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Atari Anthology 2 for classic 80's fans!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I have waited YEARS for this to happen!!! Finally, after all the years, Playstation II has the one game that started it all! I still remember Christmas 1977, after watching several commercials for the Atari 2600, I received my very own that year for Christmas. I couldn't wait to play the games, and spent several hours, and then later years playing with it.
I remember going through ALL the transitions Atari made with the later 5200 and the 7200 and then the mini 2600 system. I also remember the comics that started coming in the newer games, and then so many other companys making the games, and then the CRASH! (1984)
I played my Atari even after it started to become out of style in the late 80's, and all through the Nintendo era back then. I even had a few Sega systems, and then moved to the Sony in the late 90's, and then a miracle, the Playstation II. I still have my old Atari 2600 with several games and controllers needed for it, but only because of the missing Atari games that the Anthology doesn't provide.
I do love the Atari Anthology, and I am very happy that finally after all these years, we have one game with one system that plays over 80 games. However, I feel that another Anthology needs to become available for all of us classic gamers. The first Anthology leaves off: Superman, Space Invaders, Jungle Hunt, Kangaroo, Vanguard, Dig Dug, Defender, Bezerk, Pac-Man and etc...
Yes, I know that Atari didn't design all of these games originally, but I think after all this time, Atari should have the rights to the cheap 8 bit graphics and the big companys can keep coming out with more compilations! In my opinion, somebody should initiate another Atari Anthology and give us old gamers EVERYTHING the Atari had to offer back in the day! However, if this doesn't happen, then this Atari Anthology is the best were going to get...

Basically got it for Lunar Lander...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

But it contains so many other games that I'd say without hesitation if you grew up hanging around video arcades from 1978 to 1983 or so, you'll find more than a few titles in the Anthology worth playing. Also has the old Atari Home Game Haunted House.

Great games, terrible interface

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have never seen a menu system come so close to ruining a video game. It seems designed to make it hard to find any game, much less the one you are looking for. Add to that the loose controls and reduced access to multiplayer and I wish I had never bought this game. That is in spite of the fact that many of the games included here are still a blast to play on a good emulator. If anything, get this to look at old games rather than to play them.

Take a step back in time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was a Yule gift for the grandkids. They love it. Lots of different games so they never get tired of it. A great selection for kids of all ages.

Great value for nostalgia freaks

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Atari Anthology offers up 85 (yes, 85) games from the console glory days of Atari. There's plenty of games you'll no doubt remember like Pong, Missle Command, Centipede, Asteroids, Yars' Revenge, and plenty of others to boot. There's also some games you may not remember like Double Dunk, Backgammon, and Atari Adventure; so for this compilation's price tag alone, you are getting a great value. That being said though, not all the games are perfect emulations. There are noticible differences in terms of sound effects and graphical glitches that occur now and then that were never prevelant before, but besides that and some control issues, most of the games play like they did back then. Other than that, if you weren't around back in Atari's glory days, there's really no reason to give Atari Anthology a look unless you want to check out some video game heritage, but for those who have fond memories of these games, this is an awesome pickup.

not much fun

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 13
Date: March 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I ordered this game so there would actually be something I could play on my sons' playstation and possibly beat them. I was excited waiting for it to arrive. When it got here I was very disappointed. The graphics are bad, the games aren't much fun and I don't even play it now.

atari anthology

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I love it!!!! It brings back a really good part of my childhood. Thank you.

Great flashback

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great collection of the old favorites we all grew up on.

A good collection, but lots of problems

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First off, I want to note that this collection doesn't include Pac-Man, Pole Position, Space Invaders, etc., despite what some reviews might suggest. None of those games were developed by Atari (Pac-Man and Pole Position are Namco games, while Space Invaders is a Taito game). It is unclear whether Atari could have released the licensed home versions of these games (Space Invaders was very good, Pac-Man was one of the nails in the coffin for the company), but in any case, the games present have been included in a "review" (in the loosest sense of the term - really, it's just a cut-and-paste job from an Atari website) near the top of the page, so I won't repeat that.

With 85 games present, it is impossible to give in this limited space an accurate review of everything found here. I'll limit myself to some of the gems present (there are a few), and some of the bombs (of which there are many).

First off, Atari has included 18 original arcade games in this collection, which is a pretty nice number. There are some classics present (Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, and Crystal Castles are my favorites), some interesting titles (Tempest was one of my favorites as a kid, while Major Havoc makes about as much sense now as it did then), and some duds (Red Baron and Black Widow just don't make the grade). Most of the games show off the "vector" technology that seemed poised to dominate the market in the early 80's - but fell off the face of the earth quite soon. While these games are fun, there are serious control issues with many of the games. Centipede was originally designed with a trak-ball controller, as was Crystal Castles; the joystick doesn't quite get the feel right (particularly with Crystal Castle). The games also come equipped with special modes, such as (the aptly titled) trippy mode, where motion is blurred, a double fast mode (self-explanatory), a time mode (which alternates randomly between slow and fast), a time trial (in which the player must reach some milestone in the allotted time) and a hot seat (which is pretty difficult to describe, but basically switches games randomly). With the exception of the Double Fast mode, I found these annoying.

After this, there are 67 Atari games present. Here are many, MANY duds. Atari made a lot of bad games. I'll focus instead on some of the strongest titles. In my opinion, Atari Adventure was the best game released for the system. Despite horrendous graphics, the game was fast-paced and difficult. Haunted House is a great title as well, and Atari's version of "Centipede" is more fun than the arcade game, in my opinion (again, despite horrible graphics). Unfortunately, some games which should be good aren't, mostly due to severe control issues. Demons to Diamonds was a decent shooter game for the paddle controller. Unfortunately, the joystick is horrible for controlling your "spaceship". A more egregious example would be Circus Atari, which is almost unplayable with a joystick. There are about 10 other games on here that are decent, in my opinion, and the rest are junk.

SO, all in all, that makes about 20 or so games that I like to play, out of 85. For 15 bucks, that seems like a good deal to me. Is it overrated nostalgia, as one reviewer commented? Probably, but at this price, who's complaining? I mean, it's essentially lunch for one day. Seems reasonable to me...

Happy gaming!

Very Disappointing

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 13
Date: January 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was so excited to get this game! I was all nostalgic about my own video games as a child and wanted to get it to share with my son but it was awful! My son was not interested at all and it was hard to maneuver the ships etc. We were both disappointed...Please get something else....

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