Atari's Greatest Hits: Volume 1
© 2010 Atari
Great for introducing the history of video games to young game designers (e.g., "back in the olden days") this single DS cartridge puts an entire 1980's arcade -- with 50 games, in your pocket. The titles, from both Atari arcade and Atari 2600, include Asteroids, Pong, Missile Command, and Space Duel. Each features the original sounds and graphics, although the graphics in some games are not clear, and appear to be very small on the Nintendo DS screen. The controls have been adapted for the DS, and in some games, like Centipede, you turn the DS sideways. If you have a friend with a DS, you can compete in 20 of the games, which offer single card multi-player features (these include Space Duel and Pong). Multi-card play is available for head-to-head games, meaning your friend must also have a copy of the game. Additional content includes original game manuals plus photos of the original arcade games. Testers noted that the graphics seem grainy on the DS screen. We agree -- some of the words are hard to read, suggesting the code was ported over rather than built from scratch for the DS hardware.
$30, Nintendo DS
Teaches: Game history, game design, logic, temporal relations
CTR Rating: 84%