Long before Nintendo conquered the world with the NES in 1987, Atari ruled the video game landscape with their 2600 and 7800 consoles in the late 70′s and early 80′s. Since those games couldn’t rely on graphics or elaborate storytelling, they needed gameplay hooks that were compelling. Most were also either arcade games or similar to popular arcade games, which further meant they had to be immediately interesting to get your quarters. That is why they are still popular today.

Back in 2004 Atari released the Flashback in the midst of the ‘TV Plug In’ craze. The Flashback featured 20 games, 15 from the Atari 2600 and 5 from the 7800. Just a year later they introduced the Flashback 2.0, which features 40 Atari 2600 games, including a couple from Activision and a couple of fan-made creations.

Fast-forward to 2010 and Atari is bringing back the Flaskback, this time as the Flashback 2+, still with 40 games (though a few have changed) and the same basic configuration as the previous release. The system is schedule for limited release on February 22nd.

We had one of those Atari 10-in-1 Games things from Jakks and found the joystick controller inadequate for many of the titles, so I would recommend checking out the paddle controllers if you decide to grab one of these (the paddles came standard with the original Flashback)

Also for a limited time, they are teaming up with General Mills for a giveaway in conjunction with Honey Nut Cheerios.

So head on over to the Atari Site and check out all the retro gaming goodness before it is gone!

Source: Atari