Tim Tracy Senior Producer, GameSpot Live

Now Playing: Maximo vs. Army of Zin, Metroid: Zero Mission

I Want My TV Games

Late at night a couple of months back, I found myself flipping between all the really boring infomercials and home shopping stations when something caught my eye. It wasn't Ron Popeil's latest invention or Chef Tony's incredible set of knives, but a device that kind of resembled a Nintendo 64 controller that plugged directly into the TV and allowed you to play, of all things, hundreds of NES games. It was the type of thing that you've seen at flea markets before but just simply couldn't muster the courage to spend good money on. Of course, this magic device was completely and totally unlicensed, was probably illegal to sell, and would probably burn your house down the second you plugged it in. In all my years of playing and collecting video games, I've seen plenty of these crazy boxes for sale, but never on national television. I actually came pretty close to purchasing it, but I quickly came to my senses and decided to hit the hay.

There's no way this thing is legal.

These products have always amazed me in a couple of ways. For starters, whoever creates them is able to effectively reengineer any given console and any number of games and put them into a completely different package. Shady and illegal as it may be, it's pretty darn neat. I've always been drawn to the simplicity of these devices--you just plug it into the TV, and that's it. I could definitely see how someone who didn't know much about video games could find them appealing.

Fast-forward to a couple of weeks later, when I found myself shopping for some new pants at a hip and trendy store in downtown San Francisco. Aside from the piles of T-shirts with goofy slogans on them and other random home furnishings, I happened upon two magical video game playing devices--one was playing Pac-Man, and the other had Yar's Revenge on it. I gave both of them a whirl in the store, and I was definitely impressed. I was even more impressed to see that both of them were actually officially licensed, legitimate products. As I came to find out by way of a news article soon after, Jakks Pacific, the folks that produce all of the WWE games as well as numerous different lines of action figures, has an entire line of these simple TV Games.

The Namco and Atari products were the first to hit stores, and they retailed for around 20 dollars, which, if you're looking for a quick retro gaming fix, is a pretty great deal. Being able to quickly and easily play Pac-Man, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Adventure, Yar's Revenge, and numerous other classic games is definitely cool. The fact that the entire device is roughly the same size as an old Atari joystick is even better. In addition to this, an Activision TV game just recently came out that features Pitfall and River Raid, among others. According to a press release on Jakks Pacific's Web site, the company also has a deal worked out with Capcom to produce a similar device, as well as deals in place to create new stand-alone games based on Spider-Man and SpongeBob SquarePants.

This magic box, though, is bona fide!

For someone who loves going back and playing the games I grew up with, these simple TV games are great. While they aren't completely and 100 percent accurate, they're close enough for me. Chances are that the average casual gamer who only wants to play a little Pac-Man isn't going to notice any difference at all. Perhaps the best thing of all is now that these classic games are getting harder and harder to find in their original forms, it's great that they have a new lease on life, especially in a form that's accessible to virtually anyone.