The Atari 2600 is a console that needs no introduction. It's one of the most influential consoles of all time, the machine that helped to create the video game industry that we see today, and one of the consoles that we cherish the most here at Retro Dodo. It's a stalwart of every retro emulator that we review and has a back catalogue of games that players everywhere still covet in their collections like Smaug amongst his golden hoard.
I'm definitely a fan of gaming watches; I'll take any excuse to sneakily play a few rounds of Zelda when I should be listening in a meeting, and when Brandon discovered that you could play Pokémon Gold on an Apple Watch emulator, we almost lost our minds through excitement. I've seen a lot of watches based on classic games of late too, what with the Space Invaders Nubeo collection and the Twelve Snake watch, but if you love gaming and also counting how many steps you've made as you run to the shop in the next village and back, then Atari have just released a timepiece called the My Play Watch that will make your inner nerd incredibly happy.
How does a watch that can track your heart rate and play Pong sound to you? Not only does the casing of the watch have that iconic Atari 2600 feel, but there are multiple watch straps to pair them with that champion the golden age of gaming.
But you didn't come here to think about looking at how high your pulse gets when you play video games - you came here to see which games you can play on this awesome bit of kit. The My Play watch comes with four classic games; Missile Command, Pong, Centipede, and Super Breakout. Honestly, there's no excuse to be bored ever again with one of these!
Let's get into some of the specs. Each My Play Watch boasts a 2" TFT display, making it around the same size as the Apple Watch Ultra 2. You can swim up to 1 meter down into your local pool with it thanks to the 1p68 rating, though I wouldn't advise playing Pong for any length of time down there unless you're wearing an aqualung. Everything has been created with nostalgia in mind too, with all of the sounds of the original console being integrated into the watch. Select a setting or wait for an alarm and be instantly transported back to a time of blocky graphics where a Teraflop was just a really bad sandal.
According to Atari, the My Play Watch will cost $79.99 and is set to ship on the 10th of June. So, if you're disappointed about the delayed release of the Analogue 3D and want to treat yourself to some nostalgic gaming on your wrist, then get your pre-order in now!
