I've come to the conclusion that the only games I'll keep until I get 
rid of my PlayStation are the arcade/classics compilations. This 
collection of some of Atari's greatest arcade games superbly represents 
why. Almost perfectly emulated are six nostalgic, benchmark, innovative 
titles from the archives of the now dead Atari company: Centipede, 
Battlezone, Tempest, Missile Command, Super Breakout and Asteroids.
The operative term is "emulated", here. These are not "remakes" or 
"approximations" of the original games, these are directly sourced from 
the original code by a company called Digital Eclipse, the company who 
also designed emulation for the Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits that 
came out earlier in 1996 for PlayStation. 

INTERFACE: Perhaps the weakest part of the game is still not all that 
bad. On the main selection screen, you must scroll through a ring of 
stand-up arcade machines via short spurts of full-motion-video. I found 
the whole process intrusive and annoying. Presumedly, the 3D rendered 
arcade machines and video segments were thrown in to sate Sony's demand 
that all PlayStation titles reflect on the system's 3D and processing 
capabilities. I would have preferred a 2D interface that reflected the 
hardware limitations of the early-80's. I'm just a sucker for good 
vectory design.

HISTORY: As if the collection of games itself wasn't enough, Midway has 
thrown in a whole narrated documentary with video interviews with three 
of Atari's classic game designers. Each is quoted invidually and as a 
group talking about design procedures, strange problems and intra-Atari 
gags and pranks. While none of the designers were quite as passionate and
entertaining as Eugene Jarvis on the Williams collection, their mere 
presence enhances the collection tremendously. My only complaint is that 
the "slideshows" that accompanied the female narration didn't synchronise 
at all. While she was talking about "Tempest", for instance, "Missile 
Command" was being shown on the screen.

Another popular series of "collection/emulation" games is Namco's Museum, 
which is already up to volume 4 in Japan. On those discs, which feature 
games like Pac-Man, Galaga and Pole Position, there is an emphasis on the 
design artwork, game cases and intricate variations of the coin-ops that 
I would have very much liked to have seen more of on this Atari
compilation. As detailed as the interviews are, I was left wanting to see 
more. Perhaps a companion book is in order. 

EMULATION: The games are arcade-perfect and, despite the conversion 
problems from vector to raster for Asteroids, Tempest and Battlezone, and 
the screen-size problems (some of the games were meant to be played on a 
tall, not wide, screen), stayed very true to the appearance of the 
originals. The only game that fell short was Battlezone, whose colours
and lines would blend into a muddy goop when the tanks were far away.

Another hurdle emulators had to overcome was translating the odd controls 
for the games. In the arcade, Battlezone used two joysticks to control 
the movement of the tank's treads. On this PlayStation version, I was 
unable to find a joypad configuration that allowed for easy tank movement. 
I found myself instinctively trying the Twisted Metal-esque turn-and-thrust. 
Fortunately, the game supports use of the double-joystick that's available 
for PlayStation. So, if you have one of those monsters, you're set. Both 
Centipede and Missile Command used a trackball in the arcade but translate
almost seamlessly to the PlayStation. I never realised how nerve-racking 
Missile Command can be...woof! Centipede could have easily been a joystick 
game in the first place, so that was a no-brainer translation. I was worried 
about Tempest, which had a paddle in the arcade (made a cool whiz! sound 
too), which is translated to joypad by making one direction clockwise and 
the other counter-clockwise. It takes some getting used to, for sure, but 
it's about the best way to emulate the paddle. I'm not sure how the other 
Tempest game out for PlayStation handles it (Tempest X3) or if the
"original" emulation they have is the same as this. Asteroids' controls 
are instanteous.

OVERVIEW: I'm so happy to see all of these arcade emulators coming out, 
I'll probably buy all of them eventually. This Atari collection is among 
the best, with a good mix of game history and intuitive emulation and 
control-translation. I think they all need to work on their overlay 
interfaces, though... and throw in some more detailed interactive history 
and trivia info like Namco does. If you're an 80's game fan, you'll 
simply have to beg/borrow/steal this Atari disc. 

Religiously playing this one. Eagerly awaiting volume two. 

- Ed Stastny
http://www.expanse.com/reviews.html