Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration hands-on preview

As Atari marks its 50th anniversary this week, the company has unveiled Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. Rather than sticking to the usual “bundle of old games” formula, this compilation is designed to function as a virtual, interactive museum-one that helps explain how influential Atari was, particularly during the formative years of the video games industry. I spent time going hands-on with Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration to see how well it delivers on that ambitious promise.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration as a playable archive

At the heart of the package are more than 90 playable games for a single price of US$40. The line-up spans six different pieces of hardware-Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, ST, Jaguar, and Lynx-with emulation handled by respected retro specialists Digital Eclipse. Notably, this marks the first time Jaguar and Lynx titles will be playable on modern consoles.

Digital Eclipse has a strong track record of bringing older libraries forward, with recent credits including Mega Man Legacy Collection, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, The Disney Afternoon Collection, and the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection.

Atari is also positioning Digital Eclipse’s work here as top-tier, pairing accurate emulation with modern quality-of-life features across the collection’s many long-standing classics. “When it comes to emulation or bringing classics back or doing really any sort of remastering or reimagining, I don't know if there's anybody who does it better than Digital Eclipse, so they were always our first choice,” Atari CEO Wade Rosen says. “[Digital Eclipse president] Mike Mika is a savant when it comes to Atari history and gaming history in general, so they always take great care to not just provide the games, but provide a really innovative way to experience them and the history around them. For something as big as the 50th, it was the only studio that we felt could properly capture all of that.”

Navigating the library and modern quality-of-life options

With such a large catalogue available at once, simply locating a specific game-or even browsing casually-could easily become overwhelming. Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration tries to make discovery manageable by offering multiple ways to sort the list.

Once you select a game, you can either dive straight in or choose to explore background information first. From there, you’re able to adjust presentation and controls through a range of options, including:

• Filters, borders, and alternate screen settings
• Access to the original instruction manual
• Button remapping

Six new games built from Atari classics

The compilation isn’t limited to re-releases. Digital Eclipse has also produced six brand-new games that either revisit or celebrate older Atari ideas.

One of the headline additions is Airworld, positioned as the fourth chapter of Swordquest. There’s also a modern 3D isometric adventure inspired by Haunted House. The remaining new titles broaden the concept further:

• Vctr Sctr, which salutes the vector era by blending elements of arcade staples such as Asteroids and Tempest into a single experience
• Neo Breakout, a two-player competitive twist that combines Breakout and Pong
• Quadratank, a new four-player entry in the Tank series
• Yars' Revenge Reimagined, which applies modern visuals to Atari 2600’s best-selling first-party game

Of the new selection, I had a lot of fun with Yars' Revenge Reimagined, particularly because you can switch between the original visuals and the updated graphics at the press of a button. Even so, Vctr Sctr may be my favourite of the new releases thanks to how smoothly it moves you from one gameplay style to another.

Interviews and historical materials from Atari’s early years

Beyond the playable library, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration aims to offer unusually direct access to the people who helped Atari become one of the biggest names in gaming during the industry’s early period.

The collection includes more than 60 minutes of exclusive interviews featuring notable figures from across the games business. Atari veterans-such as Pong creator Al Alcorn and Yars' Revenge creator Howard Scott Warshaw-appear alongside other industry voices to discuss the company’s most significant successes, its difficulties, and its broader influence.

Alongside the interviews, the package also includes a range of archival items, including:

• Photographs from Atari’s early days
• Design sketches and internal memos
• Magazine advertisements from the era

Release platforms

From the time I spent exploring what’s on offer, this feels like a well-judged tribute to one of the most important and influential companies in gaming. It’s widely understood that many Atari titles haven’t aged as gracefully as games from later generations, but that’s exactly why I’m keen for this release: it adds small quality-of-life tweaks intended to make these classics a bit more enjoyable in 2022.

Atari 50: The Celebration is set to arrive on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Atari VCS, and PC later this festive season.