Atari Revisits its Heyday - Flashback Console and Atari Anthology Revealed
More golden oldies back on the shelves
Back in the '80s, when texture-mapping and pixel-shading existed only in the dreams of madmen, and when ‘Adventure’ seemed like a catchy and original title for a game; the Atari 2600 and 7800 were triumphant examples of entertainment technology. Indeed, whilst fusty fogies were turning their noses up and casting aside ‘this electronic game’ thing as a passing fad, Atari was opening up future possibilities for the games industry we all love so dearly today.
To celebrate this history, and also to scoop some cash by milking the current retro craze as hard as the nostalgia-cow can bear, Atari has a two-pronged strategy to extract the folded lovelies from the public’s collective wallet. First up, is the Atari Flashback plug’n’play mini-console. This is a compressed fusion of the 2600 and 7800, complete with 2 joysticks and 20 built-in titles. If Mel Gibson was to make a historical movie about video games – the Flashback would play the part of the first console. It’s not really a retro machine, it’s brand new, but there’s no need to quibble over details is there? At least not when it does contain 20 old school Atari classics, which are as follows:
Adventure
Air Sea Battle
Asteroids
Battlezone
Breakout
Canyon Bomber
Centipede
Crystal Castles
Desert Falcon
Food Fight
Gravitar
Haunted House
Millipede
Planet Smashers
Saboteur
Sky Diver
Solaris
Sprintmaster
Warlords
Yar's Revenge
If, on the other hand, retro-heads are unwilling to clutter up their living rooms with yet more cumbersome hardware and peripherals – or feel that the 20 game menu listed for the Flashback doesn’t quite suffice, then the Atari Anthology will surely be of more interest. Due for release on PS2 and Xbox, it will be a budget price title launched in November: and will contain 85 Atari classics built in to a revamped 3D interface. Although Atari has yet to fully flesh out the finished line-up, confirmed inclusions so far include:
Asteroids
Battlezone
Blackjack
Desert Falcon
Gravitar
Off the Wall
Pong
Millipede
Missile Command
Sprintmaster
Steeplechase
Super Breakout
Expect more news on old products as soon as it breaks, again.
To celebrate this history, and also to scoop some cash by milking the current retro craze as hard as the nostalgia-cow can bear, Atari has a two-pronged strategy to extract the folded lovelies from the public’s collective wallet. First up, is the Atari Flashback plug’n’play mini-console. This is a compressed fusion of the 2600 and 7800, complete with 2 joysticks and 20 built-in titles. If Mel Gibson was to make a historical movie about video games – the Flashback would play the part of the first console. It’s not really a retro machine, it’s brand new, but there’s no need to quibble over details is there? At least not when it does contain 20 old school Atari classics, which are as follows:
Adventure
Air Sea Battle
Asteroids
Battlezone
Breakout
Canyon Bomber
Centipede
Crystal Castles
Desert Falcon
Food Fight
Gravitar
Haunted House
Millipede
Planet Smashers
Saboteur
Sky Diver
Solaris
Sprintmaster
Warlords
Yar's Revenge
If, on the other hand, retro-heads are unwilling to clutter up their living rooms with yet more cumbersome hardware and peripherals – or feel that the 20 game menu listed for the Flashback doesn’t quite suffice, then the Atari Anthology will surely be of more interest. Due for release on PS2 and Xbox, it will be a budget price title launched in November: and will contain 85 Atari classics built in to a revamped 3D interface. Although Atari has yet to fully flesh out the finished line-up, confirmed inclusions so far include:
Asteroids
Battlezone
Blackjack
Desert Falcon
Gravitar
Off the Wall
Pong
Millipede
Missile Command
Sprintmaster
Steeplechase
Super Breakout
Expect more news on old products as soon as it breaks, again.
Companies:
Atari
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Comments
Deviluck 8 Sep 2004 10:47
1/4
child and naked man...rofl....
Some cool games there available, plenty of hours wasted with them i bet, though to be honest, im not a retro fan, but for the people who are, i bet they think they are in heaven.
Some cool games there available, plenty of hours wasted with them i bet, though to be honest, im not a retro fan, but for the people who are, i bet they think they are in heaven.
Smelly 8 Sep 2004 10:52
2/4
Of course it's not "Atari" revisting its "heyday".. atari no longer exists..
It's infogrames cashing in on easy to make cash cows like the evil monkeys like they are.
5 minutes to convert - 50 quid please.
It's infogrames cashing in on easy to make cash cows like the evil monkeys like they are.
5 minutes to convert - 50 quid please.
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Kaxxx 8 Sep 2004 10:58
3/4
IMO theres good retro and theres Atari games.
Lets be honest here, how much fun is there really in any of those games these days?
Lets be honest here, how much fun is there really in any of those games these days?
Joji 8 Sep 2004 12:08
4/4
I suppose Atari are looking to cash in on something else, since they messed up with Driv3r. If it works, good luck to them. Wow, It's been years since I first played the brilliant Sabotuer.
The thing that is strange is that a year or two ago, when Miyamoto or someone else from Nintendo said they were looking to make games simpler, and try to bring back gamers who have been lost since the PS era, most would have thought they are bonkers. And here we are with GB Classics range selling well with more on the way, and now Atari.
With Atari now entering this arena, it's clear that after so long, they want money for those roms, someone has been getting for free online. They never wanted to sell them to joe public, because nobody wants them they claim. Isn't it funny when they have to eat their words?
The thing that is strange is that a year or two ago, when Miyamoto or someone else from Nintendo said they were looking to make games simpler, and try to bring back gamers who have been lost since the PS era, most would have thought they are bonkers. And here we are with GB Classics range selling well with more on the way, and now Atari.
With Atari now entering this arena, it's clear that after so long, they want money for those roms, someone has been getting for free online. They never wanted to sell them to joe public, because nobody wants them they claim. Isn't it funny when they have to eat their words?