Atari brings the computer age home. Again. Welcome back to the Atari 8 bit world of computing. The powerful Atari 400 set a new standard of capability with its release in 1979, and along with its subsequent models, has been loved by gamers and computer enthusiasts for decades. Now Retro Games and Atari have collaborated to create THE400 Mini. A half-sized version of the distinctively styled Atari 400, emulating the whole 8-bit Atari range from the 400 to the 800XL, and the Atari 5200 home console. Also included is a recreation of the classic Atari CX40 joystick, with an additional seven seamlessly integrated function buttons. Play one of the 25 built-in games, including: Lee, Berzerk, Millipede, Miner 2049er, M.U.L.E, Star Raiders II, and save your progress at any point in one of four save slots per game, or even pause and rewind gameplay to help you through the most difficult parts – a feature new to THE400 Mini. The multi-region THE400 Mini features HD visuals output via HDMI and with five USB ports, you can connect additional controllers or a standard PC keyboard. And as with all Retro Games releases you are free to play content you own via a USB flash drive, and learn to program in BASIC. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a newcomer to the world of retro computing, THE400 Mini has something to offer.
From the manufacturer
Ian –
I sold it around 2010 with a bunch of associated hardware and manuals. It was the last but one 1980s micro that I had held onto, because it was one of the very few that was built to a spec rather than down to a price. For it’s day, the hardware was astonishing – sprites, yes, but each line of the display could come from anywhere in the memory and scrolling it was simply a matter of changing a register. This meant that games could move serious numbers of pixels around on the screen smoothly and quickly.I have missed having it but a) it took up a lot of space and b) I also got rid of the old analogue TV.So the second I saw a review of this, I ordered one. It calls itself half-size – it’s smaller than that. Perhaps it’s around half the size of the 65XE which had an optional keyboard.The 720p display on the HD TV is great, with the option of making it worse if you really want it to look like a CRT analogue TV. As with the original, sound comes via the TV and there is no audio jack or Bluetooth so if you want to use a computer monitor, it either needs speakers or you want an HDMI audio splitter.Twenty five games are included – Airball, Asteroids, Basketball, Battle zone, Berzerk, Boulder Dash, Bristles, Capture the Flag, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Elektraglide, Encounter!, Flip and Flop, Henry’s House, Hover Bovver, Lee (AKA ‘we couldn’t get the licence to keep the original “Bruce Lee” name), M.U.L.E., Millipede, Miner 2049er, Missile Command, O’Riley’s Mine, Star Raiders II, The Seven Cities of Gold, Wavy Navy and Yoomp!If you had one, you’ll know that includes some absolute classics.. and some that weren’t. There are also some screaming omissions: the original Star Raiders, Pacman, Pole Position.. and that’s just from Atari.Fortunately, a USB port at the back lets you plug in a USB stick with other games/utilities on in a variety of standard (for Atari archiving and emulation) formats. Remembering that cartridges had up to 8k of memory (16k for ones using fancy tricks) and the standard Atari disc drives held around 80k bytes – less than the size of the logos here – you can fit a LOT of things on a single stick. Sadly the flap on top that looks like the original cartridge cover is a non working fake, because it would have been so neat to be able to plug the USB stick in there.Also included is a USB joystick styled to look like the original (and terrible) Atari ones. They have some extra buttons because all the keys on the console are as fake as the cartridge cover lid. These can be mapped to any single key or you can plug in a USB keyboard. Similarly you can use (most) USB controllers etc.So for me, it’s absolutely five stars. It costs less than I sold the real hardware for but is vastly easier to use and store.For you… it depends. The Atari 8-bit micros were fascinating and there’s a lot of stuff out there that will run on this. Inside it is a ten year old Arm processor and graphics chip. You could get a Raspberry Pi and run the same ‘atari800’ emulation software as this one for less… but it wouldn’t be as simple.UPDATE: it is VERY fussy about which USB sticks it will accept. Even when programs on your computer say the stick is FAT32 format with an MBR – what THE400 demands – it may not work. Formatting via Ubuntu didn’t work, formatting via Windows 10 Explorer didn’t work, formatting via the Windows command line didn’t work. What did was using a Windows program, Partition Wizard, fortunately the free version.Given it’s so fussy, why they didn’t include a ‘correctly’ formatted stick is beyond me, as is why the Linux it uses is unable to read other formats it doubtless uses itself…Once you have the right format, it appears as ‘media’ in the carousel. Interestingly, it won’t work with some ATR files that RetroPie does.UPDATE 2: I have agonised about it, but it’s been returned. While running atari800 on a Pi isn’t quite as simple as it could be, thanks to having to track down the ROM files yourself, put them in the right place etc, it does mean that when something doesn’t work, you can almost always fix it.Here, I got no response at all from the maker’s support email address over the USB stick issue. I still have no clue whatsoever why, say, Pole Position won’t run on this, despite being able to run exactly the same files on the same emulator on the Pi, and there are no log files or anything else I can examine to see why, or emulation settings to tweak beyond the very few that this offers.
