Those of us >=33 years old no doubt fondly remember the Atari 2600, which ignited the home video game revolution. Classics like Pong, Combat, and Adventure had kids glued to their TVs playing games for hours on end. I was one of them back in the 1980s. I still remember slaying dragons in Adventure and I can still play the sound effects to Asteroids in my head.
For nostalgia I've played with emulators and game ROMs in the past to play Atari 2600 classics on my PC. But now these classics have come to the iPhone and iPad.
Atari's Greatest Hits brings 100 classic game titles to the Apple iOS within a single application. The app itself is actually free and includes a free copy of Pong. You then purchase four-packs of games as an in-app purchase for $.99 each. Or you can buy all 100 for $14.99.
Even cooler, many of the titles support Bluetooth multiplayer. Time to get into my Combat tank and do some head-to-head tank action! I love the ricochet tank shot kills!
Some of the 100 games you can get include classics such as Asteroids, Crystal Castle, Yar's Revenge, Battlezone 2600, Adventure, Star Raiders, Tempest, Major Havoc, Centipede, Millipede, Missile Command, Battlezone, and Combat. Surprisingly I don't see Space Invaders or Defender, which are two popular classics.
touchArcade does a full review of it and writes:
Atari's Greatest Hits is absolutely one of the very best buys in the App Store. It will appeal to the oldschool gamer that calls pixellation his or her friend — obviously — but, really, this is also a historical treasure trove that the young gamer of today might just find surprisingly fun, while also delivering a worthwhile familiarity with titles that influenced basically everything we see in gaming today.
In short, I cannot recommend Atari's Greatest Hits highly enough. It is truly a collection not to be missed. Hats off, Atari — a most impressive offering.
Check out this YouTube video demo:
[Get it on iTunes]
