Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is meant to be arriving at some point before the end of this year on Nintendo Switch. If you have been wondering what games will be included in this upcoming release by Digital Eclipse, you just might be in luck.
A retailer located in the Netherlands may have potentially revealed the full list of games that will be included in the anniversary celebration. As previously revealed, this collection will have over 90 games spanning multiple generations including the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, ST, Jaguar and Lynx.
The retailer leak suggests there will be "more than 100 playable games". Here's what's included on this page listing (via Nintendo Everything):
Atari Arcade
1. Akka Arrh
2. Asteroids
3. Asteroids Deluxe
4. Black Widow
5. Breakout
6. Centipede
7. Cloak & Dagger
8. Crystal Castles
9. Fire Truck
10. Food Fight
11. Gravitar
12. I, Robot
13. Liberator
14. Lunar Lande
15. Major Havoc
16. Maze Invaders
17. Millipede
18. Missile Command
19. Pong
20. Quantum
21. Space Duel
22. Sprint 8
23. Super Breakout
24. Tempest
25. Warlords
Atari Reimagined
1. Haunted Houses
2. Neo Breakout
3. Quadratank
4. Swordquest: AirWorld
5. VCTR-SCTR
6. Yars’ Revenge Enhanced
Atari 800
1. Bounty Bob Strikes Back!
2. Caverns of Mars
3. Food Fight
4. Miner 2049er
Atari 2600
1. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe
2. Adventure
3. Air-Sea Battle
4. Asteroids
5. Basic Math
6. Breakout
7. Canyon Bomber
8. Centipede
9. Combat
10. Combat Two
11. Crystal Castles
12. Dark Chambers
13. Demons to Diamonds
14. Dodge ‘Em
15. Fatal Run
16. Gravitar
17. Haunted House
18. Millipede
19. Miner 2049er
20. Missile Command
21. Outlaw
22. Quadrun
23. Race 500
24. RealSports Baseball
25. RealSports Basketball
26. RealSports Boxing
27. RealSports Football
28. RealSports Soccer
29. RealSports Tennis
30. RealSports Volleyball
31. Saboteur
32. Secret Quest
33. Solaris
34. Super Breakout
35. Surround
36. Swordquest: EarthWorld
37. Swordquest: FireWorld
38. Swordquest: WaterWorld
39. Warlords
40. Yars’ Revenge
Atari 5200
1. Bounty Bob Strikes Back!
2. Millipede
3. Missile Command
4. Star Raiders (+ Enhanced Version)
5. Super Breakout
Atari 7800
1. Asteroids
2. Basketbrawl
3. Centipede
4. Dark Chambers
5. Fatal Run
6. Ninja Golf
7. Scrapyard Dog
Atari Handheld
1. Touch Me
Atari Jaguar
1. Atari Karts
2. Club Drive
3. Cybermorph
4. Evolution Dino Dudes
5. Fight For Life
6. Missile Command 3D
7. Ruiner Pinball
8. Tempest 2000
9. Trevor McFur In The Crescent Galaxy
Atari Lynx
1. Basketbrawl
2. Malibu Bikini Volleyball
3. Scrapyard Dog
4. Super Asteroids & Missile Command
5. Turbo Sub
6. Warbirds
Assuming this list is the real deal, what are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.
[source player2gamestore.nl, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 155
Glad to see some 5200 games on there ...Would have liked a few more, though. The quirky 5200 version of Pac- Man in particular absolutely slaps, though I totally get why that wouldn't be on there.
I would like to see E.T. Reimagined. I wonder what they would do to make an updated version?
Why is Enduro never on these?!
In any case, I’ll buy this just for Asteroids.
I love these collections. It’s nice not having to buy one retro game for like $8. Give me a bunch of them! Remember the Midway Treasures collections during the GameCube era?
I’m happy as long as guardians of the hood never gets included on one of these
tempest 2000 makes a convincing argument
WOW!!!! Day-1 !!! Love it!!
This game needs to have a tournament mode for points, like Clubhouse games 51.
Every game player 1 wins.... = 1 point.
The looser chooses the next game....
Who wins 10 points first is the game winner.
It´ll be a blast. Infinite replay value this way!
Warlords!!! Warlords!!!
And ‘Touch me’. Surprising. I have that handheld (like Simon).
@ChromaticDracula Because it isn't their game. That's an Activision release.
Aww no Skydiver? I don’t think I’ve played the game since ‘83, but to this day I remember the little dude flailing his arms and ultimately becoming a burger patty if you didn’t pop the chute.
Such primitive games compared to nowadays, but still we loved playing them. This collection will be a nice nostalgia trip, even if I’ll miss the fun 3rd party games of the era.
@Atariboy OH! ::face palm::
I had it as a kid and I absolutely loved it… my first memories of a day/night cycle in a game.
Makes sense it wouldn’t be included-thanks for clarifying
Also, username checks out 😂👍
I suppose that's not too bad of a list.
If remembering that Atari Games was a separate corporate entity, and now different IP rights holder, it is understandable that no post-1983 "Atari" arcade games (probably their most popular) can be included (not Star Wars because, licenses).
Oversaturation of Asteroids, yes.
@Funneefox Well, it can't be on an "Atari" collection anyways because of rights issues.
(would be a "Midway" IP, but when's the last time we saw a collection of those? Any of them post-WB-bailout?)
2022 has been quite a year for brick breaking games on Switch.
