Official Atari 400 Mini & Joystick - HDMI Output - Includes 25 Games

There aren't too many ways to play the Atari computer and 5200 games. This is a great way in. Pros: The system is small and very cute. Would be great to display but also very useful. Cons: The system as is works great. When you plug in the USB for extra games, that's where things get a little interesting. The system options (400, 800, 5200, 800xl, etc) revert to 800 every time I pick a game. Why? Another con - the controller is extremely stiff. I ended up plugging in an xbox controller and things improved immediately. It's quirky but it looks great and it's fun. Recommended for hardcore retro game fans.

Excellent system. i’m still giving it five stars even though the controller stinks kinda. It controls ok, but it is easy to hit the ring, and reset the game you worked so hard at. It can be remedied by using a cheap snes usb pad, and just using the one button once you start. If you sail the bloody seas there are many roms available, matey. This thing is a blast once you do that! I bought it used on Amazon, it came like new, but Amazon ruined the nice box, by placing the shipping label right on it. The whole experience was shoddy. I like to collect the retrogames ltd systems, and the box is part of that.

After 40 years, I can finally pack away my Atari 800, 1050 disk drive and dozens of 5 1/4 disks. Is the 400 mini perfect? no, there are issues with playing 5200 games and emulating 5200 analogue joystick control, some tweaking with running a few side-loaded games, but overall, beats the complexity of trying to run them under retropie. I own retrogames' mini500 and C64 consoles as well and their track record for addressing issues with easy to implement firmware upgrades leads me to believe the support for the 400 mini will be just as good. Literally thousands of games run almost instantly from a USB stick beats the old disk drive hands down. Yes, the graphics are a primitive, but they are sharp and crisp in HDMI compared to the old analog TV or composite signal, but what really matters is the gameplay of Atari's classic library and the fantastic library of first generation, 3rd party games from companies like Synapse, Microprose, SSI, Origin Systems etc. This is where it all began for me. The ability to add the original Star Raiders; the must have; system selling game back then, makes it worth it alone for me.

(Way) back in the day I owned an Atari 800 computer which became my first real introduction into the world of home computing. I spent ages with that computer, playing games, learning to program, running a BBS, and more. It was great, nostalgic fun. When I learned about the 400 Mini I knew instantly that I wanted to dive back into the world of Atari. I've spent the last few weeks with the Mini, putting it through its paces, playing its games, loading new applications, and even dusting off my Atari BASIC programming skills. I was pleasantly surprised how well the Mini performed. You will hear complaints about the included joystick. I, however, find it delightful and ingenious. Look, back in the day we all abused our Atari joysticks as Bounty Bob fell off a platform and ruined our game. With the Mini's updated controller, simply take the care not to apply 400 lbs of force in any direction and you'll see that it works exceptionally well and is true to the original joystick. But if the joystick really isn't your cup of team, some generic gamepads will also function with the Mini. The ability to customize any loaded program, save your progress in up to four instances for every game/program, rewind game play, and more add tremendous value to this package and shows that it's far more than just another emulator. It also does an admirable job of loading old Atari 8-bit ROMs and allows you to select which 'computer' the ROM should run on (e.g. Atari 800, XL, XE, etc.) thus ensuring increased compatibility. And it looks great, too! It's a faithful reproduction of the famed Atari 400 computer in mini-form. It is a little pricey but I found it well worth the money. If you're an old-school Atari fan, you won't be disappointed. Have you played Atari today?

I am a large fan of Retro Games Mini (and Maxi) series of emulators. I am playing with retro emulators for over 25 years. My main driver is a Pi 400 with RetroPie, soon to be updated to a Pi 500. What I like about the Retro Games series is that it is a no-BS retro-gaming platform which you can quickly connect for the kids (or your party guests) and then put it away. I also very much like the nostalgia. While I like the small form factor, I definitely miss the keyboard, although the emulator has a virtual keyboard. A Pi keyboard works well with it. So, for whom is this product? If you had a home computer in the 80s, or knew friends who had one, this definitely wakes up nostalgia. If you enjoy the simplicity of 8-bit gaming, this emulator and the C64 Mini both are a good purchase for you. Adding games is easy: Format a 32GB (or smaller) USB thump drive with FAT32 and load games on it. What I do not like about it: You cannot add games to the carousel. While you can add games via USB card, you load them via a file system, and there is a limit to how many files each directory can carry. You end up with a messy file system. There is no way to add artwork to titles. The included joystick looks authentic, and the additional bottoms are clever, the playability of the joystick is limited. You may just use an Xbox controller instead. (It needs to be cabled via USB, there is no BT support). A small but annoying thing is the USB-C power-in port that does not support PD. For all of you guys who standardized on PD charging, it is not going to work. You need a USB-C to USB-A charging cable with an old dumb-charger, such as the old 5W iPhone cube-charger. (Cable is however included). I want to quickly talk about a misconception that many purchases of this product have: Atari came out with three 8-bit game consoles: The classic 2600 (also called the VCS), the 5200, and the 7800. After Atari started to develop the 5200, they pivoted into the home computer market. Though two different business units, the Atari 400 and all of its derivatives (which are primarily differentiated by their amount of RAM, number of joysticks ports, and their keyboards), and the 5200 game console are very similar machines. The 2600 is a more primitive machine, while the 7800 is the last iteration of the 8-bit consoles. This emulator is not compatible with 2600 or 7800 titles. It does play 5200 titles, which are somewhat limited in numbers because of the short duration of that console, but there is a huge catalogue of 2600 ports, ports from other console, and unique developments for the 400/800 platform. If you want to play 2600 titles you need a 2600 emulator or a 7800 emulator that plays most 2600 titles.

