Retro 50th birthday celebrations continue years later with Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition

​

It's not 2022 (though try telling my brain that) so the "anniversary" part isn't wholly accurate anymore, but Atari is launching a new Expanded Edition of game compilation/retrospective Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration anyway. It adds two new timelines and nearly 40 games to the original compilation release. The updated collection launches both in one package and as DLC for the original edition. Most versions launch this October but the Atari VCS version will be a month or two behind.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection (and Expanded Edition, obviously) is described as an interactive journey through five decades of video games, including over 100 classic titles and six brand new ones. There are even extremely rare titles from classic platforms. The bulk of the game takes place in Interactive Timelines, combining trivia, interviews, and playable games into one experience.

The first new timeline is The Wider World of Atari, a deep dive into stories about how Atari continued (continues) to influence creators and fans for decades. It features 19 playable games and eight video segments. The timeline includes a deep dive into Berzerk, under-appreciated gems from the late '80s, a spotlight on "Fuji" Atari logo artist Evelyn Seto, the Pong creator explaining Breakout's birth, and an exploration of the fan base's role in preserving Atari history (including discovering unreleased prototypes and creating homebrew games).

The second new timeline is The First Console War. Telling the story of the first console war in gaming history (Atari's 2600 vs Mattel's Intellivision), the timeline comes with 20 playable games and six video segments. The exploration includes a look at Mattel's unexpected decision to develop games for its competitor's system. There are a selection of M Network games, a mix of Atari and M Network sports games, and some rare Atari 2600/5200 prototypes. Video interviews are with former Intellivision game director Don Daglow, M Network programmer Jane Terjung, Activision's David Crane and Garry Kitchen, homebrew programmer Dennis Debro, and historians Leonard Herman and Mike Mika.

​

Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection Expanded Edition will be released physically for two platforms, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. While both platforms get the standard version of the game, there is also a Steelbook version for Nintendo Switch that includes Atari 2600 art cards, miniature arcade marquee signs, an Al Alcorn Replica Syzygy Co. business card, and a Steelbook case.

Developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari, Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection Expanded Edition will be released for PC, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series, and Xbox One on October 25; it will launch for Atari VCS "this holiday."