Preordered the Switch special edition steelbook.. As a huge Atari fan, this was an instant purchase for me. And I'll be getting it digitally on my VCS, too, as well as AtariMania next week! First time Jaguar and Lynx games have been commercially emulated. Digital Eclipse made an actual program to convert these games over for the first time! Btw, this list was already leaked weeks ago via a Forbes article. I think "Cloak & Dagger" might be the big news in this article, and Touch Me as the handheld (virtualized) included. Thanks for reporting on this though. Atari deserves the publicty. They have done so much for video gaming, they deserve a huge spotlight for sure. (Visit my YouTube page in my bio for more details on what Atari has in store!) P.S. I see lots of misspellings such as "Haunted Houses" (should be "Haunted House") and so on. I counted about 10 errors. Thanks for reporting though.
It's too bad they couldn't get the post Atari split games from WB like Paperboy, Gauntlet, Marble Madness. Those were some of their best titles.
my brother and I played so much yars revenge on the 2600 we found the easter egg without EVER hearing or reading about it!! It blew our f'ing minds!! We just looked at each other and jumped up and screamed like little kids!! OH MY, THOSE WERE THE DAYS!! This list is awesome!! I would buy this!!!
I'll wait for a sale, then definitely but this collection.
Overall it's probably good value. Very disappointed by the selection of Lynx games though.
I used to have an Atari ST (that was my first entry into video games before getting a SNES)
Watching that video I didn't see many games that I remembered. Could be that alot of the games I had were 3rd party with licensing issues.
With Nintendo Switch online I do obviously have access to all the NES, SNES and N64 games and alot of them (not all) have aged terribly.
I've a feeling it would be the same with this collection. Out of 90 games maybe 1 or 2 might be half decent but the rest will have aged badly. Unless you've real strong childhood affiliations for the listed games of course
No Paperboy or Klax?
Went in expecting a 2600 collection, which would be a hard pass for me. Boy was I surprised! This looks awesome. Sign me up.
@Grumble I love Atari too. Definitely a day one purchase as well. I loved the Lynx. It was so ahead of its time. Also had two computers and of course lived arcade. That said, I wanted to want the VCS, but just couldn’t….I know it serves sones useful functions, but I would rather have a Steamdeck or Digital Ps5.
If this is about cherishing the company’s history, they might as well have included E.T.
Disappointed that there are no Atari ST games on there. I remember playing captain blood, chrono quest, snoopy, sensible soccer, ikari warriors, golden axe, monkey Island and many more including games that were also released on the NES like the turtles game.
They should release some Atari controllers as well (original, paddle etc.).
90 games! 80 of them are Super Breakout!
I can't believe I, Robot is coming home. First time as far as I am aware,. Maybe now I an older, I might understand what yiou have to do hahahah!
@Grumble there are a number of emulated Lynx games on the two collections on the Evercade that were released this year.
Unsurprisingly 40 games from Atari 2600, but I'd like to know more about the extras. That's what make Digital Eclipse releases appealing.
@ChromaticDracula "Why is Enduro never on these?!"
I run a weekly retro video game poll on Reddit (arcade, console & computer games). For the Atari Era there were 9 Atari 2600 original games voted into the Top 50. 5 of them were made by Activision:
Presumably, these will never be officially released again.
It's a shame there isn't any late 90's arcade games-san francisco rush, Mace-Dark Age...
Both Midway (I think WB GAmes own their tuff now) and Activision need to get in on the retro scene these days. I don't have much hope for either but Midway Arcade Treasures series was ace on Gamecube. Maybe Microsoft will do some sort of Activision Replay similar to Rare's?
@MontyCircus
Wot, no H.E.R.O? I think that was Activision too? That was an incredible game.
Miner 2049er!? That's a name I haven't heard in a long time.. A long time...
Great. Any excuse to play the old games.
I should have bought the Atari 2600 mini console when I had the chance. (The one that puts all the games on the joystick so the joystick is the console and you just plug it straight into the TV.)
Leak? Desperate attempt to get some publicity probably...
@Ooyah "Wot, no H.E.R.O? I think that was Activision too? That was an incredible game."
Yes, that is an Activision game. I do remember it being nominated, but it did not make the Top 50.
Why is there never an Amiga collection!
Yikes!
I'm incredibly disappointed in that Jaguar list because I know (And I'm a Jaguar owner btw) that there's actually some really decent games for the system. But for some reason, they went with these.
Tempest 2000, Dino Dudes and Missile Command 3D are the only games on the list that people will like (maybe Club Drive too if you're into setting/breaking speed run times).
Other games that I feel should have made the list are: Iron Soldier, Power Drive Rally, Ultra Vortek (w/Speed Mode Turned on), Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Defender 2000, Syndicate, Primal Rage and Alien Vs Predator (even though it was sooo BORING, I felt like that game set the graphics bar for consoles really high for it's time).
PS: The worse game for that system IS Trevor McFur. Trust me, don't play it.
Lunar Lander - one of my all time faves!
@Grumble Atari Lynx have officially emulated before on last years excellent Atari Lynx collections 1 and 2 on the Evercade. 25 games spread across two cartridges. From the list above only Turbo sub and Warbirds haven’t been emulated before.
My favorite 2600 games were:
River Raid
Moon Patrol
Pitfall
Jungle Hunt
My favourite game on the Atari 2600 was ‘Frostbite’ (similar type game to Frogger), so most disappointing it didn’t make the cut, along with the Starwars Games.
Kaboom was also a fantastic game, very addictive. Would have been interested what the controller set up would have been. I guess tilting would be alternative to rotary
Where's Iron Soldier and Primal Rage?
this list was leaked months ago...
