Up next in 10
Imagine a cheap wireless video game unit that lets you plug one part into the HDMI input of your TV and then, from its handheld controller, let you choose and play eight different video arcade favorites, from Pac-Man to Galaga. That's what the Bandai Namco Blast from AtGames promises, but does it deliver? Well, that's a more complicated story...
Tech expert and old school video gamer Dave Taylor of https://www.AskDaveTaylor.com/ checks out the Blast from AtGames, Bandai Namco Edition, and finds it's a pretty low-budget affair at best. But it does include Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaxian, Mappy, Pac-Man, Spykid The Tower of Druaga and Xevious and it does work. They are not, however, the arcade versions of these games. And there are some other problems too...
Check it out at https://www.BedBathAndBeyond.com/
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
A video arcade in the palm of your hands? Let's check it out
0:10
Dave Taylor here and I'm looking at this. This is the Blast from AtGames, the Bondi Namco
0:17
flashback. And it is basically a little wireless HDMI receiver and a handheld controller transmitter
0:27
And you put these together, you plug this into your television via the HDMI connection
0:33
you add power, most likely you will need to, I needed to, but possibly your TV actually powers
0:39
HDMI, in which case you don't need anything other than this. But basically you plug this into your
0:43
TV, you turn this on and you are ready to go with a whole bunch of really classic video games
0:50
right straight out of the arcade, sort of. Now let me tell you some of the specs, but before we get
0:56
there, let's go ahead and just jump right in. I'm going to switch over to my TV and you can see a
1:01
couple of these games in action and you can see how rusty I am at playing these games. Oh my gosh
1:07
Anyway, here we go. So here's the main screen. You can see we have Pac-Man, Galaxian, Mappy
1:15
Dig Dug, Galaga, Sky Kid. And then on the next screen we have the Tower of Druaga and Xevious
1:26
And they're all pretty darn solid implementations. So let's go ahead and we'll just give Pac-Man
1:32
a shot. So you can see on the lower corner that it tells you what to do. Assuming you can read
1:38
the buttons, you can go ahead and push them. And there we go. So I pressed A and we will start
1:44
Pac-Man momentarily. I will warn you, I am not necessarily the best player with these games
1:51
And let's see. So now we push start and we'll see if I remember. Now notice what you're not hearing
2:00
Is you're not hearing any audio. As far as I can tell, the entire system lacks audio. I don't know
2:06
whether they just didn't pay to license it or what the deal is. But my system certainly is quite
2:13
capable of giving us audio, but it's not in here. Oops, that was actually very poorly played
2:20
wasn't it? So let's go back and we'll give another game a shot. So I pushed menu and now I get these
2:27
options. So I'll choose C, which quits and takes us back to the main screen. And now I can try
2:35
Galaxian. Actually, we'll try Galaga. That's a pretty classic game there. So I'll select that
2:43
and again I will push the start button and it gets out of focus. It gets back in focus. We're good
2:51
right? So now one player, start and okay, it should start momentarily. Here we go, stage one and I'm
3:01
really bad at this game. So A shoots and this is basically, there's a whole series of video games
3:10
in this era that were all basically stealing ideas from each other. And this is the aliens are
3:16
coming. I don't know why they look like bugs, but they're coming and you have to shoot them before
3:21
they actually try to get you. So you can see there are the bad guys on the top and you basically just
3:26
have to stay alert because they're going to keep coming at you and you're going to die like that
3:32
So we'll give this one more ship because as I said, this isn't necessarily my game. Let's see
3:38
how we do here. Ah, okay, all right, fine, fine, fine. We will go and we'll try one more game
3:51
Okay, now let's see what should we try. Let's try the Tower of Druaga. Now here's the thing is that
4:00
none of these games actually have any instructions or tips or anything about how to play. So you're
4:07
kind of on your own with them. I don't entirely know what the heck I'm doing with most of these
4:13
games. I mean, obviously like Pac-Man is pretty obvious, but a game like this, it apparently
4:19
you are trying to get the key and avoid the blobs. So, and then the A button actually gives you the
4:29
ability to attack, but not consistently. So sometimes the blobs, I think actually they are
4:35
green rats. They're not actually blobs, but I think sometimes the rats just get you. So, you know
4:42
it's a little maze and obviously I can't go that way. I'll have to go this way. And now I have to
4:47
figure out what to do with the rat. And you can see I'm pushing different buttons, but I seem to
4:53
be getting the same result. So maybe, you know, it's one of these things where, uh-oh, I'm trapped
5:00
That's bad. Let's see if I can get it. See, now sometimes I think if I'm attacking while I'm
5:06
moving, then that's more effective. There we go. Nope, nope. But the third time that didn't work. So
5:13
I cannot explain to you what happened there because I don't know how the game works. But
5:18
I will note, actually, let's back up just a little bit when we get back to here
5:23
Um, let's go to one more game so you see what it looks like. But I want to notice or note to you
