When Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration debuted a couple of years ago, it took the scene by storm, offering a deep look at one of the pinnacles of videogaming as we know it. It was such a big hit that developer and distributor Digital Eclipse went on to coin an entire series around the concept, with recent releases such as The Making of Karateka, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story, and the upcoming Tetris Forever.
The collection contained surprisingly candid and honest interviews with key figures of the company and other luminaries, such as co-founder Nolan Bushnell, famed designer Al Alcorn, and even Gear of War’s Cliff Bleszinski, along with a bevy of bonuses. Tons design docs, pieces of mail, merchandising pictures, but most importantly, playable games in their original form and even a few remixed ones filled an already beefy package to the brim with historically important documentation of an unfortunately lacking in preservation industry.
Now, Atari 50 is getting even more complete with new DLC in the form of The Wider World of Atari, which focuses on more aspects of the company and the community surrounding it. It does so by introducing a new timeline full of extra videos and material – one of which is an excellent mini doc featuring Alcorn and the making of seminal hit Breakout – along with a 19 new carts, some obscure and others not so, ranging from 2600 ones to more modern ones from over the years, all playable directly off the main menu or through the timeline itself.
Out of the bunch, for me as a graphic designer by trait, I was in awe of one piece of content in this DLC that focused on the idea and realization of the iconic Atari logo, which took artist Evelyn Seto through numerous drawings and developmental sketches before settling on what went on to become a recognizable brand worldwide. It’s crazy to think of the ground that these folks had to break back when videogames were as alien to people as the invaders in Taito’s classic arcade shoot ‘em up that helped push Bushnell and co into making their own.
As with other Digital Eclipse’s historic doc efforts, Atari 50 features a very sleek presentation, and this is the one that gets it the best out of their incredible lineup, capturing the look and feel of Atari by way of the sharp and colorful design of the menus, and the bloops and bleeps of its sound effects.
Those who grew up with Atari are especially going to get a kick out of it, but even someone like me, born a little too late for it, can appreciate not only the work that has gone into recording talks and even updating games, but most importantly, the importance of doing so for preservation. That’s certainly the case with Atari, a company that has been around for so long, whose figures are getting up there in age.
Digital Eclipse’s base release for Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration was already an incredible achievement on its own, and now with The Wide World of Atari, it cements its place among the obligatory games that everyone should own and play regardless of their familiarity with the brand. The significance of this release is of a magnitude that few others can claim to be at, and we can only hope that someday other important groups get similar treatment in compilations of their own.
