Modder Dablio started out with a Dynacom MegaBoy, which is a small, illegal Atari 2600 clone system. He reverse-engineered the circuit board from the MegaBoy to produce his own custom PCB, then added a cartridge port, and a VGA connector which provides power, controller and video signals to and from the console. In all fairness, though, the VGA breakout box is almost as big as the console itself.

He originally tried to build it into an Atari 2600 controller, but Dablio ultimately managed to fit the system into the plastic tube from a package of M&Ms, so the console is appropriately named the “Atari 2600MM.”

While some may say that you can buy an Atari 2600 built into a joystick, that’s not really fair, since those systems only play a limited number of games, and cannot accept an actual 2600 cartridge.

But no matter how much effort Dablio put into building his 2600 mini system, the games pretty much still suck. If you want to play games on a retro system, you should probably start off with an NES – many of those games still have replay value today. Or just buy a pack of M&Ms and eat them for even more fun.

Still, it’s impressive that Dablio managed to cram this entire system into such a small package. You can check out more pics and info (in Portuguese) on the build over at Dablio’s website, and in the video clip below:

[via Hack A Day]

Daniel McLeod of Black Mountain Audio gutted an old Atari 2600 (made back in November 1980,) and replaced its innards with a couple of computer speakers, and added a dock where the cartridge usually goes. It also comes with an external subwoofer, which he wasn’t able to cram inside the console itself.

He swapped out the power connector with a 3.5mm jack, suitable for plugging in any media player. While I love the idea of this, I wish that it could actually accommodate a 30-pin dock connector for charging an iOS device. Maybe you could cram one of these in the cartridge slot instead. There also should be some way that you could still play games on it – especially since you can still connect controllers to it. It’s just too tempting.

Still, it’s a pretty cool conversation piece if you’re into retro gaming, and want a unique dock for your media player. It’s currently for sale over on Etsy for $100 (USD).

Granted, this gargantuan device isn’t really a guitar – the head stock is totally decorative – but dammit he’s carrying a whole console and three effects pedals. That’s a recipe for back problems. The gAtari 2600 also has a track switcher in the form of a joystick, although not in the form of the console’s iconic controller. Watch the video below to see cTrix lug the gAtari 2600 around while rocking out.

What an unbelievably crazy idea. I’m sure he could have taken out the console’s parts and ended up with a smaller instrument, but no, he just went for it. Somehow I can’t imagine a PS3 or Xbox 360 guitar looking as cool as this. Check out cTrix’ website for more of his gadgets and music.

[via Topless Robot]

Of course there’s always a chance that kids will learn to love at least one of the 60 games built-in, like the unwinnable Missile Command or the exploitable Asteroids. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of the games in the Flashback 3 already have mobile versions though. At least you get to play them using the iconic Atari-style joysticks.

You can order the Atari Flashback 3 from Amazon for $60 (USD). UK customers may want to head to Blaze instead, where it’s being sold for £50. Pause function included. No really.

[via Chip Chick]

Yep, that is indeed an Atari 2600 with 24k gold plating. The godfather of gaming looks good in gold doesn’t it? Let’s take a closer look at the golden joystick:

I wonder if its still functional. The casemod was made by Urchin Associates (scroll to the bottom of the page to see the post) back in 2009 as part of a project called “Gold Mine, All Mine”.

[via it8bit]

Ben has dedicated Episode 14 of his online show to the construction of the laptop. And without further ado, here’s the full 22-minute+ episode, titled That 70s Xbox with the full build and reveal.

Atari will be giving away this laptop, although they haven’t given away the contest details yet. Ben Heck should include a couple of his Atari 360 controllers with the laptop to complete the theme.

[Ben Heck via Slash Gear]

Created by a modder going by the moniker “Mario” (why isn’t this a portable NES, again?), this lovely looking orange handheld Atari 2600 games on its built-in 3.5-inch LCD screen. He named the handheld “Stella”, as that’s the original codename the 2600 had before it was released – it also happens to be the name of the best 2600 emulator out there. It has both a built-in joypad and a paddle controller, and can play either the built-in Flashback 2 games or original carts. It’s also got a built-in speaker, and can play for about 2 hours on its rechargeable battery pack. There’s even a 9-pin joystick port for connecting an external joystick for a second player.

