Atari Gamestation Go – a handheld with a trackball, a paddle and a phone keypad

Every retro handheld I’ve seen has the same problem. They give you a D-pad and four buttons and then ask you to play Centipede. Centipede was made for a trackball. Breakout was made for a paddle knob. Playing them on a D-pad is like eating soup with a fork.

The Atari Gamestation Go is the handheld that refuses to cheat. It’s a 7-inch portable console with over 200 built-in games and most of the weird controllers Atari ever shipped, squeezed into one body: a paddle, a trackball, a D-pad, a numeric keypad and the usual face buttons. It looks like a Steam Deck that swallowed an arcade cabinet.

On paper, I love it. The reviews are a bit more mixed.

What is the Atari Gamestation Go?

It’s an officially licensed Atari handheld made by My Arcade, the company behind a lot of those little licensed retro machines. It came out in fall 2025.

The game list covers Atari’s whole history: Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800 games, a big pile of Atari arcade games (Asteroids, Missile Command, Tempest, Crystal Castles, Major Havoc), plus five games from the modern Atari Recharged series. On top of that you get PAC-MAN, the Balls of Steel pinball tables, and a batch of licensed Jaleco and Piko games.

How does it work?

The left side holds a paddle knob (it doubles as a spinner), a red D-pad and a trackball. The right side has A, B, X and Y above a 12-key numeric keypad, which some old Atari games actually need.

The clever bit is what My Arcade calls SmartGlow. When you start a game, the controls that game uses light up in orange. Everything else stays dark. So you never have to guess whether this one wants the knob or the ball.

Other specs from the maker: a 7-inch display, a rechargeable battery, Wi-Fi for updates, HDMI out to play on your TV, and USB-C ports for extra controllers.

The good and the not-so-good

What I like:

• Real controls for real games. Damien McFerran at Time Extension called SmartGlow a brilliant way to show players which controls they need.
• The paddle. Lon Seidman (Lon.TV) says it has enough resistance to feel natural, and that the D-pad is surprisingly good.
• HDMI out. Plug it into the TV and the couch becomes a 1982 basement.
• The Recharged games, which Time Extension values at about 50 bucks on their own.

What could be better:

• The trackball. Both Seidman and several Amazon buyers found it scratchy or too sensitive.
• The emulation isn’t perfect. Time Extension saw squashed vector graphics in Tempest, audio stutters in some 16-bit games and some input lag over HDMI. It gave the Go a 6 out of 10.
• The screen. McFerran found the colors washed out.
• Where’s Activision? No Pitfall, no River Raid. Seidman and several early buyers miss them.

Who is the Atari Gamestation Go for?

People who grew up with a joystick in one hand and a TV dinner in the other. Collectors who want Atari’s own back catalog with the right controls, in one box, without hunting for cartridges. And parents who want to show their kids why Missile Command was a big deal.

Skip it if you want a cheap all-rounder for every retro system ever. This thing is built around Atari, and reviewers found it weaker the further it gets from that. If you just want one perfect, polished retro gadget, the Game & Watch: Legend of Zelda is smaller and tidier. For something stranger, there’s the crank-powered Playdate. And if you’d rather have a tiny cabinet on your desk, look at the TMNT Quarter Arcade.

Where can I buy the Atari Gamestation Go?

My Arcade sells it on Amazon. The list price is $179.99, and at the time of writing (October 2026) it’s about 160 bucks on Amazon US. Early buyers report an HDMI cable in the box, so TV mode works right away.

Six control types, one handheld. Take my money. And my whole weekend.