Atari is a very different games company in 2025 to the industry-dominating titan of the 1980s. Back then, it was practically synonymous with gaming, but following years of selloffs and restructurings, it’s now a stalwart of the retro scene, leveraging its classic franchises to position itself as a natural home for nostalgic play.

After the Atari Watch comes the brand’s latest outing: the Gamestation Go. Or rather, it’s retro hardware specialist My Arcade’s latest—a roughly Switch-sized handheld that packs in hundreds of games from across Atari’s long and storied history.

It should be an easy sell for a wide variety of players, from those wanting to relive their youthful memories through to any self-styled gaming historians wanting to experience crucial moments of the medium. It almost succeeds—but unfortunately, a few too many compromises in performance and build quality hold it back from greatness. Let’s get into the detail.

Arcade to Go

The Gamestation Go makes its biggest splash with a central offering of more than 200 built-in games—a phenomenal roster to have at hand. All the familiar faces are included, from Asteroids, Breakout, and Centipede to Missile Command, Tempest, and Yar’s Revenge (the full list can be found on Atari’s official page), with the bulk of the library, 70+ games, coming from the iconic Atari 2600. Eight more come from the Atari 5200, 11 from the Atari 7800 (albeit with a hefty caveat on that front), plus three dozen of Atari’s various arcade originals, and a handful from lesser-known sources such as Mattel’s M-Network carts.

Photograph: Matt Kamen

Oddly, given the branding of the device, this isn’t entirely Atari’s party. There’s also a trio of Pac-Man games (arcade classic, Atari 2600, and “Speed Up” flavors) and Balls of Steel, a mid-’90s pinball game broken out into its own section, with seven tables based on Atari games.

Drifting further, there are 40 titles included from defunct Japanese publisher Jaleco, including games released on 8-bit and 16-bit consoles and in arcades, and 20 from Piko, a US label that specializes in its own digital archaeology, licensing lost and abandoned titles from yesteryear. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have some added variety, and there are plenty of genuinely hidden gems in this selection—Piko’s Brave Battle Saga, a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive RPG released in the Taiwanese and Hong Kong markets in 1996 is a particularly nice find.

The Gamestation Go also tips its hat to modernity with five Atari Recharged titles, a series of remakes that take the core mechanics of classic games and revamp them with updated graphics, extra features, and even achievements. The five here—Asteroids, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, and Missile Command—are available on other platforms where they usually sell for $10 apiece, which makes for a nice value add here.

Choice Paralysis

Hundreds of games means inevitable overlap, though, with some titles cropping up repeatedly. Centipede alone appears five times, with 2600, 5200, 7800, Arcade, and Recharged iterations. Others, including Missile Command, Asteroids, and Berzerk, also make multiple appearances. On one hand, it’s an absolute gift for games preservation—being able to see how these games changed and evolved as they hopped platforms is pretty cool. On the other, given the core gameplay remains largely the same across versions, only the most devoted of Atari fans are likely to appreciate the nuances when it comes to actually playing them.

That “hefty caveat” when it comes to the Atari 7800 games, though? They don’t work. Select any of the games from that platform, and you’re met with a slight audio pause and a flicker of the menu screen, but nothing else. Even trying a factory reset of the console achieves nothing—this cohort of games simply will not launch.

A press spokesperson for My Arcade says that a “firmware update development is in progress and an official announcement will be made once it’s ready to deploy,” but it’s far from ideal for the Gamestaion Go to be launching with several of its games unplayable, and no date in sight for a fix. No explanation for the failure of the 7800 games was provided, but given everything on the device runs through emulation, my guess is the one for 7800 titles simply isn’t working.

Relying on emulation results in unwanted quirks elsewhere, often in terms of presentation. While most games have an option to swap the screen ratio between original dimensions and the handheld’s 16:9, some don’t look right in either format. Anything with vector graphics seems to be particularly prone to this, but not uniformly—Missile Command seemed mostly fine, but Tempest could throw up problems like broken text or a stretched appearance. It makes selecting a game a bit of a crapshoot, as you can’t tell which are going to have issues. On a more positive note, the use of emulators does mean you can expand the already massive library via a MicroSD slot, if you have any (legally obtained, obviously) ROMs to load up.

