You get the best version of atari games, appart of an interactive view on atari history, is an amazing compilation
An incredible collection of mostly terrible video games.
Atari 50 works because it understands so deeply why anyone would ever want to play 40 year old Atari games: historical context. Between the games you're offered a large helping of video interviews from Atari programmers, high quality scans of magazine advertisements and design documents, and it's all organized within a few different timelines, generally separated by console and/or era. You get to see and then play the fall-off from arcade games to home console games, from home console games to handhelds, you really get to internalize what the appeal of 2600 games was and why that formula ended up killing Atari in the 90s as they struggled to keep up with the changing industry, among many, many other historical subthreads.
I'm not going to mince words about the quality of the games themselves--most of them are bad, even in the context of their own releases, with most of the home console games just being shittier versions of decent-at-best arcade games, and it might be a bit overkill to try and write something about all of them like I did (I certainly got burnt out in the Jaguar/Lynx era where almost everything is dogshit). Plenty of these games are good, you get to play classics like Missile Command and Warlords, but you also get to play quite a bit of trash, including all four SwordQuest games, Canyon Bomber, and fucking Scrapyard Dog for the Atari Lynx.
But you knew this walking in! You're playing an Atari collection, not a Nintendo collection--you know this is a story about a fall, not a success. Atari 50 thankfully holds shockingly few bars in terms of its honesty, throughout the interview clips you'll hear half a dozen programmers saying that coding for the 2600 sucked ass and no one wanted to do it, that nobody had a concept of console generations and Atari got stuck in a loop out of incompetence, and once Nintendo showed up to the party the story was as good as done. Unfortunately as the game goes on the presence of the interviews especially get lighter and lighter, but there's always plenty of scans of related media from the time, recordings of old commercials, the whole deal.
You play Atari 50 because you want this context in a way deeper felt than just factoids. It's easy to know the surface story of Atari, but actually playing it alongside all of the secondary context-setting material makes this by far one of the best history lessons you can get about video games as a medium, especially considering the very beginning and with the arcade era.
Atari 50 works because it understands so deeply why anyone would ever want to play 40 year old Atari games: historical context. Between the games you're offered a large helping of video interviews from Atari programmers, high quality scans of magazine advertisements and design documents, and it's all organized within a few different timelines, generally separated by console and/or era. You get to see and then play the fall-off from arcade games to home console games, from home console games to handhelds, you really get to internalize what the appeal of 2600 games was and why that formula ended up killing Atari in the 90s as they struggled to keep up with the changing industry, among many, many other historical subthreads.
I'm not going to mince words about the quality of the games themselves--most of them are bad, even in the context of their own releases, with most of the home console games just being shittier versions of decent-at-best arcade games, and it might be a bit overkill to try and write something about all of them like I did (I certainly got burnt out in the Jaguar/Lynx era where almost everything is dogshit). Plenty of these games are good, you get to play classics like Missile Command and Warlords, but you also get to play quite a bit of trash, including all four SwordQuest games, Canyon Bomber, and fucking Scrapyard Dog for the Atari Lynx.
But you knew this walking in! You're playing an Atari collection, not a Nintendo collection--you know this is a story about a fall, not a success. Atari 50 thankfully holds shockingly few bars in terms of its honesty, throughout the interview clips you'll hear half a dozen programmers saying that coding for the 2600 sucked ass and no one wanted to do it, that nobody had a concept of console generations and Atari got stuck in a loop out of incompetence, and once Nintendo showed up to the party the story was as good as done. Unfortunately as the game goes on the presence of the interviews especially get lighter and lighter, but there's always plenty of scans of related media from the time, recordings of old commercials, the whole deal.
You play Atari 50 because you want this context in a way deeper felt than just factoids. It's easy to know the surface story of Atari, but actually playing it alongside all of the secondary context-setting material makes this by far one of the best history lessons you can get about video games as a medium, especially considering the very beginning and with the arcade era.
Atari 50 is advertised as a retro game collection, but I think it's best described as an interactive documentary about Atari's game history. The collection contains 100+ games. While that sounds like a bonanza the truth is that most of these games have not aged well, although I'll list my favorites at the end of this log. But each one is accompanied by an encyclopedic blurb describing every game's history, development, game manual, box art etc. There are also video interviews with past Atari developers and from recognizable names in the gaming industry. While there is fun to be had here, Atari 50 is really about telling the story of Atari's early years (which by extension were also the first years of gaming) and the environment they were created in.
I think the thing that impresses me the most about Atari 50 is that it doesn't try to mask itself in nostalgia. It's here to educate you on gaming history, and that involves telling some harsh truths. The blurbs and interviews are very frank and honest about how many Atari games were rushed and not always great products. This contributed to the video game crash in the 80s that almost destroyed the industry. To see a brand reflect on both the good and bad parts of its history is increasingly rare and Atari 50 is all the better for it. I really recommend Atari 50, as unusual as it is. I can't remember the last time a game collection was packaged with such polish and TLC. I'd love to see this format done with other long running gaming publishers/developers like Namco or Konami or even Nintendo. Although that last one is probably a pipe dream (Get it?).
Games worth seeking out in Atari 50:
Black Widow, Centipede, Millipede, Food Fight and Quantum for arcades
RealSports Boxing and Aquaventure for the Atari 2600
Millipede for the Atari 5200
Dark Chambers and Ninja Golf for the Atari 7800
Ruiner Pinball for the Atari Jaguar
Neo Breakout, a new take on Breakout developed for Atari 50 by Digital Eclipse
I think the thing that impresses me the most about Atari 50 is that it doesn't try to mask itself in nostalgia. It's here to educate you on gaming history, and that involves telling some harsh truths. The blurbs and interviews are very frank and honest about how many Atari games were rushed and not always great products. This contributed to the video game crash in the 80s that almost destroyed the industry. To see a brand reflect on both the good and bad parts of its history is increasingly rare and Atari 50 is all the better for it. I really recommend Atari 50, as unusual as it is. I can't remember the last time a game collection was packaged with such polish and TLC. I'd love to see this format done with other long running gaming publishers/developers like Namco or Konami or even Nintendo. Although that last one is probably a pipe dream (Get it?).
Games worth seeking out in Atari 50:
Black Widow, Centipede, Millipede, Food Fight and Quantum for arcades
RealSports Boxing and Aquaventure for the Atari 2600
Millipede for the Atari 5200
Dark Chambers and Ninja Golf for the Atari 7800
Ruiner Pinball for the Atari Jaguar
Neo Breakout, a new take on Breakout developed for Atari 50 by Digital Eclipse
really interesting and fun time. getting stories about the programming and context behind games for the 2600 makes them way more palatable to me as i have no real history with these consoles. even if a good majority of the games here i don’t see myself playing just to play (other than the arcade collection, most of which are still dope) i had a sick time learning and i love video games :)
Going into Atari 50, I was far more interested in it being an interactive museum than the collection of games themselves. Perhaps its due to me being a filthy zoomer, but I'm always more engaged with learning the history of video games than playing through those early games myself, despite the respect I have for them.
