Buy Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration

From the 16-bit era onward, companies that have "owned" the Atari name ensured that almost every big platform has been exposed to its legacy. From the original Game Boy all the way to the Nintendo Switch and PC, there has always been a compilation featuring a smattering of its classic games. The picture is often incomplete because the compilations tend to focus on the early arcade games and the ever-popular Atari 2600 console. If you look to the compilations for a sense of video game history, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the company started and stopped its business with that iconic system. At first glance, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration would seem like a rehash of Atari Vault, Atari Flashback Classics, and everything else that came before. The good news is that this surpasses just about every compilation because of the breadth of the collection.

Booting up the title doesn't take you straight to the game list. Instead, you're greeted with the interactive timeline of the company's 50-year history, split across five chapters, from the company's rise in the 1970s to where it is today. The timeline takes you through all of the periods with a graph that lists significant milestones in the company history. There are also quotes and new video interviews, so they're worth a look even if you've heard the stories before. Design documents and box art are all immaculately scanned, as are the old print ads. The video ads are interesting, as compilations rarely include this sort of stuff.

This is highly informative and something you'd want a documentary for. It isn't afraid to showcase positive points and take negative shots at itself; that's surprising for material that's not coming from a third party. While the history of the classic arcades and the Atari 2600 has been covered in depth before, everything else doesn't get much attention. You hear about how bad the 5200 was, but you don't hear not much about the 7800. The Atari 800 PC gets some coverage, but not many people are willing to talk about the Lynx and Jaguar. In a way, it could be interpreted as not wanting to dedicate a whole section to the doom and gloom of the company at the time, but it is a shame if the company history is what most interested you.

As you might expect from an Atari-focused compilation, there are plenty of arcade titles from the time before it split off its arcade division into another company. The well-known classics like Asteroids, Missile Command, Pong and Warlords are all present and accounted for, but they aren't a big deal here since we've seen them in past compilations multiple times. Of the 25 titles here, the highlight is four titles that are making their compilation debut. Cloak & Dagger, a game that was renamed after a prototype called Agent X to line up with the 1983 movie, is a nice spy action title that will throw off people because of how difficult it is. It features a multiple goal system where you get to kill robots in one level and steal artifacts in another, so this is something different from the usual arcade fare. Akka Arrh is an unreleased prototype and an interesting turret shooter; its main gimmick is the ability to get a more zoomed-in view of the battlefield once enemies get closer to your gun. I, Robot makes the case for being the first polygonal shooter; your goal is to reach the top of the screen via some 3D platforming, and while it isn't a fluid-moving game, it remains impressive for 1984 technology. In Food Fight, you go through a room and fling food at chefs on your way to get an ice cream cone. It isn't a twin-stick shooter, but you can shoot in any direction you're facing. Your ammo is limited to the foods on the field, so it's different and fun.

Like the arcade games, the Atari 2600 was always represented in these compilations, and it should come as no surprise that 40 titles here comprise the system's big games, like Adventure, Air-Sea Battle, Breakout and Haunted House, to name a few. Like the arcade section, there are four titles here that haven't been seen in older compilations. Saboteur is a game from Howard Scott Warshaw that was shelved but is now finished. Your goal is to stop a warhead from being built, but the game is ambitious. You get three different gameplay modes: stopping robots from creating the warhead, destroying the rocket parts, and blowing up the warhead. Considering that few Atari games aimed for this kind of depth, it is neat to see.

Dark Chambers is a bit of an anomaly, as it was originally a 7800 game but backported to the Atari 2600. The limitations of the system make it more like a combination of Adventure and Berzerk, but it is neat to see a demake like this. Solaris is essentially Star Raiders, the premiere game for Atari's computer line, but it's taken from a third-person perspective and you can warp into planet surfaces. Solaris is reminiscent of Imagic's old game Moon Sweeper; you rescue humans, but the depth given provided the star map makes this an awesome addition to the library. The last new game is Miner 2049er, an unusual platformer where you gather tools and have to traverse every bit of land in the level before moving on. The game is neat, but more interesting is the fact that this is one of the few third-party games in this mostly Atari-developed and -published space.

The Atari 5200 gets some representation; this is noteworthy because it was only shown off in the DLC for Atari Vault in 2019. Of the 69 titles released on the platform, only five are included in the compilation, which feels limited even if you take away the licensed and third-party titles. Three of these titles, Millipede, Missile Command and Super Breakout, aren't that exciting. They're better than their 2600 counterparts but not different from their arcade versions, except for a slight drop in overall speed. Bounty Bob Strikes Back is the sequel to Miner 2049er, and while it is good, the difficulty has been ramped up enough that only experts of Miner 2049er will enjoy it. The highlight is Star Raiders, a port of the computer game that cheats a bit; you play a more enhanced version with an overclocked processor to get rid of the slowdown.

Unlike the other covered platforms, it is difficult to argue in favor of adding more games to the lineup or replacing what's here, since a majority of Atari's own output was just enhanced Atari 2600 titles. It is nice to see some of these games get slightly better upgrades, but with no real big original titles to speak of, the only reason to add more titles would be if you wanted to get a complete set and see every graphical difference.

