In today’s landscape, there’s an abundance of gaming options for players. The vast number of games available today results in gamers seeking out value in their purchases. One of the greatest values the industry has to offer is compilations. Groups of independently released games, compiled into one collection. While some offer a bare-bones experience, many compilations have been known to feature extra content and unlockables. Atari and Digital Eclipse’s freshly released compilation, Atari 50, seeks to not only supply a vast collection of playable games but also honor their 50-year lineage!
50 Years of Atari
Atari 50 is not only a curation of games but a commemoration of five decades of the Atari brand. From their arcade roots to their last home console the Atari Jaguar, Atari 50 is more a celebration of the company’s legacy. The collection is packed with over 100 games, many of which were either previously locked to older hardware or had never been released at all. These inclusions result in Atari 50 becoming an important piece of preservation history. Games thought to be lost to time, can now be enjoyed in a much more accessible way.
Massive Library of Games
This collection features 103 games, ranging from early the 70s arcade to the ill Atari Jaguar. The library holds essential Atari staples, such as Pong, Breakout, and Centipede; games that would help pioneer the industry. These games are played via emulation; however, they function exactly as expected. Some games in the collection are found multiple times, due to receiving multiple console adaptations. This includes titles such as Asteroids and Millipede, which saw a release in arcades as well as multiple console ports.
Game Library Menu
Gaps In The Timeline
Atari 50 holds a content-heavy library, however, the arcade offerings leave a bit to be desired. The arcade games featured were all produced in, or prior to, the year 1984. This was due to Atari internally splitting into two separate entities; Atari Corporation, which oversaw the home console and personal computer market, and Atari Inc later renamed Atari Games, which continued to produce their arcade releases. The decision to not include licensed titles such as Pac-Man or Star Wars make sense, but not including well-known hits such as Gauntlet or Paper Boy seems like a missed opportunity.
Unreleased Rarities
While most of Atari 50 is made up of retro classics, some of the coolest inclusions are previously unreleased games. These range from the unreleased arcade title Maze Invaders to unreleased Atari 2600 prototypes of Realsports Basketball and Saboteur. The collection also features some more oddities; Including the 2007 Atari 800 homebrew ABBUC Software contest winner Yoomp! The majority of Atari 50’s catalog is available right out of the gate; however, 5 games are locked. These games are accessed via the Atari Games Library menu, however, they are locked away. These titles are identified with a retro Atari confidential document. Clicking any of these locked games will reveal a hint on how to unlock them. This is done by completing specific goals within other Atari titles.
New-Releases
Atari 50 also features seven “Reimagined” titles created by developer Digital Eclipse, exclusively for this collection. These reimagined titles modernize Atari classics with new visuals and tweaked controls. These reimaginings are unfortunately not created equally. Titles, such as Haunted Houses, actually feel as if they were built from the ground up, whereas others such as Yar’s Revenge Enhanced, are essentially the original release with a fresh coat of paint.
Haunted Houses
Game-Changing Feature
While Atari 50 is a compilation of games at heart, the line-up also features an interactive timeline. This timeline is split into 5 sections, each exploring different key points in Atari’s history. These range from their arcade origins to the recent 2020 Atari VCS revival. Each of these timelines feature text descriptions of each event, as well as era-specific product design documents, adverts, and promotional artwork.
Deep Dive Documentary
Also spread throughout the timelines is an hour’s worth of documentary-style interviews. These feature some of the games’ designers, developers, and other known entities in the gaming industry. This footage gives players an inside look at the happenings of Atari during some of its most controversial moments. This includes employee drug usage in the late 1970s, to the video game crash of 1983, all from the perspective of those who were physically there. There is plenty of cursing and “real talk”, which shows that these individuals are not afraid to speak on the truths of the past.
The Timeline Is Key
The documentary footage is best experienced in order while following the timeline. Playing the games through the timeline is also highly recommended, as players can view documentary footage and design documents in succession. The interactive experience Atari 50 placed onto their timeline feature is an exceptional way for gaming historians to brush up on their Atari knowledge. For those less interested in Atari’s legacy, the games can all be accessed via the Game Library menu. That said, the experience is heightened through the timeline. The timeline allows for a greater appreciation of each entry and grants more perspective on the hardware’s limitations.
Timeline: Arcade Origins
A Stylistic Collection
Atari 50 presents itself in a very stylized way. Each of the menus is presented with vivid colors, lots of text explanation, and a variety of product footage to overlay in the background. Menu animations are genuinely pleasing to the eyes and liven up the experience. Many of the playable games feature 3D recreations of their original boxes, which players can move around in a 360-degree environment. Throughout the timeline, there is a music track playing in the background. While there’s generally nothing wrong with the track itself, the fact that it’s the only song to pick from is a bit of a letdown. Adding in a different track, for each of the 5 timelines, would have diversified the soundtrack a bit, as most of the games featured in the collection don’t actually contain any music themselves.
Emulation With Options
The games themselves are presented via emulation. That said, the collection does offer up some added visual options. For starters, the game’s aspect ratio can be adjusted. These options range from original resolution, Fullscreen, and widescreen. Each game also features a border, that correlates to either that game’s specific platform or the game itself. Arcade games feature marquee artwork that simulates the actual cabinets. Most of the console games have box-art-inspired backgrounds, with some exceptions. Home computer and handheld games feature recreations of their respective platform. All the retro titles also feature either an LCD or TV filter, depending on the original console of release.
Realsports: Boxing
Custom Controls
In addition to the different graphical options, Atari 50 also gives players a fully mappable control scheme. Each game can be custom-tailored to your specific playstyle. Unfortunately, however, some of the included titles were designed with Atari’s Joystick and Paddle controllers. Replacing the Paddle’s 330-degree rotating wheel with contemporary controller joysticks results in some of the selection not feeling very intuitive to play. Atari should have released some retro-style controllers to coincide with Atari 50’s release. Special controllers would have made the experience that much more authentic.
Slight Delays
Atari 50 has an exceptional presentation; however, it is not without its issues. The documentary footage, which is highly informative and entertaining, has some performance issues. Upon starting some of the clips, some of the audio and video would stutter, almost as if it was having issues loading. Many of the images on the timeline also take a moment to load in properly. When sliding through artwork galleries, images will appear blurry for a couple of seconds, before sharpening up. While this may come off as a nitpick, it does affect the game’s overall presentation, as it can be a bit jarring to have these types of stutters and delays. These issues occur both online and offline, leading to the belief that the issue might lie within the software itself. This minor issue could be corrected with a day 1 patch, although it is definitely not game-breaking by any means.
Closing Thoughts
With over a hundred different games to choose from, Atari 50 features a fairly robust catalog of games. While licensed games were understandably omitted, the decision to leave out many of their mid to late-eighties arcade hits was a bold decision. With that said, Atari 50 is still a fantastic package. It presents itself as an anniversary celebration of the Atari brand and hits the mark in full force! Everything from the industry-leading interviews, previously unseen design documents, to reinvented modern versions, prove just how much passion and care went into the creation of Atari 50. Atari 50 is a must-own for retro enthusiasts, gaming historians, and anyone interested in learning about the video game industry’s infancy stages!
Physical copies of Atari 50 are available today on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, and PC. Check out Atari’s official website for information on where to order a physical edition. Digital copies are also available now on the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Network, Microsoft Store, Steam, and Atari VCS.
*A digital code was provided for the purpose of this review.*
