When it was originally announced a few years back, I'm sure I wasn't alone in being incredibly skeptical about what was then known as the Ataribox, and eventually released as the Atari VCS (to not be confused with the original VCS/2600).
Though it has made it out, it was something I saw little interest in, in particular because of its price point (being in Australia it's around $850 AUD - more than an Xbox Series X believe it or not), but after seeing them heavily discounted during PAXAus last month…
…my curiosity was certainly piqued.
The console/PC hybrid is decent for the most part, but what really impressed me was one of its bundled controllers: the Classic Controller.
It's designed to resemble the iconic CX-40 joystick, but with a few modern twists. There's a set of additional buttons (one acts as a second fire button, one to power it on/off and two more for VCS menu related gubbins), and the usual rumble motors, bluetooth connectivity and what not too.
Then you get the fun stuff - specifically the LED ring around the stick, which is another homage to the original as well. In playing some of the games on the VCS (particularly the bundled Atari Vault package), there's some neat tricks in use here, particularly with games emulating a paddle/spinner controller.
That's right, the stick itself serves as a spinner, and though it's nowhere near what you'd get on an arcade cabinet back in the day, I still found it great for playing Tempest with - getting some of the best scores I ever have with it.
But back to those LEDs. Having them light up to show you where the paddle is (relatively speaking) is a real nice way to offer some feedback where you wouldn't otherwise have it.
Which is also the same for general stick movement, lighting it up around the direction you're pointing it - which for a digital 8-way controller is very important, and the default for when a game doesn't offer any fancy support.
Perhaps it's because I'm an 8-bit microcomputer gaming enthusiast deep in my heart, but a simple 8-way joystick is something I find to be pretty important for when I want to mess about with those games on modern systems.
So yes, being able to connect it to modern systems or even a MiSTer has been most excellent for enjoying C64/Amiga/Spectrum et al games with something a bit more appropriate than a modern gamepad.
(I'm sure someone will say something about Up to Jump being wrong at this point…)
The VCS Classic Controller: Way cooler than it has any right to be.