They say that he who strikes first strikes twice, and Atari did not want to wait for Nintendo to make its move with Switch 2 and has shown what will be its next licensed system: the Gamestation Go It promises to cover all the fantasies of those in love with classic video games with a modern silhouette and a very curious design designed to recover the essence of retro games to the controls.
First things first: this new console is part of the deployment that Atari is preparing ahead of CES 2025which will be held on January 7 in Las Vegas. The chosen name already reveals that My Arcade will accompany you on this adventure, as it is the portable counterpoint to the Atari GameStation Pro launched at the end of 2023. And although it is still early to talk about its specifications, with its first trailer we can already see how it will look from practically every angle.
The first question asks itself: is this Gamestation Go Is it something more similar to a Nintendo Switch or is it more along the lines of the My Arcade Pocket Players? As shown, neither one nor the other. We can expect that its functions will be in line with the desktop console of 2023, and what has already been shown opens the door to offering a 2-in-1 console perfect for playing wherever we want or connecting it to a monitor or TV, although the first thing that draws attention is the enormous number of buttons and control modes that offers:
- Like any laptop (except Switch) it has a D-pad, in addition to four main buttons and four top buttons, two of which act as triggers, for a more traditional experience. All of them with LED lighting.
- In addition, on the left side it has both a Paddle (the classic little wheel for PONG), like a Trak-Ball, which opens the door to many arcade experiences. And yes, we can also see them with the lights off.
- However, the most striking thing is the use of the numerical keyboard on the right, which is reminiscent of both the control of the legendary Jaguar and that of an Intellivision that began as Atari's rival and was acquired by Atari last year.
We know from its design that the Gamestation Go It has at least two USB-C ports to connect even traditional controllers to the console, so like Nintendo Switch it is practically certain that it offers gaming functions in tabletop mode and we almost assume that, following the example of Evercade, it can be connect to a television using its HDMI output. However, Atari will have to clarify the latter in a matter of days.
What is official is that the Gamestation Go will offer licensed games and its screen will be seven inches offering High Resolution, although the rest of its features will have to be refined throughout CES 2025, including touch options, the catalog of titles that will cover the system or add extra games through that MicroSD card slot that has already appeared.
Is there room for more portable systems? In addition to the successor to Nintendo Switch, we know that Microsoft is working on its own and we doubt that Sony will be left behind. Atari has the additional power of its brand and legacy, and its revival plans have seen it add more studios. However, in the end the reception of Gamestation Go It comes down to two factors that are still up in the air: its price and the release date. Hopefully, and if Atari feels inspired by Las Vegas, it won't take long to clear up all the unknowns.
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