Is Basic Math 60fps? It better be, otherwise ‘no sale’!
Pretty good lineup ngl
Yars revenge - very cool.
Mostly want to get this for the Jaguar games tbh
OK, anyone who watches AVGN is surely trippin' for seeing Swordquest: AirWorld... Wonder if he's going to aknowledge it...
Adventure is a masterpiece of gaming. I'm glad it's included.
Really wish they had included Checkered Flag and Kasumi Ninja for the Jaguar games, but still glad we're getting any Jaguar at all.
Wow. That is an excellent list. First time buy for me
@spyro202 he might not but yea, I can't wait to check that out myself
A part of history is being delivered here folks. Of course all of this is already available "elsewhere", but it's good to see Atari celebrate their part in the long book of video games.
BUT hey, where is Pitfall, guys ?
Food Fight is one of my favourite arcade games, so thrilled to see that here.
I'm also pleased to see Dark Chambers for the 7800. I have it on the Evercade, but you need both Atari cartridges inserted in order to unlock it.
Miner 2049er should be worth a look, too.
Where’s Xybots? Roadblasters? Paperboy? Klax? Marble Madness?
“Classics.” Pfeh.
@KingMike Rare instance where I’m actually happy that a game is locked behind licensing issues
@romanista
What? Atari / Digital Eclipse could easily get publicity by announcing the full game list. There’s no desperation here.
There’s a lot of overlap here with the Evercade.
Would’ve been nice to see more Lynx, 7800, and Jaguar games.
Still grabbing it thought. Love compilations.
@simonandrewwil Oh of course! I have those 2 collections, signed by Carl from SongBird What I meant to say is that it is one of the first times Lynx & Jag games were emulated, I guess the first time for Jaguar games? Digital Eclipse built an emulator just for that purpose. I'm excited for Atari 50 & AtariMania in a few days
@rockodoodle I'm an Atari fan and host an Atari YouTube channel so of course I'm a fan of the VCS
@MediaKing Yes and I own those 2 amazing collections. What I meant to say was it is the first time Atari Jaguar games have been fully and commercially emulated. Digital Eclipse made an emulator for Jag games. I can't wait!
@PinderSchloss ET is a great game. It was shipped with the wrong beginning game selection and was shipped on the hardest setting. This can be changed on the VCS itself but nobody read the instructions Also, HSW only had 5 weeks to complete the game and was rushed. ET is actually a cool game if you know how to play it.
The list seems very lacking except for the 2600 and arcade sections. Needs way more Lynx games at least.
@Nerdling while I definitely think there could have been more Jaguar games some of the ones you mentioned such as Primal Rage, AvsP, Doom and Wolfenstein would have required licencing from other companies.
Where's the adventure remake? Per the Orion. 😂
Disappointed no ET
How can you not include Chip's Challenge as a Lynx game?
@Teksetter If you grab the excellent Code Mystics developed collection on the Switch (Atari Flashback Classics), it not only has the 2600 version you're likely talking about, but also the far superior arcade version of Sky Diver.
That earlier collection didn't review well such as at this site, but it wasn't because it was poorly developed (Code Mystics does good work) or because it didn't have good games. It was poorly received because most of those tasked with reviewing it have little to no interest in that era of gaming.
So if that doesn't describe you and you enjoy a fun oldie, the older collection complements this upcoming release nicely. 92 of the 150 games aren't being carried forward, including 14 arcade classics.
@Coffeemonster Not this Atari.
Those were done by Atari Games. In 1984 the home console and computer line was sold to Jack Tramiel of Commodore fame along with past arcade IP (Properties like Asteroids were out of production for arcade sale but still had value with home releases, thus were bundled and sold alongside the console/computer side of Atari). Today it's owned by the remains of the French company formerly known as Infogrames, renamed as Atari SA.
The arcade division continued afterwards under the Atari Games label and their IP is owned today by Warner Brothers Interactive after their acquisition of the bulk of Midway's IP when the latter went bankrupt and was liquidated. It was them that produced the games you mentioned and many others. So it's WB that's sitting on these and not making them available these days.
Thus you won't ever see that stuff in a collection of home Atari classics or pre-1984 arcade content from Atari SA.
@Grumble It has similarities as well with past hits for Atari. Especially Raiders of the Lost Ark, an iconic Atari 2600 release.
But E.T. will never escape the fame it earned from being overproduced on the eve of the crash (legend has it more were made than there were 2600 systems, due to Atari's faith it would drive system sales) and being liquidated.
It will always be one of the "worst games of all-time" for the general public, even though it's actually more around C+ territory by 2600 standards. I could easily name 100 far worse games on the 2600 from the many fly by night publishers that popped up to cash in on the videogaming craze and helped almost drive it into the ground with a flood of low quality releases.
Games that offer up little to no entertainment value, unlike E.T. which as you said can be fun when one reads the manual and learns how to play it.
@Nerdling You missed one of the best, Super Burnout.
A game that perhaps would've been realistic to secure had they sought out some outside licenses, where as I imagine the big name 1st person shooters would've been cost prohibitive.
@Atariboy More stuff to go on the Miyoo Mini then..
@Westlondonmist Yep, this is true! Specifically for Power Drive Rally, Primal Rage, AVP, Wolfenstein and Doom. And I wish they could have obtained them because they're games that I felt showcased the system best.
@Atariboy I never got to play that one! I ended up getting Fight For Life instead (which I regretted, haha).
@Nerdling Atari SA is basically a holding company who find ways to make money off old ips. I'm more interested to see how well the emulation can be done. If it goes well it could mean some future releases from others.
