Atari Flashback Classics PS4/Xbox One

[kupomogli]

Up for preorder on Amazon is Atari Flashbacks Vol 1 and Vol 2. Kind of a scummy move that there's 50 games per disc so they can charge $20 each, but they do include online leaderboards and online multiplayer according to the box. Most games are for the Atari 2600, it includes some arcade versions(most of them that have 2600/Arcade versions it includes both.)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B01G3WBR78/

[The S]

Pretty godawful pricing but I just may have to bite. I love the box art, for one....

At least I get a discount with Prime.

[otaku]

i will likely buy though they have a pc version as well i believe that i was eyeballing before seeing this. i just got the xbox original version for $3 at a local shop but of course its offline now so... the scores are just for me and my visitors haha

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Do we even know what games are going to be included? Most of the 2600's best games weren't first party Atari titles, but were created by Activision, Namco and Imagic especially. If this is a collection of first party only games, I'm out. Games like Ms Pacman, River Raid and Demon Attack are why I own a real 2600.

[Leo_A]

Do we even know what games are going to be included? Most of the 2600's best games weren't first party Atari titles, but were created by Activision, Namco and Imagic especially. If this is a collection of first party only games, I'm out. Games like Ms Pacman, River Raid and Demon Attack are why I own a real 2600.

Yes, the game list is out.

http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2016/06/03/news-atari-flashback-classics-volume-1-volume-2-playstation-4-ps4-xbox-one/

An adviser of sorts that AtGames contracts out to work with them posts at AtariAge (That's his website that I've linked to above). AtGames was looking at $40 or so for the full package but retailers wanted $20 titles to sell since they correctly surmised that's the sweet spot for these, so the package was split in two just like on the DS in order to make the numbers work for everyone.

And as one can guess, this is a console port of the recent Steam release of Atari Vault and is being published by AtGames on consoles, hence the Flashback tag.


If this is a collection of first party only games, I'm out. Games like Ms Pacman, River Raid and Demon Attack are why I own a real 2600.

It's just 1st party non-licensed arcade and VCS titles like in the past.

What's new here for the arcade category that wasn't seen on earlier retail Atari compilations like Atari Anthology for arcade games is Sprint. Missing is Battlezone due to the short sighted decision recently to sell that IP off. Bonus stuff that we've had before that are absent here are Tempest Tubes (A homebrew hack from back in the day that arcade operators installed to remix Tempest) and the Bradley Trainer prototype for the US Army that was based off Battlezone.

Additions for the 2600 are Race/Indy 500 (Seen on last year's Atari Flashback), Save Mary, and the Stunt Cycle prototype. Absent due to being sold off are Battlezone, Basic Programming, and Math Grand Prix. The Combat AI homebrew hack that Atari Anthology included a decade ago is absent here.


Most of the 2600's best games weren't first party Atari titles, but were created by Activision, Namco and Imagic especially.

Perhaps the more exciting information with this is that AtGames plans these as just the first two volumes of Atari's legacy that they plan to release on the PS4/XB1 and perhaps the NX if that's a hit. So while not treading into new territory where the game list for these two is concerned, it's hopefully a stepping stone towards new frontiers for Atari compilations after all of these years of basically the same material being recycled.

And other compilations are also under consideration for other publisher's work, with I think this individual mentioning the Intellivision and Colecovision as two possibilities. And Activision/Imagic would be a gold mine of classics for various platforms including the 2600 if they can ever get them to play ball.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

There are a few excellent first party Atari games on the 2600, but I can't help but feel these collections are total garbage without including Namco, Imagic and especially Activision games. Ugh. Even $5 on PSN would be too much to pay for these first party-only collections. Was interested, but definitely am not now.

[Leo_A]

And it's missing Battlezone, so strike 1 excellent arcade and 2600 title from the lineup.

And not only are both versions great games, but they also translate well to modern console controllers and they're both single player experiences. Too many of the solid games in this group of games depend on types of control input that don't make the transition well to modern analog sticks and/or are dependent on having like minded friends to play with that appreciate these classics.

Because of that, a good number of the best games here like Warlords will either be all but impossible to enjoy or will be rarely experienced by most of us since enjoying 35-40 year old classics is mostly a solitary pursuit in this day and age for most of us. So it really stings to lose this one.

But it's really what follows these that is worth getting excited over. Definitely sounds like some interesting follow-ups are planned judging by what Bill alludes to over at AtariAge.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Call me when they do a "Volume 3 - Activision: The actual good games".

This is such a snooze fest for me. I mean yikes. More than half of those games are the 2600's extremely primitive "sports" games, and I use sports loosely.

[The S]

We'd more likely get an Activision Anthology on PS4/bOne than we would a Flashback: Activision Edition.

Personally I wish they'd lay off the 2600's teat so hard and get us some 5200/7800 games on these things.

