Tag Archives: Gaming

Atari Made a $219 Retro Console You Can Actually Write Programs On

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There was a time when a computer invited you to do something before it told you what to buy. The Atari 800XL was built for that kind of curiosity, with a keyboard you could use for games or your first lines of code. THE 800XL brings that experience back at full size, rather than shrinking it into another little box beneath the television.

The original’s broad shape mattered because this was a machine you sat down to use, not simply a console to switch on. The recreation keeps that full-size desktop presence and puts a 57-key mechanical keyboard where your hands expect one. Those keys should make typing feel deliberate, but they also keep the computer’s most distinctive design feature from becoming a decorative prop.

Designers: Atari, Retro Games

Switch to Classic Mode and Atari BASIC turns that keyboard into a way to make something yourself. You can write, save, and run programs, then move back to games when the experiment is over. That changes the mood of a retro machine considerably: the keys aren’t there solely to make the housing look authentic. They invite the occasional curious detour between sessions.

Of course, some of the most satisfying rituals need no programming. If you still have an old Atari cartridge, the working slot supports most cartridges from the 400, 800, XL, and XE families. Sliding one into a computer feels different from scrolling through a menu, and it gives an old collection a reason to leave its storage box again.

You don’t need a box of cartridges to begin, though. There are 25 games built in, along with a joystick that adds buttons to the familiar design. That pairing keeps the first evening simple: connect the computer to a television, pick a game, and get reacquainted with a stick in your hand. The keyboard remains close by when play gives way to tinkering.

HDMI is the sensible concession to today’s living room, letting the machine connect to a modern screen without hunting for an old television. USB drives can carry cartridge, disk, and cassette images too, while save states and up to 30 seconds of rewind ease the occasional mistake. These conveniences sit alongside the physical cartridge slot instead of asking it to disappear.

There is a trade-off to keeping the computer at its original scale. THE 800XL takes up desk space that a miniature retro console wouldn’t, and its keyboard may go untouched if all you want is a quick game. At $219.99, it’s a more considered purchase than a novelty for one rainy afternoon, especially when shipping isn’t scheduled to begin until April 23, 2027.

But size is also why this revival makes sense as an object. You can sit down to it, reach for a cartridge, wrestle with a few lines of BASIC, and leave it ready for another evening. The new ports remove some of the friction of bringing an old computer home, while the keyboard keeps the part that made sitting at one interesting in the first place.

The post Atari Made a $219 Retro Console You Can Actually Write Programs On first appeared on Yanko Design.

Retro Song Bird Is the Record Player Game Boy Cartridges Deserved

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Game Boy cartridges usually wait in a drawer until you feel like playing something again. But sometimes it’s the music you miss, not the game. Retro Song Bird gives those little plastic rectangles a different job: slot one into the top of a tabletop player, and it finds the soundtrack for you. No screen, no level to beat, just the tunes you remember.

The idea works because the cartridge remains the thing you choose. Instead of scrolling through a library of files, you pull a favorite from a shelf and plug it in. The prototype’s compact, translucent green housing makes room for a top-mounted slot, a front speaker grille, and simple controls along the side. It behaves a bit like a tiny stereo with chunky albums.

Designer: BJ (Bird Cartel Games) via Retro Dodo

It doesn’t play a stored recording from the cart. Retro Song Bird reads parts of the game’s code and recreates the music using an emulation of the Game Boy sound hardware. Its developer says the system maps more than 1,900 games, though that figure isn’t a tested compatibility list. You can skip between tracks and sound effects without having to play through them.

That makes it suited to the hours when you want a soundtrack but don’t want another screen demanding attention. Let it play through its built-in speaker while you’re working, or connect the stereo line output to your speakers. A melody that once accompanied a difficult boss fight can fill the room on its own, even if you never pick up a controller.

