Mult-Genre Video Game Compilation Review: Atari Vault

Atari released many compilations of its Atari 2600 games, even going as far back as the Atari Corporation days in the 1980s. The Atari Vault compilation, known on Atari VCS as the Atari VCS Vault, added arcade games to the mix.

Atari Vault contained ninety-one unique games and nine Atari 2600 ports of Atari arcade games. It contains arcade games from the original Atari, Inc. such as Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Black Widow, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Liberator, Lunar Lander, Major Havoc, Millipede, Missile  Command, Pong, Red Baron, Space Duel, Super Breakout, Tempest, and Warlords. 

Any arcade games released under the Atari banner post-1983 are not included in this compilation, as the arcade division became Atari Games, under Warner Communications. The home division, which included all Atari arcade games created pre-split, became Atari Corporation after the acquisition by Tramel Technology. The latter is now owned by Atari, S.A., formerly known as Infogrames. The former is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, or whatever the company will be called after its upcoming acquisition by Paramount Skydance.

Because Atari, S.A. includes every release created for the home market by both Atari, Inc. and Atari Corporation, Atari 2600 games make up the bulk of this compilation. It includes the Atari 2600 version of Breakout and Night Driver, which, surprisingly, are the only versions of the games included in this compilation with the arcade versions noticeably absent. On the topic of Atari 2600 versions of arcade games, Atari Vault also includes Atari 2600 ports of Asteroids, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Millipede, Missile Command, Super Breakout, and Warlords.

The many Atari 2600 games in the compilation includes 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe, Adventure, Air-Sea Battle, Backgammon, Basic Math, Basketball, Blackjack, Bowling, Brain Games, Canyon Bomber, Casino, Championship Soccer, Checkers, Chess, Circus Atari, Code Breaker, Combat, Combat 2, Concentration, Demons to Diamonds, Desert Falcon, Dodge 'Em, Double Dunk, Fatal Run, Flag Capture, Football, Golf, Hangman, Homerun, Human Cannonball, Maze Craze, Miniature Golf, Outlaw, Quadrun, Radar Lock, Realsports Baseball, Realsports Basketball, Realsports Boxing, Realsports Football, Realsports Soccer, Realsports Tennis, Realsports Volleyball, Sentinel, Sky Diver, Slot Machine, Slot Racers, Space War, Sprint 2, Sprint Master, Star Raiders, Star Ship, Steeplechase, Stellar Track, Street Racer, Stunt Cycle, Submarine Commander, Super Baseball, Super Football, Surround, Sword Quest Earthworld, Sword Quest Fireworld, Sword Quest Waterworld, Video Cube, Video Olympics, Video Pinball, and Yars' Revenge.

Most of the games included in the compilation were developed by Atari, Inc. and Atari Corporation, but there are a few included which Atari, S.A. includes the intellectual property rights but were not developed Atari companies. This includes the Axlon games Off the Wall and Secret Quest. It also includes a game that was first released in Legacy Engineering's Atari Flashback 2 in 2005, Save Mary. Speaking of the Atari Flashback 2, the compilation also includes another game first released on that console, Return to Haunted House. This game is a modification of Haunted House which serves as a sequel to that game, and was created by the late Curt Vendel of Legacy Engineering.

Atari Vault includes many games for the arcade and Atari 2600 created by Atari, Inc. and Atari Corporation. It includes a lot of classic games, as well as some oddballs such as an Atari 2600 adaptation of the classic children's game Hangman. It does include a few games developed by other developers, including two games that weren't previously released outside of the Atari Flashback consoles. The 50 game Atari Vault DLC would include more oddball games, games by other developers, and games for consoles other than the Atari 2600, but the main Atari Vault includes a lot of games that should make Atari fans happy.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Arcade Snake Game Review: Dominos

Dominos is a 1977 arcade game that is Atari's take on the snake genre that Gremlin started with Blockade the year prior. It brought a unique take on the snake game, but it ended up being no more popular than Gremlin's take.

In Dominos, either two or four players continually stack dominos in the same manner that blockades were set up in Gremlin's take on the genre. This differentiated it from its predecessor in giving it a premise that is more familiar to people in the United States. Not all kids could be expected to know what a blockade was, but all kids in the USA, especially children in the 1970s, knew how to set up dominos This helps make it simple to pick up and play.

