Spent some time with it aft the insta $15 buy. Highly rcommended. Many of the games let you play by touching the play field or controls. So centipede, tempest, and missile command all rock. Back to try more.
Going all in and waiting for it to download. Pong seemed very good quality and the package overall smacks of quality and care. Given the heritage behind the company that did the iOS app I guess I shouldn't be surprised (they were behind many of the great Midway and Atari classic compilations on Xbox and other systems). Can't wait to play some Space Dual and Tempest and Asteroids and Yars revenge.. so many great classics on here.
Bought the whole enchelada. Overall I'm totally digging the retro nostalgia thing. Loads of 2600 games (albeit a lot of mediocre ones, but a few surprises and unreleased 2600 prototypes like Tempest and Combat Two), and the arcade games are awesome. It's like having a mini MAME without the jailbreaking. A few notes though: 1) The joystick doesn't quite feel right. For what it is it's about the best they could do, but I'd really love some touch-anywhere action, Fargoal-style. 2) The joystick okay on the iPhone, but it's inset too far on the iPad, making it awkward. 3) Certain control systems, such as with Video Pinball, are less than ideal. Since the left and right joystick buttons actuate the flippers it would have made more sense to just make flipper buttons and a launch button with a slider for the plunger. 4) The track ball for games like Crystal Castles, Missile Command and so on, needs less sensitivity and more travel when you lift your finger. It's too touchy for fine movements and you have to flick a bit too hard to get it to travel. (On a tangentially related note, the secret warps in Crystal Castles are all there!) 5) The fire button in Battlezone needs to be closer to the tread controls, at least on the iPad. That's all I got for now. Awesome collection though; the controls will indeed take a bit of getting used to, but it's worth it for this lot. Fantastic.
I’ve just purchased the $14.99 pack and now it is downloading all games (68.5 MB). Back to 80’s! Yes!
OH MY GAWD!!! I am in retro heaven. The animation is silky smooth and they even retained the old "left right thrust fire" configuration as an option for asteroid style games. I'm putting my MAME cabinet up for sale on Craig's List tomorrow. I no longer need it. Oh, Bluetooth Multiplayer for Space Duel!!!!!!!!!!! <faint>
Oh, man, what an awesome AWESOME set! These games are even better than I remember. Ahhh, Centipede... in HD on my iPad, along with every other Atari game! This is almost too good to be true. Controls all work fine to me, nice and responsive. Graphics are sharp and beautiful retro. This isnt some halfassed rush job, they actually did a really nice job of putting this all together. I bought the whole package, best deal of the year.
Space Duel Interview I'm supposedly an old-timer at 43. I've played every one of these games when they first appeared, either at a local Shakey's/Lampost Pizza or on the console. As such, this pack gets my retro all sexed up. A few years ago, I did an interview with the creator of Space Duel, one of my favorite arcade games of all time (right behind Rip-Off(or Space Thief as some may know it)). Here's a link to an archive of the interview: Owen Rubin Interview Enjoy!
Totally agree with the last few comments - such a great collection and so well done. The care/effort they put into it is very clear with the things like fully scanned manuals and various control options. The arcade emulation is fantastic - better then the Game Room 360 titles were. I was worried the first time i played Space Dual with quick play and didn't see a way to change from the thumb stick/rotate to arcade button control but once i realized you have to change settings before starting the game all was well. Space Dual and Tempest play great - Tempest even nails the spin the controller and the ship keeps going for a little while just as I remember it. My only real gripe is the screen doesn't rotate for games in landscape mode so your hand ends up blocking the speaker (lower left corner) and space where you would plug headphones in. This has to be fixed but still minor in the big picture. Initial impression compared to previous retro packs on iOS is disbelief that they packed this much in and did such a good job. I guess at $14.99 for all games they should but I'll gladly pay that much for more quality apps like this.
OMFG...... TANK PONG! Yes! Combat 1 with Tank Pong, I forgot about this! Edit: Wait a minute... Is it just me, or do the Tanks in Combat have zero AI? They appear to simply mirror exactly what I'm doing move for move. Was it always this way? Anyone else notice this? Edit 2: It seems Outlaw has this same problem, the AI simply mirrors exactly what I do, no intelligence of its own. I seem to remember these games having their own AI. Edit 3: Okay, now I've noticed the same problem with Sports Pong, no AI, just mirrors my moves. Am I dong something wrong, or is there a glitch with single player mode in these games?
The iPad version of this is really bad. The Atari 2600 joystick is way towards the middle of the screen and very difficult to reach with even my large hands. Most of those games are unplayable. The arcade games are hit and miss depending on the control schemes. Asteroids works well, but Tempest, sadly, does not. Also, the 2600 emulation sound is really bad, nothing like the original. But maybe most of these problems aren't there on the iPhone or Touch? This app is a hot mess on the iPad. All they did was take the phone/touch controls and blow them up to iPad size with no care at all how they fit on that device.
I'm almost speechless at how spot-on perfect and smooth this is on my iTouch 4G. Best $15 I've spent on iOS, period.
Tempest works great, you just have to touch where you want your "ship" to be. Only took a second to get used to. And as with a lot of games, a good case helps a ton.
Love it! Love the whole look of it - the interface, "most" of the control layouts, and even the little 2600 selection nubs or whatever they're called lol. There's like a half dozen games I never heard of which is a bonus & trackball-based games are so YES on the iPad. Damn, even Star Raiders has a special control panel that pops down from the top. Unfortunately, it's the 2600 version and not the amazing Atari computer version, but still, no complaints; a worthy purchase! I love that my iPad is becoming the ultimate retro slate! lol
I forgot how atrocious looking the atari games were! But as an original owner of the console I took the plunge. ultimate retro, but I tend to agree that the joystick is way too big and central on the iPad ... and the game screen is a bit smallish. Still, I love these atrocious games!!! And I have more now than then
Pong on iPad 2 is screwed up. After a time the ball bounces back and forth at the bottom and you can't do anything. I hope they got the more complex games better working… :-(
Just downloaded the Major Havoc pack and I'm VERY disappointed! Major Havoc: - The controls SUCK! - The screen is tiny, the "breakout" sequence forces you to squint... - The sound is TERRIBLE. (Low volume distorts the iPhone 4 speaker). - While the gameplay seems arcade perfect, the sound is NOT. Yar's Revenge: - The controls SUCK! - WTF!!! The sounds are FAR from exact. Is emulating Atari 2600 games really that hard? C'mon now... I'm unimpressed and no way I'm wasting anymore money on this crap. I don't need to try the others to know they're probably off as well. 25 years and top notch technology, yet developers still can't get it right.
Controls are often less than ideal (aka screwed up). Otherwise, great package, purchased the full thing.
