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  • Writer's pictureAllan Jenks

Game Review #129: Atari Flashback Classics (Nintendo Switch)

Updated: Mar 22, 2020

Reviewer: Allan J.

Developer: Atari

Publisher: Atari

Category: Arcade, Compilation

Release Date: 12.13.2018

Price (at time of review): $39.99 (Digital | Physical)



Buy Atari Flashback Classics (digitally) from the Nintendo eShop here.

Buy Atari Flashback Classics (physically) from GameStop here.


Get Your Act Together

You may have seen a few of those “Flashback” plug-and-play consoles enter the scene over the past few years. Most of them have a pretty slapped-together feeling overall. Many of the games glitch out or don’t recognize the Player 2 controller input at times, rendering most of the 80 or 103 games basically useless. There are always a few titles they get right, which makes it somewhat worthwhile at the end of the day, but deep down, you just want your money back. Then, I hear that there is a software version of this concept, Atari Flashback Classics, and it is on the Switch! This means that it might have its act together, since Nintendo has some pretty high standards, right? Let’s find out…



What’s In the Box??

Ok, so we’ve all played these games before. I’m not going to review the games individually. If you haven’t played them before, well, now’s your chance! There are 150 games included in this collection of Atari benchmarks, including titles from arcade releases, Atari 2600 releases, and Atari 5200 releases. If a title had releases on more than one of those platforms, all versions are included in this collection. Here is a complete list of the games included in this collection:


1. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe 2600

2. A Game of Concentration 2600

3. Adventure 2600

4. Adventure II 2600

5. Air Raiders 2600

6. Air-Sea Battle 2600

7. Aquaventure 2600

8. Armor Ambush 2600

9. Asteroids 2600

10. Asteroids Arcade

11. Asteroids 5200

12. Asteroids Deluxe Arcade

13. Astroblast 2600

14. Atari Baseball Arcade

15. Atari Basketball Arcade

16. Atari Football Arcade

17. Atari Soccer Arcade

18. Atari Video Cube 2600

19. Avalanche Arcade

20. Backgammon 2600

21. Basic Math 2600

22. Basketball 2600

23. Black Widow Arcade

24. Blackjack 2600

25. Bowling 2600

26. Brain Games 2600

27. Breakout 2600

28. Canyon Bomber 2600

29. Canyon Bomber Arcade

30. Casino 2600

31. Centipede 2600

32. Centipede Arcade

33. Centipede 5200

34. Championship Soccer 2600

35. Checkers 2600

36. Chess 2600

37. Circus Atari 2600

38. Code Breaker 2600

39. Combat 2600

40. Combat 2 2600

41. Countermeasure 5200

42. Crystal Castles 2600

43. Crystal Castles Arcade

44. Dark Cavern (Night Stalker) 2600

45. Demons to Diamonds 2600

46. Desert Falcon 2600

47. Destroyer Arcade

48. Dodge ‘Em 2600

49. Dominos Arcade

50. Double Dunk 2600

51. Fatal Run 2600

52. Final Legacy 5200

53. Fire Truck/Smokey Joe Arcade

54. Flag Capture 2600

55. Football 2600

56. Frog Pond 2600

57. Frogs and Flies 2600

58. Golf 2600

59. Gravitar 2600

60. Gravitar Arcade

61. Hangman 2600

62. Haunted House 2600

63. Holey Moley 2600

64. Home Run 2600

65. Human Cannonball 2600

66. International Soccer 2600

67. Liberator Arcade

68. Lunar Lander Arcade

69. Major Havoc Arcade

70. Maze Craze 2600

71. Maze Invaders Arcade

72. Micro-gammon 5200

73. Millipede 5200

74. Millipede 2600

75. Millipede Arcade

76. Miniature Golf 5200

77. Miniature Golf 2600

78. Missile Command 5200

79. Missile Command 2600

80. Missile Command Arcade

81. Monte Carlo Arcade

82. MotoRodeo 2600

83. Night Driver 2600

84. Off the Wall 2600

85. Outlaw 2600

86. Pong Arcade

87. Pool Shark Arcade

88. Quadrun 2600

89. Race 2600

90. Radar Lock 2600

91. Realsports Baseball 5200

92. Realsports Baseball 2600

93. Realsports Basketball 5200

94. Realsports Basketball 2600

95. Realsports Boxing 2600

96. Realsports Football 5200

97. Realsports Football 2600

98. Realsports Soccer 2600

99. Realsports Tennis 5200

100. Realsports Tennis 2600

101. Realsports Volleyball 5200

102. Realsports Volleyball 2600

103. Red Baron Arcade

104. Return to Haunted House 2600

105. Saboteur 2600

106. Save Mary 2600

107. Sea Battle 2600

108. Secret Quest 2600

109. Sentinel 2600

110. Sky Diver Arcade

111. Sky Diver 2600

112. Slot Machine 2600

113. Slot Racers 2600

114. Space Attack 2600

115. Space Duel Arcade

116. Spacewar 2600

117. Sprint Arcade

118. Sprint Master 2600

119. Star Raiders 5200

120. Star Raiders 2600

121. Star Strike 2600

122. Starship 2600

123. Steeplechase 2600

124. Stellar Track 2600

125. Street Racer 2600

126. Stunt Cycle 2600

127. Sub Commander 2600

128. Super Baseball 2600

129. Super Breakout 5200

130. Super Breakout 2600

131. Super Breakout Arcade

132. Super Bug Arcade

133. Super Challenge Baseball 2600

134. Super Challenge Football 2600

135. Super Football 2600

136. Surround 2600

137. Sword Fight 2600

138. Swordquest: Earthworld 2600

139. Swordquest: Fireworld 2600

140. Swordquest: Waterworld 2600

141. Tempest 2600

142. Tempest Arcade

143. Video Olympics 2600

144. Video Pinball 2600

145. Warlords 2600

146. Warlords Arcade

147. Wizard 2600

148. Xari Arena 5200

149. Yars’ Return 2600

150. Yars’ Revenge 2600


In addition to a big, huge library of games, the menu screen includes a picture of the arcade cabinet for each of the games available in the arcade platform, with the marquis artwork for the game select icons. For the 2600 and 5200 games, the spine of the game cartridge is your game select icon, and a picture of the game box is to the left. When you launch a 2600 title, the title screen has a transparent 3-D picture of the console, complete with all the buttons and switches, so you can select your game modes and difficulty levels by hand, just like the old days!

Also—and this, to me, is freaking awesome—each of the home console titles has a scanned copy of the instruction manual that came with the game that you can view! I absolutely love this feature. It really gives it that extra little bit of polish that takes it up that extra notch.



Vertical Mode

One unique thing about the Switch is the added feature of handheld mode, which can lend itself well to many things, one of which is vertical mode. Now, I don’t have a Flip Grip myself—if you haven’t seen it, it’s a grip that attaches to the Switch in a vertical position, allowing you to use the Joy-Cons on either side of the now-vertical Switch—so when I heard that there were some games in this collection that were compatible with the Flip Grip, it was bittersweet news. I was glad the compatibility was there—for eight games anyway, but it’s still something—but I wouldn’t be able to experience it myself, at least not until I get my hands on a Flip Grip eventually! I was pleasantly surprised though when I opened one of the games that supports the vertical mode, and it gave me the option to just turn my Switch vertical and use the attached right Joy-Con—no Flip Grip needed! This was the same for all of the Flip Grip compatible games. Here are the games:


1. Centipede

2. Fire Truck

3. Maze Invaders

4. Millipede

5. Monte Carlo

6. Super Breakout

7. Super Bug

8. Soccer



Wrapping Up

I already knew coming into this review that I loved these games. When I saw AtGames’ logo appear in the opening title screen, I was skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised by the experience as a whole. The only thing I had issues with was the sensitivity of the toggle controls. I guess maybe I am just used to the sometimes-less-than-responsive OEM Atari joysticks of old—maybe I’m just old and I just suck now—but the controls were so sensitive, I almost think you have to control the toggle with your mind, Jedi-style, to get the right amount of velocity precision required by some of the games in here! Nevertheless, this is a great collection of classic Atari titles, and I really enjoyed myself while playing through a chunk of my early gaming days. If you are a fan of the old school, I would recommend this collection for your library. Unlike the plug-and-plays preceding this collection, this one really does have its act together! Go get you some Atari Flashback Classics!


Score: 8/10


Buy Atari Flashback Classics (digitally) from the Nintendo eShop here.

Buy Atari Flashback Classics (physically) from GameStop here.


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*Review Code Provided by UberStrategist

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