Atari Flashback Classics (Nintendo Switch) Review

We live in a really cool time with video games. We are now seeing games that are so lifelike that, to the untrained eye, games can be sometimes mistaken for real-life. When you think of the fact that video games have not been technically around as a form of home entertainment for long, the number of advancements that the medium has made is nothing short of astonishing! In 1972, we were using these alien looking controllers to move two paddles up and down on a screen as a ball bounced back and forth. Here, in 2019, we have horse testicles that will expand or shrink depending on the weather!

No matter how you look at it though, we have come very far since those early days, but many older gamers and those of us that look at the retro games in respect know that we wouldn’t have the games of today if it weren’t for the games of yesteryear. The Atari systems will forever be noted as one of the Grandfathers of Gaming. Don’t worry Magnavox Odyssey, we know you were the true first home console! There have been some neat collections released for Atari games, but none have been so ambitious as the Atari Flashback Classics collection for the Nintendo Switch.

The Atari Flashback Classics Collection is out on both the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Vita in North American Regions at the moment. Both versions are identical, with the same roster of games and features. However, the Vita version appears to be $19.99, the same price as a single pack of 50 games on the PlayStation 4, the Switch verison is $39.99, the price of two packs (you get three packs of content in both). I’ve been advised that the game is coming to the EU region some time in 2019.

This ain’t your grandma’s Dominoes, I’ve got all day, and the skills to back it up!

Ambitious is the keyword here, as I have simply never seen a collection like the one Atari and Code Mystics have put together in the new Atari Flashback Classics. Hold on to your butts ladies and gentleman, I am about to throw some noteworthy numbers at you. The Flashback Collection contains ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY GAMES! Made up of 32 arcade cabinet games, 102 Atari 2600 games, and 16 Atari 5200 games all bundled up in one jam-packed convenient collection.

Before I get you TOO excited, I do have to take this collection down a notch. Fans buying the collection looking forward to playing some of those juicy Namco classics such as Pac-Man or Galaxian will be sorely disappointed as Namco games are nowhere to be seen. I do wish a deal could’ve been made between Atari and Bandai Namco to see these classics added to what is a great collection of games.

This menu selection is massive!

Don’t let that sway you away from not purchasing this game though! There are so many other great games that are included in the Atari Flashback Classics which you will still find yourself playing for hours in your bubble of nostalgic joy. I will include a full list of the games in the collection below; but a few of my personal favourites are the OG Pong, Asteroids, Frog Pond, Centipede, and Home Run.

Having this mega collection of games is amazing on its own when you think about the fact that if you played each game for only 30 minutes, you would still be putting in 75 hours into the game! Code Mystics made the Atari Flashback Classics even more ridiculous by adding in online multiplayer as well! That’s right, purchase this collection for your parents or grandparents and watch them smoke you in their generations games! Just turn it around on them and challenge them to a bout in Tekken afterwards to put them back in their place!

Code Mystics has also added a leaderboard for High Scores that can be tracked between yourself and your friends or the whole world. Just watch out for any users named Billy Mitchell that may be on the top.

Just one of the pieces of art you can unlock.

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On top of all that goodness, the devs have added 72 achievements for you thrill seekers to go after. Granted some of them are not very difficult, “Scored 100 or more in Frog Pond” was very simple! “Win a game of Pong against the AI without losing a point to it” may be a bit more challenging, the hardest achievement being “Try Every Game.” There is no tracking of which games you have played, so I can see that being specifically time-consuming. Each achievement unlocked gives you a neat piece of art.

When you’re in the main menu, that which is the list of games, you can simply hit the + button and pull up the options for each individual game. This will show you the controls for each game, some will even let you use the touchscreen to play, which is exceptionally helpful with games like Pong. Each game also has special options as well. Feel like the game is too easy? Change it to a harder difficulty! Start with bonus lives! Change the language if you want!! There are even games where you can turn down certain pieces of audio.

There are some games that you may want to play Vertically, there are options to enable this as well! I also want to note that playing on the handheld looks great, as well as going the docked route and playing on your TV. I have a 65 inch 4k tv, and the games didn’t look stretched out or distorted.

Official Trailer:

Final Conclusion:
The Atari Flashback Classics collection is, hands down, the most ambitious collection of games I’ve ever seen. It consists of a library so vast with different styles that anyone can go into it and find a game they enjoy. It may be missing one of the biggest developers and game which was ever made (Namco/Pacman), but the weight of the legacy of the other games makes this collection a must-have for retro game lovers!

A copy of the game was kindly provided for review purposes

Atari Flashback Classics

$39.99

8.3

Final Score

8.3/10

The Good:

• - 150 games to choose from
• - Online multiplayer
• - Each game has many options to alter them
• - Fun achievements

The Bad:

• - Namco is sadly not present

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