More than three years after its initial announcement, the final initial batch of Atari VCS consoles is finally ready to ship. At this very moment, thousands of Atari VCS units are on their way from the manufacturing facility in China to the United States, where they will be sorted and shipped to Indiegogo backers, some of whom preordered their consoles in May 2018.

This is an encouraging development, albeit a somewhat discouraging path for supporters and onlookers. I fall into the latter category, having cut my gaming teeth in the 1980s with the original Atari 2600 and was drawn into the world of personal computers with the Commodore 64. From there the rest is history.

There was a time when the Atari VCS project (originally called Ataribox) also seemed to be history. There was no certainty that this day would ever come, as the console was plagued by multiple delays and significant events, such as the console's designer, Rob Wyatt, quitting the project amid claims that he was not being paid.

This is just the tip of the controversial iceberg: the Atari VCS subreddit has a timeline of issues surrounding the reborn retro console. It includes Atari calling a reporter at The Register an "irresponsible troll" for how an interview at GDC was portrayed in the article.

At this point, it's all water under the bridge at River Raid, as the Atari VCS consoles are finally available and the focus has shifted to their performance and whether they are worth paying $250+ for (depending on model and accessories). But because it took so long to get to market, the Atari VCS is in danger of being overshadowed by Sony's and Microsoft's next-generation game consoles. It seems especially difficult to sell in front of the Xbox Series S, which costs $300.

In any case, backers will soon be able to get their hands on a Ryzen-powered Atari VCS. The first shipment includes a limited edition Atari VCS 800 Collector's Edition model, with 6,000 units certified with serial numbers.

Also, for the first time, Atari has published photos on Medium of the assembly line showing the Collector's Edition model. Some photos show pallets of thousands of Atari VCS consoles "waiting to be trucked to port."