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Yeah, the Corp and Games split is definitely interesting, but the 'relevant' Atari name for most of it's post 84' life was Games. Or at least I feel it was. Atari Games was still a publishing powerhouse in Arcades, where the post 5200 consoles were kind of a footnote in the shadow of Nintendo and Sega at the time.
- 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.
Nov 11, 2022 · The collection is huge, detailed, and does an amazing job of explaining why these games are so important. The first thing to know about Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is that it is ...
- 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
Jan 22, 2016 · Currently under development by Code Mystic (the same company behind Atari's Greatest His for mobile devices), the so-called Atari Vault will be available via Valve's Steam platform at some point ...
- Angela Moscaritolo
- Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics
Jun 25, 2024 · As for the two timelines featured in the Expanded Edition, 'The Wider World of Atari' timeline will feature 19 playable games and eight video segments and takes a series of deep dives into stories ...
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Aug 27, 2024 · Combat, as its name implies, focuses on one thing and one thing only: combat.A pack-in title for the Atari 2600, Combat excels best when played by two players. As each player commands a tank vehicle, the objective is to destroy the opposing tank as many times as possible within two minutes and sixteen seconds — the player with the most points wins.
