What is in the box

2 paddles that are permanently connected together and a audio and video RCA cable that is also permanently attached to the paddles. A Manual is also included.

The Setup

To setup the Deluxe paddles couldn’t be easier. The hardest part is unscrewing the back cover on the main paddle to put in the 4 AA batteries. Other than that you simply plug in the RCA cable attached to the paddles into the corresponding Audio and Video jacks on your TV.

The Manual

The manual is a large single piece of paper that unfolds into a poster sized sheet with instructions on both sides. It contains information on the setup of the paddles and connecting them to a TV. It also explains how to select and play a game or one of its variants. Although the instructions are good, it is a rather large unwieldy sheet of paper to flip over and around to read the instructions on the back.

The Console (controller)

There is no real console as all the chips are contained in one of the paddles. The system is two paddles, the main controller that contains all the necessary chips and stuff to play the games. This controller is rather large yet still fits well into ones hand. It resembles an oversized Atari Paddle, but has a couple of extra switches. One for power and one for the menu.

The second paddle is modeled exactly like the original Atari paddle and is hard wired to the main controller (paddle) this is a little annoying  if you are playing a one player game as you have to have the second paddle sitting there.

The Menu

The main menu is nice and simple to use, by rotating the paddle you move through the game list highlighting the game title. To activate the game you press the paddle button. The game selection menu utilizes a table like the original game manuals used.  The selection menu also has options for all the console switches like difficulty, color and reset making it a lot easier to change things.

The Games

The Deluxe Paddles have 12 games built into the main controller.

The games have variations just like the original cartridges, except they have removed all 3 and 4 player versions for obvious reasons (only two paddles) but instead of renumbering the variations the are just missing. This makes it a tad bit more confusing as you have jumps  in the numbering  (1,2,5,6...)    There do not seem to be any noticeable flaws in this unit, the games are as far as I can tell pretty much perfect. The colors and sounds seem perfect and the games like Circus Atari play great compared to the Joystick version. They have also managed to include two great Arcade game recreations. The first is the classic Pong and the second is Warlords. Both of these are very well executed games and Warlords may be the best game in the controller especially if you have a second player.

Jakks Deluxe Atari Paddles

Jakks Pacific has made a number of retro TV game devices. They all use batteries and most of them are for a single player only. One of the only exceptions is the Deluxe Atari Paddles that are made for one or two players that is what I cover here. These were introduced in 2004 along with the single player version. It has the one large paddle and lacked the two player game versions but was otherwise the same.

The Internals

I haven't pop this thing open, but my understanding is that the CPU and Ram share a chip and the games are on a separate ROM. It does not seem to be the Nintendo on a chip, so it is either an Atari on a chip or are very good translations or recreation. The team behind this unit did a great job from the controls design to the programmers behind the games it seems to be perfect. I have to wonder if the programmers have created a really good emulator or if they just wanted the games to be perfect. The controls are relatively smooth and were comparable to my original Atari Paddles in feel. What ever it is Jakks put into these Paddles they play the old Atari Paddle games like they are meant to be played.

Final Thoughts

With a new team of programmers the system seems to have made perfect translations of the original Atari games.  The paddles are a nice change of pace from the joystick and game pad designs. Not only do the games play, sound and look right, they are a lot of fun especially with a second player. The game selection isn’t bad although the inclusion of Activision’s Kaboom! Would have made it great. Having the second player control is a plus, but it would be nice if it was detachable. The giant manual poster thing doesn’t work for me either.  

The controllers design, the ease of use in selecting and playing games and the quality of the games shows that a lot of thought went into this controller and it paid off. Hopefully Jakks will continue to use this programming team and  have come up with a good emulator they can use in future systems.