Cheap Atari Anniversary Edition (Software) (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of Atari Anniversary Edition

A computer arcade at the touch of a button!
These are great classic arcade games yet I only give it 4-stars because the games wear off in fun easily. It comes back to you every once in awhile which is good because you don't want to buy something you hate! The timeless Asteroids and Pong make this a great PC collection, but I think Atari 2600 Jewel Case has to be the best series! Get it if you want a home arcade!

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The Vintage Arcade Without the Long Lines and Quarters!
Mention the classic video game titles to younger game players and you risk getting the "Jurassic Park" looks of confusion. Thanks to Infogames, the games that made your mothers pocketbook lighter while deforming your jean pockets from the lump of quarters, have found there way literally back home.

Poetic justice in befitting sorts, some of us "thirty-somethings" put too much bank in those hungry machines, we could have retired multi-millionaires had we invested those quarters in mutual funds instead of "Missle Command". Here are the ten to look for:

Five Things you will like about this game:

1. The video game recreations are FLAWLESS.
2. The cabinet art is a very classy feature.
3. Wonderful features.
4. Great memories.
5. Games are around for the sophisticated young gamers to experience.

Five things you won't like about this game:

1. You haven't got any better at these games since you we're a teenager and you will be reminded of that.
2. You may need multiple controllers...not all work well with a joystick.
3. You would have preferred another Atari classic to "Crystal Castles".
4. Your kids will master these games and surpass the highest scores you could ever muster, leaving you no piece of video game history you can boast about.
5. You will be reminded of a summer afternoon in 1980 when you spent (price) on these games, not realizing in 2001 you could play all you want for (price) plus tax.

Included in the gaming fun are some wonderful features. They take shape in the form of an excellent documentary, themes for your Windows programs and media from the golden age of video games. There are really no negatives with this program because the standard was set with more primative technology, it's been easily eclipsed and them some.

However, the two very minor picks are as follows. You may need to shell extra cash for controllers to get the most out of Warlords, Tempest, Crystal Castles and Gravitar. Look at it this way, you didn't have a problem blowing cash in your teens on these games, extra controllers are an issue now because of a spouse, mortgage and auto lease. And the second "pick" leaves me scratching my head, why "Crystal Castles"?, c'mon how about "Gauntlet"? (...)

This is the list of each title and the first impression while playing the game:

Asteroids - I forgot how much fun this game was.
Asteroids Deluxe - Great job of recreating this one.
Battlezone - Much easier with joystick than original cabinet.
Centipede - Don't really need a track ball.
Crystal Castles - As I was saying, a track ball would be nice.
Gravitar - 20 plus years later, this game is still hard.
Millipede - Joystick works great and many targets to shoot.
Missle Command - A little practice goes a long ways!
Pong - The granddaddy of them all.
Super Breakout - Easy to learn, difficult to master.
Tempest - Speed!
Warlords - Best head to head, four player game of that era!

You can enhance the original game with video improvements by clicking a button and adjust the difficulty, starting lives and frequency of bonus lives via point totals in a special folder, a feature that gladly didn't get overlooked. Really because of its relatively easy standard, it would be hard in todays technological world to have messed this up.

The value of this game is two; the game and the memories. In certain times of game play, these classic games will put a grin on your face. If you're my generation who saw the explosion of the video game industry, my goodness, bring this title home!

Every time you hear these friendly sounds, you will be taken back to the echo of the layered sounds of coin-op machines at your favorite arcade. This is a must in your software library! Very Highly Recomended!!

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Very accurate (and playable!) recreations of classic games.
I've picked up a few modernized versions of classic arcade games for the PC, such as Missile Command and Centipede, and while some are decent games highly reminiscient of the arcade originals (and expanding on them in interesting ways), none of them include accurate recreations of the originals in appearance and behavior. But now...

Atari Anniversary Edition includes twelve 1970s/80s arcade classics, and does a most impressive job of recreating the precise appearances, behaviors, and sounds of the original upright arcade games, right down to the pre-game "insert coin" messaging (but without the need for a pocket full of quarters!). I'm now playing these flashback classics on home PCs -- one P3 500MHz with Windows XP Home, and one P4 2.8GHz with Windows XP Pro -- with no problems.

In some cases, the game controls are a little awkward with the standard PC interface, but... Here're some specific notes on playing the games I that I actually remember from Way Back When:

Centipede & Millipede: Very usable with keyboard and/or mouse controls. I find them quite playable by using the mouse for movement and the keyboard for shooting.

Missile Command & Super Breakout: Usable with keyboard controls, but very awkwardly so. Using the mouse for movement and the keyboard for shooting works pretty well.

Asteroids & Asteroids Deluxe: Work great right from the keyboard.

Battlezone: Quite usable from the keyboard, if a little awkward. (But I found the original game a bit awkward, so...)

(I'm not myself familiar with the original Pong, Tempest, Gavitar, Crystal Castles, or Warlords.)

Of course, you may also be able to add and use joysticks, trackballs, and whatnot -- I haven't tried these.

Actually, my favorite features of this Atari collection are (1) watching my wife's face light up at the authentic sight and sounds of Tempest, and (2) watching my eight-year-old Gameboy-aficionado son spend joyous hours blasting away with Battle Zone and Millipede games three times his age. Priceless.