David Graham –
I’ve held off a few weeks before reviewing. This is very much the same as what you would expect from their other retro products which I also have. The 64 Mini and Maxi, and the 500 Mini. I had an Atari 800 XL and I would have preferred that style of case but this one is actually growing on me. The build quality is good and the provided joystick is excellent. I had concerns about accidentally pressing the additional buttons as mentioned in other reviews but honestly it hasn’t been an issue at all for me. I only had success playing 800/XL games from the USB. 2600 games were hit and miss. 7800 wouldn’t even show up the files and 5200, though showing, would not run and go straight to the notepad. There may be workarounds or the community may provide fixes. I’ve more or less got this just for collection. Playing from USB is not perfect at the moment but that could change with updates or patches. For me, it’s just about adding to my collection and being on display . It’s not my go to console but the controller is great and responsive and I have had fun with the games that I have played. Mr. Do and Bruce Lee were my games of the time but I’ve played them too much and not much of a challenge as they once were. The only game I have never completed and still find difficult is Manic Miner on the ZX Spectrum, maybe one day I will do it.
Mr. G. Tomlinson –
I never owned one or heard of the model back in the day. The games seem to play well only Bruce Lee (Lee)the emulation sounds seem wrong. I don’t like the joystick. The fire button you need to give a full press (unlike the original Atari). The buttons are on the joystick such as the top and side icons. 2 are at the back and I’m constantly pressing those buttons. You can change the button setup but I’ve not been able to make it permanent. It’s early days so hopefully you’ll be able to save the joystick buttons in a future update.
Synchro –
As per usual a top quality detailed unit which looks Great and very well packaged.I never had the Atari 400 as a kid but because i bought their other outstanding models, C64 Mini, A500 Mini. the full sized TheC64 and TheVic20 so it was a no brainer for me really.I’m not disappointed by a long shot.There are some great games i have never played built in and i have yet to try any of the thousands of games it will also play from the Atari 400, 800, XL,XE and Atari 5200 so looking forward to that. Everything is controlled via the joystick which also seems pretty solid and nice to use so overall if you owned an Atari 400 back in the day this is a must for you, If like me your a collector as well then this unit will not disappoint.
ClintyD –
With my first home computer being the Atari 800XL when I was 10 years old, this brings back all those amazing memories (less the loading times from tape – which is good lol). The games it comes with are okay but out of the 25, I only played about 10 of them back in the day. The unit looks amazingly like the original 400 but obviously smaller, and nothing works on there (just for show).The joystick is just like the original which I never got on with, but that’s fine I just plug in a regular Xbox 360 controller and works great!! So for anyone wanting to relive their child hood memories with this wee beastie, you can’t go wrong!!
RJ Bessant –
The unit looks great, but is almost shockingly tiny.It is wonderful to play eight-bit Atari games on a TV via HDMI. Audio and video are of a high standard. The problem is the control buttons on the CX Stick included with the console. While playing Pole Position, for instance (not an included game, but playable via a USB stick) I accidentally and repeatedly pressed the Top button, which reset the games to the start screen. This happened so many times, especially when I was absolutely immersed in the game, that it became very irritating!Hopefully Retro Games will issue a firmware update that at least mitigates this.
Raquel Vivancos Sanjurjo –
Genial!!!
Muy buena calidad de imagen y sonido.Mi marido volvió a la infancia con este regalo, hasta mis hijos dejan la ps5 para jugar
Rudy –
Compatible
Fonctionne sur tous modèles atari-8bit (vcs-400/800/xl/xe/7800 d’origine)Donc également sur les vic20/c-64 et autres.
Sebastien M. –
Geht einwandfrei
Schönes Teil – der 130xe modus ist mir am liebsten
Rudy –
Collection
Inévitablement à acheter pour la collection !