# Atari 2600

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Atari 2600 and 5 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended because the consoles still work decades later and play their games without problems. Critics say the hardware had very little RAM and some units failed.

## Why people recommend it

- Still works and plays games (3 comments): "most of my old consoles including both the Atari and the PS1 are still working fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49810776)) "I've got an Atari 2600 that still works and plays games fine though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48801121)) "play the same exact video games with no problems" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809089))

## What people warn about

- Components failed and needed replacement (2 comments): "the 2600 itself had some components go out which had to be replaced back in the day" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48849925)) "they were also extremely unreliable mechanically / electronically" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48845641))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Valve Steam Machine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam-machine.md): 326 recommend
- [PlayStation 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-5.md): 121 recommend
- [Xbox console](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox.md): 62 recommend
- [Xbox 360](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox-360.md): 41 recommend
- [PlayStation 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-2.md): 40 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Atari+2600+wood+paneled+console&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://atari.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Atari 2600", https://hackerapproved.com/p/atari-2600/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).