Usually, when it comes to retro gaming compilations we tend to see two schools of thought: quality or quantity. The former usually consist of a modest helping of games, but each is given lots of care and attention and supported with heaps of extra content. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection and the recent SNK 40th Anniversary Collection are good examples of this, with their massive curated art archive sections.
Then there’s the latter, which tend to do away with flashiness in favour of jamming as many games in there as possible. Sega Mega Drive Classics falls into its category, with its no-frills helping of 51 games, and it’s fair to say Atari Flashback Classics doesn’t just fall into it too, it leaps in screaming at the top of its lungs.
You see, there are no fewer than 150 games in this one, easily making it the biggest retro compilation ever on any system. That’s because it actually takes three separate Xbox One and PS4 releases – Atari Flashback Classics Vol 1, 2 and 3 – and crams them all into one 356MB package. “Hang on,” you may be asking. “It’s got 150 games and it’s only 356MB?” Well, don’t forget these are games from the dawn of the video game industry we’re talking about.
The ton and a half of games on offer here cover three different formats. There are 32 Atari arcade games, 102 titles from the iconic Atari 2600 (originally known as the Atari VCS) and 16 games released for the more powerful Atari 5200. Some games turn up in duplicate or even triplicate across these formats; the likes of Asteroids, Centipede and Missile Command are available to play in their arcade, 2600 and 5200 versions, for example.
While 150 games sounds like great value for money at first, once you start working your way through them it becomes clear that many of them have aged incredibly badly. We aren’t talking NES levels here, either; the majority of those games can still provide plenty of entertainment if you take their age into account. Atari's offerings feel like barely playable cave paintings in comparison.
While many of the games available in this compilation were released in the early ‘80s, a large number of them – particularly some of the arcade ones – are from the 1970s. You’ve even got Pong in there, which is 46 years old. We’re all for a bit of vintage gaming goodness, but when you’re playing a game that’s so old a total of 54 countries have been formed since it was released (seriously), there comes a point where it’s difficult to squeeze any more fun out of it.
Many of them have awkward control methods, too. At the time, these extremely early days of gaming were an exciting hotbed of experimentation; developers weren’t just laying the groundwork for the games themselves, they were also trying to establish the definitive way to play them. As a result, you had all manner of trackballs, analogue knobs and joysticks doing the rounds back in the day, not to mention the Atari 5200’s bizarre 12-button controller which looked more like a telephone handset with a joystick on the top.
This makes for some fairly hit-and-miss controls on this Switch collection. The joystick-based games all work perfectly well, but the analogue ones can be iffy. There’s an option to adjust sensitivity but despite a lot of tweaking we could never settle on anything that felt comfortable enough; an analogue stick is fine in most situations but it’s a different type of control to an analogue dial or trackball and so playing the likes of Super Breakout and Crystal Castles can be awkward. Thankfully, handheld mode adds touchscreen controls, letting you slide your finger around the screen instead; this works much better.
Those 5200 games are a far bigger problem, though. Because of its bizarre controller, which had more buttons than the Cadbury factory at full production, some of them are played in an extremely awkward manner with a column of buttons down the left-hand side of the screen that have to be activated with the touchscreen, or by browsing through them with the D-Pad. Games like Miniature Golf become an exercise in frustration as a result.
Let’s focus on the positives for a minute. There are still some iconic games in here that remain playable to this day. The likes of Asteroids, Yar’s Revenge, Tempest, Centipede and Gravitar will still keep you entertained as long as you can see past their primitive visuals. These are the games that prove that age-old claim that it doesn’t matter how a game looks as long as it’s still fun to play. The addition of online leaderboards is also a welcome touch, even if they’re pretty sparsely populated at the moment (we’re currently 23rd in the world at Millipede, which definitely isn’t justified).
The emulation is flawless too, though to be fair we’d expect nothing less given that there’s probably more complicated tech to be found in an amiibo (and not even a good amiibo, a rubbish one like Daisy). There’s an optional scanline filter, you can choose to add an authentic glowing effect for the early vector-based arcade games, and any coin-ops that had a vertical screen (like Centipede) open in handheld mode by asking if you want to play vertically. Everything runs like it’s supposed to, occasionally questionable controls aside. And the fact that every 2600 and 5200 game includes a scan of its manual is a real life-saver when it comes to some of the most abstract games, many of which will have you scratching your head just figuring out how to start them.
The problem is, even though there are 150 games in here there are still major gaps. You have to bear in mind this is a compilation of Atari games, not games on Atari systems. As such, some of the most famous (and infamous) third-party 2600 and 5200 titles are notably absent. Granted, licensing issues mean some of them – The Empire Strikes Back, the notorious E.T. – were never going to be on here anyway, but it’s a shame deals couldn’t have been stuck with Activision, Bandai Namco and Square Enix to get the likes of Pitfall, Pac-Man and Space Invaders on there.
