"A good pick-up-and-play title, that's fun and addictive."

Introduction: Retro Atari Classics is the first game I ever bought from Atari. Even though I've been a big fan of Atari for a while now, this is my first time I played most of their classic games. And I tell ya, these games are addictive, and will keep you entertained for a good amount of time. Retro Atari Classics is a compilation of ten popular Atari games: Pong, Missile Command, Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Tempest, Warlords, Gravitar, Lunar Lander, and Sprint. These ten games come with two versions: The 'classic' and 'remix' style. Three graffiti legends (Reas, Delta, and Studio Number One) recreated their own version of these classics to give them their own special look & feel, Thus having two versions.

History of Atari: How can I review this game without telling the history of the company that put video games on the map. If it wasn't for Atari, we wouldn't have playstation or X-Box. Atari deserves great respect in the video game industry. Atari was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as PONG and the Atari 2600, helped define computer entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. Since the early days of coin operated machines, Atari has been responsible for home consoles such as the Atari 2600, produced a series of eight-bit computers (Atari 400 & 800), taken part in the 16 bit computer revolution with the Atari ST, made the revolutionary (for its time) 64-bit Atari Jaguar, and released a handheld video game console, the Atari Lynx. Bushnell and his partner, Ted Dabney, originally wanted to call the company Syzygy, an astronomical term. But they chose to go with "Atari", because it was more memorable. Their first, and most popular, console was the Atari 2600. successors came like the 5200 and 7800, but was never as big as the first. Their last console was the Atari Jaguar, which failed because it was hard to develop games for the system. Atari has been owned by several entities since 1972. First was Warner Communications (1976), then Jack Tramiel, the recently ousted founder of Atari competitor, Commodore International (1984). After Tramiel, JTS Inc. had got a hold of Atari in 1996 until JTS sold it to Hasbro Interactive in 1998. Hasbro Interactive was taken over by Infogrames in December of 2000. In October 2001, Infogrames announced that it was "reinventing" the Atari brand with the launch of three new games. On May 7, 2003, Infogrames officially reorganized its US subsidiary as a separate entity known as Atari Inc. It named its European operations to Atari Europe, and kept the main holdings company as Infogrames Entertainment. Atari now develops, publishes and distributes games for all major video game consoles, as well as for the personal computer, and is currently one of the largest third-party publishers of video games in the United States.

Graphics: The graphics are different with the original style and the remix mode. The original style has the same classic look, but now spans to both screens. Some games you'll find better to play in the classic mode. The graffiti mode has an all new style with different colors to make things look fresh and new, thanks to our three graffiti legends.

Gameplay: In this game you can choose to use the stylus or the buttons. Some games are easier with the stylus and vice-versa, but if you want the true retro feel then go with the buttons. Here is a list of all the ten classics in the game and goes into detail. BREAK-OUT: Breakout tasks you with moving a paddle to hit a ball into blocks until they are all gone. The paddle is controlled with either the D-pad or the stylus. Control with the stylus comes off really nice. The remix mode adds characters and graffiti to the wall as well as uses someone's head instead of a paddle to hit the ball. GRAVITAR: This game tasks you with landing an out of control spaceship while being shot at. This is a big test for the stylus and the precise control you get with it makes the game easier to play and suits the game well. The remix version makes the colors more pronounced and vibrant but other than that the game really doesn't look that much different. LUNAR LANDER: You take the role of the man on the moon by landing the Lunar Lander on the launch pad using the D-pad or the stylus. It's better if you use the D-pad on this one. The original game has some fairly nice graphics and interface while the updated graffiti really has only changed the interface to a more casual font and colors but overall the control system remains the same. You'll have good fun with Lunar Lander. DEFENDER: This is one of my favorites in the game. Defender is where you take controls of a city's defence system and shoot down in-coming missiles. This works really well with the stylus because of the precise aiming and in a way feels a bit like a cheat. The graffiti version is probably one of the better ones with a full city skyline in view and better explosions with lasting fire effects. Defender is one of the best ones in this compilation. PONG: Pong is a game which everyone knows, table tennis on a computer screen. This is one of the games you can play multiplayer on the cart wirelessly. The graphics for the classic have been retained which is actually a positive considering how famous this game is in video game history. For the remix the artists have retained most of the game style, with only a few colors changed and a look of colored blocks added. It's better if you play this with a friend, one-player gets boring after a while, due to its simplicity. SPRINT: Sprint is another game which can be played multi-cart and tasks you with using the stylus or D-pad to drive around a track using a top down view. The DS version has a steering wheel on the second screen which is nice but the graffiti version only updates the interface and background, not much else. Sprint is my least favorite due to the controls. TEMPEST: Avoid the bullets and enemies while you continue through the game. Fairly self explanatory but you can shoot back and the objects become tighter and tighter making it harder to avoid the enemy. CENTIPEDE: Now this one brings back good memories. Whenever I would go to the dentistry, years back when I was a little kid, they had old arcade machines and this was one of them. It was fun playing it at the time and I'll never forget that. I really enjoyed this one. You play as a centipede's head which can shoot and you have to stop the spider and centipede eating you by dodging bullets and the spider. This game doesn't use the stylus very well and I found the D-pad and buttons to be more useful. In terms of updates, the graffiti updates, the game uses the same character from Breakout to shoot and uses a more rainbow like color set during the game rather than the colors of the original and it has a really nice background that changes when you kill all the enemies on the screen. The graffiti version is one of the best looking ones in the game, and this is also my favorite game in Retro Atari Classics. ASTEROIDS: You control a small ship and have to destroy asteroids before they hit you as they break into small pieces. The stylus control isn't that good so your better off with the buttons. The graffiti remix is really nice with a unique graphical style used and it seems to suit the game very well. WARLORDS: A game where you have to defend your castle from a raging dragon's fireball by letting it bounce off of your paddle-type-of- thing. Well, think of Breakout in when you have to bounce a ball to hit the wall. This is kind of like that but you have to hit three other castles enough times so their wall will break down and destroy the castle. Be the last to survive and you win. The Graffiti mode has the same style as Centipede and Breakout. This game works well with the stylus. Warlords also supports multiplayer.

Sound: The game comes with all its classic sound effects and music. While playing in classic mode or remix mode, the sound doesn't change, which is a good thing because it keeps it original feeling and all that. Some games in remix mode sure could have used some music to fit with its new style. The music in the title screen is nothing to complain about.

Conclusion: Retro Atari Classics will appeal to anyone who's into old-school games. It's a good pick-up-and-play title thats quite addictive and will keep you coming back, especially when you want to beat your high score. This game isn't for everyone, though. But fans of Atari should pick this one up and give it a try. It just might awaken some lost childhood memories.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/06