From here, we get to the platforms that Atari had never released in compilation form before starting with the Atari 400/800, the first and most popular of its personal computer lineup. There were plenty of titles available for the platform, five of which are present. Bounty Bob Strikes Back and Miner 2049er aren't that different from their respective Atari 5200 and Atari 2600 iterations, except for the death animations. Food Fight is a faithful conversion from the arcade, making it worth a look. There's a version of Star Raiders to represent the popularity of the independent programming scene. Caverns of Mars is a top-down shooter where you're shooting from the top of the screen downward, and while the game is solid, its claim to fame is that it was a mail order game that got popular enough to get an official cartridge. Meanwhile, Yoomp stands out because it is a solid rhythm platformer in a tube featuring good platforming and scaling graphics; it also came out in 2007, showing how alive the homebrew community is for the aging PC platform.

The Atari 7800, the company's entry into the 8-bit realm, also shows up. Delayed for two years after its development, it had a smaller library of 59 titles, seven of which are included in the compilation. Asteroids may initially seem like a game to skip, but the expanded use of color makes it a real looker if you aren't into the arcade's vector-based graphics. Centipede would have also been a title to skip if it weren't for the presence of two-player co-op. Scrapyard Dog is a quaint platformer where you can jump on enemies or throw cans at them to rescue your dog. The jumping is a bit floaty, and the movement feels a bit too slick, but it's a decent platformer.

Basketbrawl is a two-on-two basketball game with weapons, and while it may seem like NBA Jam or Arch Rivals on the surface, it doesn't necessarily have the depth or smoothness of those titles. Fatal Run is an excellent road adventure game that feels like a deeper version of RoadBlasters, and it still stands the test of time. The 7800 version of Dark Chambers is a proper action-RPG that feels like Gauntlet minus the enemy hordes, and it's also another game that stands up well. Of course, the main game people will look for is Ninja Golf. The strength of your swing is determined by how far one aiming dot is from another, and while the goal is to make it to the hole, the number of strokes doesn't seem to matter much. After you swing the club, you'll have to run to where the ball lands while also fighting things along the way, like ninjas and gophers. It's absolutely goofy but also charming enough that you'll be reeled in.

While the 7800 suffered from the same issue as the 5200 — the majority of games were ports of ancient arcade games with slight enhancements — it would've been nice to see a few Atari originals. Desert Falcon is significant for being a mix of Xevious as far as ground and air combat goes, with an isometric viewpoint like Zaxxon. Alien Brigade makes for a decent light gun shooter minus the light gun. Mat Mania Challenge would've included pro wrestling, a genre that isn't present despite the other sports in the lineup.

The Atari Lynx, the company's cartridge-based color handheld, gets five games in this compilation, which seems rather considering the console had 73 total titles in its library. Turbo Sub makes for a very interesting cockpit shooter, since you have action in the sky and underwater. It's fun and a good example of how the handheld handled scaling quite well. Scrapyard Dog makes a return from the 7800, but the improved color palette, higher difficulty level, and inclusion of more secrets makes it a hidden gem of a platformer. On the flipside, Basketbrawl now includes more weapons and characters, but the lack of multiplayer and choppy animations make it worse, even if it has better sound. Malibu Bikini Volleyball isn't anything special, while the duo of Super Asteroids & Missile Command feels old considering how often they've already appeared.

Of all of the systems included, the lack of more Lynx games feels like a missed opportunity since Atari had more interesting titles that could've been represented. Blue Lightning and Steel Talons might occupy the same genre as Turbo Sub, but they're also more desirable than Super Asteroids & Missile Command. Electrocop is something that remains interesting nowadays, while Dracula the Undead is the type of adventure game you never see from Atari. Granted, some of the arcade ports now belong to WB Games via Midway's purchase of Atari's Arcade division, so they'd be ruled out of this collection. Even seeing the likes of Gates of Zendocon, Power Factor, or Zarlor Mercenary would've made a better case for why the handheld needs more attention now.

The Atari Jaguar is the final console that Atari ever made, not counting the recent VCS. Designed to compete with the SNES and Genesis, it ended up fighting against the 3DO, PlayStation, and Saturn and fared poorly. Combining the cartridge and CD formats, the system had a total of 63 titles, and when you take away the licensed powerhouses like Alien Vs. Predator, Doom and Rayman, it doesn't leave behind much to impress people. The good news for fans of the system is that the emulation is as good as you'll get. The big bugbear is the controls, but the team managed to get around that by making the number pad accessible via a weapon wheel on the right analog stick. Execution can be a bit nebulous, as you don't know if you hit the button until a second later. Not all of games use the number pad even though they did originally, but it works fine.

Of the nine games in the compilation representing the Jaguar system, Tempest 2000 is the standout. Taking the design of the original arcade game and dousing it in pretty colors and a thumping techno soundscape, it remains an absolute classic and one of the few reasons a Jaguar would be worth seeking out. Following behind that would be Evolution: Dino Dudes, a solid Lemmings-like game known as The Humans on other platforms. Missile Command 3D is worth a shot just for the mode where you switch perspectives from tower to tower, but the more freeform version fails to make the base concept fun. Ruiner Pinball is decent enough video pinball with two tables to choose from, but it doesn't have much else to stand out among other digital pinball tables.

