Few games these days I buy at regular price and even fewer do I buy multiple times across multiple platforms. One of those games is Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection (Steam/PC $39.99: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1919470/Atari_50_The_Anniversary_Celebration/ and Atari VCS $29.99 + Xbox, PS5 and Nintendo Switch)
Digital Eclipse did a great job with this collection by including a bunch of timelines and behind the scenes content: videos, text files, ad copy and more to unlock as you play through the collection. It’s not just a bunch of classic games in a collection, which has been done to death in the past (and this author has bought on various systems over the years). They also included new games, a mashup of Asteroids, Lunar Lunar and Battlezcone called Vctr-Sctr, a modernized Haunted House and a couple more.
The main draw to the collection for me was initially the Atari Jaguar: Tempest 2000, my personal favorite version of Tempest by Jeff Minter. And speaking of Minter, another good Digital Eclipse creation is Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Collection (Steam/PC $29.99 https://store.steampowered.com/app/2236680/Llamasoft_The_Jeff_Minter_Story/). We will likely highlight that on a future Replay Game Spotlight.
My full Steam review of Atari 50: The Anniversary Edition is located here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/tjsnk/recommended/1919470?snr=1_5_9__402
At the end of 2023, they added some paid DLC to this collection: Holiday DLC for Atari 50th released, adding 12 FREE games – I haven’t bought that, and not sure I will, but it did add Berzerk, which was the high point, but like multiple versions of it. I like Berzerk, but the arcade version I’m most interested in.
Have you checked out Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection? If not, something you plan to add to your wishlist? It goes on sale periodically. Check it out.
It’s a wonderful game. I would like to see more companies follow a similar style of game that includes historical videos and artifacts.