Poke around in the gallery below to see how Stella came together:

Here’s a video of the Atari 2600 portable in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Thanks for that tip about the secret paddle games on the Atari Flashback 2. I’ll have to try that on mine. Great job, Mario! Hope you get working on that Nintendo next.

[via ModRetro and Ben Heck Forums]

Each card in these decks is bedecked with Atari imagery, and is the perfect gift for the retro Atari fan in your life. The way the cards are designed, each suit is represented by a game: Diamonds = Breakout, Hearts = Asteroids, Spades = Centipede, Clubs = Millipede.

Notice how the number of objects from the game corresponds with the number on the card. So the 9 of Spades actually has 9 centipede and mushroom pieces.

Face cards are represented with various Atari iconography instead of the games themselves. I really wish they had made E.T. the Joker card, though. At least for once the 2600 has better graphics than Intellivision.

You can grab a deck over at NCSX for $6.50 (USD).

I mean a junky old game system and game cartridges would never be worth anything right? Wrong! I wonder now how much the complete system and the hoard of games I had would have been worth. A guy from Austin Texas has sold a rare Atari game called Air Raid for $31,600.

The game is only the 13th copy known to exist and the only one to have its original box as well. Interestingly, the man said the game sucked as a kid, which is the only reason he still had it. No one would trade for it.

[via Mentalfloss]

The guys over at eatsleepshop sell these soaps for just $3 (USD) each, and they look great in any old-school gamer’s bathroom. While you can’t actually play Pitfall or E.T. with one of these in your hands, you can keep yourself nice and clean, and enjoy a fruity grape scent while you soak. In addition to the grape aroma, they’re loaded up with such delectable ingredients as Sodium Stearate, Propylene Glycol and Tetrasodium Etidronate. I bet you won’t find any of those in your classic 8-bit controller.

And no matter how tempting it might be, please do not submerge your Atari 2600 console in your tub.

Created with the help of Legacy Engineering (the guys responsible for the Atari Flashback 2 console), Retro Thing’s new Clear Classic USB Joystick ($29.95 USD) is based on the look of a classic Atari 2600 joystick, but comes in a super cool see-through package. In addition to its default clear mode, the circuit board lights up in a brilliant blue when plugged into your computer’s USB port.

The Classic Clear comes with a CD loaded up with a copy of Stella – the leading Atari 2600 emulator, along with 80 games for your retro enjoyment. And if you know all the proper rocks to dig under, you can load up all of your favorite game ROMs and play them with this classic stick. And since the joystick works just like any other USB joypad, it’ll work with other popular retro emulators such as MAME and MESS.

If you’re into retro gaming, you owe it to yourself to head on over to the Reflex Audio site and place your order for one today.

[via Retro Thing]

There’s not much more to say, other than the fact that I need one of these. It’s probably not practical to whip this thing out of your pocket, what with that erect joystick poking it’s way out of the face of the controller. But I’d like to leave a couple of these sitting around the game room and hand them out to my buddies when we’re ready to have a retro gaming session and see how long it takes them to figure out that they’re not real controllers.

Want one? You’ll have to wait until late October to get one. For now, you can pre-order singles sticks over at NCSX for $3.89 (USD) each, or you can get a case of 12 over at Westfield Comics for$28.05.

This hacked-together Atari 2600 Portable goes by the name “Stella-Tubby” – which does a good job summing up its less than svelte form-factor as a handheld gaming console. Retro-modder Nonogadi built out this portable 2600 with an integrated 5″ LCD screen, as well as built-in joystick and paddle controllers. Plus, it’ll run on a pair of 9-volt batteries if you don’t feel like lugging around an A/C power brick.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The Stella-Tubby has found its way all the way from Singapore over to eBay auction block, but is priced at the somewhat astronomical starting bid of $400 bucks – a bit irrational for what amounts to a 30 year old gaming system with a $25 LCD screen embedded into it. Still, you’ve got to give it up to Nongadi for the time and effort it probably took to build this oddity.