[Steve W]

I'd much rather have a heavy selection of arcade games along with first-party titles from all of Atari's consoles. Jaguar, Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, and XEGS. All the 2600 games they're posting are pretty much the same junk on the Flashback consoles. Loads of dead weight games and a handful of good ones.

[Leo_A]

Steve, it sounds like they're in agreement and are moving towards just that direction. This is just the first two volumes of Atari's history that they're releasing, with subsequent sequels to follow that cover much of that.

As for Activision Anthology, I think we've clearly been shown their intentions where an Activision Anthology follow-up is concerned. Despite a decent performer back over a decade ago on several platforms, Activision has never returned since in the console world. The modern Activision wants multi-million sellers and something that they can annualize and grow and thus aren't going to be satisfied with what's likely a one time a generation effort that is profitable but on a small scale compared to typical Activision expectations.

They only license their classic library out these days. While the corporate winds are constantly shifting, that we're just now closing the book on a very successful console generation that nearly saw 300 million systems without a new Activision Anthology speaks volumes in my eyes. If they were going to do such a project again, sometime over the past 5 years would've been the time to do it.

It's the twilight years of a console generation that seem to be the ideal place to position classic compilations when the install base is at its height, yet Activision couldn't be bothered. So it's going to be up to someone like AtGames to fix that this time on current-gen consoles, yet Activision reportably overvalues their 2600 library leaving it a difficult proposition for someone to make a financial go at it.

They don't see the money there for themselves, but want too much for anyone else to be able to make go at it with a retail model...

[The S]

It's only been about 4 years since the last release of Activision Anthology (on Android), though, innit?

[Leo_A]

I know of the mobile versions, but it was my belief that they were licensed out much like they've done elsewhere such as with the original Atari Flashback 2 (Includes River Raid & Pitfall), Xbox 360's Game Room, etc.

But the Apple page makes it not look like that, at least in this instance. That said, I'm still skeptical that we'll see them do anything here themselves. And if they do, I'm even more doubtful that it will get a retail release.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/activision-anthology/id542727742?mt=8

Either way, there's certainly many other prime licensing opportunities out here that AtGames could pursue. I was only throwing the Activision thought out as just one possible option that would seem like a good fit for not only this new direction, but their existing plug and play and digital business as well.

They want these as just the start of everything. So if one isn't excited about these, wait and hopefully something that catches your eye will be in the next round.

[BlastProcessing402]

Hey, a 2600 collection for Activision's been done before, it could happen again...

https://www.amazon.com/Activisions-Atari-2600-Action-Pack/dp/B0009I1W6Y

[Ogreatgames]

Its good to see more classics in some shape have made it to the current generation. So it is far better to have these collections made than not exist at all. Especially its good to see that there will be online capability and this could encourage even more live streams of classic gaming.

[kainemaxwell]

That's some great throwback box art for this collection.

[The S]

Soooooooooooo I got this email a few days ago:

We're writing about the order you placed on June 05, 2016. The item(s) you ordered is not yet released. We will notify you of a specific delivery date when one is available.

"Atari Flashback Classics: Volume 1"

(same for vol. 2)

When I pre-ordered these the release date was Oct. 4.

[Bojay1997]

Soooooooooooo I got this email a few days ago:

We're writing about the order you placed on June 05, 2016. The item(s) you ordered is not yet released. We will notify you of a specific delivery date when one is available.

"Atari Flashback Classics: Volume 1"

(same for vol. 2)

When I pre-ordered these the release date was Oct. 4.

Gamefly is showing November 8th now.

[Zap!]

Pretty godawful pricing but I just may have to bite. I love the box art, for one....

At least I get a discount with Prime.

On Amazon it's $ 24.99 & free shipping. Seems totally reasonable to me. I just ordered one.

[The S]

So apparently they still have the PS4 version available and it's just the Xbox One version that's been delayed or worse? Balls.

EDIT:


Greetings!!

Thank you for contacting us.

The game is still scheduled for release but unfortunately it is still marked as pending and our developers unfortunately haven't provided us with an estimated release date for the game on the Xbox platform.

We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,
Atari Customer Support.

[Az]

Out browsing today I noticed most department stores always displayed these on the same shelf as the Atari Flashback consoles (and other AT Games systems) rather than inside the game cases or even in the discount bins. Maybe the MSRP combined with a 2 volume release was intentionally set up to not cramp the Flashback's glamour of 100 included games at $45 USD?

[BlastProcessing402]

Out browsing today I noticed most department stores always displayed these on the same shelf as the Atari Flashback consoles (and other AT Games systems) rather than inside the game cases or even in the discount bins.

That's where Target had them back in early novemeber during their b2g3 sale.

[Gamevet]

Hey, a 2600 collection for Activision's been done before, it could happen again...

https://www.amazon.com/Activisions-Atari-2600-Action-Pack/dp/B0009I1W6Y

It's also available on PlayStation, PS2, Xbox and PSP.