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Retro greatness!! Don't pass this by!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: December 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First off,I have to say that I grew up in the 80s and I used to play atari all the time,so my review may be a bit biased.For me, this game had so many memories in it that it was a blast!One of the main reasons I got this anthology was because it included the great game Seaquest in it.I used to play that game for hours on end back in the day!

Some other great games included on it are,MegaMania,Frostbite, SpiderFighter,LaserBlaster,KeystoneKapers,RoboTank,and of course Pitfall.The 80s soundtrack put in the game made it even better;I mean playing these classics while listening to "Safety Dance",
"Tainted Love" or "Were Not Gonna Take It" is priceless in my opinion.If any of these songs do get on your nerves though( you can only listen to Mexican Radio so many times!) you are given the option to turn the music off.I just wish they would have given the option to only play certain songs while leaving other ones out..Oh well.

The only minor complaint I have for this title,is that some of the games included were really,REALLY bad!I mean I remember hating these games when I used to own them as cartridges for the atari 2600.The really bad games include,Dragster(terrible!), Dolphin,TomCat and the "bonus" games Kabobber and Thwoker. However there are enough fun games in here to justify buying it esp. since you can buy this new for pretty cheap. That's a great deal
for a gamer's trip down memory lane.

In conclusion,any gamer in his/her twentites would love this title.As for the younger generation,they probabaly couldn't appreciate this one;but everyone else sit back and have some fun!

A great collection, better than anything Namco or Midway did

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: April 14, 2003
Author: Amazon User

For the past few years, Midway and Namco have been rereleasing old games in their collections. They would throw 6 to 8 early 80's games on a cd with nothing extra and charge an insane amount of money. Then along came Activision. Activision obviously learned from Midway and Namco's mistakes. Instead of 6 to 8, you get 45 Atari 2600 games. Want extra features? Ok, how about TV comercials from the 80s and those patches you could earn for their games. But they did not stop there. They added a truely impressive 80's soundtrack to keep you going. There are also added ways of playing the game. For example, one method overlays clouds over the game. Another has a large rotating cube with the game on each side. These extra ways of playing the game are interesting, but you will mostly just play the games the way they were. Overall, this is what a collection should be like. If you want to relive the classics or are interested in where the video game industry first got its start, you should check this out.

Ahhhh... Reliving my early 80's Atari childhood. Sweet. :-)

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: April 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

These are the classic games I played as a kid. Although primitive, they were *very* addictive and kept you saying, "Just one more game!"

And what a bargain! ... Well worth it. Although about half the games are not really worth playing today, there are several must-have classics:

Pitfall, Pitfall 2 (like 2D Metroid in a jungle), H.E.R.O., Kaboom, Cosmic Ark, Demon Attack.

My old room...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: April 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

No kidding, the selection screen is just a few items short of looking like my childhood room. I had my Atari hooked up to a black and white TV because the costs of games kept me from up-grading to a color TV. Just too hard to do when your income was $4 a week for taking out the trash for your parents and $6 a week for delivering the now defunct Washington Star on Sunday mornings.

Just like all of the reviews before this one, the sound track is great (love the Roxy Music), but too short and gets repetitive. I wish they had included more songs and you'll find yourself turning off the music after a few laps. I just about fell out of my chair laughing after unlocking the Hockey comercial with Phil Hartman from his pre SNL days. All of the add media you can unlock is hilarious (what geeks we all were). Like watching retro commercials on Nick at Night.

I remember the Activision games for being cutting edge, especially graphically, in an era where making a game grapically appealing was almost better than making a game that played well.

If you are a gammer and want to flash back to the early days of true gamming, then get this game. It's also fun to watch the look on your kids faces when they see an old Atari game for the first time. It's even funnier when you tell them it took a machine slightly larger than the PS2 to play them on; "Sonny, when I was your age, it took us two hours to get the vertical hold just right for playing, and then we walked five miles to school, in the snow, up-hill both ways, with no shoes".

If your kids are going to follow in your slacker foot-steps with gaming, then it's best they know their history.

Awesome!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: November 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Okay, so I didn't nessesarily grow up when Atari was popular, but I certainly did grow up with much respect for it. I got my hands on a compilation of Atari 2600 goodness for the PC quite a few years ago, and it opened up a brand new interest of mine. After this, I became fascinated with the system and I started playing more and more of it while everybody was playing Goldeneye and such....