Having finished the main 'museum' part of the Atari 50 and very briefly dipping my toes into the majority of the 115 games in its collection, I have to say that my initial assessment was correct, and I came away loving learning the history of the company far more than playing the games. Though that's not entirely fair since learning that history and the context behind each game allowed me to enjoy playing them far more than I would have otherwise.
That's perhaps the biggest triumph of Digital Eclipse's work here.
Don't get me wrong, my lack of interest in these games is not from an 'ew, it's old, so it's bad' perspective at all, but more that a lot of them are quite primitive by design, and the 5–10 minutes on average that I spent on them ultimately amounted to a feeling of 'huh, that's neat! Anyway…'.
As I said, learning the context behind these games, the sheer passion these pioneers of the industry had for their craft, and the feeling of putting a piece of themselves into these games and putting them out into the world are enough to make even the most hardened cynic smile. It's truly wonderful to bear witness to.
So yes, in summary, even if you couldn't possibly give a shit about Atari's games, you really should check Atari 50 out anyhow. The attention and respect Digital Eclipse pays to teaching you the most important chapters of the history of video games is really compelling, and its interactive museum presentation is well worth the asking price of <$20, even if you can emulate all of these games very easily nowadays.
8/10
Having finished the main 'museum' part of the Atari 50 and very briefly dipping my toes into the majority of the 115 games in its collection, I have to say that my initial assessment was correct, and I came away loving learning the history of the company far more than playing the games. Though that's not entirely fair since learning that history and the context behind each game allowed me to enjoy playing them far more than I would have otherwise.
That's perhaps the biggest triumph of Digital Eclipse's work here.
Don't get me wrong, my lack of interest in these games is not from an 'ew, it's old, so it's bad' perspective at all, but more that a lot of them are quite primitive by design, and the 5–10 minutes on average that I spent on them ultimately amounted to a feeling of 'huh, that's neat! Anyway…'.
As I said, learning the context behind these games, the sheer passion these pioneers of the industry had for their craft, and the feeling of putting a piece of themselves into these games and putting them out into the world are enough to make even the most hardened cynic smile. It's truly wonderful to bear witness to.
So yes, in summary, even if you couldn't possibly give a shit about Atari's games, you really should check Atari 50 out anyhow. The attention and respect Digital Eclipse pays to teaching you the most important chapters of the history of video games is really compelling, and its interactive museum presentation is well worth the asking price of <$20, even if you can emulate all of these games very easily nowadays.
8/10
Ironically, I wouldn't recommend this game collection for its games.
If you get this, it should either be because you have a connection to these consoles or you're just interested in the history aspect, in this case I'm the latter.
The collection is presented very well. The series of 5 timelines are a joy to go through, though to nitpick, the separation of systems means that it isn't one linear timeline, so for example one timeline may end in the mid 80's but the next will start back in the late '70s. I really enjoyed the amount of extra visual content such as advertisements and original artwork used for some games' front covers. The sheer volume of these is good evidence that a lot of love and effort was put into the collection.
The emulation is also fantastic, from the arcade games all the way up to the Jaguar with no notes, even on the Nintendo Switch. Digital Eclipse even went to the trouble of adding radial menus for some games that used the keypads found on the 5200 and Jaguar controllers. If I had to nitpick again, I wish you were shown what the controls were before starting each game, as they can vary wildly, especially for arcade games. Additionally, more than a single save slot for each game would've been nice.
The video documentaries are a mixed bag. At the start they do a fantastic job, talking to all the relevant people about the start of the company through the creation of the 2600 and are great viewing. However after the 2600, the amount of videos really starts to decline. Simply not enough time is spent talking about the Lynx and Jaguar especially, and this is also reflected in the choice and amount of games for these systems. It's also incredibly jarring to go from the last Jaguar games on the timeline almost straight to a seemingly completely irrelevant video interviewing the author of Ready Player One, for some reason?
Included alongside the original games is a small series of "Reimagined" games. These are what they say, new creations heavily inspired by existing games in the collection. These can range to just flat out remakes like the enhanced version of Yars' Revenge, to something pretty much brand new but inspired, like with the new version of Haunted House. These are a nice extra and are very well made but sadly none of these really held my interest.
As for the games, these are very much before my time and the amount of them that were genuinely fun to play is very few, but not zero. This is my personal opinion, and as mentioned if you have a personal connection with the 2600 and its first party stuff in particular you will probably enjoy the selection. Even so, the 2600 in particular has charm in its crude visuals and sound effects even if I didn't particularly enjoy any of its games. The selection is a bit mediocre (do we really need four versions of Missile Command?), there's some glaring omissions, such as any 2600 game made by Activision, but it's obvious as to why it isn't included and can be looked beyond. Activision are mentioned on the timeline too, so they did what they could.
Here are some games that I thought were genuinely quite fun even as a zoomer, or at least I thought were noteworthy, along with some reasons why:
Lunar Lander (Arcade, 1979) - Brutally difficult, but the objective is so simple that it becomes quite addicting. If I remember correctly, this was the first arcade game made by Atari to use vector graphics, and it works beautifully here, especially if the collection is played on an OLED screen.
Cloak & Dagger (Arcade, 1984) - Loosely based off a film of the same name that I haven't seen, this game really surprised me. The gameplay is a simple top-down shooter where you get to an exit, but the way it's presented is amazing. I absolutely adore the animations between levels and the idea of a huge bomb on each floor detonating if you take too long is a great gimmick. Plus giving basic hints between levels is a nice touch when many arcade games from this era could be very cruel.
Ninja Golf (7800, 1990) - A very simple golf game, but it switches to a beat 'em up when you have to run to where your ball lands. It sounds silly, and it very much is, but it's shockingly fun and I can't recommend it more.
Club Drive (Jaguar, 1994) - The visuals are impressive for the time, even if it's immediately outshined when you compare it to other systems that were around the corner. However, once you get past the questionable controls and car handling, the super relaxed presentation and focus away from racing others is a genuine breath of fresh air and it feels great. There isn't a whole lot of content but the variety of areas on offer is really sweet and the entire game just more than makes up for it in vibes.
Overall, the collection is incredibly well made but I'd say it's hard to recommend because to me personally there isn't a whole lot of games here that are worth playing for a decent amount of time and the documentary aspect is a bit mixed.
If you get this, it should either be because you have a connection to these consoles or you're just interested in the history aspect, in this case I'm the latter.
The collection is presented very well. The series of 5 timelines are a joy to go through, though to nitpick, the separation of systems means that it isn't one linear timeline, so for example one timeline may end in the mid 80's but the next will start back in the late '70s. I really enjoyed the amount of extra visual content such as advertisements and original artwork used for some games' front covers. The sheer volume of these is good evidence that a lot of love and effort was put into the collection.
