Outside of what you might call the more modern era of vintage games (SNES, NES, SEGA, etc.), Atari consoles have been the home for some of the best retro games out there. Going back roughly half a century, for many Atari represents the golden era of home gaming and was a major player in the formation of the worldwide industry as we know it today. Started back in 1972, Atari has now announced a brand new collection of some of the best retro games it has been responsible for over the years soon to be landing on your current-generation hardware known as Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration.
Atari set to bring some of the best retro games to a console near you
While the early Nintendo and SEGA system are widely considered to have some of the best retro games out there, much of that work stands on the shoulders of the Atari consoles and software that came before them. Although it has had its ups and downs over the years, Atari has largely remained relevant among nostalgic gamers and folks looking to the past for inspiring, albeit graphically basic by today’s standards, retro gaming experiences.
The Atari brand is now looking to make that even easier with a new collection of what will, presumably, be some of its most beloved and best retro games with Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. it will bring together more than 90 titles first featured on 1977’s Atari 2600 home console alongside others from the Atari 5200, 7800, ST, Jaguar, and Lynx eras. While it’s hard to say how many of the best retro Atari games will make an appearance here – the complete list is yet to be unveiled – suffice to say it will almost certainly contain all of the classics.
But it’s not just going to be vintage Atari titles appearing in the collection per say. There will be “6 new titles” making an appearance here, all of which are looking to be retro-inspired experiences that are likely in the vein of some of the best Atari titles. One such title we know of thus far is a sequel of sorts for Haunted House that originally released back in 1981 with a voxel-style visual approach and what sounds like all new content.
Some of the best retro games from Atari that might appear on the console include the Atari 2600 launch titles, Air-Sea Battle, Basic Math, Blackjack, Combat, Indy 500, Star Ship, Street Racer, Surround, and Video Olympics, as well as games like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and dare I say it, the now infamous E.T the Extra-Terrestrial.
Atari haș tapped developer Digital Eclipse to spearhead the Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. The company has previously been responsible for a series of beloved collections and remasters including The Disney Afternoon Collection, the 30th anniversary Street Fighter package, and more recently, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection.
Atari recently had this to say about the choice to work with Digital Eclipse on putting together the brand’s best retro games along with the aforementioned bonus titles into the upcoming collection:
When it comes to emulation or bringing classics back or doing really any sort of remastering or reimagining, I don’t know if there’s anybody who does it better than Digital Eclipse, so they were always our first choice.
On top of some of the best retro Atari games, the collection will also include “over 60 minutes of exclusive video interviews with key players in the games industry –early Atari designers and engineers and other luminaries of the gaming world — as they discuss Atari’s enduring impact on the video entertainment landscape.”
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is scheduled to launch this fall in November at $40 for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox, PC, and the brand’s own Atari VCS.
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