Atari Classics 10-in-1

Atari. The very word inspires a nostalgic frisson in any thirtysomething of a vaguely geeky nature. And now the faux-timbered granddaddy of home consoles is back, at a fraction of the size and price but with the same games that rocked the early 80s.

The makers have packed a virtual VCS and ten titles inside a replica Atari joystick, so not only can you relive the pixellated thrills of Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Pong et al, but you also get the authentic experience of wrestling with the least responsive input device ever created. They should really throw in a stethoscope so you can listen, like a safe-cracker, for the faint click of the microswitches as you wrestle to get the damn thing to move perceptibly.

But Twenty/20 can vouch for the fact that this is exactly as it should be – as is the horribly ghosted image generated on your TV screen by the low-grade video circuitry (PAL composite AV phone inputs required). No, the games haven’t aged gracefully. But then, have we?

First published in ‘Twenty/20’, MacUser, 18 April 2003

Tagged as: Atari, Games, MacUser, Reviews