What’s Unsuitable 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 wonderful Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebrationand a new particular version of their 2600+ console are on the best way, they usually’re themed after the unique online game icon, Pac-Man. Particularly, Atari’s model.

Sure, what’s broadly thought to be one of many worst arcade translations of its time, Pac-Man for Atari 2600 remains to be a massively essential a part of online game historical past, particularly Atari’s. They’ve now partnered with Namco to lastly convey 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 submit in a number of Fb teams that struck me as significantly absurd.

It learn “What’s improper with Atari celebrating their adaptation of Pac-Man for the 2600? So much.”

Nicely, this I needed to learn. In any case, the notion that Atari shouldn’t be celebrating such a big a part of their historical past appeared ridiculous. However considered one of 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 type of unheard-of controversy surrounding Pac-Man’s improvement? 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 study one thing new. I took the bait, and I clicked. (Isn’t there some type of time period for content material like this?)

So, what number of issues did the creator record which might be improper with Atari celebrating their adaptation of Pac-Man for Atari 2600?

One… type of.

So far as I can inform, this text served precisely two functions. One, to inform everybody that Pac-Man for Atari 2600 is unhealthy, and two, as an excuse to offer hyperlinks to the author’s different content material. The closest it got here to offering a cause why Atari shouldn’t be “celebrating” the sport, moreover the creator’s private distaste for it, was stating 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 ample cause for the sport to not be celebrated.

This bothered me in all probability 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 bought to be a phrase for this…)

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

Historic context

At the moment, if you happen to present someone Pac-Man for Atari 2600, they’ll in all probability scoff and write it off as rubbish. They usually wouldn’t be totally improper! Pac-Man 2600 is a remarkably poor conversion of Namco’s arcade traditional. However that’s not the entire story. Pac-Man 2600 was phenomenally profitable, as Pac-Man itself was massively widespread, and the power to play it at residence was a reasonably big deal. The story of its improvement is a captivating one, and its lasting legacy on the trade is great. Loads of its unfavourable impacts have grow to be overblown through the years, too. Some of us wish to say it singlehandedly kicked off the North American online game crash, which it completely didn’t. It was a contributing issue, certain, however there’s much more to that story, hopefully a few of which will probably 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 lined within the trailer for the Atari 50 DLC, and it made me so blissful to listen to another person say it out loud. I’ve been shouting about this for ages! When you’ve watched a TV present within the final 20-30 years, and somebody in it’s enjoying 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 concept of those sound results popping out of a PS5 is ridiculous, however it nonetheless occurs! Clearly this doesn’t convey extra consciousness to the Donkey Kong bit, however having the sport answerable for some sound results that tons of individuals have probably heard repeatedly through the years is tremendous cool, particularly having that truth identified particularly in Atari 50!

Preservation

Unhealthy video games should be preserved, too, particularly after they’re such an essential a part of online game historical past. The Atari 2600 is the very root of what the fashionable online game market has grow to be at this time, and its greatest blockbusters, most of which had been made by Atari themselves, have been largely unavailable for ages due to them being diversifications of video games Atari doesn’t personal. Sure, the 2600 variations of Centipede, Asteroids, and Missile Command have been available for ages, however lots 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 making an attempt to study in regards to the historical past of the medium, its high quality doesn’t matter.

It’s an effective way as an example the evolution of residence video video games

Irrespective of the way you get this re-release of 2600 Pac-Man, it additionally comes with much better variations of the sport. When you purchase the bodily cart to play in your unique {hardware} or considered one of Atari’s + programs, it comes with the brand new 7800 port which seems nice. When you 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 had been each fairly good as nicely. So it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re being given a improbable instance of how a lot better issues bought following the 2600 launch. I do know this in all probability appears bizarre, however it is a nice showcase of how a lot went into making good ports of arcade video games within the outdated days. Nailing not simply the look, but additionally the texture, was extremely essential, and having a main instance of what occurs if you fail is simply as essential as having one for if you succeed.

It’s nonetheless Pac-Man

Sure, it is a unhealthy model of Pac-Man, however that doesn’t imply it’s not possible 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 selections, the core of what made Pac-Man a lot enjoyable in arcades remains to be right here on this model. There’s completely enjoyable available right here, particularly if you happen to’ve bought nostalgia for it. It’s true that some followers had been so upset with this conversion that they introduced it again to shops to return, however a a lot bigger share of gamers simply stored it and performed it. And whereas it leaves quite a bit to be desired, and was finally 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 may see previous all the pieces it isn’t.

That wasn’t so laborious, was it? I’m conscious that this submit 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 improper with Atari and Namco celebrating their historical past collectively, together with that ridiculous port of Pac-Man.

What else is value stating is what’s actually complicated to me about this entire factor. The web site that hosted the submit about how Pac-Man for 2600 is unhealthy, The Dot Eatersis 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 submit that? The creator clearly is aware of what he’s speaking about, and clearly has a ardour for this pastime. That’s why it’s so bewildering to me that he would make a submit that appears to suggest he has a problem with Atari taking a monumentally essential piece of online game historical past and making it accessible to fashionable audiences in a approach that each one however ensures that they may also be capable of play no less than one genuinely good port as nicely. As somebody who has additionally spent a substantial period of time finding out the historical past of video video games, the notion that Atari ought to someway fake that this sport by no means existed isn’t simply improper, 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 bought Ms. Pac-Man I hardly ever turned again, however I’ve very fond reminiscences of the time I spent enjoying taht unique 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 folks who prefer it for what it’s.

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

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