Instead, filling those gaps are some truly hopeless titles that nobody cares about and are clearly just there to make up the numbers. If the thought of playing the likes of Slot Machine, Video Checkers and Basic Math gets you worked up into a frenzy then you should probably turn yourself in at the nearest police station, because chances are you aren’t safe to be around people.
Conclusion
Quantity over quality has never been exhibited so perfectly as it is here. Having 150 games is undoubtedly impressive, but when the vast majority of them are barely decipherable, let alone playable, you’re probably only really left with around 15 titles that will hold your attention for more than a minute. While the contribution these games made to the evolution of gaming in its early days can’t be denied, many of them are stepping stones that we don’t need to walk over again. Had there been some sort of museum mode that helped give more context to each title’s place in the history of gaming that would’ve been much better, but as it is you’re left with a huge stack of games of which around 90 percent just won’t hold your attention, no matter how much of a retro fan you are.
Comments 121
I only consider buying collections with 151 games or more.
I'm as nostalgic as anyone, but there comes a time when it just has to be said. An Atari 2600 game collection is not worth purchasing. It was wonderful for its time, but it does not hold up well. I really wish these collections would focus more on the arcade games than the console games.
No love for the 7800?
I'm afraid I have to disagree. Calling Atari games "barely playable cave paintings" is just ridiculous. Yes, they are archaic, but there are plenty of Atari games like Missile Command, Breakout and Centipede which (barring control issues) are entirely playable today and are still fun. I could understand if the criticism was lobbed at the controls being off, or the emulation being inaccurate, or the collection being overpriced, but complaining that the games included are too old?
Wish they did this with some Commodore 64 games, or even a Dizzy Collection, Atari 2600 is just a bit too old for many people.
Atari has always been beyond my retro tolerance. I love games predating my time, but Atari is too blocky, too simple for my taste. I'm sorry. Although I respect them and own an Atari 2600 given by a friend, who in turn inherited it from his father.
But I was going to buy this compilation anyway... mostly for the achievements and for the chance to be able to say I tried them. And for achievements, you know, go away from Nintendo.
Well, I have positive things to say too: they released the 150 games together, not in 3 hard to find volumes like in the more powerful systems, which is nice, and given the really old nature of these games it's probably better to play them in short bursts, so... Switch on the go.
Though I'm not familiar with the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200, I am familiar with the few arcade games they had available and those were still fun to play through especially on the go on the Switch. I say it all depends on if you still want those nostalgic factor. I buy this for the arcade games and a chance to play those older titles from the 2600 and 5200 but third party titles like Pitfall, Pac-Man, and Burger Time getting the axe here may be a disappointment for some but to me they're no big deal.
But does it have ET???
@fortius54 There's 32 arcade games on it, to be fair. That's the main reason I want it (if they bother releasing this in Europe).
Complaining about Pong! That puts the review in doubt for me, as this game is enjoyed by anyone (literally anyone can play without help, from the start). It is a classic, and yes crude by today's standard, but it is still enjoyable (it is to me).
That sad, there are things in this collection that just don't need to be replayed. But it is that way with all Atari compilations.
And while I normally don't like to complain about price (I really don't), I do think this is a tad overpriced for what it is. I will buy on sale.
@ReaderRagfihs
Yeah I agree. I'm old enough where I started gaming with these games back in the day. So I'll probably pick this up just to play here and there for nostalgia's sake. But I guess I can definitely see where gamers who began with say N64 & PlayStation would have a harder time getting into many of these games.
@nessisonett
That would be funny, and awesome, if it did have E.T. on it. And it would probably garner them a few more sales just from people wanting to see what all the fuss is over that game.
@rdrunner1178 they can always update the game and included as DLC so never say never. And Hello to reviewer you want a Atari from the 80's to have upgrade graphics and sound to match 2018 games. That is why this review couldn't be worse of a review.
If this was only one similarly ugly looking contemporary indie game, it would get an 8.
"The emulation is flawless too, though to be fair we’d expect nothing less given that there’s probably more complicated tech to be found in an amiibo"
Rather ignorant statement, actually. No offense intended, but emulation isn't easy nor is it solely based on power. Read this article from 2005 from the current head of Code Mystics, back when the original Digital Eclipse studio had just wrapped up Atari Anthology. Explains well why the Atari 2600 was such a complicated beast to accurately emulate.
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130598/back_to_the_classics_perfecting_.php?page=1
Poor review in general. It's no sin to admit that there's a lot of material here that isn't great or doesn't translate well to modern controllers, but to not be able to see the numerous gems scattered through this lineup tells me you weren't the right reviewer for the job. [Edit: And I should add that that's no crime; We all have different taste and I know for an example that even if I was as skilled at writing reviews as you are, I'm not the right person to review a fighting game or a JRPG.]
I have the PC version and apart from the arcade games (which would be worth the price of admission for me), there are Atari 2600 games worth playing: Haunted House and Adventure are good (even apart from their historical significance) and if you have friends or kids around you can have hours of fun playing "Combat" (we did). It is a shame there are no Activision or Imagic games (Demon Attack is rad) but what can you do.
Well excuse you.
(Walks away with Daisy amiibo)
@Atariboy With respect – and I appreciate that given your username I'm not going to change your opinion – I own an Atari 2600 and am well versed in its library. The review points out that there are indeed some games in there that remain playable to this day, but in my opinion (and that's all reviews are) the majority of these 150 games just don't hold up four decades later.
@scully1888 And I've already made it clear that I agree that there's a lot of not so great games in this collection (And quite a few worthwhile games that simply either don't translate well to Nintendo Switch controllers or require multiple players to enjoy and are thus unlikely for most players to be fully enjoyed).
But even when you've removed all of that, it's a big disservice to this library to state that you're "probably only really left with around 15 titles that will hold your attention for more than a minute".
You honestly couldn't even pay me to play these 'games'.
This collection was always going to be hard to review as personal views and “tolerances” would play a big part. Heck I have trouble sometimes playing NES games. Oldest console games I can play are some of the late NES and Gameboy games plus TG16 games. However its not just above; I also have trouble with certain 3D polygon PS1 games.
Atari games I see as curios; I don’t doubt the influence they had but playing them I tend to get bored quickly.
Asteroids and Tempest are among my favourite games of all time. I am so tempted...
I am 15 and bought an Atari flashback and had a blast with half of the games! Adventure and Haunted House in particular I would recommend! There are some really good games here!
Look past the bloated collection Atari jammed in here and you'll find there are real gems.
Most of the arcade games are great. Avoid just about all the sports games.
Do play Aquaventure, Air Raiders, Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Super Breakout, Millipede, Missile Command, Tempest, Warlords, Fatal Run, Red Baron, Yar's Revenge, and a few more gems here and there.
The Swordquest (manuals aka comic books) are also fun reads.
Worth 40 bucks.
I have the two DS game collections and am content with those.
Quality arcade ports with the controls mapped well would interest me the most.
It's much better value than the three seperate volumes XBox and PS4 users were sold. Pretty sure they're about $30 each at Target
I've little experience with Atari games, but it seems to me the lack of Activision games hurts the collection in the same way absent Rare games would hurt an N64 Classic mini console.
I couldn't resist those vector games though; to me the likes of Tempest and Major Havoc look as cool as if I had been around to see them in the early 80's.
My dad bought an Atari home with pong and I haven't looked back. I wonder how many hours I have spent on gaming since then?
I love the Atari 2600 but the list of games in this collection is laughably bad.
The GBA, on the other hand, has a phenomenal Activision Anthology that I put many hours into.
Does anyone know when the Uk digital release is?
Main problem with this and other compilations like the Namco one there's too many games from their early years like late 70's or early 80s
While it's hard to get some of the better Atari 2600 games, there's a ton of better aged atari games from the late 80's "or say 84 to 90" alot of them haven't been seen in a compilation which would make it more valuable
I would love a compilation of Atari's 7800 which is more like a NES Atari Lynx and their 3D arcade games then more Atari 2600 stuff, same with SEGA I want to see more of their SEGA Model 1,2,3 games Virtua Racing,Daytona,Scud Racer from the 90's
I think it's a bad idea to review this as anything else than what it tries to be: a collection of video game history. All those games that aren't fun to play are obviously not included because they're fun to play, they're there for historic reasons. It's like complaining about the lack of machine guns in a Zelda game.
@EXP Indeed. There should be two sides to this review really. One for those who know the games and thus talking about controls etc (as it does)
And another that is opinion based for newer gamers (who may play games for different reasons/in a different way?)
Videogames as a hobby is so strange compared to other hobbies what with the vast difference in opinions etc.
What’s the difference between old and classic? A classic still has value today. This is mostly old games
No Vanguard kills it for me.
It's strange that BattleZone is nowhere to be found, but it's sequel: "Red Baron" is. Some games have frame rate issues I hope they'll fix soon enough. The touchscreen controls need some work as well. It's not bad, it could just be better. 7.2/10.
Edit: 8/10 A solid collection. The Frame rate issue was fixed.
This is a perfectly fine collection of Atari games, but I don't understand why they can't be bothered to secure a license for some of the 3rd party classics like Pitfall. This is like the 10th time this collection has been released, yet they still can't manage to cough up an extra penny or whatever for licensing.
Aw cmon should be a 7 at least! The games are old yes but still many gems are included here especially the Arcade offerings, and play just as well today as back then. I admit there are some problems but I’m happy I can play a round of 5200 baseball with no issues! Overall You have to take these games for what they are...the beginnings of a giant industry we know and enjoy today!! 😊👍
No Pitfall? Lol, that's one of only a few reasons I was willing to attempt this, but no, I'm good. For what it's worth (and what it's NOT worth), I would be getting this collection just because, and unfortunately I don't have "just because" money at this time. I'd rather do like someone mentioned they would do, and that's find and build my own collection first. Cute, but this will be a hard pass for me now.