Away from the games, the overall system UI is… well, it’s fine. Games are grouped under chunky category headers, each one leading to a perfunctory list. You can’t search for titles, just scroll through the list, but you can at least mark favorites to return to later. Players are treated to a nice bio of each game and classic case art or, in a neat touch for the arcade titles, shots of their original cabinets—another lovely nod to the history of the roster. There are also helpful touches like being able to check the controls or read a tips section for each game, while the emulated approach means you can create save states for many titles.

Photograph: Matt Kamen

The most annoying system aspect is that the device doesn’t remember Wi-Fi settings, meaning you’ll need to enter your network credentials every time. Given you only need to connect to check for system updates, it’s not a deal breaker, but it’s an irritating chore every time.

Old Tech, New Look

The Gamestation Go’s secret weapon isn’t in the sheer volume of games included, though, but in how many ways it gives you to play them. Along with all the expected inputs—four face buttons, four shoulder buttons, and a surprisingly great D-pad—it also incorporates unique controls inspired by traditional Atari hardware, allowing you to play some of these early, experimental games as originally intended.

Above the D-pad sits a dial—officially the “Paddle”—which is perfect for games like Breakout. Below it, a “Trak-Ball” allows for more accurate rotational controls, working great in Tempest. Below the ABXY face buttons is a full 12-key number pad. That’s probably the least-used, but the Atari 5200’s Meebzork supports it, at least.

Photograph: Matt Kamen

While all these curious controls give the handheld a distinct look—there’s no way you’ll mistake it for any other gaming handheld—they might seem overwhelming. Thankfully, the Gamestation Go proves itself a bright spark, with its fantastic “SmartGlow” feature. This genius bit of design has the necessary controls for each game light up with a warm orange LED, making it immediately clear which to use. Given the vast roster included, that’s no small feat. The gentle glow also beautifully fits into the aesthetics of the handheld, matching the autumnal swashes of color that hark back to the Atari 2600’s wood paneling, and break up its otherwise monochrome look.

The in-built screen offers a 720p resolution and decent, if not mind-blowing, brightness or color depth—but realistically, no one in 2025 is playing the games here for their graphical prowess. The display is perfect for the intended purposes, as are the internal speakers—a bit tinny perhaps, but for ’80s chiptune, absolutely fine.

If you do want a bit more visual clarity though, you can connect the Gamestation Go to your main TV and enjoy full 1080p thanks to an HDMI-Out port, although some input lag may be noticeable depending on the game. Two USB-C ports on the rear allow wired controllers to be connected for multiplayer, easily accessed thanks to a sturdy kickstand that also keeps the console upright. You can also use the Gamestation Go as a controller in TV mode, allowing you to use the Paddle, Trak-Ball, or Num Pad on the big screen. A solid battery life of 4-6 hours helps for portable or TV play without needing to plug in.

Unfortunately, the device’s build quality doesn’t quite match up to its engineering. The plastic casing feels low quality, and my review unit arrived showing what appear to be stress marks or warping near the 3.5mm audio jack and volume rocker at the top edge of the handheld. The face buttons and the Start/Select/Credit/Settings buttons that sit above the screen have a cheap, acrylic feel to them. Annoyingly, the Paddle also tends to feel too stiff, and the Trak-Ball, too twitchy, and while it’s possible to adjust sensitivity for some games, they rarely feel right.

The Gamestation Go also leaves something to be desired on the ergonomics front. While its 267 mm x 138 mm front-on dimensions puts the Gamestation Go in roughly the same size category as the Switch 2, it’s much thicker (26 mm depth, measured at the hand grips) and slightly heavier, too—566 g versus 534 g. Those hand grips are more of an indented ridge either side, just about creating space to rest fingers, and making reaching the shoulder buttons a literal stretch. It’s not the most uncomfortable handheld, but its chunky form means it sits in the hands like a boxy slab and isn’t great for longer play sessions.

Game Over?

The Gamestation Go feels like it has two identities. One is a retro gamer’s fantasy, a portable console packed with classic games from yesteryear, authentic ways to play them, and a few modern tricks up its sleeve. That version feels like a real love letter to Atari fans. The other is a slapdash bit of tech crammed with more games than anyone will realistically play, some of which may not work at all, and lacking polish. If system updates fix some of the inherent software and emulation issues, there’s great potential here, but even then, probably only for those with a real passion for the days when Atari was king.