@Westlondonmist Indeed, although they're at least actually publishing this one and funding its development in a rare change of pace. Quite a difference from most products that have featured this IP in recent years.
Even Atari Flashback Classics wasn't really published by them, even though you'll see them listed as the publisher at sites such as this one. That's where the AtGames splash screen when firing up that earlier compilation enters the equation.
It was that name, infamous for years of shoddy Sega Genesis plug and plays, that actually handled the typical duties of a publisher for Atari Flashback Classics by engaging retailers to get the product on store shelves (and fronted a lot of the development expense in exchange for a slice of the pie).
Atari SA was the publisher on paper only, outsourcing those duties to AtGames.
@Atariboy super burnout is incredible ! So is Pitfall on the Jag and Rayman, but I know they can’t release some due to licensing issues
@Atariboy agree completely! Btw check out my YouTube page if you like, BallistikCoffeeBoy 👾🙌 sounds like we have a lot in common with Atari 😂👍🏼 Yes I agree, ET didn’t help of course but it did not cause the crash as many like to report. I was there. I was 7 but I was there and saw it way before. over saturation with bad games and clone systems. “Playing with Power” which I just saw seems to have reported it correctly
I am slightly impressed with the game list, but because I keep getting burned on pre-orders, I am just going to sit back on this one.
@Atariboy
Thanks for the excellent tip! I’ve been on the fence about getting the Flashback Collection for a long time, and yes it may be a nice companion to this Atari 50 release. I appreciate your expert advice!
I didn’t even know Sky Diver was in the arcades, too. I just have a soft spot for it and several other games my uncle had on his VCS - afterschool my sis and I used it probably more than he did, and Sky D was always good for a laugh.
Later I discovered the excellence of Pitfall and River Raid at my cousin’s, and The Empire Strikes Back at my friend’s, but even without the 3rd party gems it’ll really be nice to finally revisit some classic Atari games in this 50 collection, and see some of that beautifully imaginative cover art again. I’ll wait for another good sale on the Flashback Collection, I think, too.
@rockodoodle Paperboy was developed by Midway, now a part of Warner Bros.
Klax would've been awesome to have on this collection though seeing as they really wanted that game to be the next Tetris.
@mattesdude that’s the biggest hole in the switch arcade classic library- the Atari Games/Midway arcade games owed by Warner Bros who by the way seem to be letting them all sit dormant! Tons of classics we’re missing!
@Atariboy I thought Pac-Man was that game was produced for 120% of console owners.
@KingMike While I believe that they both had that notoriety, a quick look at some production numbers off the AtariAge forum that were shared by the late Atari expert Curt Vendel confirm that E.T. wasn't overproduced to such a degree.
With five million cartridges manufactured, it was several million short of the system's install base. Only Pac-Man's print run outnumbered the system's own install base.
Would’ve of been great if Atari arranged with Activision to get all those Activision 2600 games on here!! Let’s face it some of the greatest games ever made is in that group! Also how could Atari skip over 5200 Realsports Baseball possibly the best Atari sports game ever made?? Happy about the 2 miner 49er games as those are rare!
Regardless I’ll be getting this collection for all consoles! 😁
I don't know if there's much hope of WB doing anything with their classic Midway/Atari Games/Williams/Leland library, but hopefully we at least see Activision's 2600 library make a return one day to mainstream consoles.
There's little room at today's current Activision for such a classic compilation on consoles, but with the shakeup with the Microsoft acquisition, just maybe something positive like that will happen.
Microsoft through the years have greenlit numerous small scale projects such as for the old Xbox Live Arcade service. The Game Room service for instance is a good illustration of a relevant example.
And with a collection of 2600 (and hopefully classic Activision releases for other 80's consoles and 8-bit computers) being a far cry from being a system seller, I don't think they'd necessarily even make such a release be a Xbox/Windows exclusive if it ever happens.
Time will tell. While "Activision Anthology 2" is at the top of my mind when I think about the events going on at Activision in 2022, such a potential project is obviously a non-factor with what Microsoft is trying to do right now and isn't on anyone's radar at either management team.
Enduro is an Activision title. The Atari Collection is made up of Atari titles.
@BartoxAbrasiveness wow you’re right! How the heck can those 2 7800 games be missing especially Desert Falcon! Wow
@SepticLemon it was a lot of fun! Maybe not quite the next Tetris, but it was really fun. For some reason, I thought Paper Boy was Atari. And what was the suite of games that came with the Lynx- surfing, skating and maybe a few others? Didn’t it come with the system?
I get why there’s no Pitfall or H.E.R.O. or Jungle King (much prefer it to Pirate Pete and its awful music) but I didn’t know they didn’t have rights to Atari Games so no Paperboy (nor did I know its righrs were of Midway apparantely) as well as no KLAX, no Marble Madness, etc.
30 versions of Asteroids and Breakout… I’m one that would always go for the arcade (or “best”) version of any game (when the home version is a simple downport), so I don’t see the appeal of playing an arcade game on 2600, but nostalgia hits everybody differently I guess so I get it
@rockodoodle Paperboy WAS Atari Games along with Gauntlet, Klax, Marble Madness, Xybots, Toobin, Roadblasters & quite a few others. They all ended up under Warner ownership with the midway classics as well.
no Defender 2000 ?
@joey302 Remember Cyberball? It had a Lynx version too…wish we could get a modern version of that.