@GrailUK and River Raid! But I am not sure if it is presented in this collection.
@Chayshirin River Raid, Pitfall 2 etc were Activision, not Atari. So I guess we need a new Activision Anthology as their games in the 80's was some very well made stuff!
Personally, I always felt like the Atari was going too far backwards. It is well before my time, heck even the NES is just before my time and that is like a modern game console in comparison.
I remember back when I was a 10 year old with a sega master system I visited a friend who had an atari... A strangely boring afternoon and I never visited him again!
"Pong... Which is 46 years old." Holy crap! Ancient! Wait...
I turn 46 tomorrow!! The slow, inevitable march towards the grave is nearing it's end.
@sketchturner Good golly yes! All my favourite 2600 games were always Activision games. Even at the time I found Atari's first party games a bit humdrum. Every time they put out an Atari anthology for the next generation of hardware, I always find myself thinking "yeah, but I really wanted an Activision anthology..."
@NintendoNomad
Nah, Pong will live forever, man! ;D
There are some great 2600 games, just most of them not made by Atari. Combat is probably the best of the bunch IMO. If this anthology stripped out the utter crap titles, and licensed 3rd party greats, especially Activision, I’d be all over this in a flash
Loved me some Lunar Lander back in the day and look forward to playing it on Switch.
Looking forward to this,I could never afford the real one at the time but have happy memories playing at a friends after school,to be honest I would buy this for the few arcade versions alone!
I’m a sad man, but without the proper paddles...this is expected.
Midway arcade treasures please!
What has this site got against the NES? You rank it near the bottom of Nintendo's consoles and on this review take cheap shots suggesting it's library is unplayable these days.
Back to this game, most Atari games were third party affairs so unfortunately we are left with just the Atari made games which were hit and miss
The absence of River Raid and Pitfall makes me sad.
I rather like this collection, but it's definitely NOT what to recommend to people who aren't already enamored with Atari. I've been spending most of the time with the arcade games like Black Widow and Millipede, both of which totally rock, and I really like how they did the vector shaders. But them not licensing Activision and Imagic games, as well as an absence of licensing something like Berzerk, means a huge gaping hole in the 2600 section, making this more of an Atari Collection than a 2600 Collection. I'm also a bit baffled to why they had half-working prototypes like Tempest and crap like Radar Lock but no Solaris, one of the greatest things on 2600 that they even own the rights too (afaik)! Get it for the arcade games, not for the 2600 games.
I will buy this eventually because even though the games are......well......not the greatest, one of the best memories I have is opening an Atari 2600 as a 5 year old and playing games for hours with my family. Yes it's nostalgic for me and I'm good with that.
Yes, not all the games on the collection are unplayable. But there are some that are classics, and what is great for me is the portability of the switch. You can just play this on the go.
No Activision, no buy.
I'll consider the collection at $20.
I want to see them bring out an Atari ST emulator so that I can do my best British accent impersonation while dolling out breakbeat hardcore jams. Switch in hand, travelling the M25, “Nintendo is MASSIVE! Lord ha’ mercy!”
All kidding aside, $40 for 32 Arcade games ain’t toooo bad.
And, pretty much, this is one of a thousand million Atari comps (since the early nineties), depending on impulsive, brand recognition based, last minute stucking stuffers. So, it is what it is. And the consumer knows what it is,
Nonethless, how does one give this a lower score than the Sega only Sega collection that just came out? The Genesis colour pallette and sound engine were horrifying.
Naff games are naff. Have an unhappy Christmas and a Crappy New Year - Atari
PS: Would anybody like to see where I hidden my large Centipede?
@Bermanator I personally love Red Baron. If you're perhaps not too familiar with it and have formed that opinion after playing it here, I'd give it a second look after adjusting the sensitivity on the controls. On Atari Vault and the PS4/XB1 versions, it was near unplayable without adjustments. I was hoping Code Mystics had fined tuned the defaults for the Switch, but perhaps they didn't.
As for why Battlezone on the same hardware is absent, Atari SA was really struggling a few years ago and initiated an IP fire sale. They quickly had a change of heart and stopped scattering Atari's heritage to the winds, but not before several properties had been sold. This alas included Battlezone, which is now owned by Rebellion.
So that means the arcade classic with its twin stick controls that translate so brilliantly to modern console gamepads is absent here, as well as the excellent 2600 conversion. An unfortunate loss of what in the past was always a highlight of past compilations of Atari Inc's arcade/2600 heritage.
