Atari’s 50th anniversary celebration gives players a hands-on lesson in video gaming history

Highly anticipated: The Atari 2600 was my first exposure to video games in the early 1980s. It drove my infatuation with gaming, a hobby I still love today. More importantly, it ignited my lifelong love for emerging technology. Now, thanks to Atari’s recently released Atari 50, fellow enthusiasts everywhere have the opportunity to revisit the games and platforms that paved the way for today’s biggest titles.

Announced earlier this year, Atari’s 50th anniversary celebration release, known as Atari 50, was formally launched on Friday across most major console and PC platforms. The collection provides users with a combination of old, new, and reimagined games, as well as interactive timelines and information highlighting Atari’s history and contributions to present-day gaming.

The collection, developed by Digital Eclipse, is far more than just a list of Atari’s most popular titles. It’s an interactive, guided tour through history that chronicles Atari’s journey from its arcade game beginnings in 1972 and highlights some of the company’s most important contributions to video gaming and home entertainment systems.

The entire Atari 50 experience revolves around detailed, interactive timelines that combine more than 90 featured games with information, interviews, and trivia designed to create a unique interactive experience. These timelines allow users to experience Atari’s achievements across several generations of gaming platforms, including the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar.

The collection is a retro gamer’s dream, providing access to popular console titles, including Asteroids, Outlaw, all three SwordQuest titles, and Yars’ Revenge. It also includes rare games from Atari’s later Jaguar and Lynx platforms.

In addition to the impressive list of Atari’s greatest hits, the package also includes several reimagined and modernized titles from the team at Digital Eclipse. Titles include Haunted Houses, VCTR-SCTR, Quadratank, Yars’ Revenge Enhanced, Neo Breakout, and SwordQuest: Airworld.

The 50th anniversary release from Activision and Digital Eclipse has set the bar high for any retro game compilations that follow in its footsteps. The combination of interviews, information, artwork, and historical significance for each title provides a much more fulfilling experience than simply selecting a game and pressing start.

Gamers, retro enthusiasts, and gaming history buffs that want to experience the tour can find the Atari 50 available on Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox.