I received a copy of the recently released Atari’s Greatest Hits Volume 1 for Christmas. I was shocked to see so many titles packed into this game for the Nintendo DS. Many of the great classics from back in the day are here and now my geeklets get to enjoy them (almost) the same way I did.
Since I know a few people at Atari, I had a chance to interview the person responsible for porting these classics, Jeff Vavasour. Jeff is the founder and CEO for Code Mystics, a game developer specializing in cross-platform solutions.
• What do (did) these games mean to you?
Atari was a significant part of my childhood. Our family got the original “heavy-sixer” Atari 2600 back in 1977, a unit which I still have not 10 feet from my desk today. More than 1/3 of the artwork and manual scans that appear in Atari Greatest Hits come from my personal collection. I spent untold hours on that machine, and worked through every game I could get my hands on. On the arcade side, Battlezone and Asteroids were revolutionary in the day. I remember as a timid 10 year-old standing next to the Asteroids cabinet, waiting for the burly teen to work his way through the half-dozen quarters he’d stacked on the machine. Sometimes I think I began bringing these classics over to console and PC as a way to be sure I never had to stand in line for these games again.
• Which is your favorite? Why?
From this collection, on the arcade side, Asteroids is probably my favorite. The crisp hi-res vector graphics were fresh and new. The physics was realistic and natural with surprising maneuverability once you got the hang of the controls. The thumping Jaws-like soundtrack helped set the pace for the game and added a sense of tension. Playing this game long enough, it just became Zen. Honestly, it’s hard to choose though. I could say the same about Battlezone, Centipede, etc.
My all-time arcade favorite is another Atari vector game: Star Wars. Maybe someday we’ll get the chance to bring that one over…
On the home side, I’d say my favorite is a tie between Yars’ Revenge and Adventure. Yars’ Revenge has that psychedelic look in the neutral zone and explosions, the throbbing soundtrack, a simple mechanic with great difficulty ramping, etc., so many elements philosophically in common with Asteroids.