The emulation is also fantastic, from the arcade games all the way up to the Jaguar with no notes, even on the Nintendo Switch. Digital Eclipse even went to the trouble of adding radial menus for some games that used the keypads found on the 5200 and Jaguar controllers. If I had to nitpick again, I wish you were shown what the controls were before starting each game, as they can vary wildly, especially for arcade games. Additionally, more than a single save slot for each game would've been nice.
The video documentaries are a mixed bag. At the start they do a fantastic job, talking to all the relevant people about the start of the company through the creation of the 2600 and are great viewing. However after the 2600, the amount of videos really starts to decline. Simply not enough time is spent talking about the Lynx and Jaguar especially, and this is also reflected in the choice and amount of games for these systems. It's also incredibly jarring to go from the last Jaguar games on the timeline almost straight to a seemingly completely irrelevant video interviewing the author of Ready Player One, for some reason?
Included alongside the original games is a small series of "Reimagined" games. These are what they say, new creations heavily inspired by existing games in the collection. These can range to just flat out remakes like the enhanced version of Yars' Revenge, to something pretty much brand new but inspired, like with the new version of Haunted House. These are a nice extra and are very well made but sadly none of these really held my interest.
As for the games, these are very much before my time and the amount of them that were genuinely fun to play is very few, but not zero. This is my personal opinion, and as mentioned if you have a personal connection with the 2600 and its first party stuff in particular you will probably enjoy the selection. Even so, the 2600 in particular has charm in its crude visuals and sound effects even if I didn't particularly enjoy any of its games. The selection is a bit mediocre (do we really need four versions of Missile Command?), there's some glaring omissions, such as any 2600 game made by Activision, but it's obvious as to why it isn't included and can be looked beyond. Activision are mentioned on the timeline too, so they did what they could.
Here are some games that I thought were genuinely quite fun even as a zoomer, or at least I thought were noteworthy, along with some reasons why:
Lunar Lander (Arcade, 1979) - Brutally difficult, but the objective is so simple that it becomes quite addicting. If I remember correctly, this was the first arcade game made by Atari to use vector graphics, and it works beautifully here, especially if the collection is played on an OLED screen.
Cloak & Dagger (Arcade, 1984) - Loosely based off a film of the same name that I haven't seen, this game really surprised me. The gameplay is a simple top-down shooter where you get to an exit, but the way it's presented is amazing. I absolutely adore the animations between levels and the idea of a huge bomb on each floor detonating if you take too long is a great gimmick. Plus giving basic hints between levels is a nice touch when many arcade games from this era could be very cruel.
Ninja Golf (7800, 1990) - A very simple golf game, but it switches to a beat 'em up when you have to run to where your ball lands. It sounds silly, and it very much is, but it's shockingly fun and I can't recommend it more.
Club Drive (Jaguar, 1994) - The visuals are impressive for the time, even if it's immediately outshined when you compare it to other systems that were around the corner. However, once you get past the questionable controls and car handling, the super relaxed presentation and focus away from racing others is a genuine breath of fresh air and it feels great. There isn't a whole lot of content but the variety of areas on offer is really sweet and the entire game just more than makes up for it in vibes.
Overall, the collection is incredibly well made but I'd say it's hard to recommend because to me personally there isn't a whole lot of games here that are worth playing for a decent amount of time and the documentary aspect is a bit mixed.
It’s pretty interesting to find out a bit about Atari’s history as someone who didn’t grow up during their era. Unfortunately I was letdown by how few interviews there were with the developers and founders of the company. It makes up about 90 minutes of viewing. There are also short paragraphs giving a little detail into select games and systems. Past the 2600, the quality and frequency of information drops significantly.
There’s something about this collection that felt like a puff piece. The interviews with the current ceo felt gross (especially the one with the founder Nolan Bushnell). It feels like they glossed over a lot of the negative aspects of Atari’s management. It’s really a giant collection of games with a barebones overview of how it was actually run. I will say it’s pretty cool that they made some new games based on past hits.
There’s something about this collection that felt like a puff piece. The interviews with the current ceo felt gross (especially the one with the founder Nolan Bushnell). It feels like they glossed over a lot of the negative aspects of Atari’s management. It’s really a giant collection of games with a barebones overview of how it was actually run. I will say it’s pretty cool that they made some new games based on past hits.
Digital Eclipse levels up their production bigtime here with a new format that presents the games alongside all of the supplementary material in a comprehensive timeline. This is essentially how I wished they'd done these things from the start, because while I didn't overly mind having to go into separate archive menus to peruse all the interesting stuff they pack these collections with, I did find myself jumping back and forth between those and playing the games in chronological order, effectively constructing the timeline for myself (this was especially necessary with the recent TMNT collection). This linear presentation of all of the material together (with the option to just go to another menu and play all the games whenever, of course) is an important evolution for their projects, I think.
The games and the story of Atari themselves as depicted here is engaging enough to carry this as its own thing, although the fun does peter off significantly when you get into the latter-day stuff because, um, the Jaguar is dogshit. However, for someone like me with absolutely no experience with the Atari of old and the desire for a curated entry point, this really fit the bill. I feel like I learned a lot!
There's no way to avoid lots of stuff being left out and the realities of securing some of the more notable titles, but I think this is probably the absolute best this collection could be while keeping in mind what must be a lot of limitations. As always, very excited to see where Digital Eclipse goes next - they continue to move in exciting directions.
The games and the story of Atari themselves as depicted here is engaging enough to carry this as its own thing, although the fun does peter off significantly when you get into the latter-day stuff because, um, the Jaguar is dogshit. However, for someone like me with absolutely no experience with the Atari of old and the desire for a curated entry point, this really fit the bill. I feel like I learned a lot!
There's no way to avoid lots of stuff being left out and the realities of securing some of the more notable titles, but I think this is probably the absolute best this collection could be while keeping in mind what must be a lot of limitations. As always, very excited to see where Digital Eclipse goes next - they continue to move in exciting directions.
Overall, I definitely appreciate this game conceptually, being a large collection with full manuals, along with ads and developer commentary. I understand that not every game can have equal interesting development stories, but still, the commentary stuff definitely feels front heavy. There are specific interviews about 2600 games but I think in terms of Jaguar and Lynx there's only general console interviews, that's unfortunate.
In terms of the actual games themselves, honestly they aren't that great. For the arcade/2600/5200/8-bit games, most of them feel decent for being pre-NES but also massively outdated compared to the NES which is in itself very simplistic. After that, the games tend to just be actually inferior to their contemporaries for the most part. A lot of the best games on Atari consoles were the 3rd parties and homebrews, this collection does have a few 3rd parties and a single homebrew (Yoomp!) I believe, but Miner 2049 is no Pitfall. I'd like to see more of those, but I guess copyright's to be blamed there. Copyright's also probably to blame for Alien vs. Predator not being here. Battlezone also feels like a weird absence? A couple of games got referenced but not included too, like Kee Games getting a section but none of their games, Quadrapong, hell if they've got Basic Math why not include Juggle's House. Among the new games, Neo Breakout and VCTR SCTR are fun. Getting into real fantasy request territory it'd have been cool if they made recreations of Atari's pinball tables, but again that's more of a "wouldn't it be cool" thing so I won't hold it against them.