5:32
that there are some nifty little features here that are not normally part of these games. So
5:39
for example, when I'm playing, if I actually choose menu, I have the option of saving and
5:47
loading. So I can actually save particularly good levels and go right back to that level
5:52
which is definitely not part of the original game design. And then there's also a rewind
5:57
button. So if we go back to where we were and then I push rewind, then I go back here. You can
6:04
see on the top left, there's a little timer. So basically, I'm starting over. So we'll start over
6:12
with Dig Dug. Again, I have no idea what I'm trying to accomplish here. So I'm just going
6:19
around and digging things. And I think there's presumably something hidden that maybe I'm
6:25
supposed to find. I don't know. Maybe I should have done a little bit of homework here. But
6:31
in any case, I think the important thing is you can see how these work. Oh, and that guy got me
6:37
there. Oh, see, there's a carrot right there. Well, the carrot is no longer there. That's kind of a
6:42
drag. So I don't know. I'll just keep digging holes and hopefully avoiding all the bad guys
6:48
and maybe not. So, you know, it works. It's a fairly rudimentary setup. But here's the thing
6:56
is that there's a huge issue with arcade versions of games versus the NES version of games. And this
7:03
is where AtGames has not done anyone any favors. What they did was with the initial wave of
7:08
reviewers, they sent out a copy, a sort of prototype copy of this system that actually
7:14
had the arcade code on it. So it was actually really cool. And they did some really nice demos
7:20
and people gave it really great reviews and said, this is ridiculously cheap for what you're getting
7:24
here. And in fact, even on the back of the package, these photos are actually from, as far as I can
7:31
tell, the arcade versions of the games. But the game that you buy, the setup that you get, are
7:38
actually the NES ROM chip software. So whatever you want to call it, they are actually the inferior
7:46
versions of all of these games. And that's a drag because there's a lot to like about this. I mean
7:52
you know, the wireless controller, the 720p redo of all the games so they look good on a modern
7:59
television, the save and load game features, the rewind feature if you just got crushed by a boss
8:06
or something, you know, all the games that are included. And let's go through that list again
8:10
just so what's here in the video is Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaxian, Mappy, Pac-Man, Spy Kid
8:18
The Tower of Druaga, and Xevious. Really a nice, pretty nice little setup there, right
8:24
But obviously I had sound issues. You still have to figure out how to power this thing
8:30
And I have to admit, listen, there's something, some loose screw or something in my controller
8:37
and this is not a sign of good quality control. I thought maybe it was something to do with how
8:42
they shipped the product, but short of me unscrewing and disassembling the whole thing
8:47
which I should not have to do, I don't know what's going on. But to be entirely fair
8:54
it's also ridiculously inexpensive. So given the price, this is really like the price of a couple
9:00
of rolls of, actually, maybe just one roll of quarters, and you get all these games with this
9:05
wireless setup, then you can play it a million times if you want to. So there's the trade-off
9:10
Now, before I tell you what the price is and talk just a tiny bit more, let me ask
9:14
can you go ahead and subscribe to my channel? Really appreciate when you do that. And, you know
9:19
give me some feedback. Are you really just super upset that they sort of suggest that there's
9:25
arcade versions of the games, but they're just shipping the NES versions? Let me know. So now
9:32
let's go back and talk about the price, right? So this is the Blast, and sorry, this is the Bandai
9:38
Namco Flashback Blast, starring Pac-Man from AtGames, and it is at the cheapest I could find
9:46
online was $14.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond. So for $15, this is actually not a bad deal. You know
9:55
go into it with your eyes open and recognize that they've done a lot of neat little technology with
10:01
the wireless transmitter and receiver and everything. And by the way, the little handheld
10:06
controller takes a couple of AA batteries that you'll have to supply yourself. But, you know
10:12
yeah, it has that little loose bit, which is super annoying, and I couldn't get sound to work
10:17
Other people have gotten sound to work, so I don't know what the deal is with my TV, but so it goes
10:22
Nonetheless, for $14.99 for a stocking stuffer for something to entertain the little ones for
10:29
a couple hours, hopefully, you know, this is not an entirely bad deal. So that's my sort of lukewarm
10:36
review of this. I would say that if you're a hardcore fan and you really wanted to get to
10:41
those classic arcade games, this is not, unfortunately, your product. But if you're
10:46
just looking for something where you can put Pac-Man on your TV without buying a $500 video
10:52
system, then this is a solution. This is something you might want to check out. So that's about as
10:58
enthusiastic as I can get, so I'll catch you in my next video
#Consumer Electronics
#Game Systems & Consoles
#Games
#Computer & Video Games
#Video Game Emulation
#Virtual Reality Devices
#Gaming Reference & Reviews