Ever since the days of the original PlayStation, Atari has released at least one new retro compilation per generation. As such, they’ve become rather stale over the years, with Atari Flashback on Switch failing to even generate a minor buzz.
It’s perhaps not much of a surprise to hear that Atari is going all-in for their next collection – Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is an exhaustive sounding package comprising of 90+ games, including six brand new titles.
Atari isn’t just rolling out the same old games we’ve seen dozens of times before either, as a mixture of arcade, 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bit computer, Lynx, and Jaguar games are promised.
Yes, Jaguar games – something we haven’t seen emulated on a collection before.
Developer Digital Eclipse has planned out an interactive history tour, full of trivia, interviews, design documents, high-res artwork, and various other digital artifacts.
Digital Eclipse are also behind the six new titles:
- Swordquest: AirWorld – the fourth and final part of the Swordquest series, created using original design documents.
- Haunted Houses – a modern take on Haunted House, featuring 3D voxel visuals.
- VCTR-SCTR – a mash-up of Tempest, Asteroids, and other vector-based games, combined into one continuous challenge.
- Neo Breakout – a combination of Breakout and Pong for two players with modern visuals.
- Quadratank – a new four-player version of 1978’s Tank with team and free-for-all modes
- Yars’ Revenge Reimagined – created by Mike Mika, who was responsible for the Game Boy Color version of Yars’ Revenge.
While there’s no official game list yet, the trailer features glimpses of Missile Command, Star Raiders, Adventure, Breakout, Centipede, Asteroids, Major Havok, and Pong. Scrapyard Dog and Miner 2049er quickly appear too.
It’s the prospect of playable Atari Jaguar games that has us excited the most, with the trailer revealing Atari Karts, Cybermorph, Tempest 2000, Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Missile Command 3D, and Fight for Life. Fingers crossed for more. Defender 2000 and Hover Strike seem like reasonable shouts.
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is due this Winter on Atari VCS, Switch, Xbox One, PS4/PS5, Steam, and the Epic Games Store. The Steam page is now live with additional screenshots.
There’s no word on pricing yet, or whether a retail release is planned.