Reviews
Joust Review: Honour, Altitude and Treachery for Two
Williams’ flying-knight masterpiece, faithfully ported with its glorious two-player treachery intact. Our review of an essential 5200 cartridge.
Author: Sal Benedetto
From the Vault columnist. Grew up feeding quarters to the Ms. Pac-Man machine at his uncle's pizza place; still owns his childhood SNES and every Nintendo Power he ever begged his mother for. Writes the retrospectives and the hidden-gem hunts.
Reviews
Centipede Review: Roll With It
A first-class garden shooter that becomes a great one with the Trak-Ball plugged in. Our review of the 5200’s definitive Centipede.
Reviews
Ms. Pac-Man Review: The SuperSystem’s Finest Maze
Four mazes, bouncing fruit and honest ghosts: Ms. Pac-Man is arguably the finest arcade conversion on the 5200. Our full review.
Reviews
Pac-Man Review: The Redemption of the Maze
After the 2600 debacle, the 5200’s Pac-Man restored a reputation — the real maze, the real ghosts, the real chase. Our review of Atari’s apology.
Reviews
Galaxian Review: The Formation Finally Comes Home
Namco’s colour convoy, faithfully formed: the 5200’s Galaxian is the conversion the 2600 could never be. Our full review.
Reviews
Super Breakout Review: The Pack-In That Learned to Paddle Without a Paddle
The 5200’s original pack-in turns the console’s loose analogue stick into a secret weapon across four Breakout variants. Our review of the SuperSystem’s first cartridge.
Features
Atari 400/800 Hidden Gems: 10 Games Beyond the Canon
Necromancer’s forests, Spelunker’s caves, Shamus in a trench coat: ten second-shelf classics that show what the Atari 8-bit was really like, beyond the famous names.
Features
The Atari 8-Bit Demo Scene: Four Decades of Pushing POKEY and ANTIC
From 1980s crack intros to Silly Venture’s winter halls, the Atari 8-bit demoscene has spent forty years bending a 1979 display chip into art. It is not done.
Features
Antic and ANALOG: The Magazines That Taught Atari Owners to Program
Two magazines, one curriculum: type-in listings, checksum tables and a generation of Atari owners who became programmers one evening at a time.
Features
Lucasfilm Games Was Born on the Atari 800: Inside the Lab Partnership
In 1982 Lucasfilm’s new Games Group chose the Atari 800 as its first home. Fractals, a famous leak and two debut masterpieces later, an industry had changed.