Apparently, this Rambo TV Game console came out at some point back in the 1990s. It’s a serious doppelganger for the Atari 2600, and actually claims to have had 208 built-in games. Despite the “2600 compatible” labeling, the photos on the box make me think this was one of those cheap NES/Famicom clone systems from China. And check out those joysticks…

While I certainly don’t remember this system, I did manage to find a brief mention of the Rambo TV console over on the Ultimate Console Database – and the version they show has 2,001 built-in games.

And the one in this YouTube video claims to have a whopping 11,555 built-in games! Of course, they neglected to mention that 11,554 of them suck, and the final one is a knock-off of  E.T.: the Extra-Terrestrial.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

There’s not much more to say about this rarity, except that anything that combines an Atari 2600 and Sly Stallone is okay in my book.

[photos via Flickr]

Robotic Evil, Inc. is currently selling both an Atari 2600 cartridge and a Nintendo NES controller flash drive over on their Etsy shop for $29.99 (USD) each. Sure, they’re way more bulky than your average flash drives, but I don’t care – I’d much rather plug one of these into my computer than a plain old flash drive.

While the included 2GB of storage may seem paltry by today’s standards, I’m thinking that you’d have a tough time filling that if you tried to load one up with every Atari 2600 and NES game ROM you could find. As a matter of fact, you could probably store every 8-bit game ever made in less than 2GB — not that I’d condone that sort of thing

For some reason I can’t any find these in my closet between my copies of Pitfall and Adventure. I swear I nearly wore out my paddle controllers playing Zardoz. There’s nothing quite like Sean Connery in a tiny pixelated red Speedo – an image now burned into my memory forever.

The mod master took an Xbox 360 controller, added a lot of buttons to an Atari 2600 joystick, and thus the Atari 3600 was born. But it wasn’t just any Xbox 360 controller he used. Oh no, it was a controller from Guitar Hero 3. You might wonder how he managed to fit all of that into this. Here’s a hint: it helps if you’re a magician. Also, he only really needed one circuitboard, which made things much easier.

The final product won’t work with regular 360 games–there’s a few things missing–but you can use it with some downloadable Xbox Live Arcade titles, where it will feel right at home.

[Ben Heck via Hack-A-Day]

Graphic designer Marshall Alexander’s cutout characters includes a veritable menagerie fantastical creatures and critters all made from boxy paper cutouts, but his latest series, Foldskool Heroes 3, has got to be my favorite. These fun papercraft creations are anthropomorphic renditions of classic systems of our childhood. Heroes 3 includes the C64, an Atari 2600 and a loving tribute to Nolan Bushnell, Pong.

The best part is that Marshall offers up precise PDF templates for each of his paper toy designs, letting you make your own with those office supplies you stole from work. Head on over to Marshall’s site and print some out now!

[via NOTCOT via theawesomer]

Modder Chris Koopa (with a name like that, I’m shocked he hasn’t done any Nintendo mods) melded the shell of old SEGA Game Gear portable with the guts of an Atari 2600 to create this Frankenstein’s Monster of a gaming system, dubbed the Atari Gear 2600. The handheld has a 2.5″ backlit LCD display, and can run for an impressive 7-8 hours on a set of AA batteries.

By using the lightweight innards of an Atari Flashback 2, Chris was able to cram in a system loaded with 40 built-in Atari 2600 games. And thanks to a clever 2600 cart slot mod, the system can play original cartridges from the 2600 too.

Pitfall portable, here I come!

[via Ben Heck Forums]

Just plug your old Atari 2600 cartridges into the body of this heavily customized Guitar Hero Gibson Les Paul, and you can play all of your favorite 8-bit classics.

The console is wrapped up in a custom cut circuite board motif, and in place of the strum bar, there’s a tiny LCD screen. And so he could actually play the games while holding it like a guitar, Conner embedded the fire button into the neck of the guitar and a small joystick and paddle controller right into the body of the guitar. And since it runs on AA batteries, it’s totally portable.

I’m pretty sure just about any 2600 game out there would be more fun on this thing than E.T., but that’s the only screenshot that I managed to get. Maybe some Pitfall or Kaboom would be better?

It took Conner about 2 months to put together this Frankenstein’s monster of gaming goodness, and it was certainly worth the wait from the look of things. Now all he needs to do is figure out a way get a version of Guitar Hero to run on the Atari 2600.

[via SlipperyBrick]