While Nintendo fans got to enjoy a first look at the upcoming Mighty Bowser set earlier in the month, the LEGO Group is continuing the gaming action over to the past. Delivering a retro gaming icon in brick-built form, the upcoming Atari 2600 set has finally been revealed with over 2,500 pieces and loads of LEGO nostalgia.
LEGO Atari 2600 joining the retro gaming lineup
As just the latest of these brick-built old school consoles, the new Atari 2600 serves as a follow up to the very first one of these kits from back in 2020. Seemingly setting a pace of introducing a new model every two years, today’s reveal joins the NES we reviewed last time around.
And while this build has much of the same retro emphasis, the actual design is a bit different from the previous release. Stacking up to 2,532 pieces, the new LEGO Atari 2600 kit mainly assembles the console itself. The new life-sized model recreates all of the signature features from the iconic vented top plate to the wooden accenting on the front.
You’re of course also getting a single one of the controllers with that iconic joystick design, but it’s really the other inclusions that make this set a bit more exciting. Three different LEGO Atari game cartriges are also included in the set, with classics like Asteroids, Centipede, and Adventure obviously making the cut.
There’s also then little brick-built recreations of the games themselves in addition to just the cartridges. These little vignette-style builds recreate the imagery of the three titles and rely on some pretty interesting techniques to pull off the retro visuals. I particularly love the explosion effect that the set designer used in the Asteroids build, though the other two are certainly full of charm as well.
Joining the LEGO lineup starting on August 1, the Atari 2600 will be launching with the rest of the summer wave next month. It’ll arrive at the $239.99 price point, which is certainly a little steep considering the original Atari itself sold for just $190 back when it arrived in the 1980s. Even so, with the recent price hikes facing LEGO sets this fall, the amount of bricks, overall scale of the build, and fun little side creations definitely seem to make this set stand out for retro gaming fans and LEGO builders alike.
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