Atari's 1983 home computer is coming back with modern connections, 25 classic games and a working cartridge slot. But the most interesting feature might be the opportunity to write your own software again.
I remember coming home from school in the 80s, sitting in front of my little cream-colored black & white TV set with its rotary tuning dial and metal coat-hanger aerial, and painstakingly typing BASIC programs into my Sinclair ZX81. I wasn't yet ten years old, and I didn't really understand what I was doing, I just wanted to play the games. There was nobody to ask when things went wrong, either, which they inevitably did.
For all the talk about those early home computers teaching a generation to program, my experience was rather different. I never became a programmer. But they did introduce me to the idea that a computer could do something I'd helped create, even if I didn't understand quite how.
Which is perhaps why the inclusion of Atari BASIC interests me more than another collection of retro games. THE 800XL, as the new machine is officially called, promises to recreate not just the appearance of Atari's 1983 computer, but something of the experience of owning one.
Designed by Retro Games Ltd. and manufactured and distributed by PLAION REPLAI under license from Atari, the recreation is available to pre-order for US219.99(AU349.99, £199.99 or €219.99), with shipping scheduled to begin on April 23, 2027.
More than a games console
The original Atari 800XL arrived in 1983 with 64 KB of memory, a full-sized keyboard and dedicated graphics and sound chips. Like many home computers of its generation, it occupied an interesting middle ground between a games machine and a tool for learning about computing.
The new version preserves the familiar low-profile design, complete with a 57-key mechanical keyboard and working cartridge slot, but replaces the inconvenience of connecting old hardware to modern displays with an HDMI output.
It supports both 50-Hz PAL and 60-Hz NTSC output, with 4:3 and pixel-perfect display options, along with optional CRT filters for those who prefer their 1980s graphics with a little less digital perfection.
Four USB-A ports accommodate controllers and USB storage, while a USB-C connection supplies power. An HDMI cable and USB-C power cable are included, although as seems to be the trend, you'll need to provide a suitable power adapter.
Atari has also included an updated version of its classic joystick, called THECXSTICK, which retains the familiar appearance while incorporating eight buttons for additional functions. The pad of my thumb is wincing just looking at it.
Twenty-five games and a little programming
THE 800XL includes 25 built-in games, with arcade classics such as Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, BattleZone and Berzerk alongside home-computer favorites including Boulder Dash, M.U.L.E. and Miner 2049er.
There are even two hidden games, Castle Crisis and Super Breakout, which can be unlocked by connecting an analog controller.
Owners of original Atari software aren't entirely forgotten, either. The cartridge slot supports most cartridges from the Atari 400, 800, XL and XE families, while USB storage can be used to load cartridge, disk and cassette images. Atari also advertises support for software developed for its 5200 games console.
Four save slots per game and a rewind function introduce a few conveniences that players in 1983 could only have dreamed about.
However, the included game selection is the same as that supplied with the earlier THE400 Mini, which already supports loading Atari software through USB. If all you want to do is play those games on a modern television, the new machine doesn't offer a substantially different software library.
The real difference is its physical hardware, particularly the keyboard and cartridge slot.
Switch into Classic Mode and THE 800XL becomes a programmable home computer, with Atari BASIC available for writing, saving and running your own programs. BASIC was the language that introduced countless home-computer owners to the idea that computers could be instructed to do something other than run software somebody else had written.
Of course, nobody needs an 8-bit computer to learn programming in 2026. A modern laptop can do that and more, and there are countless free environments for learning to code. But there's something appealing about a machine where the computer, keyboard and programming environment form a single, uncomplicated package.
Recreation or imitation?
One question remains, just how faithfully does THE 800XL recreate the original machine beneath its familiar exterior?
Retro Games Ltd. has yet to provide much detail about the internal hardware architecture. That leaves open the distinction between recreating the behavior of an Atari 800XL through modern software and reproducing the original hardware more directly.
If the games run correctly, the cartridges work and BASIC behaves as expected, the experience could be convincing regardless of what electronics are doing the work.
For enthusiasts, however, compatibility and accuracy are likely to matter more. Atari says the cartridge slot supports most original cartridges, which leaves some uncertainty about precisely what's going to work.
THE 800XL also enters a retro-computing market in which familiar machines are increasingly being given modern conveniences, from the ZX Spectrum Next to Retro Games Ltd.'s own THE400 Mini and its full-sized Commodore 64 recreation.
What makes this particular revival interesting isn't simply that another beige computer has returned from the dead. It's that Atari is offering a machine intended to do something increasingly unusual - invite its owner to experiment.
Whether today's buyers will spend their time writing BASIC programs or simply playing another round of Centipede remains to be seen. But perhaps the educational value isn't entirely about learning a programming language. It's about discovering that a computer can be something you experiment with, rather than simply consume. Either way, I’m excited for the nostalgia hit.
Forty-odd years after struggling through those ZX81 listings, I still wouldn't dare to call myself a programmer. Vibe-coder maybe.
