Atari Gamestation Go Review: How to play with the retro gaming handheld

The relatively large box is nicely designed by Atari and My Arcade. Opening it reveals a complete list of all the included games and delivers a pleasant unboxing experience. A nice touch: the HDMI cable needed to connect the device to a TV is included, along with a USB-C charging cable and power adapter. However, if you order the handheld from the U.S. instead of waiting for the German version, you’ll need a Type A/B-to-Type C/F plug adapter.

German-language instructions are already included in the U.S. box. A promotional flyer also advertises two upcoming wireless controllers - a standard gamepad modeled after the Gamestation Go’s controls and an arcade stick designed for fighting games. Since the handheld has two USB-C controller ports on the back, these accessories should also work when connected by cable.

The screen quality is decent - it doesn’t match handheld PCs, and certainly not IPS or OLED panels - but it’s perfectly adequate for retro titles. Viewing angles are fine, brightness levels are sufficient, though the display is quite reflective depending on the game. Like with many handhelds, I quickly got used to holding the Gamestation Go at a slight angle to reduce glare.

In terms of size, the Gamestation Go is closest to the Nintendo Switch 2. Both are about the same width, but the Atari device is taller and more than twice as thick. Its mostly plastic build feels less premium than the Switch 2, yet the thicker shape and textured sides make it more comfortable to grip—similar to the Steam Deck. Like the Switch 2 and Legion Go 1/2, it also includes a fold-out kickstand. It looks fragile at first, but it’s surprisingly stable in use. The handheld also features built-in Wi-Fi for firmware updates. It’s still unclear whether additional games will be added later, but the hardware certainly makes it possible.

Many retro gaming fans were thrilled when they first saw the Gamestation Go. This handheld offers an unprecedented range of control options, allowing classic titles to be played exactly as they were meant to be - or as players remember them. Alongside its officially licensed games, that’s arguably the system’s biggest selling point. Sure, plenty of retro handhelds with preinstalled, often unlicensed ROMs - or setups like Retro Deck on the Steam Deck - let you relive old favorites. But only a few devices do it legitimately, such as Nintendo’s Classic releases via the Switch Online subscription, replica consoles from original manufacturers, or Evercade’s cartridge-based systems.

Like most retro devices, the Atari Gamestation Go uses emulation, but it comes with full licenses for its 200 included games. That won’t stop many players from continuing to wander the gray market of ROMs, but for those who care about authentic, period-correct controls, the Gamestation Go is hard to beat. Breakout, Tempest, or the Pong clone in Video Olympics feel dramatically better with the paddle, while Missile Command shines with the Trak-Ball. Both controls take a little getting used to - the paddle sits on the upper left, and the Trak-Ball on the lower left - but once you adjust, the gameplay feels wonderfully faithful. You don’t just play retro games; you experience them the way they were back then. Even the inclusion of a dedicated Credits button shows how much care went into the design.

Each game offers multiple control configurations that can be viewed and adjusted at any time during play. A lighting feature called SmartGlow, developed by Atari and My Arcade, highlights in color which controls are currently active and required for the selected game. The 7-inch (about 18 cm) display is sufficiently large for retro gaming, though many older titles don’t make full use of the screen. The settings allow you to keep the original aspect ratio or stretch the image to fill the display - though the latter naturally introduces distortion.

The 200 built-in games cater to a wide range of players and genuinely offer something for everyone. In addition to Atari’s own titles, the system includes several games from Piko and Jaleco, though it’s unclear why those particular selections were chosen. Each title is displayed in the menu with its original cover art - for instance, the Game Boy version of Battle Unit Zeoth - alongside a short auto-playing video and an English description. The main menu is divided into categories such as Atari Recharged, Atari, Balls of Steel, Pac-Man, Jaleco, Piko, and Settings. Submenus further organize the library into 8-bit, 16-bit, Arcade, Multiplayer, Favorites, and Recently Played. Anyone familiar with frontends like RetroArch or Retro Deck will feel right at home: everything is neatly structured and launches quickly.

Some titles appear multiple times in different versions - for example, Centipede is included five times: for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Arcade, and Recharged editions. Along with the various controller types, the Recharged versions are among the Gamestation Go’s highlights. These updated releases feature slightly enhanced graphics and provide a fresh experience compared to the originals. However, they’ve already been available for some time on the Switch, PlayStation, and Steam. Interestingly, while ten Recharged titles exist (priced around €8.99–9.75 each on Steam), only half of them are included here. Whether the remaining games will be added later remains to be seen - but one can hope. During my testing, I found myself spending the most time with the Recharged titles and the Balls of Steel pinball tables.

Many games, especially arcade versions, use a portrait monitor. This means that these games are of course shown very small on the display. Unfortunately, as of now, there’s still no option to rotate the Gamestation Go - or the game display - by 90 degrees so that all three controllers sit at the bottom and the image fills more of the screen. Maybe a future firmware update will add this feature, though using the device vertically could feel a bit awkward. The display can be scaled to fill the handheld’s entire screen regardless of aspect ratio, which sometimes leads to odd stretching or cropped visuals, but in some games it still looks perfectly fine.

What My Arcade and Atari have so far concealed is the additional function of the micro SD slot, which is officially intended to be used for updates if you don't have WLAN. In fact, it can be used for additional games for included emulators, but the SD card must be formatted correctly. Since retro ROMs are a gray area and in many cases not legal, it is understandable that this function is not widely communicated, but fans should be pleased. And considering all the competition from China, this step is somehow necessary to keep the handheld alive. After all, the pre-installed games are no longer as interesting as they were at the beginning. Nevertheless, this is of course not a call from us to expand the game library if you don't have the original modules at home and have read them out.

If you have the Gamestation Pro at home and already have an SD card in use, you should be able to use it directly in the Gamestation Go. I set up a 32 GB SD card for test purposes by formatting it with ExFat and then creating a "games" folder and copying a few test roms into it. After inserting it into the Gamestation Go, the card was recognized immediately without having to press any additional key commands and I was able to play more GameBoy and Gamegear titles. Tests with Dreamcast and PSP failed in my case, but other ROMs seem to be possible; the SD card screen mentions Atari Lynx, PC Engine, Neo Geo Pocket Color and Wonderswan Color as examples of possible subfolders (and thus presumably as integrated emulators).

So here everyone can decide for themselves and test which games they would like to add to the Gamestation Go. Unfortunately, this can only be selected on a rudimentary menu screen and is not transferred to a graphical front-end interface. If you want to return to the handheld's actual menu, simply press the home button at the top. To switch back to the SD card, however, it must be briefly ejected and reinserted or the handheld must be restarted. Paddle and Trak-Ball can only be used with pre-configured titles.