@SuperWeird AtGames has tried, but Activision so far has only been willing to play ball in the plug and play realm. But maybe down the road AtGames and Code Mystics can bring that catalog to the XB1/PS4/NS.
Much too small of a seller for today's Activision to consider contracting the development of and publishing themselves, even if it was kept a digital exclusive. So hopefully they become more welcoming to licensing out their heritage in time, since the last console Activision compilation on the PS2 is itself now classic gaming material to many gamers. We're long overdue for a modern version and I'm confident Code Mystics could do a great job at it, while AtGames involvement on the publishing side guarantees a physical release of it.
Imho those are the Atari Classics. That's it. Not so bad imho.
Does it support portrait screen orientation in docked mode?
I personally have no nostalgia at all for old school Atari games so this collection is pretty well worthless to me, I enjoy Namco classics like Galaga and Pac-Man and Dig Dug but that is where I more or less draw the line. Most of the old Atari games were far too simple to really sink your teeth into.
@WaveBoy yeah, the 80s we're kinda crazy. Glad I saw them (and the 70s) lol
@carlos82 I think you've misread. I wrote that "the majority of [NES] games can still provide plenty of entertainment if you take their age into account.
I love the NES and have just finished writing a 180,000-word book about its entire library, so I can assure you we aren't anti-NES
I guess I just cringe at the disrespect to the Atari 2600 games that were helping to invent home video gaming in contrast to the carnival-style quarter-munching arcade games. Games like Haunted House and Adventure are worth exploring and are rewarding beyond their game history significance. Good call on Yar's Revenge, and the others.
There's plenty to learn from all these games, and plenty of fun to be had, but it's true that most won't be able to look past the visuals, or get past initial impressions of the gameplay, or, unfortunately, be stuck with what typical game controllers have settled into and work with approximated controls that misrepresent the original games.
Many of the atari 2600 games have different modes making the gameplay very different, Yar's Revenge is best when you select 6 or 7, for instance, and it takes time to discover how some of the games play. When it was all you had the discovery was part of the enjoyment, now gamers expect much, much more hand holding. Which is fine.
Anyway, the emulation being good is an amazing achievement if true, so I'll have to look into this further.
(Really, I'm trying to save up for a good arcade cabinet style set of controls for the computer. I really want a good spinner for Tempest again, and Blasteroids, a good trackball for centipede, millipede, missile command, and Rampart.)
@ClassSonicSatAm agreed... There are some cool Atari arcade, lynx and other games worthwhile. I think I might get this collection later if the price drops on Amazon
Watched Soylent Green last night and one major scene included Compter Space in it's original curved white cabinet (the same as the Pong cabinets which were yellow). It had a main character and cool as Charlton Heston (Charlton Heston!) fawning over the game. Makes me realise we shouldn't dismiss such collections out of hand as they become important archival tools in the history of videogames. It's kinda like cinema and the resurgence of silent films on blu ray. Without such products 'crappy' titles can be lost. And while some may be 'crappy' they can often provide an ancestry on particular themes, genres and even specific games. I mean, how cool would it be to play Oregon Trail and drawing a line from that game to the likes of Red Dead, Skyrim, and Breath of the Wild? The fact that they added TATE and touchscreen also shows some thought and ingenuity went into making the game especially suited to Switch. Oh, and Soylent Green - Compter Space. First time an electronic arcade cabinet appeared on film? Possibly. Check out the movie anyways, it's beyond ace.
I have this collection — but then again, I remember the games.
So it is as much nostalgia value as anything else.
Many of them are barely playable today. But some are still quite enjoyable — at least for me.
I do respect others' opinions and realize why you might not like these. But I am glad it exists.
@ReaderRagfihs Especially from AtGames (although the newest Atari Flashback hardware does include Pitfall, so why not here then?)
@rdrunner1178 @ClassSonicSatAm Well, That’s funny because I find the color palette (and art direction) of Breakout is far nicer than some of those third party early 3D PS/SATURN/N64 games. Some if the Atari games still look very pleasing to the eye due to a clean image.
@scully1888 Probably because several games were only included to pad the total, and are more known for helping crash the videogame industry than for entertainment
@FX102A The key is to improve on HI-SCORE; if you’re not into that then, yeah, there’s not much point to Atari, or other old consoles. I love firing up my oscillating Vectrex late at night and just try to chip away at my previous best performances. Its screen has a soothing mechanical buzz.
Disappointed there’s no mention of motion controls to act like the Paddle Controllers. Seems like a lazy oversight of the porting team. Because yeah it’s very difficult to get the intended feel of Breakout without those.