@rockodoodle great game that I first experienced on the Genesis! Would love to see that one too
@ultraviolet owed by Warner bros
@joey302 They skipped a ton of stuff.
I'm kind of surprised myself though to not see them include everything from the 7800 that they own outright without the need of licenses. I figured with it being a new platform for console collections that they'd toss everything in that they could for the 7800.
Also MIA from the 7800 lineup of content that Atari SA owns clear title to (and which doesn't involve outside licenses) are Food Fight, Motor Psycho, and Planet Smashers.
I'm especially surprised to see Food Fight miss the cut given how great of a 7800 game it is, but with the arcade original also included, at least we get an even better version of Food Fight.
@ultraviolet Defender was a Williams game in arcades. Thus Defender 2000 for the Jaguar would've meant securing a license from Warner Brothers just as Atari Corp originally did from Williams back in 1995.
Apparently (and unsurprisingly since it's the norm for classic compilations) there was no budget to pursue outside licenses for this collection. We do get several games from Big Five Software, but it sounds as if Atari SA bought the rights to Miner 2049er and Bounty Bob Strikes back a while back, so they're not actually licensed games here if accurate.
The one potential exception is Cloak & Dagger from the arcade. Was turned into a movie tie-in game, but past the name it had little in common with the film. I rather suspect Atari SA's lawyers have decided that the title is safe to rerelease given the generic nature to that phrase that existed long before the film and the lack of any real connection in the game to the movie (The film on the other hand showcases the arcade game a fair bit). We'll have to wait and check out the fine print in the legal section of the credits and case artwork to know for sure.
Wow Planet Smashers and motor psycho also yup and one has to wonder about Midnight Mutants as well. Maybe they’re purposely holding off for a potential Volume 2. Desert Falcon & Alien Brigade missing is also a surprise.
5200 Baseball and Countermeasure also comes to mind.
I'll get this but I wish aquaventure was included
@joey302 Midnight Mutants involves other parties like the estate of Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster from 'The Munsters'). There's also debate on other potential rights holders.
The box says "is licensed from Pixcel Software Inc" while Atari Corp is credited with a copyright. And the manual says "copyright 1990 SNK Corporation. Midnight Mutants is a trademark of SNK Corporation." And the Atari Compendium site claims the SNK credit is an error and that the game was developed by Radioactive Software.
It's also never been listed in Atari SA's IP catalog of software that they're willing to license out.
@blackknight77 That's on Atari Flashback Classics for the Switch, just in case you didn't already know and might be interested.
Quite a few old titles that I used to own as a kid. Definitely going to keep an eye on this, just not sure what system yet. Now, I would love to see a list like this with the old Activision games from that time, also with a 103 game list.
Granted there are other games from now defunct devs I would love to play again, but getting a collection of those I think would be difficult.
One other thing: I hope the emulation of Crystal Castles is better in this version than in Atari Flashback Classics Collection. That version was missing instruments for the music. Kinda pathetic when the version on Midway Arcade Treasures, from two game generations ago, sounded more accurate.
@speedyb Crystal Castles wasn't on that. You must be thinking of Atari Anthology for the Xbox and Playstation 2.
I never picked up on that issue, but I have noticed at least three emulation issues on Atari Flashback Classics. The missile trails on the 2600 version of Missile Command are screwed up on level 15 (not an issue in the older Code Mystics collections on the DS).
Secondly, the bell sound effect is all wrong on arcade Fire Truck and sounds awful. Not a button you'll likely ever press more than once just to hear how it sounds, so it wasn't a serious issue that the sound effect is off. But on a real cabinet it actually sounds like a bell. Will probably be the 1st thing I check out on Atari 50.
Lastly, the high score isn't properly retained on arcade Red Baron. When you fire up the game again you'll briefly see your high score, but then it promptly disappears for some reason. Same issue happens in Red Baron on the Code Mystics developed pair of DS collections from years earlier.
Most of the time though their emulators are solid enough.
@Hordak I love Moon Patrol! I bought it on Arcade Archives (an Irem game).
No Alien vs Predator for Jaguar? Or Defender, Doom or Wolfenstein?
No California Games for Lynx? Or Blue Lightning, Rygar, Chips Challenge or S.T.U.N. Runner? Let alone Gauntlet, Electroscope or Gates of Zendocon.
Yeah, yeah I get it...licenses. But that Lynx list is mostly first party and probably more playable now than the early Atari 800 and 2600 games.
@Nerdling "Where did you learn to fly?" "Where did you learn to fly?" "Where did you learn to fly?"
Over, and over, and over again.
@rockodoodle I believe you're thinking about California Games, which was developed by Epyx and released on the Lynx, Master System and NES. Epyx was a third-party developer, but they did make a lot of games for Atari platforms even if they did develop games for Commodore, Amstrad, Apple, Sinclaire and MSX platforms. They were known for publishing Summer/Winter Games, Impossible Mission and Rogue.
@topher6490
Thanks for that list! I missed it and hadn’t even heard of some of those brick breaker releases this year.
All those titles, and yet nobody has developed a paddle controller for Switch. (Or trackball, for that matter.). I wonder, are these brick-breakers still as fun with an analogue stick, or gyro controls?
This year I splurged and bought a Taito Egret II Mini with its paddle controller just to play the Arkanoid games. They’re really fun but I swear they’re harder than the arcade versions. Or it’s just my reflexes showing their age 😅
Not sure why come people were expecting loads of third party published games on this collection as it probably would have cost more than this collection is probably going to make in sales to acquire many of those rights. Although that Jaguar list of games will probably sell more this way than the ever did on the actual hardware.