The Atari 800 was my first personal computer. I got it when I was in my early 20's and absolutely loved the games, as well as being able to program in BASIC. When I heard about the Atari 400 Mini, I knew I had to try it. Pros: - Works incredibly well out of the box and the full PDF manual is available online. - The controller is great IF YOU HOLD IT THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE HELD! (see picture). Maybe you need to have used one back in the day. Anyone who only knows modern controllers might be a bit lost. Also, it feels just like the original Atari joystick did as far as movement. Another case of "you had to be there". I had no issues with hitting buttons accidentally and the additional buttons made navigating very easy. - It's VERY simple to run more games. I've already loaded over 600 games on a USB drive (37mb's! they did so much with so little back then) and ran most of my favs with no issues other than working out some key mappings. (A USB keyboard, maybe wireless, is probably a good addition and plugs right in.) Oh, and pressing the Menu and Home buttons toggles a virtual keyboard on the unused side of the screen (easy to do since these are all standard def games) with all the original Atari keys. - The games look beautiful on HDTV's. I'm running my Mini through an Elgato card into a 4K TV and they look even better than I remember them looking. Cons: - The game library it comes with is a bit weak. If I couldn't have loaded lots more games, I probably wouldn't have been as happy with it. So, if you remember the "good old days" (you know, when we didn't just jump on the web when we sat down to a computer) and have a source for more games (*hint* Newsgroups *hint*), this is a must buy. (I plan to get a second one as a backup if it goes on sale at some point.)

This Atari Mini 400 is a great way to relive some of the classic games of that era. It comes with 25 built-in games, but from what I have read, you can add more. It's straightforward to set up and comes with a classic Atari joystick and a USB cord to power it. The main drawback is it does not come with a plug to plug the USB cable into. While finding one is not difficult, I see no logical reason to omit one other than being cheap. Overall, it's a fun system; those who grew up with it should not be disappointed.

Fun, but the included controller doesn't work very well.

I unpacked it, I set it up, and I instantly found the CXStick joystick difficult to use: it seemed sluggish, and going up or down would only work occasionally. It was hard to avoid pressing the multifunction buttons as well. I was very disappointed. If the joystick (and the other one I bought for 2p play) sucks then the whole device is compromised. But then I read more about it and I realized I had to set my HDMI input to "Game," which instantly cleared up most of the issues. Now I'm learning the quirks of the stick: it's stiffer than I remember ye olde Atari sticks being, so games like Pac Man can get frustrating...but I'll either figure it out or I'll hook up an Xbox controller and use the D-pad. The included games are amazing, and the ability to add more is beyond belief. It really works! Though I find it doesn't recognize .atx files (try renaming them to .xex) and a small handful don't launch correctly. In short: it's way better than I thought it would be! Some more work could have gone into the joystick, but I'm having so much fun with it to knock off a star for that reason. Great job!

Great little Atari emulator. Delivery was fast and package came without damage

So many memories! Great to play my old Atari games again. M.U.L.E. rules!

This emulator beats out all the free and open source Atari emulators for Windows, MacOS and Linux by a long shot. Plays atr,atx,car,xex,rom and cas from usb. The rewind option works great! A must have for retro gamers

I received my 400 Mini a couple of days ago, and I've spent several hours trying a variety of different games out. My opinion: the 400 Mini is a nice try, but it could have been better with just a bit more effort. The tiny main unit actually does a decent job of emulating the old 8-bits, and I have had very little trouble loading a wide number of different games. I would give the system itself a 9 out of 10. If I find fault with anything, it's that it's actually too small. I don't think it needs to be full-size, but I think the 400 Mini needs more physical heft to it. Maybe 80% scale like the Plus would have been ideal. There's been a lot of negative comments about the CX-stick. I find the stick itself is decent for control. I've seen some folks complaining of false diagonal inputs, and I haven't seen anything like that. I find the stick reasonably responsive, as is the fire button. I've also read complaints of people frequently hitting the four 'ring' buttons during game play - and that I do agree with. In a couple of games (Ms. Pacman, Dig Dug) I was in the middle of a game that was going well, and I accidentally pressed against the Left ring button with the base of my thumb. This corresponds to the Option key, and ends those games immediately, taking you back to the Select/Options screen. Maddening. Whenever I try a game I haven't played previously, my first step is to remove the Option key mapping from the left Ring button. Luckily the 400 saves this mapping for each individual game file, but what a pain. I find this flaw puzzling, because I stumbled into this within 30 minutes of playing. How was this not noticed early in the development stage? It feels to me like the team was so eager to do something 'clever' like putting functionality into the orange ring, that they didn't actually test it with a lot of games. I've tried putting the CX-stick into another USB port, and then trying a couple of different gamepads in port 1. That works out for some games, yet, others it did not. I really think the designers should have just left the ring as a solid decoration like the original CX-40, and put some buttons on the front edge, similar to the Menu/Home buttons. Now that I think about it, a possible software fix would be to have the Mini only recognize the Ring buttons if they pressed in pair with one of the other buttons such as the shoulder or Menu button. Overall, I think I'll get my money's worth out of the 400 Mini, but the controller is somewhat flawed, and this could have easily been fixed early on.