Even with how mediocre the general quality is, I do ultimately think rereleasing mediocre games is important. I think there's value to most games and (nearly) all games deserve rereleases. Plus it's interesting going through history like this. Really what I'd love would be for a company that made games I'm generally fond of to get this treatment. Something like Midway/Bally would be a good comparison to Atari I guess. Overall this reminds me of a substantive collection game from the PS2 era.
Games from the collection I particularly enjoy:
I, Robot
Millipede
Missile Command
Missile Command 3D
Neo Breakout
Tempest
Tempest 2000
Turbo Sub
VCTR SCTR
Yoomp!
If I were to be petty I'd knock at least a whole star off of it for talking about Ready Player One.
In terms of the actual games themselves, honestly they aren't that great. For the arcade/2600/5200/8-bit games, most of them feel decent for being pre-NES but also massively outdated compared to the NES which is in itself very simplistic. After that, the games tend to just be actually inferior to their contemporaries for the most part. A lot of the best games on Atari consoles were the 3rd parties and homebrews, this collection does have a few 3rd parties and a single homebrew (Yoomp!) I believe, but Miner 2049 is no Pitfall. I'd like to see more of those, but I guess copyright's to be blamed there. Copyright's also probably to blame for Alien vs. Predator not being here. Battlezone also feels like a weird absence? A couple of games got referenced but not included too, like Kee Games getting a section but none of their games, Quadrapong, hell if they've got Basic Math why not include Juggle's House. Among the new games, Neo Breakout and VCTR SCTR are fun. Getting into real fantasy request territory it'd have been cool if they made recreations of Atari's pinball tables, but again that's more of a "wouldn't it be cool" thing so I won't hold it against them.
Even with how mediocre the general quality is, I do ultimately think rereleasing mediocre games is important. I think there's value to most games and (nearly) all games deserve rereleases. Plus it's interesting going through history like this. Really what I'd love would be for a company that made games I'm generally fond of to get this treatment. Something like Midway/Bally would be a good comparison to Atari I guess. Overall this reminds me of a substantive collection game from the PS2 era.
Games from the collection I particularly enjoy:
I, Robot
Millipede
Missile Command
Missile Command 3D
Neo Breakout
Tempest
Tempest 2000
Turbo Sub
VCTR SCTR
Yoomp!
If I were to be petty I'd knock at least a whole star off of it for talking about Ready Player One.
Nice collection of old Atari classics, i also liked the interviews with the game programmers a lot!
When we talk about game preservation, this is how we should do it.
god i hate atari and their 12 year old looking ceo trying to salvage the company despite it's lack of ANYTHING MEANINGFUL IN THE 21ST CENTURY, pumping NFTs and dumping copypastas of 'DAE pong?' wherever it goes. This is the most toothless presentation of Atari's shit ass legacy but at least we got to find out that the programmers smoked weeeeeddd duuuudddee.
Digital Eclipse, my sweet child, none of this is aimed at you, you could never do wrong, though I do question wtf the new ReImAgInEd games are doing here and why The Stacks has been self-inserted? I thought we all agreed Ready Player One was a trash book?
Digital Eclipse, my sweet child, none of this is aimed at you, you could never do wrong, though I do question wtf the new ReImAgInEd games are doing here and why The Stacks has been self-inserted? I thought we all agreed Ready Player One was a trash book?
Easily one of the best presentation of the compilation packages that I've played. It was like an interactive museum complete with video interviews, original commercials and promotional materials and coverage of the games from that time period. The games themselves are not surprising. They are what I would expect. Honestly, this isn't my era but I can appreciate what is being delivered here. The new remakes iron out some of the issues but still, these are basic games by anyone's definition but probably worth checking out even if you don't think it's for you. This is my kind of edutainment.
The 8-bit era of Atari was before my time. I started the next generation with the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo as a young toddler. I still respect and have enjoyed iterations and ports of Atari 8-bit games over the years. What hasn't been done well is anything outside of bundles of seemingly random collections. They're nearly countless at this point and have spanned to nearly every console imaginable. Atari anniversary collections, various Atari-themed packs, and various retro packages with fancy UIs or presentations. However, no single retro package has been as cohesive or beautifully created as Atari 50. Even Sega's recent Genesis Collection with its retro 90's bedroom and bookshelf display can't beat this.
The entire game is presented like an interactive history lesson. You go through four timelines. Atari's origin story and their arcade routes. You get to see photos, printouts, commercials, and interviews with various Atari developers and industry veterans such as Tim Schafer (Psychonauts) and Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War). These are presented in chronological order. A game is presented when its release comes up in the timeline. Some games have cover art, photos, and even comics underneath them to view. As you advance in the timeline you get a feeling like you're playing an interactive museum tour. There are no fancy 3D menus or anything, but the clean and simple UI works well. There are a few surprises peppered in like unreleased prototypes and Digital Eclipse's own recreations of iconic games like Yar's Revenge and Haunted House.
As you advance to the home console and PC timeline things get more interesting. You will eventually get to Atari 5200 and 7800 games which are a bit more advanced. You will also get to play a few PC games for the Atari home computers. Then you will finish up in the 90s with the Atari Lynx and Jaguar. Sadly, there aren't many games in this timeline, and the biggest issue with this entire game is the lack of third-party titles. You only get to play Atari-published and own games. That's very limiting, and while I understand this is Atari's own history there are many games that helped make their systems great outside of internal developers. The few Jaguar games range from Cybermorph to Tempest 2000 and Missle Command 3D. They aren't great, but interesting to dive into. That's another thing about this whole collection. Very few games are fun to play longer than five minutes. Some are pretty clunky and bad. This isn't a "greatest of" collection which I really appreciate. You will most likely go back to the more fun games like Missle Command, Centipede, Millepede, Tempest, or their latest versions in this game. You get special bezels, backgrounds, overlays, and control options for every game as well. You can also select various modes and some games support save states which is cool. You also get a digital view of every manual for the game including the arcade operator's manuals. They didn't leave anything out.
By the time I spent around 5 hours in the game, I got to the end of the timelines. You can go back and play any game in the library view and pick your favorites. These games run really well and look great, but many gamers who didn't grow up in the 80s will probably find this nothing more than a history lesson. Even more, will find pretty much every game boring or uninteresting. However, that's not a knock to the games, but just a warning to younger audiences. Anyone younger than 30-35 will most likely not find this game interesting or fun. If you have a curiosity about Atari's history or games then this is the best place to get that. If you have an itch for trying out 8-bit games or want to go back without emulating anything then this will give you nearly 100 games. I also appreciate how few ports and copies of the same game are in here. Each game was hand-picked and placed with relevancy.
