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Entertaining but imperfect.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

For the money, this is a decent deal; 29 Activision games and 1 Imagic game for less than a buck a pop. As anyone who remembers the Atari will tell you, though, these kinds of games aren't usually engrossing; half the fun is being able to play a game for a few seconds or minutes and then popping in a new game. The more games you have, the more you're likely to do this. So, you'll find yourself constantly stopping games in progress and starting up others...

The overall package has some problems. First, considering the small size of the ROMs, there is no reason Activision couldn't have fit their entire catalogue on here, including Imagic and Absolute games (minus the licensed titles). It might have been difficult to emulate Pitfall II since it contained a separate sound chip, but everything else could have been included easily.

Second, the loading times are bizarre- these games are only 4-8k in size originally; the load times are so long that it seems the emulator is being loaded up fresh every time- this makes switching between games annoying. It would have been a lot more efficient to simply load the emulator into memory first, and then just load a ROM into memory as needed.

Third, an option to use the PSX mouse/trackball or analog/Dual Shock for Kaboom! would have been nice. Kaboom! was a paddle game originally, and digital controls just don't cut it.

Fourth, I would have loved to see some multimedia content. Considering the paucity of the instructions in the manual, scans of the original manual would have been nice; interviews with programmers and/or a multimedia history segment would have been really nice.

For the joystick games (all but Kaboom!), the controls are pretty good. It sometimes would help to have a joystick like the original Atari one, because a control pad doesn't offer the same amount of precision.

Overall, a decent entry in the retro/emulation category. More of a selection than any other title except Activision's Intellivision Classics. A little more polishing and it would have been a 4 star game; as it stands, though, it gets just a 3 for being a plain but competent compilation.

Great for nostalgia, but some flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: August 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I borrowed "Activision Classics" from one of my friends awhile back and for the most part I was impressed. I grew up playing the Atari 2600 and I still play it sometimes, so I couldn't wait to play this game. It has a lot of my favorites such as Pitfall and Megamania. Even better, it has even more games that I haven't ever played but have always wanted to such as Fishing Derby and Frost Bite.

The graphics of the games is identical to that of the Atari 2600, but that's about all that's exactly the same. I have to admit, it is a bit different trying to control these games with a controller instead of a joystick. Once you get used to it, that won't be a problem. The only major drawback I found in this game is that in some of the ones I have for the Atari 2600 such as Megamania and Pitfall, the sounds aren't the same or they have been left out.

If you grew up with the Atari 2600 or used to play it a lot, I would recommend getting "Activision Classics." But if you haven't ever played the 2600, you might not be too fond of these games. If you're a longtime fan of Atari, this will bring back a lot of great memories.

I'm ten again! I'm ten again! Oh no, i'm thirty-one.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: March 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a wonderful look back on the way I wasted my early teens. I bought the disc for my 16-year-old brother and we spent the entire night playing Pitfall, Enduro, Chopper Command, River Raid, you name it. I only wish Atari would put together some of their own classics: Joust, Berzerk, Combat, Asteroids, or Space Invaders. Oh no, I'm thirty-one.

some games hard to control

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: December 04, 1999
Author: Amazon User

You definitely get a lot of games and good memories for the price: they have the same charmingly primitive graphics, and the sound effects are identical. But the controller sometimes restricts how fast and where you can move, making some games (e.g. Kaboom and Stampede) hard to play. Activision Classics is fun if you want to relive the past and get some laughs, but you probably won't be able to play very well.

Our 7 year old daughter loves Mom and Dad's favorite games.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: February 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game because I loved the old Atari games. My husband, brother, mother, father, and I all enjoyed the game very much. It reminded us of when we were younger and allowed us some good times and memories. I asked my daughter to come and see what our games used to look like. We compared them to the games of today. She was amazed at the difference. She sat down to watch at first, but she couldn't help herself, soon she picked up the controller and started playing. I had to make her shut off the machine and go to bed. I also love that these games do not have so much profanity and other things that the newer games have. Also they do not spin around so much that you get a headache. Everyone in our family loves this game. It is excellent.

It Brings Me Great Memories

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 07, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There have been a lot of Activision classics I used to play 20 years ago, someone missed the cut in this CD, but most I have played before and it renewed my interest to try again and playing it the way I used to play it on the Atari 20 years ago.

I may have been a smart kid, but I always used B difficulty. Now I use the "A" level to advance my knowledge and believe me, my scores have been pretty good the way I remember it.

If anyone still has a PS1, they should get this CD, especially if they have one with the LCD screen for travel purposes.

Man, bring on the new playstation games!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 12
Date: March 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The overall nostalgia of the game is overwhelming...for about two seconds. After realizing that all the games are based on the same concept, I found trying to play these games fatiguing and frustrating. I do remember playing these games on the old atari system, but I can't say that they are missed after battling through this endless pit of maddening fun. I say, bring on the new playstation games, and leave the past where it is.

A good collection

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

For anyone who can remember what REALLY started the video game market, this is a collection of those pioneering games that were so fun and addictive. Activision has provided 30 games originally for the Atari VCS (2600) and has kept them fairly well preserved.

There were a few noticeable problems however. Games like Kaboom! which use the analog paddle control are impossible. The lightning-fast paddle controller is ill-represented by the PS D-pad. Also, the sounds seem to be from the lower-pitched PAL chips, rather than the higher NTSC. Similarly, some of the graphics seem to vary a bit from the originals. Of course, being that I still own a VCS, I can point out these differences.

Overall, this isn't a bad buy. For anyone who doesn't have an Atari VCS around but still would love to play their old favorites, this is going to be just right for you. For those in the other category, it may be better to stick with your VCS; nothing feels quite the same as the originals.

Not as much fun as you remember

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: June 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game gives you many games for a good price but once you play it you realize that these classic games were lame. But good for nostalgia.

Just Meh.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 21, 2002
Author: Amazon User

What you're really getting here for your buck is Pitfall and, maybe, Keystone. What I want to know is: Did anyone feel even a little nostalgic to play anything else on this disc? Barnstorming? Boxing?! C'mon, for the price, you think they throw in at least Berzerk or Yar's Revenge. Buy it if you just have to play River Raid one more time, but if you're just in the mood for some retro game goodness, get Midway's Arcade Greatest Hits vol. 2 instead. Who needs Chopper Command when you have Spy Hunter, Joust 2 and Moon Patrol?

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