#atari 50

Digital Eclipse has gotten quite good at the documentary end of these things, and The Namco Legendary Pack is up to the developer's usual standard. The focus here is on the original partnership between Atari and Namco, running from Namco's initial purchase of Atari Japan through to the last fruits of the tie-up during the Atari 7800 era of Atari. While Atari and Namco had many other intersections after that, those aren't within the scope of this DLC. There are also some obvious restrictions here on Atari's end due to the arcade business ownership cutting off at a certain point, and on Namco's end due to some topics it probably didn't want covered. Don't expect anything about Tengen or Ms. Pac-Man, in other words.

Indeed, much of the focus of this timeline is on Pac-Man, with lots of interview videos featuring Tod Frye, the man who handled the top-selling yet often maligned 2600 port of the game. Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell chimes in early on to talk about the Atari Japan sale, and former GCC employee Mark Ackerman discusses his work on the 2600 version of Galaxian. It's a somewhat briefer timeline than some of the previous ones, but there is still a lot of interesting stuff in here.

With that said, you can feel the invisible hand of Namco guiding what is and isn't talked about. Pole Position isn't brought up at all despite its importance in this era of Atari, something that might just be down to licensing. None of the Pac-Family spin-off games created by Midway that Atari released home versions of are even so much as mentioned. Nothing about homebrew ports, not even the ones that have gotten official licensed releases this year. Heck, even Tod Frye's obvious Pac-Man T-shirt has been blurred out of every shot.

Some of this can't be helped, of course. Nevertheless, it would have been nice to have some of Namco's people interviewed or Pole Position at least mentioned. What does Namco think of that 2600 version of Pac-Man? It's hard to complain too much for the price, but don't expect the documentary stuff to drill down with quite as much depth or breadth as what was seen in the original Atari 50 timelines. I did like hearing Tod Frye discuss his work, and it was a nice treat to see video footage of the unreleased 2600 port of Xevious he worked on even if we don't get to play it. What's in here is very good, though one can't help but let their mind linger on what isn't in here.

Next, I'll do my quick thoughts on each of the included games. I think overall this set of games fits the purview of this DLC for the most part. Pole Position isn't here probably due to licensing, and things like Ms. Pac-Man are likely absent for reasons entirely outside of Atari's control. That there are only two arcade versions in the mix simply comes down to them being the ones that Atari released in North America on Namco's behalf. The North American arcade releases of Pac-Man, Galaxian, and Galaga didn't involve Atari at all, so they aren't here. Okay, game time.

Pac-Man (2600): Love it or hate it, there is no denying the impact and historical value of this version of Pac-Man. It has become something of a joke over time, and some even suggest it played a serious role in the North American console crash. Here's the thing, though: it wasn't that hated back in the day. I think there is value in having it out there again for people to try out.

Pac-Man (Atari 8-Bit): This is a more accurate home conversion of Pac-Man, but it's still pretty far from the real thing in a lot of ways. Still, I'm sure this would have felt more than good enough at the time. In this collection, it mainly serves as a basis for the third version of Pac-Man in the bunch.

Pac-Man (5200): The Atari 5200 version of Pac-Man is emblematic of the console in many ways. It's considerably more accurate to the arcade game than the 2600 version, and even compared to the Atari 8-Bit computer version it's based on, it's faster and feels better to play. On original 5200 hardware, it also showed off the flaws of the included controller's analog stick. Here on modern consoles, it plays very well. Not the arcade version, but you can have some fun with it.

Galaxian (5200): This was the first official home console port of Galaxian, and it's not a bad take on it at all. The enemy behavior doesn't quite line up with the arcade version, but the game feels faster and a bit more exciting overall. That might be due to the playfield being more cramped, but I'm not complaining.

Galaxian (Atari 8-Bit): Basically the same as the Atari 5200 version. If there are any real differences, I sure can't detect them. I'm not sure why this was included outside of trying to get as much in here as possible, but at least we get a nice view of that extremely cool cover art.

Galaxian (2600): Something of a miracle port, and not the only one we'll be seeing in this selection. One of the things that separated Galaxian from a sea of Space Invaders knock-offs was its colorful graphics and more intense gameplay, and this 2600 port manages to preserve both of those to a far higher degree than one might expect. It's quite fun!

Galaga (7800): You know, I posted a list of my ten favorite Atari 7800 games here a while back. This excellent port is in it. This is the only version of Galaga that Atari ever published, so it's the only one we get here. Lucky for us, it's a mighty fine version of the game. Love it.

Dig Dug (Arcade): Yes, Atari handled the original North American release of Dig Dug in arcades. It's very weird to see the Atari logo on this game's title screen. This is the first time we've had this particular variant of the arcade game released on consoles, so it has some merit on that alone. With that said, if you've played the arcade version of Dig Dug in any of the many ways it has been released at home over the years, you've played this. Awesome game, though.

Dig Dug (2600): Here's another miracle port. I really can't get over how accurate this is to the arcade game given the console's limitations. It feels better to play than a lot of Dig Dug ports on far more capable hardware. It even manages to mostly full off the audio, which is not something the 2600 is typically very good at. It's one of my ten favorite 2600 games, so I'm thrilled to see it here.

Dig Dug (Atari 8-Bit): Of the, um, five included versions of Dig Dug in this DLC, the Atari 8-Bit version is the worst. It's a bit slow and it plays differently from the arcade game in various ways. With that said, I don't think this is a bad game at all in a vacuum. It's worth messing around with for a little while just for variety's sake.

Dig Dug (5200): This version is a lot closer to the arcade game than the Atari 8-Bit port in terms of how it plays. It's just a lot smoother, and the presentation is nicer too. Apparently a conversion of this ended up replacing the original Atari 8-Bit version on the market, so you can tell Atari was pleased with it. In Atari 50, we don't have to put up with the silly 5200 joystick either. Not bad, but there's still one to go.

Dig Dug (7800): Oh, it's another of my ten favorite Atari 7800 games. This is an excellent home console version of Dig Dug, and arguably even more fun than the Famicom version thanks to its faster, more intense action. This was a launch title for the 7800, and while it probably felt a little old by the time that machine made it to market, I can look back on efforts like this now and really appreciate them.

Xevious (Arcade): Atari handled the North American release of this arcade game as well, and this is another case where we are seeing this particular variant released on consoles for the first time ever. Atari certainly seems to have had a lot of faith in this one, and with good reason. Xevious is great. I'm not sure why it didn't catch on in the West the way it did in Japan, but I suppose it doesn't matter. As with Dig Dug, I don't mind having yet another way to play arcade Xevious.

Xevious (7800): And another of my ten favorite Atari 7800 games! Wow, 30% of my faves on the console in one handy DLC drop! The Atari 7800 was actually quite capable at chucking a bunch of sprites around the screen without slowing down, and that really comes in handy for Xevious. An impressive port for the hardware, and a fine version of this influential shoot 'em up on the whole.

I think for the asking price ($7.99 USD), The Namco Legendary Pack DLC is easy to recommend. Just the two arcade games alone are more than worth that, and when you add in all of the different console ports it's a great value from a gameplay standpoint. The documentary stuff is a little thinner than I'd like, but I can appreciate there were probably a lot of issues Atari had to work around here. If you love Atari 50, this is a must-have. Namco fans might also enjoy the trip into some lesser-seen ports of these famous games. I wonder where this compilation will go next?