Overall, Atari 50 is one of the best retro packages you can ever play. Telling an entire developer's history with games placed in their correct time slots and even including unreleased games and reimaginings of some is just fantastic. The videos are entertaining and interesting and you will learn a lot. There are so many details added from commercials, print ads, posters, manuals, customizable controls, save states, and more. It's a complete and cohesive package for Atari lovers out there. Just be warned that there are no third-party games and less of the 90s stuff.
The entire game is presented like an interactive history lesson. You go through four timelines. Atari's origin story and their arcade routes. You get to see photos, printouts, commercials, and interviews with various Atari developers and industry veterans such as Tim Schafer (Psychonauts) and Cliff Bleszinski (Gears of War). These are presented in chronological order. A game is presented when its release comes up in the timeline. Some games have cover art, photos, and even comics underneath them to view. As you advance in the timeline you get a feeling like you're playing an interactive museum tour. There are no fancy 3D menus or anything, but the clean and simple UI works well. There are a few surprises peppered in like unreleased prototypes and Digital Eclipse's own recreations of iconic games like Yar's Revenge and Haunted House.
As you advance to the home console and PC timeline things get more interesting. You will eventually get to Atari 5200 and 7800 games which are a bit more advanced. You will also get to play a few PC games for the Atari home computers. Then you will finish up in the 90s with the Atari Lynx and Jaguar. Sadly, there aren't many games in this timeline, and the biggest issue with this entire game is the lack of third-party titles. You only get to play Atari-published and own games. That's very limiting, and while I understand this is Atari's own history there are many games that helped make their systems great outside of internal developers. The few Jaguar games range from Cybermorph to Tempest 2000 and Missle Command 3D. They aren't great, but interesting to dive into. That's another thing about this whole collection. Very few games are fun to play longer than five minutes. Some are pretty clunky and bad. This isn't a "greatest of" collection which I really appreciate. You will most likely go back to the more fun games like Missle Command, Centipede, Millepede, Tempest, or their latest versions in this game. You get special bezels, backgrounds, overlays, and control options for every game as well. You can also select various modes and some games support save states which is cool. You also get a digital view of every manual for the game including the arcade operator's manuals. They didn't leave anything out.
By the time I spent around 5 hours in the game, I got to the end of the timelines. You can go back and play any game in the library view and pick your favorites. These games run really well and look great, but many gamers who didn't grow up in the 80s will probably find this nothing more than a history lesson. Even more, will find pretty much every game boring or uninteresting. However, that's not a knock to the games, but just a warning to younger audiences. Anyone younger than 30-35 will most likely not find this game interesting or fun. If you have a curiosity about Atari's history or games then this is the best place to get that. If you have an itch for trying out 8-bit games or want to go back without emulating anything then this will give you nearly 100 games. I also appreciate how few ports and copies of the same game are in here. Each game was hand-picked and placed with relevancy.
Overall, Atari 50 is one of the best retro packages you can ever play. Telling an entire developer's history with games placed in their correct time slots and even including unreleased games and reimaginings of some is just fantastic. The videos are entertaining and interesting and you will learn a lot. There are so many details added from commercials, print ads, posters, manuals, customizable controls, save states, and more. It's a complete and cohesive package for Atari lovers out there. Just be warned that there are no third-party games and less of the 90s stuff.
A delightful work of documentary and game preservation, as well as a joyful object in itself. Heartily recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in the early days of video games.
In many ways I think this is a golden standard on what a game collection should be. Instead of just throwing a pile of emulated games at you and calling it a day, this game is more akin to a pop culture museum where you can walk though the eras of the company and experience the growth in gaming culture. The always present elephant in the room is yeah, almost all of these games either suck or age so poorly it's really not worth playing them for more then maybe 10 minutes, so if you purely just want to play some games there are countless better game collections out there. That being said, this game really is wonderful. I loved seeing the history of Atari and how they began the gaming industry only to struggle due to being the first to the point they fell out of any good graces. The only real complaint I have is at times I wish it went more in detail, I know there is just only so much it could do but like I wish there were more old ads, and talked more about the issues working for Atari behind the scenes of the games. I am glad it at least showed some of the drama and Atari mishandling their talent. Overall I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a gaming history lesson.
The best game collection that will ever exist.
Played all the way through the documentary / history mode. Such a great idea. I’ve been wanting to buy an Atari collection for a while to play through a few games like Adventure, but I was always hesitant because the vast majority of Atari games are not really worth playing beyond like 5 mins. Presenting them in a format like this is such a smart idea though, it gives context and history to what your actually experiencing. Being able to look through high quality box art scans, manuals and even design documents in some cases is such an amazing value. I think the star of the package has to be the documentary bits though. They feel like small rewards as you continue through the timeline of Atari games every time you hit one. I plan on using this game as a means to play some of the games included more in depth at a later time, but as a historical package, I feel like I’ve already gotten my money’s worth. I hope to see other franchises / companys do stuff like this in the future, its like a living coffee book.
What an insanely impressive collection. Atari 50 is an anniversary celebration and game collection that should be studied and taken note of for any game collection in the future. Despite game selection being a mixed bag of peaks and valleys, the one area this game truly aces everything is in its presentation. Sure, you can play all games at any time you want, but you can also go through an interactive timeline of important moments in Ataris history. From their founding and dominance of the arcades, to their struggle to retain relevance in the 90's. These interactive timelines don't just let you play the games, it let's you look at concept art and design for these games. Old commercials from the Era, full print news ads, direct interviews with the original programmers of these games! Hell, they even let you play a decent chunk of cancelled games who had finished prototypes. Developer Digital Eclipse truly went above and beyond to pay tribute to the first game company that started it all, and in return, despite the quality being everywhere, genuinely gave me a newfound respect for the company. If $40 for this collection seems too steep for you, grab it when it's on sale because this does still warrant going through.
A peerless collection and documentation of Atari games and franchises, packaged in a sleek whole. Full review
An absolutely stand-out project.
This is part documentary, part fan-tribute, part game collection. The level of effort put into it should be a benchmark for any similar projects in the future; the amount of high-quality scans of original materials, the level of effort put into including 3D recreations of many relevant props, the quality of the interviews, and overall presentation are all great. The fact they went so far as to create original re-imaginings and sequels to several games in the collection is really cool too.
I'd be lying if I said I'd rate most of the games highly, the 2600 collection in particular was fairly dire, but there's also still some fun to be had with the likes of Basketbrawl, Fatal Run, Tempest, and the many versions of Asteroids, Breakout, and Missile Command included.
Genuinely a really wonderful way to celebrate the history of Atari while also acknowledging the mistakes that lead to its eventual decline as a major player in the games industry. Would love to see this project taken as a template and used for other companies in the future, particularly Midway.
