Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration

[Sabertooth]

Welcome to the official topic for
ATARI 50: The Anniversary Celebration

 

[Sabertooth]

Release Date: November 11, 2022

Retail: $39.99

Developer(s): Digital Eclipse

Publisher: Atari

Official Site

Synopsis :

"Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration takes players on an interactive journey through 50 years of video games via interviews with designers, developers and industry leaders, documentary footage, product design documents, high-resolution original artwork, and a specially-curated list of more than 90 playable games. 

At the heart of Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration are the Interactive Timelines, which combine historical trivia, digital artifacts, all-new video interviews, and playable games into one singular experience. When you encounter a game in the Timeline, you can immediately play it without losing your place. 

The massive list of games spans six original Atari console and home computer platforms and generations of arcade titles, the most ever included in a collection by the team at Digital Eclipse. For the first time ever, games from the cult favorite Atari Jaguar and Atari Lynx platforms will be playable on modern consoles. Behind every game are the stories of Atari, what was happening at the company, what went into the creation of the games and the hardware on which they ran, all told by the people who were there. It is a rare opportunity to get a rich behind-the-scenes look at the history of video games. 

In addition to presenting these Atari classics exactly as they were, the talented team at Digital Eclipse has also created the Reimagined series—six new games that revisit, mash-up and reimagine Atari Classics. Each of these new games is included in Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration."

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by Sabertooth

[Sabertooth]

The six new re-imagined games! (Source: Atari)

Swordquest: AirWorld – Yes, you read that right: After nearly 40 years of waiting, the team at Digital Eclipse has created the fourth and final entry in the legendary Swordquest series, inspired by the design concepts of original Swordquest creator Tod Frye. Who will be the first to solve its mysteries – and finally complete the quest?

Haunted Houses – The original “survival horror” game for the Atari 2600 gets a modern 3D voxel-based sequel, featuring more houses, more spooky situations, and more urns.

VCTR-SCTR – This mashup celebration of the vector era of gaming combines the gameplay from Asteroids, Tempest, and other vector-based arcade classics into a single, continuous challenge.

Neo Breakout – An amazing and addictive two-player competition that combines the best features of Breakout and Pong, with a modern graphic style.

Quadratank – The first new entry in the classic Tank series since 1978 combines features from the original games with four-player fun in team or free-for-all modes.

Yars’ Revenge Reimagined – Howard Scott Warshaw’s masterpiece for the Atari 2600 gets a whole new look – and you can swap between original and modern graphics at any time! Designed by Digital Eclipse studio head Mike Mika, who created the Game Boy Color version of Yars’ Revenge in 1999.

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[D.joe]

That vector sector game sounds really cool!

[Sabertooth]

8 minutes ago, Joe said:

That vector sector game sounds really cool!

I though so too!  I also like the look of the Yars' update. 

What really has me intrigued are the Jaguar games.  A lot of heavy hitters on there.  I hope the emulation is good.

[Sabertooth]

More features:

Curated List of Classics:
90+ classic games lovingly presented with best-in-class emulation and modern quality-of-life enhancements – and the ability to play classic games that have not been available for ages. Platforms include Arcade, 2600, 5200, 7800, Atari 8-bit computers, Lynx, and Jaguar.

Interactive Timelines:
Discover the games that launched the modern industry and the creative individuals behind them through interviews, archival images, special source material and behind-the-scenes content in five unique Interactive Timelines.

All-New Videos:
Over 60 minutes of exclusive video interviews with key players in the games industry –early Atari designers and engineers and other luminaries of the gaming world — as they discuss Atari’s enduring impact on the video entertainment landscape.

Everything Unlocked:
All game and bonus content is immediately available to players to enjoy at any time they want, in any order they want.

[Sabertooth]

Preview via Game Informer:

https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2022/06/29/exclusive-first-look-at-atari-50-the-anniversary-celebration

[D.joe]

42 minutes ago, Sabertooth said:

I though so too!  I also like the look of the Yars' update. 

What really has me intrigued are the Jaguar games.  A lot of heavy hitters on there.  I hope the emulation is good.

I'm curious about the lynx games , and how they will look on the big screen. Come on roadblasters

[Sabertooth]

Is it just me or does the music in the video callback to the 1990 Atari 7800 commercial? All I hear is "What do you want? I want Atari!"

 

[TrekMD]

That looks cool!

[Sabertooth]

More screens from the press kit.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Sabertooth

[D.joe]

This is going to be so awesome

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If you didn't catch last night's run down of Atari50 on The Atari Weekly Podcast, check it out!

Host @BHG_Gaming with guests@RelicGamer ,  @Mockduck and @Ballistik cover it all.

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Sabertooth

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All Atari published titles are 50% with code Atari50 in the VCS store! You can use the code more than once!

 

[Sabertooth]

Stoneage Gamer Podcast Episode 421 takes a deep dive into the Atari 50 collection with Stephen Frost of Digital Eclipse. They also discuss the upcoming TMNT Cowabunga Collection. A highly recommended listen.

https://geekade.com/27887-2/

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ICYMI: Atari and Digital Eclipse did an arcade cabinet for the original game VCTR SCTR from Atari50 for CAExtreme. How cool is that? 

 

[Sabertooth]

The guys at The NLG Show did an interview with Mike Mika of Digital Eclipse talking Cowabunga Collection and Atari50.

Classic Controller support for the VCS is confirmed!

 

[Sabertooth]

If you are on Twitter, you'll want to follow the Digital Eclipse account. They're leaking clips from Atari50 in the run-up to launch like this interview clip with ex-Atari Engineer Jerry Jessop on Atari 5200 backwards compatibility with 2600. 

 

[TrekMD]

Why am I not surprised?

[Sabertooth]

Pretty cool clip from Atari50 from an interview with Ernest Cline.

 

[Sabertooth]

Atari uploaded the complete official 103 games list for Atari50 on Steam. Check it out!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2880594482

[Sabertooth]

This is it! Atari 50 launches this week. I am so exciting about this collection even though I can play most of the games. The features I'm most pumped for:

- interviews and archival footage

- internal documents and scans

- the six new games produced by Digital Eclipse

- Jaguar emulation

I pre-ordered the Switch steel book version but will be playing on the VCS.

What are you looking forward to?

 

[socrates63]

I got my email from Amazon that my copy is shipping next week. I picked it up for the Switch. Recently, the Switch version with the steel book case went on sale, and I picked it up.

I'm not looking forward to any particular game, but one thing that piqued my interest in this collection was the Jaguar emulation. I hope it turned out well.

[RickR]

I haven't taken the time to learn much about this, but I will take a look soon.  Looks pretty cool.