Atari 50: The First Console War

If you were alive in the 1990s, then you are likely a survivor of the 16-bit console war. This was a battle that spilled into the next-generation, when Sega not only had to go up against Nintendo, but also Sony and their PlayStation. Fast-forward a few years and Microsoft would enter the fight, a rivalry that continues to this day with gamers arguing about which is better – Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5 or Nintendo’s Switch. But while that conflict is somewhat interesting, Digital Eclipse wants to take you back to the very first console war. That’s the subject of the second (and last) expansion pack for the wonderful Atari 50 compilation. It’s a short yet informative trip back to that time when Atari went up against Mattel for video game supremacy. Adding 19 games to the package and offering up a bunch of new interviews, is this a fitting conclusion to the Atari story? That’s what we’re about to find out when I review Atari 50: The First Console War.

Having already covered the rise, fall and resurrection of Atari, Digital Eclipse is back with The First Console War, the second of two paid expansion packs for Atari 50. As the name suggests, this chapter of the story goes into the rivalry between Atari’s VCS console and Mattel’s competing Intellivision. Released two full years after the VCS, the Intellivision was sold as a more advanced console that was capable of displaying far-superior graphics. Of course, that visual fidelity came at a price, making the Intellivision about a hundred dollars more than the competition, but Mattel had an ace up their sleeve: Night after night, sports writer George Plimpton would show the TV-watching audience that the Intellivision baseball game looked just like the real thing, while Atari’s was just a bunch of blocks on screen. And with that, the battle was on.

This DLC dives into the history through both archival footage and interviews with the people who worked at Mattel during this short but exciting time in gaming history. We see the strategizing from both sides, along with the view from the third-parties that supported both second-generation consoles. We get an especially funny story about how the two systems fought through television commercials. And, best of all, we dig into the game design philosophy at Mattel and how the two sides would fraternize with each other (against their boss’s wishes). There’s a lot of insight into both companies’ histories, and it helps to add a lot of context to the Atari 50 story.

There comes a point in this history lesson when Mattel (who could never quite outsell the popular VCS) decides to start releasing games on the competing system. That’s when this expansion pack switches from the story to the actual games. Of the 19 games added to the roster, twelve of them come from M Network, the name Mattel used to publish games on the Atari VCS. That’s the big draw of this package.

The good news is that the M Network games are a lot of fun. Seeing as most of them were released later in the 2600’s lifespan, the games in this expansion are a bit more ambitious and better looking than a lot of the VCS titles we’re used to. A great example of that is Frogs & Flies, a port of the Intellivision game Frog Bog. This is a surprisingly addictive two-player competition to see which frog can gobble up the most flies while jumping between lily pads. The game looks great and even has a day/night cycle. Another good one is Star Strike, which is clearly inspired by the trench run in Star Wars. I was also impressed with Astroblast, which is like Space Invaders on speed. Once I settled into the game’s urgency, I was hooked. Astroblast is a real highlight of the package.

Much like the last expansion, this DLC comes with a number of rare, unreleased and prototype games. One of the best is Antbear, a fun mix between Pac-Man and Frogger, where we use our tongue to tunnel underground for delicious food. It’s an odd shake-up of the maze game formula, but it works and could have been a big hit. Final Legacy, on the other hand, showed just how ambitious the developers were getting in the mid-1980s. It’s a strategy game that had you taking out targets either using your land-to-sea artillery or by sending torpedoes at the attacking ships. The different attack styles had their own unique look and gameplay, adding a real sense of variety. There’s also Tower of Mystery, an unreleased prototype that has only recently been rescued. I didn’t find it to be all that much fun, but it was great to see the developer rediscover it after four decades.

One thing that surprised me was how big of a role sports played in this expansion. Not only do we get the Super Challenge Baseball and Football games that George Plimpton told us about between episodes of B.J. and the Bear, but it also comes with International Soccer and Swordfight, which is exactly what it sounds like. However, the real sports star here is HardBall, the 1985 version of the long-running baseball series that kept putting out sequels well into the 1990s. HardBall looks fantastic and is extremely easy to play. It’s an early baseball game that absolutely nails what’s great about the sport, all while creating a pitcher/batter dynamic that is as strategic as it is fun. And did I mention that it looks amazing? This came out the same year that Nintendo brought their baseball game to the States, and the difference is night and day. This is easily one of the best games in the entire package.

And the good games don’t stop there. I was excited to see the Atari 7800 version of Desert Falcon, one of the best games to come out of the last expansion pack. This 1987 version is easier to play and looks substantially better. Another favorite was Dark Cavern, a 1982 maze game with a shoot ‘em up twist. It’s the perfect middle ground between Pac-Man and Berzerk, and the action is fast-paced and addicting. I got into it a lot more than I expected, which is true of a lot of the games found in this expansion. Between the M Network games and HardBall, this DLC makes a strong case for why it should exist.

While this expansion pack is mostly about Mattel and Intellivision, it’s important to remember that this is still an Atari compilation. That’s something I had to keep reminding myself, because there’s so much talk about the Intellivision that it will make you want to play those games. We already have a bunch of Atari 2600 games in the collection, so let’s see if George Plimpton was right and the graphics really are that much better. Sadly, we’re never given a chance to compare the two. Despite Atari buying up the brand and library earlier this year, there’s no Intellivision emulation here. Perhaps that will come in an entirely different compilation. Either way, it’s a missed opportunity.

Another thing I want to mention are the interviews. Because this expansion pack was released just a few days before Tetris Forever, I found myself jumping between the two Digital Eclipse compilations quite a bit. One thing I couldn’t help but notice was how much I preferred the look of the interviews in the Tetris game. Here, most of the interviews are conducted in front of a greenscreen, so when we see them in the game, it looks like everybody is floating in a fancy screensaver from the 1990s. Compare that to the footage of Henk Rogers and Alexey Pajitnov, which ditches the greenscreen in favor of a more natural background – an office or a window with a nice view of the city. I hate to say it, but I found it a little tough going back to the chroma keyed look of Atari 50. I don’t know if it’s because they couldn’t find a good-looking location to film or an attempt at uniformity, but I found myself wishing these interviews had been conducted in front of anything but a greenscreen.

I suppose I could once again complain about the lack of additional Lynx and Jaguar games, but that’s clearly not where the emphasis is in this package. After a full compilation and three expansions, it’s obvious that Atari would rather reminisce about the good ol’ days, which in this case means going back to the VCS kicking the Intellivision’s butt. This DLC tells an interesting story and comes with a bunch of fun games. It’s not the best part of Atari 50, but it definitely makes the package that much better. And when push comes to shove, isn’t that what good DLC is supposed to do?