Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1

by Midway Entertainment

Product Details

• ASIN: B000021Y56
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,580 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 features six legendary titles from the late 1970s and early 1980s, including Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Super Breakout, Missile Command, and Tempest. Unlike many retro-flavored video game compilations, this disc is heavy on hits rather than second-rate obscure titles.

In addition to the classic games, Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 also includes a documentary featuring interviews with the original programmers. (Those not so fanatical about the Golden Age of Atari will appreciate the fact that the presentation is broken down into chapters that are easily navigated.)

Arcade Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 almost succeeds in replicating the original arcade action--including the infamous "bugs" of the original games. However, despite these efforts, you never fully get that "just like the arcade" feeling due to the fact that the arcade controls don't translate well to the standard PlayStation controller. With the exception of Asteroids, too often you find yourself wishing for the trackball, paddle, or dual-joystick controls that these games were designed to be played with. Despite this flaw, the nostalgia value alone makes this disc a worthwhile addition to any veteran gamer's collection. --Joe Hon

Pros:

• Excellent lineup of legendary Atari games
• Includes documentary with interviews and narrated slide shows

Cons:

• Arcade controls don't translate well to the PlayStation controller
• Limited appeal beyond retro-video game fans

GameSpot Review

It's possible that younger video game players may not remember the likes of Battlezone, Asteroids, and Super Breakout. But Midway's latest installment of Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Atari Collection 1 - is an outstanding tribute to the once great gaming empire. Bringing together six classic games that launched entire video game genres (and stole countless quarters from gamers), The Atari Collection 1 is a wonderful trip down memory lane. This collection features Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Super Breakout, Missile Command, and Tempest. These conversions to the Playstation are true to their arcade counterparts and are still a blast to play.

Graphically - what more could you ask for? Being true to their arcade versions, the programmers didn't change one thing. Through the use of Midway's arcade emulator and graphical menu, players are treated to a full 3-D replica of each coin-op machine. First timers can see what these old machines looked like back in the day. Click on the game you want, and you're ready to play. Everything has been reproduced exactly - the smooth vector graphics of Tempest to the multicolored mushrooms of Centipede. There are no changes between the home and the arcade. If it was in the game, it's on this disc.

Gameplay is where The Atari Collection truly excels. You can feel your fingers start to twitch as you load up a game of Tempest, or when you get ready to defend cities from nuclear devastation in Missile Command. Overall, the control is bit rough with the Sony controller, but not impossible. With games like Tempest and Centipede, the use of the Sony Mouse is definitely the way to go, though a spinning knob controller would make for a killer accessory.

Added bonuses to this compilation are the game's histories and interviews with their respective designers and producers. Each game has an index attached to it that contains FMV interviews, still pictures, and other bits of trivia. This is great stuff.

Is this title for you? It is if you don't expect texture mapping and dynamic light sourcing. Simply, Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 represents a time in gaming when all that "cool stuff" didn't matter. What mattered was good, honest, fun gameplay. To that end, this title delivers. --Tom Ham
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Retro gaming at its best., November 14, 1999

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This is a wonderful collection of games from the creative heyday of the video game industry. These are bit-perfect ports of the original games; the Playstation is emulating the 1980-era hardware and the original game code is running on the emulator. All the original gameplay is there, including the bugs! Because some of the games, Tempest and Asteroid in particular, had touchy hardware, owning these games on CD is better than owning the coin-ops for most folks. If you grew up with these games, you will enjoy the blast of nostalgia you'll get from playing them again. Today's games have better graphics, but they are not better games!

In this collection: Asteroids, Battlezone, Centipede, Missile Command, Super Breakout, Tempest.

Also included are short video interviews with the creators of Tempest, Battlezone and Centipede.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A valiant but failed effort., July 18, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

I really wanted to like this collection- I'm a huge fan of Atari's arcade games, and want to support commercial porting/emulating of classic games to modern systems. Unfortunately, AGH1 falls prey to problems inherent with emulation on the PSX and the games lose much of their charm and playability.

3 of the games are vector graphic based- Asteroids, Tempest, and Battlezone. Digital Eclipse tried hard, but the PSX- and TV sets in general- aren't suited for vector graphic display.

All 6 games originally used novel and differing controls. Asteroids had a multi-button layout, and is perhaps best suited for the PSX controller. Battlezone had dual joysticks, which work fine with the original Dual Analog joysticks which are no longer available for PSX, but the mapping to the standard PSX controller is awkward. Centipede and Missile Command both used trackballs, and if you have a PSX trackball, then control should be good. The PSX mouse is a viable second option, but joystick control isn't very good (perhaps more tolerable on Centipede.)

Hurt worst of all are Super Breakout and Tempest, both of which were originally paddle controlled. No game system since the NES has had a paddle available for it (not counting steering wheels), which is a shame because there are certain games that demand the precise 2-directional control a paddle brings. And, unfortunately, Tempest and Super Breakout are two of those games.

If you are an owner of one of the specialty controls listed above (Dual Analog sticks, trackball/mouse), and love classic games, this collection isn't a bad idea. But if, like most of us, you're stuck with a digital or Dual Shock controller, this game isn't likely to be played for very long. The Williams, Midway 2, Atari 2 AGHs and Arcade Party Pack are all much better compilations.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OH YEAH! The 80's games are coming back!, August 12, 2000

By	Chris Pinto (Mahopac, NY United States) - See all my reviews

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

What can you say folks? The 80's video game revolution started it all, so here we are playing them again 20 years later with the same vigor we had back then! Only, without the pocket full of quarters.

Personally, I bought this CD for the sole purpose of playing MY favorite game "BATTLE ZONE"! Yes, the other games are great fun, and perfectly translated for the playstation console! With games like Centipede, Battle Zone, Super Breakout, Missle Command, Tempest and Asteroids.....You just CAN"T go wrong!