In September, the retro collection Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration received its first paid DLC, The Wider World of Atari. Next week (8th Nov) the second piece of paid DLC launches, featuring another 19 games.
The First Console War, as it’s known, details the battle between the Atari 2600 and Mattel’s Intellivision through a new timeline and eight new videos. M Network programmer Jane Terjung, Activision’s David Crane & Garry Kitchen (who worked on both Atari and Mattel products) and historians Leonard Herman & Mike Mika are interviewed.
It was speculated that new titles would include Intellivision classics (Atari acquired the Intellivision IP back in May) but instead this DLC sticks with Atari. It does, however, include several M Network games – which was a Mattel publishing label. For those unaware, Mattel eventually released games on Atari systems, despite them being a competitor. Hardball meanwhile was originally published by Accolade.
The First Console War games list includes:
Air Raiders – 2600 M Network
Anteater – 2600 M Network (unreleased, based on Stern IP)
Armor Ambush – 2600 M Network
Astroblast – 2600 M Network
Frogs & Flies – 2600 M Network
International Soccer – 2600 M Network
Dark Cavern – 2600 M Network
Star Strike – 2600 M Network
Super Challenge Baseball – 2600 M Network
Super Challenge Football – 2600 M Network
Swordfight – 2600 M Network (rare, unreleased)
Sea Battle – 2600 M Network (rare, unreleased)
Tower of Mystery (unreleased prototype, recently rescued)
Video Pinball – 2600
Basketball – 2600
Hardball – Atari 8-bit (XE)
Final Legacy (prototype) – 5200
Xari Arena – Atari 8-bit
Desert Falcon – 7800
Refreshed physical editions of Atari 50 are due later in November for Switch and PS5, including both DLC packs. The Switch is additionally set to receive a steelbook edition with Atari 2600 art cards, miniature arcade marquee signs, and a replica of Al Alcorn’s Syzygy Co. business card.