Palm Atari Retro

The most important thing to note is what games are included -- the "Features" section of the listing on Amazon is incorrect. This card does have Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Missile Command, and Pong -- but instead of Combat and Tempest you get Adventure and Yar's Revenge. The Editorial Review includes the correct combination of games.

So what are the games like? As nearly as I can tell, they're identical to the old console version. In Adventure (one of my old favorites, and the grandparent of games like Legend of Zelda), the screen flickers if you have too many objects on the screen at once, just like it did on our television set years ago. Pong is...well...Pong. The games look, feel, and sound exactly like they used to years ago -- I'm not certain, but I suspect they're using the exact same code, running under an emulator.

It's important to note, however, that these are clones of the 2600 version of the games -- not the arcade versions that were out at the same time. So Centipede is just a square block, not a little mushroom shooter. Missile Command has one missile silo, not three. But unlike in the arcade, in this version of Asteroids you can choose to play with your choice of special options -- hypserspace, shields, flip, or nothing. If you're expecting clones of the arcade, you'll be disappointed -- the 2600 had nowhere near the power of the arcade games of its day, and that's reflected in what you'll see here.

I do have a few complaints about this implementation. You can only adjust the volume level before you start a game -- if you want to change it in the middle, you have to quit your game and start over. There is a pause option (as there was on the 2600 console), but if you end up back at the application launcher, you'll lose your place in whichever game you were playing. Two of the games included -- Pong and Breakout -- are almost impossible to play with a joystick (which is why the 2600 had paddle controllers for these games -- too bad they couldn't have let you use the stylus to simulate the paddle).

Speaking of controllers, there is no configuration option available -- your 5-way navigator is your joystick, but I've accidentally pressed it down when I didn't mean to, and fired at a bad time. Your four application buttons are also fire buttons, though they all do the same thing (the 2600 controller was a single joystick with a single button, so this is just fine). Still, I'd love the freedom to remap buttons if I want, if only to prevent a press on the 5-way navigator from firing unexpectedly.

CONCLUSION

If you grew up playing the Atari 2600, then this will be a trip down memory lane. I spent an hour playing Adventure -- I just couldn't put it down, despite pitiful graphics and simplistic gameplay. Nostalgia buffs will love this!

But if you're part of the Nintendo generation, or the old 2600 games hold no special memories for you, then you'll probably be disappointed in this release. Look for modern versions of some of these games from iambic and astraware to really take advantage of the horsepower of your modern platform.