Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Ah, the retro console. From a certain segment of the "hardcore gaming" crowd, it inspires derision. "Why don't you just build an emulator with a Raspberry Pi," they ask? It's true. You can play all of these games on your PC with just a bit of Googling and downloading. To justify its existence, the retro console needs to do a few things right: 1. give you the physical feel of the hardware, especially controllers; 2. provide a good selection of games that doesn't have you aching for something that's missing; and 3. provide an easy-to-use software experience. The Nintendo retro consoles of recent vintage have done two of these things right, with only a painfully small selection of games holding them back. How does this unit, which sells for the same MSRP, do? 1. HARDWARE The Flashback Gold 8 does a good job providing you with the "feel" of an Atari 2600. The unit itself is very slight feeling, probably about a third of the size of one of the original six-switch units. It has rubber feet on the bottom, which is nice given how light the unit is, as it may shift around a bit during use. It has a bit of wood grain on a decal to give you the look, and the buttons at least try to ape the original (though they are round plastic, instead of metal switches). The HDMI connection, which is a big selling point on this unit (because most modern TVs use it nearly exclusively at this point), is on the side, which is a bit of a pain for placement of the unit. The back houses just the DC 5V power connector. The wall wart is nice and small, and has the "sideways" orientation that makes it play nicely with other connectors on a power strip. The controller is what you'll spend most of your time touching, and as far as I can tell, there aren't many good USB alternatives for a PC emulator. These controllers are... good. Not great. They are wireless, which is wonderful as far as placement goes. They take 2 AAA batteries, housed underneath with a screwed-in battery door. Claimed life is 150 hours, which is incredible. If my rechargeable batteries do half that, I'll be thrilled. One of the two controllers has game selector buttons on the "bottom" side. This is great as far as making it unnecessary to get up to switch games, but it does lead to a few inadvertent presses. I've reset a particularly heated game once or twice, which stinks. The labels on the buttons are also rather hard to read. The joystick action is looser than the Atari originals. This is both good and bad. Good inasmuch as you don't need to jerk the thing as hard as the originals, which can cut down on wrist strain. Bad in that you have to get used to it after training yourself for years on the original action. The size is perfect, as is the feel of the plastic. The single button has a terrific action that feels just as mushy as the original. No paddle controllers are included. There are, however, two controller ports on the front, which accept original Atari hardware. I tested some paddle controllers purchased from Ebay on the system, and they work great. The paddle games (like Super Breakout and Warlords) do support the joystick controller, which is nice, but the control just isn't very good without "slow" analog input. Imagine a mouse that is tuned too "fast" and you'll know what I mean. Atgames sells new paddle controller on their website, though they are not always in stock and they are rather expensive, at about half the price of the console itself. Although many early reviews indicated SD card support (which would be HUGE for filling any library holes), there is none on this unit. There is a packed in HDMI cable, though it is only about 5 feet. 2. GAMES With 120 games, there are pluses and minuses here. ---This unit does have a fair number of Activision's classics, which is big. Pitfall, Enduro, River Raid, and the like, are present. Unfortunately, though Pitfall II (probably the most advanced Atari game ever) is absent. ---Most Atari classics are also present, including Missile Command, Asteroids, Combat, Pong, Centipede, Super Breakout, Yars Revenge, Haunted House, Warlords, Jungle Hunt, Bowling, and so on. There are some notable absences, though. Vanguard really hurts, as it was probably the best side-scrolling space shooter on the system. Pac-Man, ET, Indiana Jones, Moon Patrol, Galaxian, Defender, and Berzerk are also absent, probably due to licensing concerns. On the plus side, some rare/unreleased games are here, like Adventure II, Return to Haunted House, and Yars' Return, which iterate on the originals in a fun way. ---Some really good M Network games are present, such as Space Attack and Armor Ambush. ---But no Imagic games made the cut, like the superb Cosmic Ark, Moonsweeper, and Atlantis. ---Space Invaders and Frogger are here, but they are not the original 2600 versions. They seem to be early PC ports. They play very well, and look great, but do not have 2-player, rewind, or game save support. Although Frogger is superior to the 2600 port, I would have preferred the Atari version of Space Invaders at least due to its game variety. All in all, you'll certainly find enough to play. But some of the absences really smart, and SD support would have been huge. 3. SOFTWARE EXPERIENCE Booting up the system brings you to the main menu after about 5 seconds of loading. The menu is nice to look at and does a good job of navigating your library. You can set games as favorites, look at recently played titles, and sort as Alphabetical, Atari, and Activision. This is all very useful. Navigation is not the best, I think "Reset" should have been treated as the universal back button, but instead left on the joystick backs you out of the game screen. There is also an "About" page that behaves differently than the other sorting pages, which is annoying. Each game page includes a larger version of the box art (though I wish it had included a full zoom function, as box art is a huge part of the Atari experience) and some rudimentary instructions that you can scroll through. Gameplay is advertised at 720p. I don't doubt this is the case, as it is what my television indicated. But the games are kind of "windowboxed," which seems odd given the meager graphics. During gameplay, the "replay" button will rewind things by about six seconds. During this six seconds, you can interrupt at any point and do better than before. This is pretty sweet. The box claims the ability to save games, but I cannot figure out how to engage this function, nor is it listed in the included instruction materials or the main menu. CONCLUSION For the suggested MSRP (I would not recommend paying more), I think you're getting a lot of value here. This system serves as a great introduction to simpler games for kids, and definitely hits the nostalgia spot for Atari lifers. The software experience is solid, and the game library is mostly satisfying. I would not hesitate to recommend this to anyone in the market for an Atari experience on their TV. I really like the overall package and there is definitely enough fun to justify the asking price. I can't give it 5 stars, though, due to the various library exclusions, lack of SD support to augment your library, and the minor flaws throughout the experience.