I just love classic arcade game collections, so when I got Atari Flashback Classics vols. 1 and 2 on the PS4, I wanted to go over which games were on them here.  Earlier this week we went over the games on volume 1, and now we’ll do it again with volume 2.  Just like before, I’ll split this into two parts.  Today we’ll go over the arcade games in volume 2, as well as the 2600 ports of those arcade games, so I don’t have to repeat myself.  And then tomorrow we’ll go over the rest of the 2600 games.

If there is one complaint I have about the arcade games on these collections is that they only have Atari arcade games from the late 70’s and very early 80’s.  I wish they could’ve had some Atari arcade games from the mid-80’s, too, like Gauntlet, Roadblasters, or Marble Madness.  I loved those games.  I guess if they ever made a volume 3 they could put them on, but I don’t know if there are plans to even do a third set in the collection.

Asteroids

Man, Asteroids was huge back in the day.  It was in nearly every arcade I went to.  I wasn’t very good at it so I didn’t get into it much myself as a kid.  I’ve read rumors that Hollywood is going to make an Asteroids movie.  That would be crazy if that really happened.

Asteroids 2600

As a kid, I actually liked the 2600 version of Asteroids better because it was easier.  And certainly more colorful.

Asteroids Deluxe

They added a screen overlay, better vector graphics on the asteroids, and added some new UFOs and rocks that home in on your ship.  And that’s all I could tell.  I wish this collection would’ve had Blasteroids on it as well.  Then we would’ve had the whole set.  And Blasteroids was pretty fun, too.

Crystal Castles

You play as Bentley Bear and must gather gems in isometric mazes while avoiding enemies.  I wanted to like this game as a kid so bad because it’s basically a Pac-Man clone.  But I couldn’t get used to the controls because you had to use a trackball.  What’s cool is that many, many years later when I was at E3, I played a game called Gubble that was nearly exactly like Crystal Castles.  When I said that to the developers, they said that the guy who made the original Crystal Castles game also made Gubble!  So if you liked Crystal Castles, you may want to check out Gubble.  It was originally a PC game so it may be hard to play it now, but I think it also came out on the PlayStation a little later.

Crystal Castles 2600

Ha ha!  I guess they get a gold star for effort.   But the graphics are so bad that once you get to mazes with elevators, it’s hard to tell where you need to be to ride them.

Gravitar

Well it’s a mashup of games like Asteroids, Lunar Lander, and it also reminds me of a NES game that came out way later called Solar Jetman (which was made by Rare and is super hard).  Since I wasn’t good at those games, I wasn’t good at Gravitar either.  Also don’t remember seeing this much in arcades as a kid either.

Gravitar 2600

Aside from not having vector graphics, this is pretty close to the arcade version, I thought.  And it’s just as hard!

Major Havoc

I was always fascinated by this vector game as a kid for some reason.  It mixes up various styles of games.  You first shoot spaceships in Galaga fashion, then you must land your rocket on the base like Lunar Lander (except it’s much easier).  Then you do some platform jumping inside a maze to reach a bomb and detonate it and escape before it blows up!  I didn’t see it much in arcades when I was a kid, but when I did, I would definitely try and play it!

Missile Command

This was another game my dad liked to play in arcades.  I remember the cabinet for it looked a little weird to me, too.

Missile Command 2600

As a kid, I also liked this version better because it was easier.  You only had one gun base to worry about.  But other than that, it was pretty close to the arcade game.

Red Baron

For some reason, I’ve always been fascinated by biplanes so I’ve always kind of liked this game.  It’s just a faster paced version of Battle Zone that uses planes and blimps instead of tanks.

Sprint

This is a really old, black and white top down racing game.  I wish they would’ve put Super Sprint on here, too.

Race

I love how old video games could just get away with a simple title like “Baseball” or “Race.”  I put this on here because it’s basically exactly like Sprint, just with color.  And it was on the 2600.

Super Breakout

The tiny paddle made this game so gosh darn hard.  As far as ball and paddle block breaking games go, I really prefer Taito’s Arkanoid.  And the DS version of Arkanoid had awesome music.

Breakout 2600

I didn’t have a 2600 as a kid, but when I went to anyone’s house who had one, they almost always had this game, too.

Super Breakout 2600

Finally this is just the same game, just with the added modes like the arcade version.

And that’s all for part 1.  Tomorrow we’ll look at the rest of the 2600 games on vol. 2 in Part 2.

Tags: Misc