Diggin' A Hole

I'm not even sure if AtGames disappointing players is news at this point... more like a morbid inevitability, like death or taxes. But it's happened again, and in the worst possible way. AtGames sent out a handful of its Bandai-Namco Blast plug 'n play units to prominent YouTube game reviewers, and the device was well received thanks to its rock solid emulation of a dozen Namco arcade hits.

Problem is, while these reviewers were treated to a top-shelf product, ordinary consumers got something far less exciting when they stepped foot into their local Wal-Mart. The Blast available in stores is powered by a (shoestring) budget processor and runs the NES ports of a dozen Namco arcade hits. Here's where the salt really hits the wound... those games aren't even well emulated, hobbled with screen tearing and frame skipping. Here's YouTube tech-spert ETA Prime with the ugly details.

(Hm, tech-spert. That's kinda catchy... I need to trademark that or something.)

It's galling enough that the games are dumbed down versions of arcade favorites. Some of those NES conversions are actually pretty faithful (Galaga, Dig Dug, Mappy), while others miss the mark by a mile (Xevious, Pac-Man), but regardless of their quality, there's no excuse for the Blast to deliver anything less than the full arcade experience. It's 2018, man. We have the technology... hell, AtGames delivered that technology to reviewers. 

Ignoring that, we've had several plug 'n plays over the last twelve years that came a lot closer to arcade perfection than the Blast does. Personally, I owned Jakks-Pacific's Ms. Pac-Man joystick from 2007 and was quite happy with its performance. Another gamer, Negative1 from the AtariAge forum, sang the praises of the more recent Bandai Pac-Man Connect and Play, claiming that all the patterns and tricks from the arcade originals will work on this device as well. This is not a guy who's quick with a compliment... there's a reason they call him Negative1.

Getting back to the Blast, what's most frustrating about this product is that it not only doesn't bring the arcade experience home (in spite of AtGames' apparent attempts to convince consumers otherwise), it can't even meet the minimal expectation of running NES games at their original speed. NES games, which ran perfectly well on a Pentium computer and a freeware emulator twenty years ago!

The AtGames Blast isn't as good as NESticle,
which was designed twenty years ago by two
stoners and had a character named Shitman as
a mascot. It really makes you think, doesn't it?
(image from NeoGAF)
(also, I know it's gross. Sorry!)

AtGames is currently defending itself from criticism and the obvious accusation that it tried to hoodwink YouTube reviewers with a ringer in place of their actual product. Most people aren't buying it, not only because the company's reputation is already in the sewer thanks to ten years of inferior products, but because their press flack has addressed the controversy with all the charm and forthrightness of the Iraqi Information Minister. Perhaps instead of flimsy excuses, snitty rejoinders, and clinging to technicalities (the pictures of arcade games on the package were for reference purposes only! You don't expect fresh strawberries in your box of Special K cereal too, do you?), this would have been a more appropriate response...

(image from Mega Man Network)