Well, years passed and I was about 15 years old, and I decided I needed to know everything from this ancient system. I downloaded an emulator and packs of ROMS to all I didn't possess including prototypes, and it sort of saddened me to see the neglect of such an awesome thing here.

About a year later, I heard of Activision Anthology and I just had to buy it... maybe it was because it contained a never before released Kabobber, in which I had already had the privalege to play, but would have loved to have played it properly. I had played every single one of the games on this compilation, but it was a pain to have to play them on a crummy emulator, so this was nessessary. I was surprised to find so many extra features unique to this release, including the greatest soundtrack to date on the PS2! Everything worth mentioning of the 80's music scene is found here (well, not really, but its all very good,) and you have an opportunity to unlock various things such as commercials and new gameplay modes by reaching certain scores.

I am a unique sort of person. Everything in my room is either dated, or themed in a dated manner of that before my birth, and those that know me don't understand why. My video collection consists of movies such as Ben-Hur and Silent Running, and I have tons of old toys and things that kids my age wouldn't even touch. The reason I mention this is because this may appeal to me, but that's only because I have a thing for this sort of stuff, where as the casual gamer that isn't familiar with Atari would be turned off, most likely. I reccomend this compilation to those that appreciate it. It has over 45 games and tons of replay value! I can assure you, I find I play this one moreso than any other PS2 game I have. It seems games nowadays try to appeal to the mainstream. Blah....

The best Atari 2600 Complation yet

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: January 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Activision released their library of Atari 2600 games many times before but this time they succeeded in capturing the nostalgic 80's feel that makes this package a great 'musuem' for those of us who cut our teeth on the early game systems. As you play through the games you unlock items like classic commercials and the patches Activision used to give away. You'll also unlock 'filters' that range from annoying to nausea inducing. As you try to unlock more goodies you may find yourself actually finding some depth to these seemingly simplistic games. In this way, Activision has actually made a game I would've played for 5 minutes into an obsession to achieve a higher score to open a commercial. If that's not enought, they also have ten 80's songs playing in the backround (which can be turned off if you get tired of hearing Safety Dance) and the actual 3-D box and cartridge shots that you can examine (although a better zoom would've been nice). If you had any enjoyment with these Activision classics back in the day or enjoy 80's nostalgia then this is definately worth the price of admission.

Sweet 2600 Nostalgia

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is definitely for those people that owned the Atari 2600 in the early 80s... a complete collection of Activision games (in my opinion, the Atari 2600 games that were really worth it!) lovingly packaged with some cool extras, like the TV commercials for the games, to remind you that once upon a time, these were the top selling titles. I also own an Atari Flashback, something I enjoy but missed some important ones for me, like barnstorming and stampede. The gameplay can be a bit different with the playstation 2 controller, but it's still fun! For the arcade titles, there are some other "nostalgia" titles available, but for 2600 throwback purposes, this is the one I know about. Get it!

Activision and awesome

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: June 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a kid by the way. Back in Atari 2600 days several Atari members left because they felt rejected and not credited for their work. Those guys formed Activision. And they sure showed Atari too! Activision made great games and this proves it. This is flooded with games of theirs. Pitfall is one to remember. They were also known for Kaboom and many more. Lots of infinite fun and I hope another is brought out!

Great 2600 Nostalgia Trip

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: December 12, 2002
Author: Amazon User

What a great collection of old 2600 games. Some of these are pretty lame, but it's worth the price for River Raid, River Raid II, Keystone Kapers, Pitfall and Pitfall II.

The challenge of unlocking all the extra features and the like is a nice touch.

The display options I've unlocked so far make me sick though and don't seem to be a whole lot of fun. (Rotating cube especially)

Activision Again

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: February 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

To tell the truth, I bought this CD for one game: Megamania! I am the Megamania Master!

That being said, it was great to play all the old activision games I used to play on one disk. I was disappointed to see that some of their licensed titles didn't make the cut, and even more disappointed to see a bunch of games I have no idea how to play.

I rated this game three stars out of five because the library is incomplete and 80% of the songs on the disk annoy the heck out of me.

Other than that, pick up this library! Its great fun for a group of people, too...

In conclusion, I have a new favorite Activision game... I have been converted away from Megamania by a game I have never before heard of: Pressure Cooker!

Go, little burger man, go!

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