What’s Flawed with Atari Celebrating their Adaptation of Pac-Man for the 2600? Nothing!

Final week, Atari gave us a double dose of unusual bulletins. New DLC for the superb Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, and a new particular version of their 2600+ console are on the way in which, they usually’re themed after the unique online game icon, Pac-Man. Particularly, Atari’s model. 

Sure, what’s extensively thought to be one of many worst arcade translations of its time, Pac-Man for Atari 2600 continues to be a massively necessary a part of online game historical past, particularly Atari’s. They’ve now partnered with Namco to lastly deliver this port again to the world, coupled with a lot better ports of different Namco classics like DigDug, Galaxian, and even a model new model of Pac-Man for Atari 7800! 

The identical day it was introduced, I got here throughout a put up in a number of Fb teams that struck me as significantly absurd. 

It learn “What’s flawed with Atari celebrating their adaptation of Pac-Man for the 2600? Quite a bit.” 

Properly, this I needed to learn. In any case, the notion that Atari shouldn’t be celebrating such a major a part of their historical past appeared ridiculous. However one among my driving rules in life is the idea that I’m by no means the neatest man within the room. There’s at all times one thing I don’t know. Was there some kind of unheard-of controversy surrounding Pac-Man’s growth? The expression “quite a bit” means a big quantity, proper? On the very least a couple of! I used to be skeptical, however sufficient to be taught one thing new. I took the bait, and I clicked. (Isn’t there some kind of time period for content material like this?) 

So, what number of issues did the writer record which can be flawed with Atari celebrating their adaptation of Pac-Man for Atari 2600? 

One… kind of. 

So far as I can inform, this text served precisely two functions. One, to inform everybody that Pac-Man for Atari 2600 is dangerous, and two, as an excuse to offer hyperlinks to the author’s different content material. The closest it got here to offering a motive why Atari shouldn’t be “celebrating” the sport, moreover the writer’s private distaste for it, was mentioning that Atari themselves refers back to the conversion as “notorious.” I’m sorry, however by no definition is that “quite a bit,” neither is it, for my part, an satisfactory motive for the sport to not be celebrated. 

This bothered me most likely greater than it ought to have. I ought to have simply moved on. The headline was bait, seemingly supposed to get folks like me to click on on the article, which then by no means appropriately addressed the purpose that enticed of us to learn it within the first place. (There’s acquired to be a phrase for this…) 

So, I believed it could be enjoyable to do the alternative. What’s flawed with Atari Celebrating their Adaptation of Pac-Man for the 2600? Nothing! And listed here are some explanation why. 

Historic context

At present, in the event you present any individual Pac-Man for Atari 2600, they’ll most likely scoff and write it off as rubbish. They usually wouldn’t be totally flawed! Pac-Man 2600 is a remarkably poor conversion of Namco’s arcade basic. However that’s not the entire story. Pac-Man 2600 was phenomenally profitable, as Pac-Man itself was vastly in style, and the flexibility to play it at dwelling was a reasonably enormous deal. The story of its growth is a captivating one, and its lasting legacy on the trade is large. Loads of its adverse impacts have change into overblown over time, too. Some of us prefer to say it singlehandedly kicked off the North American online game crash, which it completely didn’t. It was a contributing issue, positive, however there’s much more to that story, hopefully a few of which shall be instructed within the new Atari 50 DLC! For all its faults, it’s an enormous a part of online game historical past, and any historical past of Atari that’s instructed with out its inclusion is an incomplete one. 

The TV present issue

There’s a glimpse of this being coated within the trailer for the Atari 50 DLC, and it made me so pleased to listen to another person say it out loud. I’ve been shouting about this for ages! For those who’ve watched a TV present within the final 20-30 years, and somebody in it’s taking part in video video games, the sound results are nearly assured to be a mix of Donkey Kong and Pac-Man, particularly the Atari 2600 variations. This has solely gotten extra foolish because the years have passed by as the thought of those sound results popping out of a PS5 is ridiculous, but it surely nonetheless occurs! Clearly this doesn’t deliver extra consciousness to the Donkey Kong bit, however having the sport answerable for some sound results that tons of individuals have doubtless heard repeatedly over time is tremendous cool, particularly having that reality identified particularly in Atari 50! 