@dew12333 Gaming is life
@NintendoNomad Enjoy it while it lasts! Play all the games
@Agent721 They could at least have tried to include motion controls fir something similar. They felt fantastic for BitTrip on Wii, just rolling the Wiimote forward and back and seeing the paddle slide in tandem felt intuitive and tactile. Although I’m not sure the JoyCon are as sensitive
@WaveBoy Speaking of YouTube: https://youtu.be/r7NJ9ylAhos
I completely understand where the reviewer and most of the audience is coming from, but also respectfully disagree with the review. If you are a child of the 70s and you remember getting the Atari VCS for Christmas back in the late 70s (as I do) than this is a collection that is absolutely fantastic. The box artwork and scans of the instruction manuals is awesome. The inclusion of many of the M Network games (these were the Atari games published by Mattel - Manufacturers of the rival and more powerful Intellivision) is also a major plus. For the right audience this game is a 10 (and far more entertainment packed into it than PlayStation Classic).
@scully1888 yeah looking back it seems I've misread it, I might have to check out this book of yours
This compilation is actually great. This is written by somebody who clearly has little love for Atari. I'll re-score it for them 8 GREAT! Seriously if you love Atari you will love this it's that simple. it's well put together, has a great interface and lots of stellar titles. I have a huge Atari collection and still play this on steam and now switch.
@Neopolss Lots of people sadly don't understand how amazing these ageing Atari games are. I just turned a friend to the joys of the 2600 and it's now pretty much all she plays. This compilation is fantastic. Funny how the separate versions all got great reviews on all the other platforms when released years ago as did the complete Steam version.
@Bunkerneath I wouldn't scoff at a Dizzy remake.
@Seacliff Vanguard is on the SNK Collection for Switch so check that out!! 😊
@scully1888 i still say a 5 was a bit harsh and I give it a 7.5. I obviously don’t know how old you are but this collection, with its problems acknowledged, regardless contains some of the greatest video games of all time! Asteroids/deluxe, centipede, millipede, missile command, air sea battle, circus Atari, Tempest, Black Widow, Liberator, Space Duel, Red Baron, Destroyer, Gravitar, Luner Lander, Major Havoc, Monte Carlo, Warlords, haunted house, maze craze, aqua venture, video pinball & Yars Revenge!! 5200 Baseball & Countermeasure, Tennis we’re totally playable and great games too!! These games alone are worth the price of admission!! Now...if I can only figure out how to start 5200 soccer and Star Raiders!! Star Raiders btw is another awesome game just haven’t figured out how to start it! Lol - Cheers 😊
@YANDMAN On the contrary, I do love Atari, as proven by this tweet https://twitter.com/scully1888/status/1073923254274924544?s=19
I own an Atari 2600 and a bunch of games, and some of them indeed remain fun to this day. But a lot of the games in this compilation aren't those games, in my opinion.
@joey302 While you're of course entitled to have a different opinion to mine, the very fact that you can't figure out how start some of the games sort of proves the point I was making in the review. I can't give a compilation a glowing review if some of its games are borderline unplayable.
Love Atari it’s where my love for gaming started. Have a lot of Atari stuff, just bought the Asteroids 1Up mini cab it’s gorgeous:)
@Antraxx777 Forever!
@WaveBoy thanks for that nostalgia trip! Definitely agree that things were much simpler and life seemed slower then. That's how life works, I suppose. Everything changes in the name of progress.
@scully1888 So you are reviewing a game to present a supposedly open minded view that could then help others in making a choice as whether to buy this or not but you've slammed it because these games don't appeal to you personally. Congratulations.
@YANDMAN That's what a review is. Like I say, I love Atari but if I didn't have fun playing most of the games on here then I'm not going to pretend I did just to please Atari fans.
@scully1888 Yeah you're still completely missing the point. Nobody would expect you to say you liked soemthing you didnt to please somebody hence 'impartial' . That is not in any way the same as panning something because you persobnally didn't like the chosen games. I guess the easiest way is just not to read anything you write.
I can't argue with your score of a 5 because maybe the controls are gamebreaking, I haven't actually played this release myself and this isn't anything personal against you but this is the latest example of the sad state of video game reviews.
Attached below are Nintendo Life scores for some of the games that were considered groundbreaking upon release and were talked about for the entire span of the system as great games. The crazy part is that these scores are at or below the scores of whatever random indie games are released every week on the Switch - many of which are immediately forgotten about.
Scores from this site:
Metroid - 6
Zelda II - 7
Legend of Zelda - 8
Final Fantasy - 7
Super Mario Bros. - 9
Super Mario Bros. 2 - 8
Super Mario Bros. 3 - 10
Kid Icarus - 6
Punch-Out!! - 8
Super C - 7
Ninja Gaiden - 8
Double Dragon II - 4
Mega Man - 7
Mega Man 2 - 9
Mega Man 3 - 9
Castlevania - 8
Castlevania III - 9
There are a couple reasons for this. One is that video game criticism can't seem to keep great critics like movies and music can. Because of this there are no gatekeepers to remind us that whatever is shiny and new isn't automatically better than the classics. It would be laughable to call every random new music and movie on par with the all-time great movies and albums but that is very commonplace in video game criticism.