I’ll get this eventually for sure. Pretty happy with my Atari collections for my Evercade, but this is a nice package, and I’d love to have it on my Switch.
@SepticLemon only the NES version of Paperboy was Midway, the arcade was Atari Games although Midway bought Atari later but I think all Arcade games post 1984 are held by Time Warner. Klax was 1990 so would be held by them too. Atari SA (current Atari) only hold Atari Corporation console titles. Atari and it's bizarre history.
@mattesdude I used to have that Midway collection for GameCube! If you have an Xbox there's a Midway arcade collection you can download from the Microsoft store. It was originally released on Xbox 360. Great selection of games including Joust, Gauntlet and SmashTV.
@SepticLemon I would not say that I expected these games. It just would have been cool. I totally understand the licensing aspect of things….
@Zenszulu Thx for the info. Those were some fun games…
Not a bad list but there's an odd gap of late 80s/early 90s games, e.g would've been nice to see things like STUN Runner, Badlands, Hard Drivin', Roadblasters, etc. Also missing the Atari ST though I don't know if there were many Atari-developed classics there that weren't just arcade ports.
@Parker75 most of the Lynx games you listed are Epyx not Atari.
@teksetter I've played pong on the evercade and playing it with a normal controller isn't without issues.
@Atariboy No, it was on there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdOWrTUIJxU&t=21m40s.
@Westlondonmist I looked it up, and it turns out that both Midway and Atari were involved in the development of Paper Boy. Midway developed the software, whilst Atari provided Midway with the System II hardware to run the game and some additional software programming to optimise the game for that hardware. But ultimately, the software and the game belong to Midway, even if they did use Atari's hardware, kinda like how Nintendo used some of Sega's hardware for Sherriff and Ikegami Tsushinki's hardware for Donkey Kong and Mario Bros.
@joey302 amazing game
@PinderSchloss I don't think so that the game which single handedly crashed the US video game market and bankrupted Atari would be a cherished game. For modern audiences it would require more tutorial than the game itself, and it probably won't be enjoyable even after that. But I only experienced ET from seeing videos of others playing them, so I might be wrong
Who would want to play atari games in 2022? .-.
@ChromaticDracula Activision licensing I guess
There are huge holes here, with most of the platforms being represented by so so games, and lots of the classics missing.
It's really too bad WB doesn't let Atari include the Atari Games arcade games with these collections. When I think of Atari classics, I think of games like Paperboy, Gauntlet, Marble Madness to go alongside Asteroids, Crystal Castles, Tempest, Centipede, Missile Command. They should all be together as representation of Atari.
Please ATARI, S.T.U.N Runner! One of the best Atari games ever!
PLEASE
@fenlix Lots of people. Maybe check out the other comments?
@kingbk my guess is a) they weren't approached b) even if they were they would likely have high licence fees compared to what people think they can actually make from them which is why they we haven't seen them on Evercade or Antstream.
It's a shame things as the ips they own such as the ones you listed are great. I do wish they'd release their old ips more (Inc Midway ones like Rampage)
@Westlondonmist Whatever the case, it's an incomplete collection without the Atari Games titles. I'd take them over most of the aged like spoiled milk 2600 titles.
@speedyb You linked me to a video of Atari Flashback Classics Volume 2 for the Xbox One and Playstation 4, released back in 2016.
This was the lineup for Midway Arcade Treasures, the release you originally named (Which was a Xbox, PS2, and GameCube release).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Arcade_Treasures#Games
Atari Anthology is the collection you were likely referring to from that same console generation (It did have Crystal Castles).
As a side note, both collections were developed by the original Digital Eclipse studio. I think most folks assume today's Digital Eclipse is that same company, but in actuality today's developer is a completely different company.
The founder of today's Digital Eclipse had some connection to the original studio before it was closed up in the late 2000's. He purchased the name to brand his new venture as Digital Eclipse back when Backbone Entertainment / Foundation 9 died a decade or so back and liquidated their assets.
Digital Eclipse competitor Code Mystics actually has a much stronger connection to the original Digital Eclipse, being founded by one of the key employees of the first Digital Eclipse (Jeff Vavasour) and employing many former Digital Eclipse programmers.
@Parker75 All those Lynx games are outside licenses.
California Games is Epyx, Blue Lightning is Epyx, Rygar is Tecmo, S.T.U.N. Runner is Warner Brothers, Gauntlet is Warner Brothers, Chip's Challenge is Epyx, Gates of Zendocon is Epyx, and Electroscope is also Epyx.
It would've been nice to see the Epyx content licensed like Evercade did for their pair of Lynx cartridges. I was particularly hoping to see Checkered Flag, another Epyx title on the Lynx.
Only Warbirds made the cut on here from my personal Lynx wishlist.
@SepticLemon Paperboy was Atari Games through and through. They had no connection to Midway at that time.
When Warner Communications broke up Atari Inc in 1984 and sold the home side of the business and previous arcade titles off to Jack Tramiel, they retained the arcade division as Atari Games.
Atari Games continued to function as an independent entity until the early 1990's when Warner Communications, by then called Time Warner, reacquired majority ownership and stopped using the name.
It wasn't until the spring of 1996 when Time Warner sold Atari Games to Williams Industries that the Midway connection was established that people now associate Atari Games with. Other than a short time releasing arcade games again as Atari Games after being sold (with home conversions for systems like the N64 carrying the Midway name), people associate Atari Games with Midway thanks to years of arcade collections.
From almost the dawn of arcade compilations, classic Atari Games content were released under the Midway banner on consoles and PC's, mixed in with arcade classics from Midway, Williams, and Leland (the company best known for releasing Super Off-Road). Even after Midway had ceased to exist as a company and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment had acquired the remains, Midway Arcade Origins for PS3/360 perpetuated that when it was released in 2012 by WB.
But Paperboy was originally released over a decade before Midway ever entered the picture.
@Atariboy Thanks so much for the clarification.Never realized I used to be so much of an Epyx fanboy!
@AstroTheGamosian Omg YES!! 🤣
@fenlix To this day, me and 3 other friends STILL get together and duel eachother in a game of Warlords with our paddle controllers!
And I'm sure we're not the only ones! 😁
@Nerdling Much of what I learned about the Atari Jaguar came from the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of it. Just a shame he couldn't review the Jaguar CD.
But the Jaguar, to my knowledge, was their last attempt at making a console until the VCS came out last year (I don't count the Flashback consoles, since they're basically just the 2600 with games preloaded onto them, and they were made by AtGames).
@AstroTheGamosian The Atari that released the Jaguar was formed in 1984 and died in 1996 in a reverse merger with disk drive manufacturer JTS. They wanted the millions that Atari had in their bank account while the Tramiels wanted stock in a viable company and didn't think Atari had a future.
Since they weren't a videogaming firm, they then sold all of Atari's IP to Hasbro Interactive a year or two later. Hasbro had a brief fling with remakes and then sold it all to the French owned Infogrames around 2000 or so, which is where the roots of today's Atari SA begin.
The Atari Flashback line was started by the late Curt Vendel's Legacy Engineering. AtGames didn't enter the picture until the Atari Flashback 3. The Flashback 2 in particular was special, using a highly accurate 2600-on-a-chip that Curt designed that replicated all of the 2600's circuitry on a single integrated circuit. Could even be modded with a cartridge slot.
Then the lackluster emulation based AtGames products started.
@Atariboy Gotta disagree with you on this, for history's sake. Andrew Ayre is still running Digital Eclipse, then and now. Mike Mika moved up from DE technical adviser to studio head from the old crew. After leaving DE, Frank Cifaldi runs the VGHF out of the same building as DE today and frequently weighs in.
No disrepect to the fine folks at Code Mystics, but a lot of people came back to work at the "new" Digital Eclipse when they had the chance. There's more vintage DE people working at modern DE than you may be assuming.
@Grumble "I see lots of misspellings such as "Haunted Houses" (should be "Haunted House)"
It's not a misspelling, it's one of the six new games. From the Steam product page: "Haunted Houses – The original “survival horror” game for the Atari 2600 gets a modern 3D voxel-based sequel, featuring more houses, more spooky situations, and more urns."
@DanAmrich Interesting information, thanks Dan.
The gist of what I repeated is what I've heard through the grapevine. Sounds like there's a much stronger connection with the defunct original firm than I had been led to believe, so I won't go repeat that false information elsewhere now that I've been set straight.
I'm just glad we have you and everyone else at Digital Eclipse, Code Mystics, M2, and Hamster to bring the classics of the past back in front of modern audiences. I love supporting all four of the industry's premier emulation experts.
@DanAmrich I'm sure you can't answer much in the way of questions here, but can you tell us anything about how the steering is being handled on Fire Truck, Sprint 8, and "Race 500" for the 2600 on Atari 50?
I ask since Code Mystics came up with a clever mapping scheme that went a long ways towards making classic overhead arcade racers playable with modern gamepads.
In that the player simply had to point the analog stick in the direction that they wanted to steer and the emulator would correctly orient the steering inputs to align with the desired direction.
It was so much better than how games like Super Sprint used to be handled on compilations where the player is moving an invisible free-spinning arcade wheel with left and right inputs on an analog stick.
I thought Sprint 2, Fire Truck, Monte Carlo, Race, and Super Bug would be mere curiosities on the Flashback Classics compilations, crippled by having to use a controller too foreign to what they were designed to use.
Instead to my pleasant surprise I found myself wasting many an hour in those. Super Bug in particular became a bit of an addition for me. Has me looking forward to giving Sprint 8 a try in Atari 50 in a few weeks.
@Atariboy Agh, you're right, it was Atari Anthology. I got mixed up because Crystal Castles was on Atari's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2 for PS1, and many of those titles were later on Midway Arcade Treasures.
@Atariboy I can answer a little, since the whole collection will be playable in Portland this weekend. Games like Neo Breakout have absolute and relative paddle controls, and we have some interesting solutions for those analog controls. Games with full rotation steering feel pretty good to me — I mean it's still possible to oversteer and crash in Fire Truck, keeping it on the road is half the gameplay even with the authentic wheels — but I'm not sure if our steering system is what Code Mystics used.
If you're going to be at PRGE, swing by booth 300. I'd love to hear your thoughts after you get some hands on.
@DanAmrich oh! Thanks for clarifying. I had no idea. I do see other game misspellings too, to be fair. Just FYI. Atari Mania is also out right now a day early on the Atari VCS, on Switch later on today too. Check it out! It’s fun
Really disappointed there is no APB. Not the Arcade version and not the Lynx version. Sure could use a donut.
@DanAmrich Sadly, I can't make it this year. But I'll be looking forward to hearing the thoughts of other people that get to try it out early.
I did however think of another question. Now that the big three are all open to keyboard/mouse support, is there any chance that we'll see the spinner games, paddle games, and track-ball games support such USB accessories? Mouse support would go a long ways towards making games like the Breakout titles enjoyable on here.