This is part documentary, part fan-tribute, part game collection. The level of effort put into it should be a benchmark for any similar projects in the future; the amount of high-quality scans of original materials, the level of effort put into including 3D recreations of many relevant props, the quality of the interviews, and overall presentation are all great. The fact they went so far as to create original re-imaginings and sequels to several games in the collection is really cool too.
I'd be lying if I said I'd rate most of the games highly, the 2600 collection in particular was fairly dire, but there's also still some fun to be had with the likes of Basketbrawl, Fatal Run, Tempest, and the many versions of Asteroids, Breakout, and Missile Command included.
Genuinely a really wonderful way to celebrate the history of Atari while also acknowledging the mistakes that lead to its eventual decline as a major player in the games industry. Would love to see this project taken as a template and used for other companies in the future, particularly Midway.
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration does a great job at demonstrating the importance and impact of the earliest video games, including context for the video game crash in the 80's, interesting perspectives of developers of the company, and like five or six different versions of Missile Command.
I've gained a tremendous respect for the Atari 2600 as a system, and while a bit jank by today's standards, there are some actually excellent games on there. Adventure is cool. Haunted House is cool. The 2600 version of Missile Command is a stellar port.
I've also gained a hilarious level of understanding into how bad the Lynx and Jaguar systems were at the time, especially when compared with the SNES and Genesis. Technically very cool systems, but their original games weren't very good or fun. Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar barely counts in my eyes because it's a remake of the original arcade game, but I can't stress enough how genuinely fun that game is, even in the current year.
I wouldn't pay $150 in the 90's just for Tempest 2000.
Tremendous respect to Atari for showcasing some of the worst video games I've ever played. This is a genuine compliment. I'm being as real as I can be. Nintendo would never.
Anyway, thanks for inventing video games for us, Atari. Very cool. :)
I've gained a tremendous respect for the Atari 2600 as a system, and while a bit jank by today's standards, there are some actually excellent games on there. Adventure is cool. Haunted House is cool. The 2600 version of Missile Command is a stellar port.
I've also gained a hilarious level of understanding into how bad the Lynx and Jaguar systems were at the time, especially when compared with the SNES and Genesis. Technically very cool systems, but their original games weren't very good or fun. Tempest 2000 for the Jaguar barely counts in my eyes because it's a remake of the original arcade game, but I can't stress enough how genuinely fun that game is, even in the current year.
I wouldn't pay $150 in the 90's just for Tempest 2000.
Tremendous respect to Atari for showcasing some of the worst video games I've ever played. This is a genuine compliment. I'm being as real as I can be. Nintendo would never.
Anyway, thanks for inventing video games for us, Atari. Very cool. :)
A very neat collection of Atari games, classic and new! I personally didn't spend too much time exploring the timelines, but there's loads of interesting history between images, videos and of course the games.
As someone who is too young to have grown up with an Atari, I appreciate atari 50 as a tribute to the past, although some games have aged worse than others... (looking at you, cybermorph
As someone who is too young to have grown up with an Atari, I appreciate atari 50 as a tribute to the past, although some games have aged worse than others... (looking at you, cybermorph
Treating this more as a book to be honest, because while the games are nice to have here, no one actually wants to play old Atari games. You buy this for the history and interviews. And all of that is fascinating. It is undeniable that this is extremely well made and really cool. They even made their own version of Swordquest Airworld and put in a bunch of cancelled games. That's sick.
Regardless of how you feel about Atari, it's really hard to deny that this is an extremely well made compilation.
This compilation provides a lot more than even the most prominent companies (looking at you, Nintendo and Super Mario 3D All-Stars) manage to provide in their compilations. Not only do you have the standard Atari 2600 and Arcade games of course, but there's also a lot from Atari's lesser known systems such as the Lynx, 800 computers and Jaguar being represented and preserved here. Sure, the games themselves can be pretty hit-or-miss, but it's still nice seeing many of these more obscure titles getting preserved and made accessible on modern systems (besides, being hit or miss is honestly par for the course for Atari lmao).
But that isn't even to mention that, alongside all the games here, it also comes with a lot of documentation of the company's history - including interviews with developers, advertisements, cover art, in-house memos, and so on - which truly pays tribute to Atari's history especially as the company that basically laid the foundations for gaming as an industry now. There's also some recreated versions of Atari's classic games which... is honestly more of a novelty than anything but still a neat addition nonetheless.
This ultimately serves as a really good celebration of Atari as a company between the preservation of many of their titles, from their more well known 2600 and arcade games to their lesser known games, as well as the documentation of their history.
If you have even a passing interest in Atari and their history, this is definitely a must-buy imo.
This compilation provides a lot more than even the most prominent companies (looking at you, Nintendo and Super Mario 3D All-Stars) manage to provide in their compilations. Not only do you have the standard Atari 2600 and Arcade games of course, but there's also a lot from Atari's lesser known systems such as the Lynx, 800 computers and Jaguar being represented and preserved here. Sure, the games themselves can be pretty hit-or-miss, but it's still nice seeing many of these more obscure titles getting preserved and made accessible on modern systems (besides, being hit or miss is honestly par for the course for Atari lmao).
But that isn't even to mention that, alongside all the games here, it also comes with a lot of documentation of the company's history - including interviews with developers, advertisements, cover art, in-house memos, and so on - which truly pays tribute to Atari's history especially as the company that basically laid the foundations for gaming as an industry now. There's also some recreated versions of Atari's classic games which... is honestly more of a novelty than anything but still a neat addition nonetheless.
This ultimately serves as a really good celebration of Atari as a company between the preservation of many of their titles, from their more well known 2600 and arcade games to their lesser known games, as well as the documentation of their history.
If you have even a passing interest in Atari and their history, this is definitely a must-buy imo.
this is an incredible collection, a feat in archiving all these games, but the games themselves are mostly not my thing lol
An enjoyable, if concise, look at some of the Atari games from the olden days. It's nice that it's presented in a curated museum style, rather than "here's a bunch of games to cycle through and probably play once".
The combination of going through videos and interviews with some of the people involved with the company and producing the games etc, along with lots of art work, ads and various other bits of info, as well as getting to the games themselves, really helped keep my interest.
There's a lot of titles and going through the history (and it having a completion percentage) encouraged me to try every single one. Even though most of the games here aren't great, it was interesting to look back at the stuff the blew my mind as a kid. I bet if I played Cybermorph in 1993, it would've been a transcendent experience. Trevor McFur, not so much.
It pretty much ignores anything from after the Jaguar, which is a shame. Even if it was just some images of the games released when the Atari name was just publishing games from the late 90s onwards. But no, just a self congratulatory video about influencing Ready Player One, and it ending with a wee interview with Nolan Bushnell.
Kind of ends with a whimper, but I unlocked a race car game after getting all the way through the history. And there's a couple of other bits to unlock if you meet a certain stipulation in some of the games. Not sure I'm that arsed though. Anyway, more like an interactive documentary.
