Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration brings it all home for fans of classic gaming

If, despite your decades-long veteran status when it comes to all forms of gaming, you still find yourself getting consistently trounced by middle schoolers when you play anything from Fortnite to Call of Duty, here’s a bit of news that will really make you feel old. Atari is celebrating its 50th Anniversary.

Atari has created “Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration”, releasing what is essentially a mix between a greatest hits collection of games and a digital memoir chronicling the last 50 years. Have you recently gotten the urge to play old school Atari games made for 8-bit computers, the Atari Jaguar or Lynx platforms? Or has your Atari 2600, 5200, or 7800 long ago konked out on you? This collection of over 100 games, both original and enhanced, is for you. (And for me. These were the first video games I ever played.)

But if revisiting gaming history is also your passion, this specially-curated set features a host of archival images and videos, long-lost behind-the-scenes interviews, development diaries, and five different interactive timelines that tie everything together the way you want to experience it.

Developed by Digital Eclipse, this momentous release will be available this month at major gaming retailers, playable on PlayStation 4|5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Series X|S, as well as available on PC via the Steam or Epic Games Store for $39.99. It will also eventually be available on the Atari VCS (obviously). For more information on all the features, visit the official site.

Part of me now wants to hunt down an old school joystick with a USB connection, if they even make them.