Preservation

Dangerous video games should be preserved, too, particularly once they’re such an necessary a part of online game historical past. The Atari 2600 is the very root of what the trendy online game market has change into at this time, and its greatest blockbusters, most of which have been made by Atari themselves, have been largely unavailable for ages because of them being variations of video games Atari doesn’t personal. Sure, the 2600 variations of Centipede, Asteroids, and Missile Command have been available for ages, however a lot of their different greatest hits have been misplaced to time, and that features Pac-Man. No, it’s not a very good model of the sport, however for folks attempting to be taught in regards to the historical past of the medium, its high quality doesn’t matter. 

It’s an effective way as an instance the evolution of dwelling video video games

Regardless of the way you get this re-release of 2600 Pac-Man, it additionally comes with much better variations of the sport. For those who purchase the bodily cart to play in your authentic {hardware} or one among Atari’s + programs, it comes with the brand new 7800 port which appears nice. For those who purchase it as a part of the brand new DLC pack for Atari 50, that additionally consists of the 5200 and Atari 8-bit ports, which have been each fairly good as effectively. So it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re being given a improbable instance of how a lot better issues acquired following the 2600 launch. I do know this most likely appears bizarre, however this can be a nice showcase of how a lot went into making good ports of arcade video games within the previous days. Nailing not simply the look, but additionally the texture, was extremely necessary, and having a first-rate instance of what occurs while you fail is simply as necessary as having one for while you succeed. 

It’s nonetheless Pac-Man

Sure, this can be a dangerous model of Pac-Man, however that doesn’t imply it’s inconceivable to have enjoyable with it. Heck, for lots of children again then, this was their first introduction to Pac-Man. Even with its shoddy controls and baffling visible decisions, the core of what made Pac-Man a lot enjoyable in arcades continues to be right here on this model. There’s completely enjoyable available right here, particularly in the event you’ve acquired nostalgia for it. It’s true that some followers have been so disenchanted with this conversion that they introduced it again to shops to return, however a a lot bigger proportion of gamers simply stored it and performed it. And whereas it leaves quite a bit to be desired, and was ultimately changed by far superior video games on the 2600 within the type of a wonderful port of Ms. Pac-Man and the chic Jr. Pac-Man, it’s nonetheless a reasonably good time for what it’s, so long as you’ll be able to see previous every little thing it isn’t. 

That wasn’t so laborious, was it? I’m conscious that this put up you’re studying has greater than a splash of pettiness in it, however I actually felt that this was some extent value making. There’s nothing flawed with Atari and Namco celebrating their historical past collectively, together with that ridiculous port of Pac-Man. 

What else is value mentioning is what’s actually complicated to me about this complete factor. The web site that hosted the put up about how Pac-Man for 2600 is dangerous, The Dot Eaters, is in any other case a reasonably glorious supply of details about online game historical past. Heck, the precise headline for the article learn “Atari Leans Into Having Made the WORST Model of Pac-Man Ever.” That is nice! Why not simply put up that? The writer clearly is aware of what he’s speaking about, and clearly has a ardour for this passion. That’s why it’s so bewildering to me that he would make a put up that appears to indicate he has a difficulty with Atari taking a monumentally necessary piece of online game historical past and making it out there to fashionable audiences in a approach that every one however ensures that they will even be capable of play a minimum of one genuinely good port as effectively. As somebody who has additionally spent a substantial period of time learning the historical past of video video games, the notion that Atari ought to by some means fake that this sport by no means existed isn’t simply flawed, it’s offensive. 

Truthfully, I’ll at all times have love for Pac-Man on 2600 as a result of it was my first publicity to the sport. As soon as I acquired Ms. Pac-Man I hardly ever turned again, however I’ve very fond recollections of the time I spent taking part in that authentic weirdo launch. The field artwork is spectacular, too. I get that there are many of us on the market who hate the sport, however there are many people who prefer it for what it’s. 

Pac-Man for 2600’s inclusion in Atari 50 and cartridge re-release look like a reasonably great point to me. Does this open the door for much more collaborations sooner or later? May we get Activision content material? Perhaps Taito video games like Area Invaders and Jungle Hunt? Perhaps a partnership with Warner Bros to get basic Halfway stuff like Defender (top-of-the-line promoting video games on the 2600) and Atari Video games titles like Gauntlet and Paperboy? I actually hope so. 

What’s flawed with that? Nothing in any respect.