Atari 50: The First Console War

Game Info

Well before the current day console wars dominated social media and message boards, Atari's VCS and Intellivision collided in the first major video game rivalry in 1979. The battle only intensified when Intellivision started making games for the VCS, its fiercest rival's machine! In a series of exclusive interviews, the game makers who lived through the first console war explain how and why this unique chapter of video-game history unfolded.

Name

Companies

Digital Eclipse

Released

11/8/2024

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One

Type

Shooter, Platform, Arcade

0

izigame

members favorited

Reviews

Saturday, November 9, 2024 4:29:50 AM

21 Steam users votes up

Wasabi Alt

Steam user

I recommend you first read the analysis of the first DLC : https://steamcommunity.com/id/turok/recommended/2775650?snr=1_5_9__402

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Assuming you've read the review of the other DLC, the only thing that's been "fixed" is a greater variety of games for the Atari 800 (2 new games), Atari 5200 (1 new game), and 7800 (1 new game). Other than that, nothing has been fixed, and worse, some of the manuals look like they were ripped from some 20-year-old Atariage post.
But without further ado, here is the list of positive points, negative points and recommendations (negative points, small problems and recommendations will not be repeated from the other analysis, but they still apply in the current state of the collection with the two DLCs (even the microwave sound in the 5200 Berzerk)):

The positive:
-Price: Regardless of what you think about the idea of a game collection, it's a very cheap price for 19 games and a documentary made exclusively for this DLC;
-Easy to navigate: Digital Eclipse found its safe haven after developing the Atari 50 interface. It works very well;
-Flawless emulation: They maintained the same quality standard as the base game;
-It includes two prototypes never before available (Tower of Mystery and Antbear), and they even went to the trouble of recreating manuals for these two games that looked very similar to what you would see in games of the type at that time;
-Overall good selection of games.

The Negative:
-It seemed like they didn't have much time to scan the manual for the games Armor Ambush and Frogs and Flies, but that could be fixed in a future update if Digital Eclipse READ THE STEAM REVIEWS AND DIDN'T IGNORE THEM;
-Initially, it was announced that there would be 39 games in the Expanded Edition (19 for The Wider World of Atari and 20 for The First Console War). However, they had to remove one of the games from The First Console War (which I learned was Frisky Tom for the 5200), and Digital Eclipse did not replace it with an other game, so anyone who pre-ordered the Atari 50: Expanded Edition paid for an extra game that they did not receive.

Recommendations:
-Just like they did in December 2023, an update could be made correcting everything I mentioned + games that make up for the misfortune. Here I suggest some of these games:
Atari Jaguar games (which Atari owns the rights to many of), Accolade games (a company whose entire catalog is owned by Atari, a company that released several games for the Atari 7800 and Atari 8-Bit, Atari ST, MS-DOS and even the Jaguar).
Games that make sense to be in this collection, such as Miner 2049er Volume II (Atari 2600), Atari Mini Golf (Arcade), Night Driver (Arcade), Steeplechase (Arcade), Stunt Cycle (Arcade), Sprint (the entire arcade series), Canyon Bomber (Arcade), Atari Baseball (Arcade), Soccer (Arcade), Atari Football (Arcade), Atari Basketball (Arcade).
Other versions of games already included in the collection, such as Food Fight (Atari 7800), Desert Falcon (Atari 8-Bit), Video Pinball (Arcade), Miniature Golf (5200), Centipede (Atari 5200), Asteroids (Atari 5200/8-Bit), RealSports Basketball (Atari 5200 and 8- Bit), RealSports Soccer (Atari 5200 and Atari 8-Bit), RealSports Football (Atari 5200 and Atari 8-Bit), RealSports Baseball (Atari 5200, Atari 7800 and Atari 8-Bit).
If any Atari 50 developer sees this analysis, they will almost certainly say that the focus of the collection is not to have multiple games and blah blah blah. The thing is, including these versions is a practical way to preserve the history of the games, which is what Digital Eclipse says is the reason for producing collections with their timelines. Not to mention that no sane consumer would complain about having more options to play Atari games.
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8/10.
For me it would be a 1000/10 if it didn't have the problems and negative points that I mentioned (several negative points mentioned in the analysis of the first DLC), in addition to the recommendations that I suggested. And I know that the analysis is huge with so many defects and criticisms that I mentioned, but I mention it so that they can improve something that could be perfect.