The cartridge slot also turns the player into an archive station. It can back up and restore save data, copy game ROMs, and export music as WAV files. That’s useful if you’ve kept a childhood save that feels too precious to lose. Rather than treating games as sealed collectibles, the design makes it easier to listen to and preserve what’s still inside them.

Musicians can go further. The Game Boy’s four sound channels appear as separate USB audio streams, ready to bring into music software for rearranging or sampling. You could start with a melody you recognize, then hear what happens when the square waves and noise part ways. The same cartridge that entertained you after school becomes a set of sounds to work with.

There’s even room for a wonderfully impractical detour. Insert a Game Boy Camera, connect the device to a computer, and it can serve as a USB webcam at 128×112 pixels, in four shades of gray. Alarm mode can wake you with a cartridge’s music, too. Neither feature is why this box exists, but both show how versatile that slot can be.

For now, Retro Song Bird remains a prototype, with shipping targeted for late 2026 and no listed price. Its mint-green housing may change before release. What makes the idea stick is choosing a cartridge for how it sounds rather than how it plays. A game can take a turn on the stereo without demanding another afternoon in front of a screen.

The post Retro Song Bird Is the Record Player Game Boy Cartridges Deserved first appeared on Yanko Design.

ModRetro’s $149 Handheld Has Nothing to Hide, Including Its Circuits

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Retro handhelds have a habit of hiding modern electronics inside shells that pretend time stopped decades ago. ModRetro’s transparent Chromatic does the opposite and pays homage to a specific past era, letting the circuitry show through while you slide in an actual Game Boy cartridge. The familiar shape and chunky buttons are still there, but Smoke, Purple, Green, and Red shells turn the hardware underneath into part of the attraction.

Although the majority of electronics of the past did hide their inner workings inside opaque plastic, there was a point in time when colorful transparent shells were in fashion. Traces, screws, and the battery compartment share the stage with the D-pad and face buttons, rather than disappearing behind a fashionable color. Each translucent finish changes how much of that detail catches your eye, without changing the familiar way your thumbs find the controls.

Designer: ModRetro

Pull a vintage Game Boy cartridge from a drawer and the Chromatic lets you play it directly, rather than hunting down a digital copy. Its FPGA-based hardware supports Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges, along with ModRetro’s own releases. That physical slot matters: swapping games still feels like changing games, complete with the ritual of choosing which cartridge deserves the trip in your bag.

The 2.56-inch backlit screen follows the original Game Boy Color’s 160×144 resolution, giving old games the space they were made for instead of stretching them across a giant display. Scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass covers it, while a D-pad and PBT buttons keep navigation pleasantly tactile. It’s a small screen by current standards, but that’s the point when you’re revisiting pixel art.

Then there’s the wonderfully old-fashioned matter of power. Three AA batteries come in the box, so you can replace them when a train ride outlasts your plans. If you prefer charging, ModRetro sells a separate Rechargeable Power Core that charges through the console. The transparent back even leaves the batteries visible, making an ordinary maintenance task part of the handheld’s character.

Of course, a trip back to cartridge gaming can involve another player. The Chromatic retains a link cable port and an infrared link, while its speaker and 3.5mm headphone jack give you options for listening without bothering everyone nearby. USB-C video output to a computer offers a route when you want to share what you’re playing, although this is still a pocket-sized machine.

The transparent ABS plastic shell is also designed to come apart for modifications, which gives tinkerers another reason to care about what’s inside. At 5.2in x 3in x 1.2in and 6.2oz, the Chromatic isn’t trying to pass for a modern phone. Its squared-off proportions leave room for physical controls, a cartridge slot, and the sort of grip you remember from childhood.

For $149.99, the transparent Chromatic comes with a Tetris cartridge and three AA batteries. It won’t make a game feel new, and the shell won’t do much for someone who prefers downloads to collecting cartridges. But sliding a game into a machine whose workings you can see has its appeal. The game stays on the cartridge, while the machine wears its personality on the outside.

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