The second problem is that video game critics have relationships (whether it be personal or just getting free download codes) with all of these companies so they don't want to rate their games too low whereas they have no relationship with whoever made old games so they feel much more free to grade games lower.
Finally, all of these old games are getting graded by today's standards. The fact that you feel a game is unplayable and therefore devoid of value just because you couldn't figure it out in a minute says alot. Many NES titles get lowered because they are difficult or obtuse. Just because gamers right now have to have their hands held so much doesn't mean that is the right way for games to be played - it is just what the majority prefers right now. Criticism should be about reviewing art in a timeless manner as opposed to in the moment at least that's how the great critics in other genres review art.
I'm almost tempted to get this for Adventure, Haunted House, Night Driver, Crystal Castles, and a few others... but the lack of River Raid, Q-bert, Frogger, and a few other games I can't remember off of the top of my head that I played to death when I was 5 years old makes me feel like it probably isn't worth it overall, especially since there are like 125 games on there I've never played. Maybe when I've finished the other 150 games on my Switch AND it goes on sale...
@bojackson With the greatest of respect, I completely disagree and also object to your insinuation that we score games high because we "have relationships" with companies and want to make sure they keep giving us code. How do you think we got this game, which I just gave a 5?
And of course these old games are being graded by today's standards. I haven't polled all of Nintendo Life's readers but I'd imagine the percentage with a time machine is fairly low, so when I'm reviewing a game I'm basing on how fun it is to play in 2018, not 1985.
At the end of the day, anyone old enough to remember these games in the first place already knows them and therefore already knows whether they're going to buy them. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and the game you loved when you were eight years old will still keep you entertained today because it conjures up all those memories of your childhood.
These reviews aren't for those people: as the Atari fans in the comments make clear, they're going to buy this compilation no matter what score we give it and they're going to presumably love the games in there because they remind them of the first time they played them many decades ago. And that's perfectly fine.
But this review is aimed at everyone, including people who are discovering these games for the first time. And with the greatest respect to these games – which helped shape the industry as we know it today – two white lines hitting a square at each other just doesn't cut it for today's gamers.
Long story short, if you played these games back in the day and loved them back then, then of course feel free to add a few points onto this score. But even though I too loved playing the 2600 back in the day, I have to review these games based on how much I enjoy them in 2018, and the answer is "not very much".
I hope that helps, and please don't allege again that I'm somehow out to please publishers without any evidence of that.
My comments weren't directed at you but to video game criticism as a whole. I have no idea if you personally ever feel tugged to score a game higher due to relationships but I do know for a fact that it happens and the data suggests that it happens on this site. Nothing unusual, though, it's an industrywide problem.
I also don't need you to tell me that you disagree with me that games should be scored by today's standards because that's what all video game websites do. I'm stating that is a problem.
I guess the key for me is, when Citizen Kane gets released on Bluray critics don't review it on whether the 15 year old neighbor or random soccer mom will like it, but rather on its merits as a film. But currently that is the opposite of how video game criticism works.
A great movie remains great regardless of the year, the same should be true for a video game. If it was amazing in 1988 it isn't suddenly "Not bad" or "Good" just because it is't made the way current games are made.
We should be teaching the next generation why they are great instead of always using the word "nostalgia" to explain why anyone would find them good.
What we need is Intellivision Lives!, baby.
@bojackson That's because of two reasons:
1) Video games and movies are two completely different mediums. Movies are narrative-driven and linear and so a compelling plot and brilliant cinematography will always be appreciated no matter how old the film is. A video game's main property is the fact it's interactive: if the mechanics used to play it aren't as compelling as those of games released today then it just doesn't hold up by comparison.
2) Even if they were comparable, you're comparing two completely different eras of each medium. The first movies were screened in 1895 while Citizen Kane was released 46 years later: that means it benefited from nearly half a century of progress while the medium matured. Many of these Atari games – especially Pong – appeared at literally the beginning of video gaming.
Movies took 46 years to reach Citizen Kane. Video games took 45 years to reach Breath Of The Wild. A more appropriate comparison would be comparing the games in this collection with the Lumiere's films from the late 19th century, like the one with the train pulling into the station. Mind-blowing at the time, but primitive today.
And once again, when you make insinuations about games journalism as a whole then you absolutely are directing them at me.
nothing can be officially confirmed without feedback from @the_shpydar
thats how this goes.
@scully1888 I really appreciate you taking the time to discuss this topic with me and I do mean that sincerely. As someone who is part of the machine I'm not really trying to convince you per se but just expressing my opinion on an issue that I am passionate about.
1. I understand the video game industry has decided that their medium is somehow different from all other art forms; I just happen to disagree with that opinion. I feel like that opinion combined with an insistence on whatever is newest is "the greatest ever" is part of what causes outsiders not to take video game criticism seriously.
