THE 800XL is beige and has a working cartridge slot – and it’s received me feeling nostalgic for Atari another time
For causes I’ll by no means absolutely perceive – and that my mother and father have lengthy forgotten – the primary house micro in my childhood front room was an Atari 400. Its membrane keyboard made even the ZX Spectrum’s look high-end and ergonomic. After which, in fact, there was the Atari 800’s existence, with its correct keys and colossal 8KB RAM. Pfft. I wasn’t jealous.
Now, although, I can have my very personal Atari 800 with out embracing the horrors of eBay, due to THE 800XL – the newest try by Plaion/Retro Video games Ltd to wrench the previous into the current and persuade outdated gits like me to half with money in return for a heady blast of nostalgia.
Nevertheless, there’s an enormous distinction right here from the corporate’s pint-sized Atari 400. This newer mannequin is a full-size quantity, with a correctly clacky keyboard and a cartridge slot. That’s not for present both – the slot “helps most Atari 400, 800, XL and XE” carts. Which is mildly bonkers and, I assume, pulling the same trick to the Atari 2600+. In different phrases, you plug in a cart, its contents are dumped and also you get to social gathering prefer it’s 1979.
Items of 800
THE 800XL gained’t solely strand you in an age of absurdly heavy CRT TVs and beige wallpaper, thoughts. (Though the console is beige and brown.) It has HDMI for plugging into a contemporary TV. There are USB-A ports for flash drives filled with dubiously acquired 8-bit software program. And in the event you’re nervous in regards to the Federation Towards Software program Theft kicking down your door, you can also make do with 25 preinstalled video games.
A few of these are actual crackers too. Take care of the chunk-o-graphics and murderous issue ranges and also you’ll have a blast with the unique model of Boulder Sprint, very good leapy platformer Miner 2049er, trippy trendy 3D tube arcade effort Yoomp! and relentlessly intense 3D blaster Encounter.
To keep away from you smashing the bundled joystick to bits if you unexpectedly horribly die in-game, you need to use the rewind function and save states. And in the event you suppose all of the included video games are garbage, you’ll be able to have a crack at writing your personal in Atari BASIC.
Desperate to get began? Pre-order now for $219.99/£199.99 and your THE 800XL will rock up in April 2027. That’s a good wait. However you’ll most likely nonetheless get your fingers on it earlier than the typical Atari 8-bit sport on tape has completed loading.
