Game Review #129: Atari Flashback Classics (Nintendo Switch)
Updated: Mar 22, 2020
Reviewer: Allan J.
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
Category: Arcade, Compilation
Release Date: 12.13.2018
Price (at time of review): $39.99 (Digital | Physical)
Buy Atari Flashback Classics (digitally) from the Nintendo eShop here.
Buy Atari Flashback Classics (physically) from GameStop here.
Get Your Act Together
You may have seen a few of those “Flashback” plug-and-play consoles enter the scene over the past few years. Most of them have a pretty slapped-together feeling overall. Many of the games glitch out or don’t recognize the Player 2 controller input at times, rendering most of the 80 or 103 games basically useless. There are always a few titles they get right, which makes it somewhat worthwhile at the end of the day, but deep down, you just want your money back. Then, I hear that there is a software version of this concept, Atari Flashback Classics, and it is on the Switch! This means that it might have its act together, since Nintendo has some pretty high standards, right? Let’s find out…
What’s In the Box??
Ok, so we’ve all played these games before. I’m not going to review the games individually. If you haven’t played them before, well, now’s your chance! There are 150 games included in this collection of Atari benchmarks, including titles from arcade releases, Atari 2600 releases, and Atari 5200 releases. If a title had releases on more than one of those platforms, all versions are included in this collection. Here is a complete list of the games included in this collection:
1. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe 2600
2. A Game of Concentration 2600
3. Adventure 2600
4. Adventure II 2600
5. Air Raiders 2600
6. Air-Sea Battle 2600
7. Aquaventure 2600
8. Armor Ambush 2600
9. Asteroids 2600
10. Asteroids Arcade
11. Asteroids 5200
12. Asteroids Deluxe Arcade
13. Astroblast 2600
14. Atari Baseball Arcade
15. Atari Basketball Arcade
16. Atari Football Arcade
17. Atari Soccer Arcade
18. Atari Video Cube 2600
19. Avalanche Arcade
20. Backgammon 2600
21. Basic Math 2600
22. Basketball 2600
23. Black Widow Arcade
24. Blackjack 2600
25. Bowling 2600
26. Brain Games 2600
27. Breakout 2600
28. Canyon Bomber 2600
29. Canyon Bomber Arcade
30. Casino 2600
31. Centipede 2600
32. Centipede Arcade
33. Centipede 5200
34. Championship Soccer 2600
35. Checkers 2600
36. Chess 2600
37. Circus Atari 2600
38. Code Breaker 2600
39. Combat 2600
40. Combat 2 2600
41. Countermeasure 5200
42. Crystal Castles 2600
43. Crystal Castles Arcade
44. Dark Cavern (Night Stalker) 2600
45. Demons to Diamonds 2600
46. Desert Falcon 2600
47. Destroyer Arcade
48. Dodge ‘Em 2600
49. Dominos Arcade
50. Double Dunk 2600
51. Fatal Run 2600
52. Final Legacy 5200
53. Fire Truck/Smokey Joe Arcade
54. Flag Capture 2600
55. Football 2600
56. Frog Pond 2600
57. Frogs and Flies 2600
58. Golf 2600
59. Gravitar 2600
60. Gravitar Arcade
61. Hangman 2600
62. Haunted House 2600
63. Holey Moley 2600
64. Home Run 2600
65. Human Cannonball 2600
66. International Soccer 2600
67. Liberator Arcade
68. Lunar Lander Arcade
69. Major Havoc Arcade
70. Maze Craze 2600
71. Maze Invaders Arcade
72. Micro-gammon 5200
73. Millipede 5200
74. Millipede 2600
75. Millipede Arcade
76. Miniature Golf 5200
77. Miniature Golf 2600
78. Missile Command 5200
79. Missile Command 2600
80. Missile Command Arcade
81. Monte Carlo Arcade
82. MotoRodeo 2600
83. Night Driver 2600
84. Off the Wall 2600
85. Outlaw 2600
86. Pong Arcade
87. Pool Shark Arcade
88. Quadrun 2600
89. Race 2600
90. Radar Lock 2600
91. Realsports Baseball 5200
92. Realsports Baseball 2600
93. Realsports Basketball 5200
94. Realsports Basketball 2600
95. Realsports Boxing 2600
96. Realsports Football 5200
97. Realsports Football 2600
98. Realsports Soccer 2600
99. Realsports Tennis 5200
100. Realsports Tennis 2600
101. Realsports Volleyball 5200
102. Realsports Volleyball 2600
103. Red Baron Arcade
104. Return to Haunted House 2600
105. Saboteur 2600
106. Save Mary 2600
107. Sea Battle 2600
108. Secret Quest 2600
109. Sentinel 2600
110. Sky Diver Arcade