Dominos are set up around a playing field, creating a wall that grows with each move. The opposing player, or players, are trying to do the same. The winner is the last remaining after the opponents crash into a wall of dominos a set number of times. The two-tone sound remains from the Gremlin original, which is still rather annoying.

The graphics are much the same as the simple lines and arrows that represent the direction of the front piece as Gremlin's game. Here, the graphics are even more simple. However, The premise of the game allows for a more satisfying finish.  The domino graphics may just be changing from straight to diagonal as they fall, but it works. The thing that makes the ending satisfying is the click clack, with the straight to diagonal graphics to match, of the opponent's dominos toppling.

Dominos is an example of a game that took the ball from the genre starter and ran with it to create something more instantly recognizable. Today, snake games are well known enough that nearly every gamer would know what to expect. In the 1970s, when the genre was still new, dominos would certainly give players a heads-up on what to expect. The graphics are still simple monochrome lines and the main sound is still an annoying two toned beep-boop. However, the concept and satisfying finish with the falling dominos and clacking sound to match, put it just a bit above the Gremlin arcade game that started it all.

Final Verdict:
3½ out of 5

Arcade Table Tennis Game Mega Review: Pong

Pong wasn't the first video game nor was it the first arcade game, but it was the first game to jumpstart the craze that created the worldwide video game market.

Pong is not an original concept, both in the fact that it was simply a video game version of two-player table tennis, and also in the fact that the idea spawned from a May 1972 demonstration of video game table tennis created by Ralph Baer.

That demonstration of the ITL2000, a console better known as the Magnavox Odyssey, was attended by Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari. Bushnell took the general idea with him and tasked Allan Alcorn with developing a game based on what he witnessed.

Pong kept the basics of the square representing the ball, the middle line representing the net, and the score counter. However, Pong changed from Baer's Table Tennis in two main ways that arguably made the game more playable for mainstream audiences. Whereas in Table Tennis, the ball would be out when it went past the vertical gamespace, as in real-life Table Tennis, Pong would bounce the ball back, more akin to air hockey. In addition, Baer's game had the option to give the ball some English, which is slang for giving hitting the ball to give it a bit of a curve. Alcorn's Pong simply had the game bounce directly off the paddle.

Thus, this simple black and white game with a simple beep sound effect when the ball bounced, was tested as a coin-operated machine. It became a huge hit, leading to more arcade clones of Pong by Atari and other companies, a home console by Atari, home console versions of Atari's Pong clones, and even more console versions of Pong clones by other companies.

Today, Pong is not even a shred as impressive as it was when it was released. But, there is no denying that it made a mark not just on the video game industry, but in worldwide pop culture as a whole. It still can be fun to play in short bursts, as it's essentially black-and-white air hockey without the drag from the air, and air hockey never will become not fun.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Arcade Brick-Breaking Game Review: Breakout

Sometimes a game comes along and gives birth to a new subgenre that becomes named after that game. Adventure, Pong, and Tetris are a few of these. Breakout is another.

Breakout was created by Steve Wozniak and was sold to Atari by Steve Jobs. Both of these men co-founded Apple Computer the same year that Atari released Breakout to arcades. Aspects of Breakout were later used in the design of the Apple II computer.

Breakout takes a paddle that is similar to Pong but places it on the bottom of the screen. There are blocks above the paddle that are broken by a bouncing ball. The goal is to move the paddle left and right in order to keep the ball bouncing so that all blocks are broken. 

The ball increases in speed as the game goes on, making the game gradually become more difficult. In addition, once the ball reaches the top rows, the paddle shrinks to half its size. This makes it quite challenging, but still fun.

The bricks were colored by the row in which they resided. The bottom two rows are yellow, the next two rows are green, the two rows after that are orange, and the two top rows are red. In addition, the paddle was colored light blue.

The game can be played in single-player or two-player mode. In the latter, one player plays the game until the ball is lost, and then the screen changes so that the second player can play the game. As with most arcade games of the time, the goal in both modes is to get as high of a score as possible.

Breakout is a classic game that is actually still enjoyable today. The graphics and colors are simple, but they do their job well. It's a fun challenge as the game gradually increases in speed. It created a subgenre known as Breakout games or Breakout clones. Some of the latter games did the Breakout concept better than the originator. However, if you enjoy games like Arkanoid, it's worth playing Breakout to see where the concept began.

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5