2. It is important to remember that although Pong feels like the beginning of video games; they actually date back to 1940. I would say that from that 1940 up to the mid 70s is like the primitive era of film that you are referring to with the train pulling into the station, etc..
I think of Atari 2600 like the early talkies as it comes 37 years afterwards, which would be 1932 in film. The NES would come 45 years afterwards, which would place it right in line with Citizen Kane so I would say that my comparison does hold up.
Either way silent films like Metropolis, The General or Safety Last are not going to be enjoyed by most teenagers or even most adults but that doesn't cause film critics to rate them lower than the latest Transformers movie; they still get rated as 4 star all-time classics.
Music critics are the same way even though music is vastly different from film. Even though kids and many adults may not appreciate Beethoven or even The Beatles music critics don't suddenly rate them lower than Justin Bieber.
But in the video game industry a game as mediocre as Kirby Star Allies or as unmemorable as 50 indie titles released in 2018 will all suddenly get higher scores than games that absolutely stunned the world upon their release.
I guess I wish that video game critics treated their audiences as grown up as critics in every other art form do, no matter how different each art form is. I didn't always love Metropolis, Orson Welles, Beethoven and The Beatles. I just kept reading about how amazing they are (in the present tense, not "were" in the past tense). Because of this I took the time to get used to a different way that art was made and grew to love them. Critics in video games don't carry that torch for the older content in same way.
Games such as Haunted House, Adventure, Asteroids and Tempest are far more than 2 white lines and a ball and if newcomers were taught that then they would take the time to discover them.
Instead they are repeatedly told that you will only enjoy them if you have nostalgia goggles so they never give them the time that budding art lovers will give to the old greats of other art forms.
Anyway, although it may seem like I am ripping into you or this site; I truly do love this website and look forward to reading all the content you provide. Thanks for listening to my rant. I truly find your thoughts on this topic, as an insider, extremely interesting.
Wow, apologies to all for that brick of text. I think I'll just go take some deep breaths in the corner...
@ogo79
This is correct.
However, this review, and most of the comment section, is far too annoying for me to sully my time with it.
That said, i will eventually buy this once there is a sale, despite the fact that i own approximately 17 different collections or versions of pretty much all of these games, including the original carts.
They need to bring out an Activision Collection !!! I would definitely buy that day one !!!!!
Im definitely in the camp of appreciating the history but not finding many of these games fun. Even as a kid, playing on my cousin's 2600 felt like a step back after the nes. I can see how others may disagree with the reviewers opinion though. But not really sure how you can argue it's a bad review. It's an opinion! Which is all it can be!
@the_shpydar
well there it is folks. bald is proper.
@Atariboy I played it years ago on Atari Anthology for the XBox. My Dad didn't like Red Baron either.
I demand an Activision Anthology port for the Switch. This time, it should have HD manuals, ALL of the Activision commercials (as you can literally find them all on YouTube), the ability to play 2 Player games in Handheld Mode, touch screen controls for Dial games like Kaboom and Enduro, and a way, Way, WAY larger 80's soundtrack.
@Lord And Intellivision Lives! & Activision Anthology.
@Bermanator Red Baron is my favorite game in the collection.
I picked this up yesterday and I've noticed that a lot of care and attention went into this release (lot's of Switch-specific features/functions).
Breakout is busted, but accurately so. It was the archetype, surpassed by the likes of Arkanoid and Alleyway.
3 versions of Centipede and 3 versions of Millipede was all I cared about, and so I got what I signed up for.
Atari has such a rich history of fantastic coin ops. Gauntlet, Paperboy etc, who owns the rights for these titles?
@alandd those specific titles you mentioned are now owned by Warner Bros along with a ton of other Atari and Midway coin op classics!! Hopefully Warner Bros will one day reopen the treasure chest. Last compilation was for PS3 and Xbox 360/One
Here’s hoping Joey.
This was awful on PC. I'm not expecting this version with more games to be better.
I was thinking of reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace, but turns out the book is so old a total of 105 countries have been formed since it was released (seriously), and there comes a point where it’s difficult to squeeze any more fun out of it. Now I’m going to look up how many countries were formed since Gone with the Wind was released as well as The Beatles’ Abbey Road.
The review is spot-on when it says that the collection really only has 15 games worth playing. The rest are just inferior versions of the core 15 games, plus some really unplayable garbage games that were not even popular back in the day. The lack of third-party games makes this collection incapable of giving players a feel for what gaming was like in that era. And they have the gall to ask for 40 dollars for this collection! Just buy a used PSP and you'll be able to play the entire history of video games up to the late nineties.
@Wavey84 Sounds like you just have the 2D glasses of nostalgia; plenty of N64 games hold up well to this day.
@bluemage1989 I'll pay you to see you play Atari games! How about five cents a minute?
Who are you calling rubbish?!
This still worth getting now that Atari 50 is out? The online leaderboards alone might be worth getting it.
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