Everything else serves as an example of why the Jaguar never caught on. Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy may feature some badly photoshopped anthropomorphic characters in the cut scenes, but the bland shooting and presentation makes for a boring shooter. Cybermorph fares just as badly, since your objective boils down to collecting orbs in an untextured polygonal landscape. Club Drive feels like a semi-open world racing game gone wrong, Atari Karts manages to make kart racing unexciting, and Fight for Life means well with the ability to steal moves from fallen opponents, but the low amount of damage you inflict means matches take too long to finish. There aren't many replacement titles you can add to make things better. Iron Soldier, Checkered Flag, and maybe Attack of the Mutant Penguins would be fine, but with the rest of the library consisting of games that reviewed poorly upon their original releases, this is perhaps the best collection of Jaguar titles anyway.

The compilation does feature one last bonus in the form of seven reimagined classics that are different from the company's current Recharged line. Touch Me is essentially Simon, but it remains interesting to see a handheld translated into digital form. Swordquest: AirWorld is going to be the highlight for longtime Atari 2600 fans, as it finally concludes the ambitious adventure series. Considering that this game was never finished, the team has done a good job of crafting something close to the notes and vision that creator Tod Frye had. That said, it is still a devilishly difficult game that is made tougher by the lack of clues from an accompanying comic book.

The other five games are more like reimagined versions of some classics. Yars' Revenge is exactly the same game but with an absolutely gorgeous graphical facelift; some pixels are blessed with light bloom and a deep space backdrop. Quadratank is essentially Combat for four players that has a regular deathmatch and capture the flag variant. It looks neat due to the use of basic colors and various power-ups. The slight vertical scroll of the levels feels unnecessary, and it isn't easy to recognize which control scheme you've selected before a fight begins. VCTR-SCTR mashes up many of the different arcade vector-based games into one long journey, but the difficulty of the Lunar Lander section makes it so that few will ever see the rest of the influences beyond this and Asteroids. Haunted Houses is a simple take on the original but does a much better job of capturing the spirit of that game versus the Xbox 360 remake. Finally, Neo Breakout is excellent, as it takes the basic formula and adds a versus mode and power-ups to make it more like Arkanoid with various graphical twists to match Yars' Revenge.

The compilation isn't flawless. Those playing on a keyboard/mouse will find that mouse control is OK for games that relied on an analog spinner or trackball but not too different from Code Mystics' own efforts on Atari Vault. Aside from the already mentioned missing titles published by Atari, the compilation is still lacking games from some third parties of the time. Activision is always the big ask due to its lineup of hits at the time, but solid titles from companies like Imagic are missing, which feels strange since there are a few third-party titles here, like Miner 2049er from Big Five Software/Tigervision. Also, despite getting a mention from several people in the videos, the homebrew software is scant. Including some of them would've gone a long way in making the collection feel beefier, especially since "The Stacks," the tie-in to the book "Ready Player One" was developed by Digital Eclipse and mentioned in the game's timeline.

Perhaps one of the more infuriating things from the player perspective is the fact that a good chunk of games that were present on past compilations are missing here. If you still own Atari Anthology (also known as Atari: 80 Classic Games in One on PC), you'll notice that Battlezone still isn't here. If you own Atari Vault from 2016, many of the video game ports of board games are missing, but so are titles like Night Driver and Submarine Commander. If you also grabbed the DLC for Atari Vault that came out a few years later, you'll see that none of the M Network games, titles that premiered on the Mattel Intellivision but later got ported to the Atari 2600, have returned, while some of Atari's own games like Adventure II Avalanche and Super Bug are missing. That piece of DLC had a bigger collection of Atari 5200 games, and ports of titles like Desert Falcon that were previously available in their 2600 incarnation aren't present in this pack, either. While the breadth of Atari coverage is appreciated, as is the emulation that has a variety of border and screen options that include emulated scanlines and even an LCD matrix for the Lynx, the list of missing titles is big enough that PC owners really need Atari Vault to complete their collection.

Those thinking about playing this on the Steam Deck will find that it works almost perfectly there. There are no graphical settings to manipulate for the games, except for the resolution that tops out at 1280x720; everything from the original 2600 stuff to the reimagined titles look quite good. You'll get plenty of time with the games, since the average battery life for the compilation on the Steam Deck hovers around five hours on a full charge. About the only issue you'll notice is that the videos tend to have some audio crackling and a bit of hitching for a second. Otherwise, it's a perfect fit for Valve's portable machine.

Your outlook on Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is going to depend on your perspective. As a historical document, it chronicles Atari as a company but still seems focused on the 2600 and old arcade stuff above all else. As a game compilation, it still feels lacking in the latter half of the company's game history, as some of the more interesting titles from the 7800 era onward aren't here; one can argue that the company's output at the time doesn't make the job any easier, though. There are certainly enough curios to keep existing owners of Atari Vault interested thanks to the presence of new titles here, but it could've used more curation to make it an item that's worth celebrating.

Score: 7.0/10