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Nov 24, 2023 · Atari, Classic Games. Item Size. 639.8M. Take a step back in time to the early days of video arcades with Atari's 80 Classic Games, a compilation of unforgettable and authentic Atari titles. Each one is faithfully reproduced with all the great sights, sounds, and fast action that made them so popular. Whether you played these games in their ...
- Senior Editor, Features
- Space Invaders. One of the first shooting games ever, Space Invaders' lines of lurking aliens appeared in arcades before it became the first arcade game officially licensed for a console.
- Kaboom! Activision's Kaboom! (1981) became another million seller. The game starred a mad bomber who dropped bombs, which the player caught with three buckets at the bottom of the screen.
- Combat. Combat (1976) was one of the first Atari games. It contained 27 games in one, each representing different forms of combat, but all using tanks, jets, or biplanes as vehicles with weapons capability.
- Demon Attack. Imagic—a company that started with an "I" before starting with an "I" was cool—released Demon Attack (1982) for several consoles and computers, including Commodores, TRS-80, and of course, Atari 2600.
- Pitfall! The original king of rage quitting, Pitfall! is the rare 2600 title that remains on the lips and minds of gamers around the world even more than 30 years after its release.
- Battlezone. People scoff at the 2600’s admittedly limited capabilities, but in the right hands, the system could produce remarkable things. Battlezone stands as the systems finest graphical achievement, one of the earliest examples of a first-person shooter, complete with 3d graphics.
- Berzerk. Berzerk’s multi-directional shooting action has helped cement its legacy as one of the Atari’s finest action titles. Maze games were common in the system, but Berzerk added a shooting component that took its simple mazes to another level.
- Secret Quest. Atari’s answer to Legend of Zelda wasn’t a fantasy game, but instead a science fiction title. You are an unnamed hero tasked with blowing up eight space stations using a blend of simple sword-based combat and brain-bending puzzle solving.
- Breakout
- Asteroids
- Battlezone
- Centipede
- Missile Command
- Tempest
- Star Wars
- Marble Madness
- Paperboy
- Gauntlet
Designed by Steve Wozniak (later of Apple fame), who was duly ripped off by Steve Jobs (also later of Apple fame) over development bonuses, Breakout is one-player Pong. It’s basic fare, but tough and compelling. Play it with a spinner for best effect.
Arriving a year after Space Invaders, Asteroidsmade Taito’s title look archaic. In place of doddering and chunky foes was a field of asteroids you blasted to smithereens – and a sneaky saucer determined to turn you into so much space dust.
One of the earliest first-person shooters, Battlezoneplonked you in a tank and had you roam the landscape looking for other tanks to destroy. It was considered so realistic at the time that a version was worked up for the US Army.
Another title that reimagined Space Invaders, Centipede’swormy foes sped across the screen, inconveniently breaking in two when you shot them. The title’s breakneck pace and blink-and-you-die gameplay ensures it holds up today.
Released during the Cold War, Missile Commandtasked players with fending off waves of missile attacks. Chillingly and matter-of-factly stating ‘The End’ instead of ‘Game Over’ summed things up when all your bases were nuked.
More Space Invaders? Yep, but now in a tube and across varied geometric ‘webs’. Creator Dave Theurer’s additions (spikes, smart bombs, varied foes) ramped up the tension. Years later, Jeff Minter remade the game as Tempest 2000– aka the main reason to buy an Atari Jaguar.
Forget your Battlefronts and TIE Fighters (actually, don’t, because they were fab), because this vector classic made you feel like you were right there in the movie, blasting enemies to pieces, and making that famous trench run. “Use the force, Luke!”
The visually spectacular isometric levels in Marble Madnessbring to mind Escher-like landscapes as you attempt to coax your marble along narrow pathways and around plentiful hazards. Terrifyingly, experts can blaze through the entire game in three minutes.
British kids used to wonder what US newspapers were made of when they went through windows in this high-octane arcade game. It remains fun, though, not least when you reach the stunt course at the end of the street.
This dungeon crawler was a rarity at the time, in offering four-player co-op – and ratting you out if you kept shooting or eating all the health-replenishing food. The game itself ate coins, marking the start of pay to play.
- Craig Grannell
Mar 24, 2016 · Atari Vault, a collection of 100 classic Atari 2600 games including Asteroids, Centipede, and Tempest, is now available for download on Steam. The bundle, first announced back in January, is only ...
Oct 3, 2023 · According to a survey by Statista, “Space Invaders” and “Pac-Man”, both available on Atari, are among the best-selling arcade games of all time, with over 360,000 and 400,000 arcade cabinets sold respectively. Fact: “Adventure” for the Atari 2600, released in 1980, is often credited as the first action-adventure video game.
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