Looks fantastic
Clever nods to Atari’s past
Clear instructions
Fun vignettes of classic games
Very expensive
Not as many cool features as the Lego NES
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No doubt you’re already wincing at the steep cost of the Lego Atari 2600 set. There’s no denying that it’s expensive; it occupies the same price point as the company’s excellent NES set at around $240 / £210. You could also make the argument that a genuine Atari VCS (or 2600, as it’s also known) is far cheaper and comes with games that you can actually play. But those concerns will soon evaporate once you ꩵdive into Lego’s newest recreation.
If you grew up in the late Seventies or early Eighties, there’s a good chance that the Atari VCS was your very first games console. Lego has done a tremendous j🌱ob recapturing that nostalgia, whether it’s from having you recreate the wood grain effect that was synonymous with the machine, gazing at its own-brand box art, or simply building the miniature vignettes of some of the console’s most iconic games. Quite simply? The Lego Atari 2600 set is a treat… albeit an pricey one.
| Price | $239.99 / £209.99 |
| Age | 18+ |
| Pieces | 2,532 |
| Minifigures | 1 |
| Dimensions | H: 4" / W: 13" / D: 9" |
| Item Number | 10306 |
The Lego Atari is a pictureꦜ-perfect recreation of the 2600 games console, right down to buttons on the front panel (complete with wood effect) you can press, cartridges that plug in, and a joystick you're ab𓄧le to actually move. Each cartridge comes with a small, themed display as well.
With that in mind, it's broadly similar to Lego's recent NES kit. And even though you're not getting the interactive retro TV that came with the Nintendo equivalent, it's more of a love-letter to Atari at large (ratheꦍr than just Super Mario) and▨ is less expensive on the whole.
If you’re new to the joys of the 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best Lego sets, you shouldn’t find this one too intimidating; while it features a few technical elements of working innards, it’s a relatively simple build. It’s a big one too, co🌱mprising 2,532 𒁏pieces which are spread across 16 plastic bags. It’s a pity the team weren’t able to use 2,600 pieces (what a neat Easter egg that would have been), but when you consider the thought that’s been put into the build structure, it becomes harder to quibble about a missed opportunity like that.
That structure comes from the approach of how Lego expects you to tackle the console and its three vignettes (which consist of Adventure, Asteroids, and my personal favourite, Centipede). The gorgeous 260-page manual has you tackle the Adventure cart first and its accompanying model, t🃏he iconic castle you explore in the game. You then move on to the cabinet that houses the carts, before tackling the Lego Atari 2600 itself. But not completely. Half-way through that build, you’ll switch over to the Asteroids cart and its accompanying space-themed vignette before finishing off the console, assembling the iconic-looking joystick (yes, you can wiggle the stick). Finally, you'll conclude with the Centipede cart and its space centipede-themed vignette.
You shouldn’t hജave any problems putting everything together as the instructions throughout are exceptional🎐ly easy to follow
Bigger Lego builds can often feel a little monotonous in their structure, and some aspects of the Atari VCS (particularly its grille and base) are no different, so kudos to Lego for structuring its set so that no part of assembling it ever feels like a chore. Lego-building is supposed to be fun and should never feel like a thankless task, and there’s enough interesting aspects to the VCS to keep you entertained while you’re putting it together. The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lego Optimus Prime set could have done with more of this light 𒊎relief, as it was a touch more methodical.
In terms of assembly time, the Lego Atari 2600 shouldn’t tak𝓀e you more than six hours to finish, although that time may change based on your approach. I know some people like to put everything into neat coloured piles beforehand, ♔but I take a more chaotic approach, diving into each bag in order to find the pieces I need.
Thankfully, regardless of what approach you take, you shouldn’t have 💙any problems putting everything togethe💃r as the instructions throughout are exceptionally easy to follow.
Not only are the instructions easy to follow, but numerous interesting facts about the system are included within the manual as well. For example, it notes that the Adventu🦋re vignette features a hidden egg to represent the fact it was gaming’s first-ever Easter egg (Warren Robಞinett hid his name within the game).
However, as neat as these little facts are, the coolest aspect 💧of the Atari VCS is also the fiddliest part of it - the excellent miniature old-school bedroom that’s hidden underneath the cover of the machine.
It’s lovely and indicative of how mu💎ch ไthought has gone into the project
Move the front grille forward and an Eighties-style bedroom pops up, complete with a kid in Atari attire, a TV, VCS ꦰsystem, and all manner of other essential bedroom kit. It’s filled with lovely little flourishes and is typical of the detail Lego puts into thes🐽e kits.
The included cartridges can also be placed dire🅷ctly into the VCS’ cartridge slot, and each cartridge has a flash of green inside it to represent the original PCBs. It’s lovely and indicative of how much thought has gone into 𝐆the project.
It's impressive how functional the Lego Atari feels; it’s virtually 1:1 in s🍒cale and all of its switches can be tweaked or pulled. Heck, you can even plug the joystick in.
Accordingly, the three featured carts and vignet🐲tes take a decent amount of time to assemble and you’ll dedicate around 30 min🐈utes to each one. The most difficult aspect of building these comes from the sticker placement, which is a little fiddly and caused a bit of panic on my part when I realised too late that I’d stuck the Centipede sticker on a black base instead of a grey one.
But the effort is worthwhile - the stickers themselves are Lego-ise꧑d images of the original Atari art and look absolutely delightful. The castle is the most basic due to its symmetrical shape and lack of colours, but it’s also one of the most striking to look at, with only Centipede’s space centipede managing to better it. The Asteroids space scene is perhaps the most disappointing to look at visually, but was still fun to build nonetheless.
While it’s a little too expensive overall for what you're getting, the Lego Atari 2600 is still a great way to waste an afternoon and is filled with all manner of neat secrets that will please any Atari fan. Ultimately it’s a showpiece, not a playset, and that may enter into your purchas🍬ing decision. But if you can justify the outlay, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be disappointed.
This Lego Atari 2600 set was provided by the publisher, and it was buil๊t solo over the course of six hours and 20 minutes. The pictures throughout this review were taken during that build process.
For more info on how we review products, take a look at our 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Hardware policy on how GamesRadar+ testing works.
For more recommendations, head over to our guides on the best 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lego Star Wars sets and these essential 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lego Super Mario sets. You can also get some money off with the latest 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:Lego deals.
Darran is so old that he used to play retro games when they were simply called games. A relic from the Seventies, he’s been professionally writing about retro gaming since 2003 and has been helming Retro Gamer since its resurrection in 2005, making him one of the UK’s longest-running editors of a games magazine. A keen board gamer, nature photographer and lover of movies, Darran’s writing cred🦩its include GamesTM, Play, SciFi-Now, Official Xbox Magazine, SFX, XBM, Cube, Total DVD, World Of Animals and numerous others. You’ll find him online discussing everything from bird photography to the latest 4K Arrow releases, as well as the ever-increasing prices of retro games.
