It's not hard, just time consuming.

[@Nebulous6]

Google Atari TOSEC

[@2112dorf]

Will the basic feature allow you to save your programs?

[@Manhattan_]

Great video. Thanks.

[@urmie]

Not familiar with the Atari PC line but if a game was released on the 5200 and the PCs, shouldn’t the graphics be better if you choose the PC version? I haven’t seen anyone test this yet on the 25 installed games if at all possible.

[@MousePotato]

I ordered one from Amazon and waiting for it while I type. Had the Atari 800XL back in the early 80s and loved graphic text adventures. Gruds in Space was one of them and loved it back in the day. I too loved Bruce Lee on it and played it to death :D Oh I forgot, one of your favourite games is on the Atari 8bit series. H.E.R.O.

[@maverickAMH]

I really like THE 400. But here's the catch: If you (want to) own an ATARI 2600+ you may want to use compatible Joysticks, Trackpads and Paddles. So I am thinking of getting me a used ATARI 800 XL so I can use all the peripherals and also I can use all of that with my new old COMMODORE C64 Breadbin with orange function key. And even for old computers like the C64 or the 800 XL there are adaptors to use SD-cards as modern "harddrives" to load your games into that device. What do you think, MJR? ...

[@Thunderpuddle]

I have the Amiga 500 and c64 retro. I am tempted by this. I am after additional games for all on usb sticks. Need to find trustworthy sources.

[@MrShadows272]

Hello, My USB keys are not recognized even though they are formatted in FAT32, could you tell me a little more about it.

[@jblackpost]

I'm really enjoying mine. Try lode runner, conan hall of volta, one on one, and Age of Adventure. Especially lode runner for the Atari 800.

[@Spacemutiny]

Sold out right now but I joined the waitlist. Hope they restock.

[@qqq1701]

I had real one I had probably gotten from goodwill. It was cool. I only ever played some games on it. The keyboard was awful and I didn't know how to type so I never did a program on it.

[@BruceStephan]

It'd be neat to be able to use a Jaguar controller for 5200 games . It's actually a nice controller . Great quality controller with a numerical pad like the 5200 controller .

[@Wobble2007]

Whilst I'm really not interested in these Mini versions, these guys are developing a full-size version of their Amiga 500, complete with keyboard and mouse, which I'm very interested in, as long a it has S-Video or RGB output (or an adapter in the box to give it this ability), a decent audio DAC and hopefully decent quality MIDI, would be amazing if they teamed up with the guy's who made the Dreamblaster MIDI module to produce a chipset for their Amiga 500, it would be amazing if it has some kind of floppy drive or emulator as well, at the very least make it compatible with USB CD-ROM's and Floppy drives.

[@JasonT-xp3kh]

That's what I'm talkinbout. If they implement that side of it well I am definitely getting one.

[@thepoliticalstartrek]

I wish I still had my Atari 400. It was a rare variant made late in the run. It had the Atari 800 style keypad.

[@jonwwillis]

It the Atari 400 mini comparable to the C64 mini? From what I can tell a firmware update made it so the C64 can access C64 software from a USB as well so only thing I can tell that is different is that this has more USBs available. If that's true, is it really worth $75 more?

[@waynecuff3140]

What's the shooter with the boat on the waves looks brilliant.

[@welshtechie6832]

Compare Elektraglide on the Atari to the C64 - night and day! I will be thinking about one of these as I started with a Vic 20 then jumped to the Atari 800XL - nexzt step then was an Archimedes!

[@NoelComiX]

I had a broken XE from a flea market. I’d like this

[@jackeldogo3952]

Dang, Seven Cities of Gold, I burned so many hours on that game back in the day. Start playing at 9:00pm and then look over at the clock after what seemed an hour and it's 2:30am...where did all that time go?

[@dimebagdave77]

Manythnx for the review man🤘

[@capcomfan11]

Glad to see you in gaming expo, I remember photo bombing your metal jesus crew group selfie that includes kelsey lewin pinky gorilla, drunken master paul holding the camera

[@IEBIGCAT]

Very nice I bought an 800 Atari computer years ago but I don’t know if I have a monitor cable or even if that thing works and finding games for in the wild is near impossible so this would be a good option and ask for me personally, I begin my video game addiction with the drug known as Commodore, 64………….. thanks metal Jesus, you do rock!!!

[@genreonlinenet]

I am supposed to get mine from Amazon tomorrow. MetaJesus, I have some questions I am hoping you can answer please. I want to use the USB stick flash drive to download the cooler games legally like Joust, Pole Position, Donkey Kong, and especially Star Wars the arcade game. The problem is is that I don’t have a windows pc. I use a Mac and there should not be issues just getting the files from any computer since the 400 mini is doing the emulation. So do you know where I could get detailed instructions on how to download games legally onto the flash drive to use on the 400?

[@xwormwood]

Isn't MULE broken on the A400?

[@WhitePointerGaming]

I think this is too expensive for what it is at the moment, but I'll be interested to pick one up on sale.