Atari may not be a major name nowadays, but with classics like "Asteroids," "Missile Command," "Centipede" and "Pong," it holds a place in many gamers' hearts. Now, thanks to Steam, gamers can take a trip down memory lane and re-live the Golden Age of gaming with the "Atari Vault."
The "Atari Vault," first announced in January, features 100 classics from arcade cabinets and the 2600 console. The collection measures out to just over a gigabite and will cost you $19.99, but thanks to a special promotion, the cost has been slashed by 15 percent down to $16.99. Even better, the games aren't spec-intensive, requiring Windows 7 and up, so even a fairly old computer can run the games with little trouble.
The list of games that are part of the "Atari Vault" includes:
• "3D Tic Tac Toe" - 2600
• "Adventure" - 2600
• "Air Sea Battle" - 2600
• "Asteroids" - 2600
• "Asteroids" - Arcade
• "Asteroids Deluxe" - Arcade
• "Backgammon" - 2600
• "Basic Math" - 2600
• "Basketball" - 2600
• "Black Widow" - Arcade
• "Blackjack" - 2600
• "Bowling" - 2600
• "Brain Games" - 2600
• "Breakout" - 2600
• "Canyon Bomber" - 2600
• "Casino" - 2600
• "Centipede" - 2600
• "Centipede" - Arcade
• "Championship Soccer" - 2600
• "Checkers" - 2600
• "Chess" - 2600
• "Circus Atari" - 2600
• "Code Breaker" - 2600
• "Combat" - 2600
• "Combat 2" - 2600
• "Concentration" - 2600
• "Crystal Castles" - 2600
• "Crystal Castles" - Arcade
• "Demons to Diamonds" - 2600
• "Desert Falcon" - 2600
• "Dodge-Em"- 2600
• "Double Dunk" - 2600
• "Fatal Run" - 2600
• "Flag capture" - 2600
The remainder of the list can be viewed on the Steam website.
Historically, its been easy to freely download pirated ROMs and old-school emulators to play old Atari games on a modern-day computer, which begs the question why Steam would think anyone would be willing to pay $19.99 for a classic Atari bundle. Well, Steam has added two things that set these games apart from similar ones you can find elsewhere: functionality and new features.
First off, each and every game in the 100-game bundle is guaranteed to work on your PC, which is certainly something you can't say for several of these games that you may find on the Internet. Secondly, the games have been updated to incorporate various modern-day features like local and online multiplayer, as well as full controller support. There's even Steam leaderboard integration so the ambitious can prove once and for all who's the best at some of the more competitive entries.
However, there are some downsides to this bundle. The "Atari Vault" only features games made by Atari itself, therefore titles like "Berzerk," "Empire Strikes Back," "Frogger," "Joust," "Pitfall," "Q-Bert" and "Pole Position," made by third-party companies like Activision and Namco, aren't present.
Regardless, with a $16.99 cost, this bundle is a steal. Steam has made a valiant - and successful - attempt to recapture the past, even going so far as to include a 3D view of the classic box/cabinet for each game to fully capture that classic essence.
Check out a promo video for the Atari Vault below:
