It’s been rumoured since April, but today LEGO has confirmed the LEGO Atari 2600, and it is beautiful. They also revealed it in the sweetest way.
The tweeted video begins showing some footage from 1982 of a young boy called Nick opening his Christmas presents. “I KNEW IT WAS ATARI! ATARRRI!” he exclaims. LEGO then says it had tracked down this Nick to give him a present today: #10306, the LEGO Atari 2600.
*Sound on* Remember when you got your Atari? Recreate that Atari feeling with our homage to the 80’s console that will make you feel like a kid again 🕹️😊https://t.co/xDMaoucGX1
#LEGO #ATARI2600 pic.twitter.com/xLB1uXt3wC— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) July 19, 2022
It’s a pretty generous present too, given the set — due out this August — is going to cost $AU369.99. At 2,532 pieces, that’s almost ten cents a block. But oh my goodness, it looks so damned lovely.
If you’re not old enough to be nostalgic for the Atari 2600, then first of all, I hate you. But also, just know that this was how a generation first encountered video games inside their own homes. Your TV turned into an arcade cabinet! Actual real magic.
LEGO’s freshly revealed version looks uncannily similar to the original, a ghastly brown relic of the 1970s, with its faux wood paneling and gloriously dated colossal metal switches. It comes complete with that iconic single-button joystick, and cartridges for Adventure, Asteroids, and Centipede.
Even better, those cartridges fit into not only a little brown shelf, but also the slot in the top of the main machine. And they can be built into bases for little models featuring characters from the games.
The top of the console also slides forward, popping up a little diorama of a ‘70s living room, a Minifig playing Atari on his TV, and I want to hug it all.
The only downside would be the fetid zombie corpse of Atari getting anything out of this, but dammit, am I really about to spend the price of an actual working console on a LEGO one? I’m very worried I am.
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