"...are [this system's games] exact replicas [of the originals]...? No...and therein lies the puzzling enigma of Atari Flashback. "

---from the review

-----------------

Sidebar :

-----------------

No sidebar comments for this review. Yet...

-----------------

Feel free to contribute. As always, review submissions are accepted!

------------------

Atari Flashback

Click Picture to Order system

Review by Steve

Note: since this review's posting, this unit has been "replaced" by the superior Flashback 2.

Atari games --even the oldest classics-- really haven't been without a "flashback" or two, ever since they first came to store shelves. The real challenge here, therefore, wasn't in offering a classic Atari game collection, since every modern game system since the Playstation One has had one of those. No; the real challenge here was in making a cute Atari "clone" that consisted of nothing but the best Atari games, in one game console. Why was this concept so hard?

Here's the dream as it was pitched back in September, 2004 (read the original Techtite News story here). Atari planned to release a new game system, that would play classic Atari 2600 and 7800 games. This plan had about 256 shades of "cool." Any 2600 is getting a bit dusty and rusty by now, and what's better; this system would have (huzzah!) modern video jacks, meaning you could play classic 2600 games without those archaic "game boxes" that connect to an even more archaic TV antenna jack. Even better: Atari's Flashback system would be plug-in powered, not just one of those easily worn down battery powered deals. Best of all; the controllers would be classic Atari joysticks, a la the 7800. Well, those even more classic 2600 controllers would be neat, but we'll take what we are given here.

Question: when making a classic game system, does size matter? This is one tiny system, that's about the size of an adult hand (and even that is being flattering). The controllers are equally smaller than one might remember them, although the classic joystick look and feel is still here. The good news: yes it has two controllers for two player games, and it is also outlet powered, with no batteries. That's good news.

More good news, before we get to that little design flaw that ruins it for many diehard fans. This system requires no cartridges to shuffle around, with around 20 classic games built into the core system. What 20 games...? Well, there's everything from the cult hit Yar's Revenge to the original castle adventure game, simply called Adventure. There's Centipede, there's Warlords, and my own personal favorite I haven't played in years, Food Fight. No Activision or Imagic titles, but 20 of the best from Atari itself is here.

Yet are they exact replicas...? No...and therein lies the puzzling enigma of Atari Flashback. This is hard to categorize for the novice gamer of modern times. Are the graphics any worse than they ever were? No. Is sound "poor" on this system...? Not exactly. However, let me offer a small anecdote, to give you an idea of how sounds affect a classic game. In the original Haunted House, when hit by a ghost, your character would roll his eyes while a 5-second "explosion" sound occurred. In the new version, a bunch of beeps ruin the effect. It sounds simplistic, but it is an indicative example of the effect of sounds in gaming. When the ghosts led to an explosive sound, the thought of getting hit by them seemed more ominous somehow; now, it's more like: get hit by the ghosts, and hear a sound like R2-D2 chirping to C3PO. That's not too very scary.

This alludes to the worse news: these are not exact replicas. Sure they sort of look the same, but the very fact the sounds are totally different tells you that these are not exact duplicates. Even those cool little hidden features from the original game designers are gone. The infamous "magic dot" that opened a secret game designer message in Adventure...? Gone. The similar game designer initials of "HSWWSH" in Yar's Revenge are also gone. Mind you; one does not play Yar's Revenge simply to read "HSWWSH" but it shows how changed these "flashback" games are.

The total picture here is: Atari had two choices with this system. They could indeed take the original games and offer them with stereo sounds and superior graphics, in a new system. Then again they could've taken the original ROMs and transferred them line for line to a new game system that played them forevermore. They decided to do neither of these things: the same quality in sounds and graphics, yet not the same sounds and graphics. The effect is not unlike asking a waiter for T-Bone Steak only to get ground chuck with the waiter shrugging, "Close Enough." Maybe if that ground chuck was decently priced, I'd buy. At an estimated street price of $30, there is little point to this.

---Steve