Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration | Xbox Review

Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m a retro gaming fanatic. However, my love of the hobby is driven purely by personal nostalgia. Therefore, I don’t quite harbor the same levels of nostalgic adoration for Atari as I do with everything else that came after, and it’s simply due to timing. When I graced the world with my existence in the mid-80s, the Video Game Crash had fully taken its toll on the industry and Atari was already seen as yesterday’s news. By the time I got my hands on a game controller in 1990, Nintendo had cemented itself in the psyche of every American child, including mine.

That’s not to say I’m completely oblivious to the company’s legacy; I’m well aware of the impact and legacy established by the early pioneers of the industry. I do love retro compilations (special shout-out to the Midway Arcade Treasures series) as they are a great way to play the classics without the hassle of tracking down all the original copies second-hand. Published by Atari and developed by Digital Eclipse, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is a masterclass in how to make a great compilation package.

Don’t Just Watch TV, Play It!

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is a collection of 103 playable Atari games. It chronicles the company’s arcade origins in the early 70s, up to their last home console in the mid 90s. The games available, however, only feature first party Atari titles, so other equally iconic titles like Pitfall, Space Invaders, River Raid or Pole Position are sadly left out.

Despite the lack of third party classics, there are still some great in-house Atari games on offer here. As expected, the majority of games are predominantly arcade or on Atari 2600. The remaining half features a mix of 5200, 7800, Jaguar and even has some Lynx and Atari 400 PC games. It’s an eclectic set featuring some famous classics, unique gems, and even some unreleased prototypes. It even has a few homebrew titles thrown into the mix. It’s nice to see the homebrew scene get some sort of official acknowledgment in a collection like this.

I suppose the only negative thing I have to say about Atari 50 is that not every game on offer is a bona-fide classic, especially when delving into Atari’s later years. I suppose one could argue this is merely a reflection of the state the company was in at that time. This is most apparent in its meager selection of Jaguar games. With perhaps the exception of Tempest 2000, none of the other Jaguar titles are considered to be killer apps. Which is a shame, as getting to finally play some Jaguar games is what initially got me interested in taking a look at this collection.

Syzygy Engineering

But despite some lackluster selections available in this collection, the biggest strength and main draw has to be in its presentation. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is more than just a collection of games, it’s an interactive digital museum chronicling the milestones achieved by some of gaming’s early pioneers. Upon first booting up Atari 50, you’re greeted with a menu of five options to select different eras of Atari’s history. Choosing any of these eras then takes you into an interactive timeline that can be explored and learn about the company. 

These timelines feature archival photos, digital scans of flyers & posters, along with video clips of interviews with former Atari legends like Al Alcorn, David Crane, Jerry Jessop, and Howard Scott Warshaw. It’s also here where you can select the games to play within the timelines. Or if you want to skip the history lesson and go right to the list of games, you have that option too where you can sort the list alphabetically, chronologically, or by platform. 

I was glad to see the company’s history wasn’t sugar coated. This collection fully acknowledges Atari’s mistakes and failures. One of the selectable eras is called “The Highs and Lows” which details how the company tried to rebound after the crash. Digital Eclipse did a masterful job at making history fun and exciting. From the same studio which gave us the wonderful Mega Man Legacy series along with TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection earlier this year, they are without a doubt master compilers as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s to Another Half Century!

To summarize, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is a worthy collection that’s sure to appease any retro gaming fan. Digital Eclipse has raised the bar on how to make a collection package. I think that going forward, other studios wishing to release their own compilation should take a page…nay…steal the book from Digital Eclipse. 

I would love to see other companies of this caliber get the same treatment, I think Sega would be a great candidate for a celebratory anthology like this. I can’t really think of anything really wrong with this collection. Other than my minor gripe of some of the games being less than stellar, but even then I can’t fault them, as they had a very specific parameter of only including games made in-house by Atari. I’m sure that had more to do with copyright law and wasn’t a deliberate choice. Anyways, I’m rambling, go buy this game. You’ll have fun, I promise.

 

This review is based on an Xbox copy of Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration provided by Uber Strategist for coverage purposes. It is also available on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Switch and GOG.