@Joekun Like many of the games people have been bringing up here in the comments, that's from a different Atari and is another Atari Games release. So it's a Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment property and doesn't belong to the publisher of this collection, Atari SA.
While I believe that there are some exceptions, basically everything that was released in arcades under the Atari banner from 1984 (I believe Marble Madness was the first) through 1999 when the final games like Rush 2049 appeared, were Atari Games properties. Those that released before 1984 are largely owned by Atari SA, with the notable exception of Battlezone which sadly got sold off a few years back.
The exceptions to that 1983/84 rule appear to be a few early 1984 machines. I'm not 100% sure on this, but it appears as if Return Of The Jedi, Firefox, and Atari's domestic release of TX-1 (Released under license by Atari) were all Atari Incorporated releases early that year before the split-up was done later in 1984.
We'll just have to hope that someone like Digital Eclipse gets a crack at this vast library of coinop videogame history (Not only Atari Games, but they also own most of the Williams, Leland, and Midway libraries as well as maybe some of the Cinematronics games thanks to Tradewest/Leland owning them at one point).
@Atariboy Thanks for the detailed info! I just assumed if they had the rights to release titles from the Lynx and Jaguar eras that they would have the rights to all Atari games from that time.
@Joekun That's one of the interesting bits of Atari history why that isn't the case.
I didn't go into it with my earlier comment, but the videogame crash made Warner Communications sour on Atari. The home/business side of the business (The consoles and computers) was sold in 1984 to Jack Tramiel of Commodore computers fame and was rebranded as Atari Corp. Along with that went the rights to all previous Atari arcade games.
When Atari Corp finally disappeared in a reverse merger with a non-videogaming firm in the mid 1990's after the Jaguar and Lynx had failed, the videogaming rights were sold to Hasbro and then finally to Infogrames around the turn of the century (Which rebranded itself as Atari SA, the company releasing Atari 50 next month).
But Warner retained the arcade division itself back in 1984 and it continued under the name Atari Games, with home releases under the name of Tengen during the 8/16-bit era (Atari Corp had exclusive rights to the Atari name for home use). They were eventually purchased by WMS Industries (i.e., Midway) in the mid 1990's.
When Midway went bankrupt in the late 2000's, most of their IP was sold off to Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment (A homecoming of sorts for Atari Games). Thus all those 1984 and later arcade games that saw release under the Atari banner are owned by the same company known for the movie themed Lego videogames, the modern Batman games, etc.
That's the short version of why there's two different companies today that own the vast majority of heritage originally released under the Atari name.
I have Atari Flashback Classics but three reasons why I’ll buy this also:
I, Robot
Miner 2049er (Atari 800)
Bounty Bob Strikes Back! (Atari 800)
Jaguar Tempest 2000
Four reasons.
I also own Atari Flashback Classics and this looks like so much fun. Digital Eclipse is involved and there are 6 remastered games / sequels. Sounds worth it! I’d like to get the Atari DS collection too that has remixes..
Fantastic game! My game of the year, but I might be a bit biased as a huge Atari fan. I also have a review up on metacritic. The game only has my review, feel free to add to it, as well. Search the game on Metacritic to find it.
Btw, my full review on my website is here:
https://ballistikcoffeeboy.com/
A+!
@DanAmrich Hi Dan, I'm not sure if you'll notice this now that several months have passed since Atari 50 released, but I've been hooked on Sprint 8 lately and had a question. Did Digital Eclipse modify the game to only have low gear and high gear?
The two cabinets I've had the pleasure to play on in real-life through the years both had 4 speed gear shifters. And Atari 50's bonus gallery mentions something like how it originally had a 4 speed shifter.
Whatever the case, it plays beautifully on Atari 50. It's a shame most Atari 50 owners probably glossed right over this one due to the 70's era graphics.
My only complaint is I've had so much fun in Sprint 8 that now I wish Atari's Sprint 4 and Indy 4 were here as well, not to mention Sprint One and Indy 800 from Kee Games (Sprint 2 from Kee is on the Code Mystics collection, but that would've been great to see as well).
@Atariboy Yep, it was a DE call but I'm not sure if it was a choice or a mistake. Thanks for pointing it out; I will bring it up to the team. It's the kind of thing we might be able to address if we get the chance to do DLC, which we are hopeful about.
@Atariboy Okay, think we figured it out: The text is wrong. Sprint 1 and 2 had 4-way shifters, but Sprint 8 had two-way, according to the arcade ROM itself. It's a case of misremembering and/or Atari changing the spec between design and production. The flyer image shows a cabinet with gas and brake pedals but the official photo of the final production cab only has gas, and the shifter is 2-way. Based on the ROM, there's nothing that suggests the final version of the game supported 4-way shifters. It could well have been a technical reason or a cost reason, but Atari changing its spec during development isn't unheard of.
If we get the chance to do more updates, I will definitely change the text so it's accurate, as that's actually my fault that it's wrong. Thank you for spotting this, made for an interesting internal discussion today!
@DanAmrich Thanks so much for digging into this and taking the time to respond.
I've been able to play a lot of Atari's 1970's arcade legacy in recent decades thanks to collectors and vintage arcades, so you're probably right that I'm simply misremembering in this particular instance and the 4 speed shifter that I recall was from a Sprint 1 or Sprint 2 cabinet rather than the two times that I've played Sprint 8.
Crossing my fingers that you guys get the chance to do another patch and add some DLC like Berzerk and Frenzy now that they're Atari SA IP.
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