Atari: The 80 Classic Games

by Atari

Product Features

• 80 classic Atari games on one disc
• Selection includes classic arcade and Atari 2600 games
• Many of your favorite arcade games including Asteroids, Centipede, Tempest, and more
• Atari 2600 games include Battlezone, Breakout, Haunted House, Millipede, and more
• All graphics and sound reproduced to be just like the originals

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00009ZVP4
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: November 11, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,902 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

At last, find 80 of the classic Atari arcade and Atari 2600 games on one disk, including titles never before seen on CD-ROM.

From the classic arcade games: Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Black Widow, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Liberator, Lunar Lander, Major Havoc, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong, Red Baron, Super Breakout, Space Duel, Tempest, and Warlords.

Atari 2600 titles: 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, A Game of Concentration, Adventure, Air/Sea Battle, Asteroids, Basic Programming, Battlezone, Bowling, Breakout, Canyon Bomber, Casino, Centipede, Circus Atari, Codebreaker, Combat, Crystal Castles, Demon to Diamonds, Dodge ‘em, Double Dunk, Flag Capture, Football, Fun With Numbers, Golf, Gravitar, Haunted House, Home Run, Human Cannonball, Math Gran Prix, Maze Craze, Millipede, Miniature Golf, Missile Command, Night Driver, Outlaw, Quadrun, Radar Lock, Realsports Baseball, Realsports Football, Realsports Tennis, Realsports Volleyball, Sky Diver, Slot Machine, Slot Racers, Space War, Star Raiders, Star Ship, Stellar Track, Street Racer, Submarine Commander, Super Baseball, Super Breakout, Super Football, Surround, Swordquest: Earthworld, Swordquest: Fireworld, Swordquest: Waterworld, Video Checkers, Video Chess, Video Olympics, Video Pinball, Warlords, and Yar's Revenge.

Product Description

Take a step back in time to the early days of video arcades and in-home entertainment with an unsurpassed collection of 80 authentic Atari titles. Each game is faithfully reproduced down to the last detail with all the great sights, sounds and fast action that made them so popular. Whether you played these games in their original arcade cabinets or on an Atari 2600 console, you're sure to find a favorite.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 80 games are just the beginning., September 27, 2004

By 

Joseph Ekaitis "author of Collinsfort Village" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Atari: The 80 Classic Games (CD-ROM)

Enough has been written about the games and their faithful recreations (all the way down to the infamous 2600 game Easter eggs planted in "Adventure" and "Missile Command" by disgruntled uncredited programmers) that adding anything else would be redundant. They really are spot on.

The real treasure is leafing (mousing?) through all that bonus material. First, there's box art and instruction manuals for all of the 2600 games as well as the manual for the Atari Video Computer System (the console itself) and a page from a mail order catalog offering the original package that included 3 Game Program cartridges (all yours for just $299.98).

The arcade nostalgia features marketing and promotional materials including flyers, collector pins, TV and radio commercial scripts, advertising slicks, covers from shop manuals and an ad for the CAT (Computer Assisted Troubleshooter) Box, used by former pinball repairmen to maintain this new breed of barroom entertainment.

For history buffs, a sizeable excerpt from the book "PHOENIX: The Fall and Rise of Videogames" by Leonard Herman encapsulates Atari's history, from a 2-man operation to market dominance and eventual collapse, only to rise again as the new name for the company formerly known as Infogrames.

As if that's not enough, there's the man himself: Atari founder Nolan Bushnell in over a half-hour of video reminiscing about the video game industry, taped at the former location of Andy Capp's Tavern where the world's first PONG game began gobbling every quarter in the San Francisco Bay area.

So, calling this CD-ROM a "collection" is like calling a Ferrari Testarossa a nice little Italian car. It's much more. It's a treasure chest, and your CD-ROM drive is the key.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Recycle, Repackage, Rerelease, January 19, 2004

By 

C. T. Mikesell (near Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Atari: The 80 Classic Games (CD-ROM)

While there's a lot that's new here, it's important to note that a lot of these games have been included in other Atari collections (Atari Arcade Hits Vol. #1 & #2 and the Anniversary Pack, which compiled both AAH volumes; many of the VCS/2600 games have been released in other collections). Still we have six new arcade games and likely dozens of old cartridge games now available for 100% legal play on a PC.

There is quite a bit of chaff thrown in with the wheat, and finding what you want can be a chore. All the games may qualify a "classic" in someone's definition, but that someone is not necessarily you. Navigation for the VCS/2600 games requires you to first choose the category of the game and then the game itself - clicking on the help icon will reveal what games are in each category. Shortcuts may be created for each of the arcade games (it may be possible to create batch files for individual VCS/2600 games too, but I haven't explored that yet).

Each game has customizable controls and you may need to fiddle with video and resolution settings to reduce flicker and get games running just right on your computer. Even then, some controllers work better than others for some games - a joystick is the only way to play the arcade game Red Baron with any degree of control. While this can be a hassle, it's important to realize that these games were originally designed to run on standardized equipment; the PC, with its myriad processor, video card, OS, etc., possibilities is the antithesis of old-school consoles. It's worth the time you put into it to get the games running optimally. Don't fight it; do it and start playing.

If you already have one or two of the old collections, go ahead and get this one as well. Pass your old CDs on to a friend; your act of arcade evangelism may make a convert - and provide you with someone to trounce in two-player mode.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally awesome!, June 22, 2004

By 

depthfunction "depthfunction" (St. Louis, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Atari: The 80 Classic Games (CD-ROM)

Like a lot of people of my generation, I grew up playing with the Atari 2600 and the stack of game cartridges that I acquired in the early 1980s. It was one of my most beloved beloved toys of my youth, and when my 2600 console died sometime in the late 1980s, I thought I'd never play a lot of those games again.

And so that's why this CD-Rom is so great - it's a wonderful nostalgia trip. I was so geeked to play Adventure once again - one of my all-time favorite 2600 games. And it's fun playing games that I never owned, but wanted.

It is such a bargain: back in the day, individual game cartridges cost about $30 each, but now you can buy 80 - 80! - games for just $20. Incredible! Not only does this CD-Rom include exact reproductions of the original games, but you also get tons of bonus materials, an in-depth video interview with the founder of Atari, complete instructions for all of the games, box art, promotional material, even a single-player version of Combat!

I also really like the 18 arcade versions of Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Battlezone and other classic arcade games. I loved playing Centipede in the arcades and now I've got my own version of it on my PC!

The only complaint I have is that not all of the games Atari made for the 2600 are here. Sure, there were a bunch of other companies, like Activision, who made games for the 2600, but I'm talking about games (especially a lot of the latter-day games) like Pole Position, Kangaroo, Dig Dug, etc. versions of which Atari made for the 2600. Those games aren't here. Also missing are games like Raiders of the Lost Ark - a cool role playing game - but I guess there might have been trademark issues involved there.

Anyone born after 1980 probably won't be interested in this. Yeah, these games are mighty primitive by today's standards (I'm amazed that most of these games only take up about 2K of space - so small and simple!), for those of us who grew up with the Atari 2600, this is a great collection and definitely worth picking up.