Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Some reviewers on previous versions of the Atari Flashback console complained about the wireless joysticks being unresponsive or losing connection to the base while playing... having spent some time with the Flashback 5 (which also sports wireless) I am happy to report that these issues seem to have been corrected or were overstated in the first place.. yes, you do need to have a line-of-sight between the controller and base, but you've got plenty of "wiggle room" and I never had a problem while playing. The second complaint I've read on previous versions is the inclusion of games that require paddles without including the paddle controllers to play them. Some clarification: all the paddle games CAN be played with the stick (and the games appear to have been slightly modified to allow you a wide range of motion with just the stick, which I don't recall being the case on the original system). That said, they won't play AS WELL as if you had a paddle, but luckily there are standard 8-pin controller ports for plugging in Atari-style paddles (or wired joysticks) if you choose to purchase them separately. **UPDATE ON USING ATARI PADDLES** Have since tested this console with old-school Atari paddle controllers and they work great, and two players can share the same paired paddle controllers on a single port (yet another complaint I've read about previous versions was that player 2 had to use the 2nd port even though the controllers are paired two to a port, so you had to have 2 sets of paired controllers--four total--just to play a 2-player game of Pong. That is not the case with Flashback 5.) Night Driver, Circus Atari, Breakout, Super Breakout, Pong, Warlords, Demons To Diamonds, and the M-Network version of Astrosmash all use the paddle. Finally there is the game selection--no, you aren't going to be getting a collection of the BEST GAMES EVER due to licensing issues. None of the great Activision or Imagic games, for example, are found here, and no Ms Pac Man, Defender, etc. But in addition to several Atari first-generation catalog standards and arcade adaptations (Asteroids, Centipede, Haunted House, Yars Revenge, etc) there is a nice selection of M-Network titles (the Intellivision games adapted for Atari) and, in a strange bit of randomness, the version of Space Invaders appears to be an arcade emulation instead of the blocky 2600 translation. WARNING: I can't imagine ANYONE finding this system enjoyable if they aren't already familiar with the Atari 2600 and have fond memories of playing it as a kid. Judged strictly by modern standards and disconnected from nostalgia, most of these games would be deemed unplayable by today's kids. This is really for Gen-xers and their parents, who played these games in the 70s and 80s. Grandmas, grandpas, DON'T BUY THIS SYSTEM FOR YOUR GRANDCHILDREN. THEY ALREADY HAVE BETTER GAMES THAN THESE ON THEIR SMARTPHONES. Below is the games list (in addition there are few extra games not listed below that are "homebrews"/prototypes, titles that were never officially released or created by hobbyists): 01 3D Tic-Tac-Toe 02 Adventure 03 Adventure II 04 Air·Sea Battle 05 Aquaventure 06 Asteroids 07 Backgammon 08 Basketball 09 Black Jack 10 Bowling 11 Breakout (uses Paddle) 12 Canyon Bomber 13 Centipede 14 Championship Soccer 15 Circus Atari (uses Paddle) 16 Combat 17 Combat Two 18 Crystal Castles 19 Demons to Diamonds (uses Paddle) 20 Desert Falcon 21 Dodge 'Em 22 Double Dunk 23 Fatal Run 24 Flag Capture 25 Football 26 Frog Pond 27 Front Line 28 Fun with Numbers 29 Golf 30 Gravitar 31 Hangman 32 Haunted House 33 Home Run 34 Human Cannonball 35 Jungle Hunt 36 Maze Craze 37 Miniature Golf 38 Missile Command 39 Millipede 40 Night Driver (uses Paddle) 41 Off-the-Wall 42 Outlaw 43 Polaris 44 Pong / Video Olympics (uses Paddle) 45 Realsports Baseball 46 Realsports Basketball 47 Realsports Soccer 48 Realsports Volleyball 49 Return to Haunted House 50 Saboteur 51 Save Mary 52 Sky Diver 53 Slot Machine 54 Slot Racers 55 Space Invaders 56 Space War 57 Sprintmaster 58 Star Ship 59 Steeplechase 60 Stellar Track 61 Street Racer 62 Submarine Commander 63 Super Baseball 64 Super Breakout 65 Super Football 66 Surround 67 Swordquest Earthworld 68 Swordquest Fireworld 69 Tempest 70 Video Checkers 71 Video Chess 72 Video Pinball 73 Wizard 74 Warlords (uses Paddle) 75 Yars' Revenge ---- 76 Air Raiders (M Network) 77 Armor Ambush (M Network) 78 Astroblast (M Network) (uses Paddle) 79 Dark Cavern (M Network) 80 International Soccer (M Network) 81 Super Challenge Baseball (M Network) 82 Super Challenge Football (M Network) 83 Space Attack (M Network) 84 Star Strike (M Network) 85 Sea Battle (M Network) 86 Frogs and Flies (M Network) 87 Sword Fight (M Network)