The combination of going through videos and interviews with some of the people involved with the company and producing the games etc, along with lots of art work, ads and various other bits of info, as well as getting to the games themselves, really helped keep my interest.
There's a lot of titles and going through the history (and it having a completion percentage) encouraged me to try every single one. Even though most of the games here aren't great, it was interesting to look back at the stuff the blew my mind as a kid. I bet if I played Cybermorph in 1993, it would've been a transcendent experience. Trevor McFur, not so much.
It pretty much ignores anything from after the Jaguar, which is a shame. Even if it was just some images of the games released when the Atari name was just publishing games from the late 90s onwards. But no, just a self congratulatory video about influencing Ready Player One, and it ending with a wee interview with Nolan Bushnell.
Kind of ends with a whimper, but I unlocked a race car game after getting all the way through the history. And there's a couple of other bits to unlock if you meet a certain stipulation in some of the games. Not sure I'm that arsed though. Anyway, more like an interactive documentary.
This review will go more so over the documentary and educational aspect of Atari, rather than the games themselves as I have already reviewed EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Atari 50 in terms of a educational side shows us the wonders of Atari becoming a powerhouse and planting the seeds of gaming for all of us to experience today. It show us the good and bad decision taken by a company how had high expectations, and while starting off humble and innovative, slowly descended into greed and ego.
The game company originally made games that were fun and innovative, any ridiculous idea they had in mind they would take it and make said games with it, a lot of them becoming iconic, and some.... not so much.
I think the biggest points in Atari's history are:
Arcade+2600 Era:
Atari wanted to use the vector technology to make places like pubs and pinball stores more interesting by having video games.
Atari wanted to innovate by bringing games to consumers, and they made one of the first video game consoles to consumers who just needed to buy the console and games separately.
Atari 5200/Video Game Crash of 1983:
After the major successes of Atari's 2600 and the amount of money that was being earned, Atari had accidently unleashed a beast where EVERY company that wasn't in gaming was attempting to make game consoles of their own. Biggest issue during this time was that companies started to switch from QUALITY OVER QUANTITY to QUANTITY OVER QUALITY.
This reason is what lead to the Video Game Crash of 1983 where people stopped buying games due to the fact the quality of most games were crap, with the face of the Crash being E.T. The extraterrestrial.
Atari also made an oof with the 5200 because of bad decisions by higher ups that wanted to remove the ability of Backwards Compatibility (IRONIC that this is still an issue to this day, seriously screw you SONY and NINTENDO), and they just didn't know what they needed to do in order to make an upgrade.
7200/Lynx/800:
Atari started to get some steam again after they made the 7200 which was by far a superior console to the 2600, and even had the ability to play 2600 (for 5200 you needed an adapter) the 7200 had a varity of new games and fun remake ports of old games however since the damage was done because of the VGC 1983, Atari never really recovered.
Atari did attempt to compete with Nintendo in terms of it's Handheld market by releasing a GameBoy competitor the Atari lynx with a variety of games, but never reached the level of the Gameboy, and sat in 3rd place behind the Game Gear.
Atari tried to get into the computer market by making the Atari 400/800 Computers in order to compete with other computer sellers, mainly apple. A lot of commercials showed how the Atari 800 was a better computer, even though really it just played games that happen to use an interface like that of computers, but still was worth using for the most part.
Jaguar:
Here's when Atari essentially stopped being innovative and resorted to just making a console for it's last legs, essentially the Atari Jaguar was a console attempting to compete with that of the Genesis and SNES and while did have 1 or 2 compelling games, for the most part the console felt like a lesser of the 2. The console attempted to plant it self as the first 64-bit system, at a time where Sega and Nintendo were barely scrapping into the 32bit era, and infact failed in that era with the 32X add on for Sega, and Virtual Boy for Nintendo. The whole "64-bit" thing was apart of a "DO THE MATH" slogan where a bunch of parts were essentially slapped into the thing to make it somehow add up to 64, event though it was clearly 32 bit.
The Atari Jaguar just seemed to want to copy that of famous IPS from Nintendo, in terms of having it's own Mario Kart clone called "ATARI KART" featuring the Bear from Crystal Castles as the mascot. Another example was with Cybermorph which feels sort of like a star fox clone with more of an open area to explore freely except the controls are bad, and theres a creepy green bald lady head that asks
"where did you learn to fly?"
The Atari Jaguar was a flop and had Atari have the rest of it's history as a publisher and developer of certain games but they were done.
Through the years they've been sold off and bought by other companies, and while they do continue to make some games, their no where near at the level they once were.
Atari VCS and beyond: Atari in 2021 released the Atari VCS which was essentially a console that played classic Atari games in a more modern updated console that looked like their original classic woodgrain Atari 2600. It had the ability to be able to use emulators and had it's own controller which clearly was a ripoff of an xbox controller but considering that 3rd party/1st party controllers that were bluetooth were able to be connected it's fine for the most part.
Though as of 2023, Atari has stopped production of the VCS due to not a lot of people caring to buy it and have suspended console manufactures from making more as their revenues have taken a 91% dip.
Still if you're someone who's interested in owning an Atari memorabilia I recommend buying a 7200, a 2600, a VCS (2021), or just buying this collection.
The historical aspect of this game features lots of documents, posters, ideas, pictures, and videos of Atari history, which some for the most part in terms of the video can be a bit biased. Some of the stories can be a bit negative to Atari's overall appearance in terms of their history but for the most part is very inspirational for up and coming game developers for both men and women in the field as many iconic ones were made by Atari.
I think the biggest oof was adding Cliff Bleszinski as a speaker in this game, as his whole video game history and be regarded on the behalf of his massive ego. He made Gears of War 1-3, and then decided to make a garbage game called Lawbreakers, and tried to trash on the players who game him the success in the first place.
This collection has great historical information and has a total of 103 games to play through. Some great, some good, some bad, some horrendous, and some straight up boring. They also feature reimagined games of iconic games. They also feature the fully finished reimagined version of Swordquest: Airworld.
The collection is both a fun memorabilia piece of art that everyone who wants to experience gaming history should own. Because of the amount of games (that fluctuates in terms of the their overall quality and whether or not they're fun) and the interesting behind the scenes history of Atari I'm giving it a 5 stars.
Atari 50 in terms of a educational side shows us the wonders of Atari becoming a powerhouse and planting the seeds of gaming for all of us to experience today. It show us the good and bad decision taken by a company how had high expectations, and while starting off humble and innovative, slowly descended into greed and ego.
The game company originally made games that were fun and innovative, any ridiculous idea they had in mind they would take it and make said games with it, a lot of them becoming iconic, and some.... not so much.
I think the biggest points in Atari's history are:
Arcade+2600 Era:
Atari wanted to use the vector technology to make places like pubs and pinball stores more interesting by having video games.