111. Sky Diver 2600
112. Slot Machine 2600
113. Slot Racers 2600
114. Space Attack 2600
115. Space Duel Arcade
116. Spacewar 2600
117. Sprint Arcade
118. Sprint Master 2600
119. Star Raiders 5200
120. Star Raiders 2600
121. Star Strike 2600
122. Starship 2600
123. Steeplechase 2600
124. Stellar Track 2600
125. Street Racer 2600
126. Stunt Cycle 2600
127. Sub Commander 2600
128. Super Baseball 2600
129. Super Breakout 5200
130. Super Breakout 2600
131. Super Breakout Arcade
132. Super Bug Arcade
133. Super Challenge Baseball 2600
134. Super Challenge Football 2600
135. Super Football 2600
136. Surround 2600
137. Sword Fight 2600
138. Swordquest: Earthworld 2600
139. Swordquest: Fireworld 2600
140. Swordquest: Waterworld 2600
141. Tempest 2600
142. Tempest Arcade
143. Video Olympics 2600
144. Video Pinball 2600
145. Warlords 2600
146. Warlords Arcade
147. Wizard 2600
148. Xari Arena 5200
149. Yars’ Return 2600
150. Yars’ Revenge 2600
In addition to a big, huge library of games, the menu screen includes a picture of the arcade cabinet for each of the games available in the arcade platform, with the marquis artwork for the game select icons. For the 2600 and 5200 games, the spine of the game cartridge is your game select icon, and a picture of the game box is to the left. When you launch a 2600 title, the title screen has a transparent 3-D picture of the console, complete with all the buttons and switches, so you can select your game modes and difficulty levels by hand, just like the old days!
Also—and this, to me, is freaking awesome—each of the home console titles has a scanned copy of the instruction manual that came with the game that you can view! I absolutely love this feature. It really gives it that extra little bit of polish that takes it up that extra notch.
Vertical Mode
One unique thing about the Switch is the added feature of handheld mode, which can lend itself well to many things, one of which is vertical mode. Now, I don’t have a Flip Grip myself—if you haven’t seen it, it’s a grip that attaches to the Switch in a vertical position, allowing you to use the Joy-Cons on either side of the now-vertical Switch—so when I heard that there were some games in this collection that were compatible with the Flip Grip, it was bittersweet news. I was glad the compatibility was there—for eight games anyway, but it’s still something—but I wouldn’t be able to experience it myself, at least not until I get my hands on a Flip Grip eventually! I was pleasantly surprised though when I opened one of the games that supports the vertical mode, and it gave me the option to just turn my Switch vertical and use the attached right Joy-Con—no Flip Grip needed! This was the same for all of the Flip Grip compatible games. Here are the games:
1. Centipede
2. Fire Truck
3. Maze Invaders
4. Millipede
5. Monte Carlo
6. Super Breakout
7. Super Bug
8. Soccer
Wrapping Up
I already knew coming into this review that I loved these games. When I saw AtGames’ logo appear in the opening title screen, I was skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised by the experience as a whole. The only thing I had issues with was the sensitivity of the toggle controls. I guess maybe I am just used to the sometimes-less-than-responsive OEM Atari joysticks of old—maybe I’m just old and I just suck now—but the controls were so sensitive, I almost think you have to control the toggle with your mind, Jedi-style, to get the right amount of velocity precision required by some of the games in here! Nevertheless, this is a great collection of classic Atari titles, and I really enjoyed myself while playing through a chunk of my early gaming days. If you are a fan of the old school, I would recommend this collection for your library. Unlike the plug-and-plays preceding this collection, this one really does have its act together! Go get you some Atari Flashback Classics!
Score: 8/10
Buy Atari Flashback Classics (digitally) from the Nintendo eShop here.
Buy Atari Flashback Classics (physically) from GameStop here.
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*Review Code Provided by UberStrategist