Atari Anniversary Advance

"A challenging and addictive collection of games from the past."

I am not old enough to remember the days when the games included in Atari Anniversary Advance were in the arcades, but from this game I have an idea of what games were like. These games are addictive and challenging, exactly what games should be. I find that games nowadays are too short and easy (I wish they would go back to the challenging, addictive, and longer type of games from the Super Nintendo). Anyway, on with the review.

SOUND & GRAPHICS: 7/10
I'm only going to say this once: I do not care about graphics and sound! I don't care one bit! It's gameplay that makes the game! The following is my analogy taken directly from my review of Road To Wrestlemania for Game Boy Advance (from this site):
I see video games as a slice of pizza: graphics and sound being the appearance of the pizza, game options being the toppings on the pizza, and gameplay being the taste of the pizza. Sure, lots of toppings (options) and a great looking pizza (graphics and sound) look very appealing, but if it tastes bad (gameplay), the pizza is no good.
Atari Anniversary Advance's graphics and sound are not as great as most of the other games currently out there, but there is a reason for that: they are older games! I do not know if they sound like their counterparts from the arcades, but judging by what I know I am going to guess that they are pretty close. Don't worry about the sound and graphics in this game: they are not amazing, but they are good enough to say I like them and they do not bother me.

OPTIONS: 8/10
You get 7 games: Asteroids, Super Breakout, Missile Command, Battlezone, Centipede, Tempest, and Atari Trivia Challenge (I do not play the Trivia one much because I am not old enough to know the answers to the questions). They are all fun and challenging, and you get to change the options for each one. You can have one or two players (using the same Game Boy Advance, just taking turns playing), change the difficulty, number of lives, points needed for an extra life, changing the game to landscape or portrait style screen (I forget which one it is, but one of those requires holding the Game Boy Advance sideways, which from what I heard makes the games appear as they did in the arcades), and more. So with all of these great options, why did I only give the game an 8 for options? I believe that with the power that the Game Boy Advance has, they could have been able to throw in more games than six. I do not know how many more, but I believe more would have been possible. It is not a big problem though, for the games included are really good. Oh, did I mention it keeps track of your high scores? That means you can never beat the game, because you will always be trying to top your highest score.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10
Fun, fun, fun! Well, that is once you practice a little. When I first got the game, it was a little frustrating and even a little boring. I did not think I was going to like the game. After some practice and adjusting some of the rules to make it slightly easier so I can get better before I try a harder difficulty setting, I now enjoy the game. It is still difficult, but I have gained enough skills to enjoy the game. There is one little problem I have: the control pad can be a little hard to use. When these games first came out years ago, they were played with a joystick, which I can see would make them easier to play. The control pad is not horrible, but I would have preferred a joystick. Once you practice a little, the control pad will not be much of a problem.

OVERALL: 8/10
I am glad I bought this game. Yes, I would have preferred having a joystick over a control pad, and more games would have been nice, but those are little things. Once again, this is a fun and addictive set of games. Would I recommend it? If you enjoyed playing these games from years ago, then of course! If you are interested in giving them a try because you are fascinated in older games, I would recommend it as well. If you are looking for a game with amazing graphics and sound and not much of a challenge, this game is not for you. I hope you do not fall into the latter category, for you will be missing out on a great game.

I hope this review was helpful to you! Have a nice day!!!!!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02