Atari wanted to innovate by bringing games to consumers, and they made one of the first video game consoles to consumers who just needed to buy the console and games separately.
Atari 5200/Video Game Crash of 1983:
After the major successes of Atari's 2600 and the amount of money that was being earned, Atari had accidently unleashed a beast where EVERY company that wasn't in gaming was attempting to make game consoles of their own. Biggest issue during this time was that companies started to switch from QUALITY OVER QUANTITY to QUANTITY OVER QUALITY.
This reason is what lead to the Video Game Crash of 1983 where people stopped buying games due to the fact the quality of most games were crap, with the face of the Crash being E.T. The extraterrestrial.
Atari also made an oof with the 5200 because of bad decisions by higher ups that wanted to remove the ability of Backwards Compatibility (IRONIC that this is still an issue to this day, seriously screw you SONY and NINTENDO), and they just didn't know what they needed to do in order to make an upgrade.
7200/Lynx/800:
Atari started to get some steam again after they made the 7200 which was by far a superior console to the 2600, and even had the ability to play 2600 (for 5200 you needed an adapter) the 7200 had a varity of new games and fun remake ports of old games however since the damage was done because of the VGC 1983, Atari never really recovered.
Atari did attempt to compete with Nintendo in terms of it's Handheld market by releasing a GameBoy competitor the Atari lynx with a variety of games, but never reached the level of the Gameboy, and sat in 3rd place behind the Game Gear.
Atari tried to get into the computer market by making the Atari 400/800 Computers in order to compete with other computer sellers, mainly apple. A lot of commercials showed how the Atari 800 was a better computer, even though really it just played games that happen to use an interface like that of computers, but still was worth using for the most part.
Jaguar:
Here's when Atari essentially stopped being innovative and resorted to just making a console for it's last legs, essentially the Atari Jaguar was a console attempting to compete with that of the Genesis and SNES and while did have 1 or 2 compelling games, for the most part the console felt like a lesser of the 2. The console attempted to plant it self as the first 64-bit system, at a time where Sega and Nintendo were barely scrapping into the 32bit era, and infact failed in that era with the 32X add on for Sega, and Virtual Boy for Nintendo. The whole "64-bit" thing was apart of a "DO THE MATH" slogan where a bunch of parts were essentially slapped into the thing to make it somehow add up to 64, event though it was clearly 32 bit.
The Atari Jaguar just seemed to want to copy that of famous IPS from Nintendo, in terms of having it's own Mario Kart clone called "ATARI KART" featuring the Bear from Crystal Castles as the mascot. Another example was with Cybermorph which feels sort of like a star fox clone with more of an open area to explore freely except the controls are bad, and theres a creepy green bald lady head that asks
"where did you learn to fly?"
The Atari Jaguar was a flop and had Atari have the rest of it's history as a publisher and developer of certain games but they were done.
Through the years they've been sold off and bought by other companies, and while they do continue to make some games, their no where near at the level they once were.
Atari VCS and beyond: Atari in 2021 released the Atari VCS which was essentially a console that played classic Atari games in a more modern updated console that looked like their original classic woodgrain Atari 2600. It had the ability to be able to use emulators and had it's own controller which clearly was a ripoff of an xbox controller but considering that 3rd party/1st party controllers that were bluetooth were able to be connected it's fine for the most part.
Though as of 2023, Atari has stopped production of the VCS due to not a lot of people caring to buy it and have suspended console manufactures from making more as their revenues have taken a 91% dip.
Still if you're someone who's interested in owning an Atari memorabilia I recommend buying a 7200, a 2600, a VCS (2021), or just buying this collection.
The historical aspect of this game features lots of documents, posters, ideas, pictures, and videos of Atari history, which some for the most part in terms of the video can be a bit biased. Some of the stories can be a bit negative to Atari's overall appearance in terms of their history but for the most part is very inspirational for up and coming game developers for both men and women in the field as many iconic ones were made by Atari.
I think the biggest oof was adding Cliff Bleszinski as a speaker in this game, as his whole video game history and be regarded on the behalf of his massive ego. He made Gears of War 1-3, and then decided to make a garbage game called Lawbreakers, and tried to trash on the players who game him the success in the first place.
This collection has great historical information and has a total of 103 games to play through. Some great, some good, some bad, some horrendous, and some straight up boring. They also feature reimagined games of iconic games. They also feature the fully finished reimagined version of Swordquest: Airworld.
The collection is both a fun memorabilia piece of art that everyone who wants to experience gaming history should own. Because of the amount of games (that fluctuates in terms of the their overall quality and whether or not they're fun) and the interesting behind the scenes history of Atari I'm giving it a 5 stars.
A simply gorgeous romp through the annals of Atari history, filled with candid interviews, as well as legendary, rare, and unreleased games, and plenty of fun surprises! Future compilations take note — this is how you do it!
This has to be the best retro compilation I've ever played. I thought I knew most of what there was to know about Atari, but this game proved me wrong. I couldn't have been more happy either. Digital Eclipse managed to dip up some truly fascinating tidbits of Atari history. 30 (!) pages of design documents for major havoc? Sign me up!
Rarely do we see compilations made with this much passion and true care. Most of them we get nowadays are nothing more than rom collections with basic menus and paltry options.
The games themselves in this collection range from masterworks to fascinating artifacts of a bygone era. Most of them (I would say the majority at least) are still incredibly fun to play. Sure I may not play cybermorph or Sprint 8 as much as I will say Tempest 2000, but having the chance to finally play those games for myself was still a treat. In fact this is the first time any Atari Jaguar games have been rereleased officially.
The presentation is damn near flawless. The arcade games are probably the standout in this regard. Presented in their original ratios with the cabinets faithfully reproduced. The same goes for the console games, only here the borders are television sets, computer monitors and more. You can also pause the game at any time to read the manual or arcade flyer (depending on the game of course).
Overall, Digital Eclipse has somehow outdone themselves yet again. All I can hope for now is for more game companies to give these talented folks free reign over their back catalogs.
Rarely do we see compilations made with this much passion and true care. Most of them we get nowadays are nothing more than rom collections with basic menus and paltry options.
The games themselves in this collection range from masterworks to fascinating artifacts of a bygone era. Most of them (I would say the majority at least) are still incredibly fun to play. Sure I may not play cybermorph or Sprint 8 as much as I will say Tempest 2000, but having the chance to finally play those games for myself was still a treat. In fact this is the first time any Atari Jaguar games have been rereleased officially.
The presentation is damn near flawless. The arcade games are probably the standout in this regard. Presented in their original ratios with the cabinets faithfully reproduced. The same goes for the console games, only here the borders are television sets, computer monitors and more. You can also pause the game at any time to read the manual or arcade flyer (depending on the game of course).
Overall, Digital Eclipse has somehow outdone themselves yet again. All I can hope for now is for more game companies to give these talented folks free reign over their back catalogs.