Who doesn’t like when a game collection you have already purchased and enjoy playing (still, yes!) adds even more games for the whopping amount of zero?
Yes, Atari has answered the bell with an 11.3 GB holiday update for their awesome Atari 50th Anniversary Collection (Steam also available for VCS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PS5).
They teased this release in their Steam discussion area on November 30:
Thank you to PGM Member Vader4633 (who is currently on a leaderboard tear for the arcade game Popeye we are score chasing this week) was first to mention this in the discord this morning. Here are the 12 games being added in this FREE update:
The complete list of games added in the update is as follows:
Atari 50 adds 12 new games in an update, bringing the total to 115 | VGC (videogameschronicle.com)
- Adventure II (homebrew) – 2600
- Bowling – 2600
- Double Dunk – 2600
- Maze Craze – 2600
- Miniature Golf – 2600
- MotoRodeo – 2600
- Aquaventure (prototype) – 2600
- Save Mary (prototype) – 2600
- Super Football – 2600
- Return to Haunted House (homebrew) – 2600
- Circus Atari – 2600
- Warbirds – Lynx
If you aren’t a fan of the Atari 2600, this news might not be all that exciting, but gotta dig that they are continuing to add free games for those that bought the original game. One of my minor complaints about the collection has been that there were missing games in their history that deserved to be part of the collection. No, there are no Activision games yet, but man, get with Microsoft already, Atari and make this happen, even if it’s an inexpensive DLC pack. I want to play those Activision games as part of this historical pack.
Even more good news, Digital Eclipse (recently acquired by Atari see: Atari’s Next Acquisition is Retrogaming Emulation Specialist Digital Eclipse) added to the article linked above: “…more free updates are coming in the future, with ‘plans to include even more titles, more in-depth interviews, and more behind-the-scenes goodies from the golden age of gaming’.” Sweet!
Go get your free download, and if you don’t have the Atari 50th Anniversary Edition wishlisted and you actually like Atari, then get this on there. It normally sells for $39.99, but have seen it $10 off on Steam and probably even lower if you poke around. My review – thumbs up recommended – on Steam is here: Steam Community :: todd_russell :: Review for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration
I also bought this for my Atari VCS 800 and gifted some copies to friends. This is one of my favorite of the newer Atari releases in the past couple years. One final greedy request: more Jaguar games, please! Digital Eclipse did such a great job on Tempest 2000 that’s in the collection, more Jag and Lynx games (yes, we got one here with Warbirds) are must-haves.
Bob