First pics of the Atari Flashback Portable surface

Old-school gamers looking to show up all those fancy kids with their PSPs and DS Lites (or even our own Ben Heck) are about to get another weapon in their arsenal: Curt Vendel, the designer of the Atari Flashback Portable, posted a couple pics of the unit to the AtariAge forums, and it's looking pretty slick. In addition to aping the ridged lines of the 2600, the Portable runs off three AA batteries, loads in games from a mini-USB connector (although how those games will be distributed is still up in the air) and features a 320 x 240 screen with AV out. No word on pricing or availability, but after the constant claims that this thing was vapor, it's good to at least see it in the flesh. Fleshy plastic, anyway.

[Via Joystiq]

[danskmacabre @ Jun 28th 2007 7:56AM]

Wow, did they TRY to make that thing as ugly as possible?
I think that's even more ugly than the original DS.

[foxdude0486 @ Jun 28th 2007 8:17AM]

It's not all that bad looking. Could be better, but I guess it has some "newish vintage" look to it. I like.

[Eduo @ Jun 28th 2007 9:24AM]

Ah. But the look of betamax videocassette is part of its charm!

I would've made it so it fits in a betamax sleeve, even. There you'd have even your retro bag for your retro console.

[Big @ Jun 28th 2007 8:18AM]

Would it not have been more prudent to simply design a device that could play ATARI roms and then store all the Romss to a single 128MB SD card?

Chinese bootlegg artists do this with Nintendo games.

I have a Chinese made MP4 player that looks similar to the PSP, with 133 Nintendo roms on a 256MB SD CARD. It works better than Gameboy and cost me only $45

[FermitTheKrog @ Jun 28th 2007 8:39AM]

Big: What's it called? I am curious.

[Big @ Jun 28th 2007 11:31AM]

http://cgi.ebay.com/MP4-MP3-Digital-Player-3-TFT-w-Camera-Game-1GB-Hawk_W0QQitemZ190126468436QQihZ009QQcategoryZ73839QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[domochan @ Jun 28th 2007 9:21AM]

I can emulate every major system on my psp up to the nintendo 64 ( the latter still being a work in progress ), but still..

[wasabifan @ Jun 28th 2007 9:32AM]

Don't knock the looks, it was designed to look similar in style to a device the predates all these handhelds games (well, unless you count Merlin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(game) or the LED sports games). I just have one question, Where's the fake woodgrain???

[jgilroy @ Jun 28th 2007 10:03AM]

Definitely want to see some faux-woodgrain on this thing.

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 28th 2007 10:03AM]

Oh man that's cool.

[Jaroslav @ Jun 28th 2007 10:09AM]

God I love that button. Long live the orange Atari button!

[RikF @ Jun 28th 2007 10:24AM]

If it doesn't have a two-player link version so I can play Combat (ah, Tank Pong, happy memories), then it does nothing for me!

[Manny @ Jun 28th 2007 10:39AM]

If you want a handheld game device that can play Atari and other emulators (MAME, Sega, Nintendo, and others) why not get a GP2X? That baby plays a whole bunch of emulators as well as music, homebrew, and movies!

[Mitch @ Jun 28th 2007 10:47AM]

Why can't the stupid thing just play the original carts? Fine, great, let it play roms stored on an SD card, but give me a slot. I want to put the game in the machine. I have over 300 original atari 2600 carts including some fairly rare ones. If you want to play retro games... play them right. Roms are like cheating to me. At least I can play roms with a clear conscience, because I actually own the games I guess.

[Big @ Jun 28th 2007 11:39AM]

You may call a ROM "cheating" but to me its COMMON SENSE.

You have 300 carts you say? Well a single SD card can turn that PHYSICAL MASS of Plastic into a single object less than an inch wide and an inch tall. Needless to mention the fact old games eventualy detiriorate andd can't be played anymore.

I bought the NES cart of Contra for $5 and when I got it home the shit didn't work.

[Mitch @ Jun 28th 2007 11:48AM]

I knew someone would take offense to the fact that I prefer the original. If you want to play a rom, play a rom. There's just something about a real game to me. If I'm playing a rom, I play a game, then switch to a different game. But if it requires me to change out the cart, I'm more likely to continue to play the same game repeatedly until I'm good enough at it to whip you anyday.

Yeah, the memory card takes up less space, but they fail too.. when I have a cart fail, I lose one game. when you have a memory card fail, you lose all yours. And I've got plenty of space... I can store my games under my pinball machines. I guarantee you can't fit those on an SD card.

[PDubNYC @ Jun 28th 2007 11:57AM]

I agree with you Mitch. Even is SOME PEOPLE do not care for it, I've got some OLD CARTRIDGES that I would love to USE. Of course I would also love an SD slot, but hard to beat the tactile sensation of popping those old cartridges in.

So sometimes COMMON SENSE doesn't really apply, and certainly doesn't need to be EXPLAINED in this case. It's not a rational desire to want to actually use the cartridges again, it's a connection with your past.

[PDubNYC @ Jun 28th 2007 11:27AM]

I used to love Adventure. I'm pretty sure that even now I could get through all of the mazes, including the blind one, and the one with the bridge, first try at full speed. It's crazy how somethings just get branded into your memory for life, whether you want them to or not.

There were so many glitches in that game, you would get stuck in walls and whatnot all the time, and the dragons would just keep on coming at you, even if they couldn't eat you. Good times...m Gotta love those seahorse-looking dragons...and that f'n bat...

[John @ Jun 28th 2007 11:33AM]

I hated that bat. You're right, that game is etched into my brain too. It's really a funny phenomenon.

[strider_mt2k @ Jun 28th 2007 12:02PM]

Man I loved Adventure.

First Easter Egg ever wasn't it?
-at least in a console game. lol

[evilmicah @ Jun 28th 2007 8:52PM]

Hey PdubNYC - Those pinball machines take up too much space. Just use PinMAME.

http://pinmame.retrogames.com/

Also - with Roms you can simply store them in multiple places. I give copies to co-workers, friends, and family - in addition to the dump sites I can easily make a few phone calls and find what I'm looking for.

[raskar @ Jul 11th 2007 3:54AM]

how are you going to carry 30 or 40 atari carts with you?
portable to me means shove in a pocket and go.

i'm not going to pack a suitcase full of atari carts everytime i want to play atari on the subway

[Mini Moose @ Aug 9th 2007 9:04PM]

So sexy. I cant wait to get my hands on one....*drools*
Long live the Atari 2600!!