Retro gaming continues its comeback with Basic Fun's nifty little video game consoles on a keychain. That's right, these miniature Atari 2600 joysticks and paddle are small enough to fit into a pocket (perhaps not comfortably with the joystick version) yet still large enough to play actual games.

Basic Fun offers three versions of these tiny video game consoles--two joysticks and one paddle--each containing two or three games. The controller plugs into a separate six-foot cable which features RCA jacks for connecting to a compatible television.

We tried out the joystick version with Centipede and Yars' Revenge (the other offers Asteroids and Millipede and the paddle version features Pong, Breakout, and Warlords), and were impressed at the design of the stick. It felt like a very small Atari joystick, down to the rubberized covering over the stick itself. The cable plugs into the bottom of the joystick, so it seems a little weird compared to the original Atari controller, but the responsiveness wasn't bad for such a miniscule controller.

The games inside this video game console aren't quite the originals. They're more like what you'll see on emulators--shadows of the original games that feel pretty close, but not spot on. Still, they're playable and entertaining in a cheap gaming-on-the go kind of way.

These video game consoles are powered by three AAA batteries (not included), and they're single-player only, so you can't connect two of them to the same TV for head-to-head play.

With a retail price of $15, these video game consoles would make good gifts for the gaming geek on your list. They're not a full-fledged reproduction of the Atari 2600 experience as you find with consoles such as the Atari Flashback 2.0, but they're cute little keychains at least.

If you're a video game purist, and you need Yars' Revenge to be exactly like the Atari 2600 version, you may be disappointed. But if you're just looking to show off the "wow" factor when you plug this keychain console into your buddy's TV, then the Basic Fun Atari 2600 Plug N Play Keychain is the cheap and portable video game console for you.


Pro: Tiny and playable, inexpensive
Con: Games aren't quite right