Well, looks like I'll start off this batch of reviews with the sole 7800 title in the lot.

I still recall first reading about the 7800 as if it were yesterday...

Not that it's all that clear, mind you. It's just that I can't remember much about what I did yesterday.

Anyway, Electronic Games magazine had a huge preview of the Atari 7800 in their September, 1984 issue. I remember being wowed by the graphics, and all the specs they were throwing around. The fact it could play all of my 2600 carts, and was going to have two new games from LucasFilm and some amazing arcade translations of Xevious, Joust and Robotron, among others, just made me want to run out and buy it as soon as possible.

I knew the industry was in a slump of sorts, but didn't fully understand the root causes of it. I thought the 7800 would return Atari to their glory days, and I eagerly awaited that to happen.

What I didn't notice at the time, in the very next issue of Electronic Games, was a blurb about Jack Tramiel buying Atari. The article said nothing about the 7800 being shelved, so I thought nothing of it. Even as EG switched its focus to computer games (and didn't last long afterwards), I continued to watch and wait. The 7800 just never showed up.

A few years passed, and Nintendo revitalized the videogame industry, taking pretty-much everyone by complete surprise. Atari dusted off the 7800 to cash-in on the resurgence, and when it showed up at Toys 'R' Us, I grabbed one, and as many games for it as I could find (here's my 7800 game list, such as it is). At the time, I resented Nintendo, since I felt their dominance would hurt Atari's eventual return to the top of the heap with their obviously superior 7800.

Whatever the 7800's specs, without software, it never had a chance. It took me years to realize Nintendo didn't kill Atari, Atari killed Atari. Even with the 7800 in-hand, I still played my 2600 games more. I had more of them, and frankly, most of the 2600 games were more fun (with notable exceptions like Food Fight and Ballblazer).

When I got back into the 2600 a few years ago, I dusted off my 7800 a few times, but the games never had the appeal that the 2600 games did. Perhaps it was a greater sense of nostalgia for the 2600. Perhaps it was just a lack of titles for the 7800. Either way, I always regretted never seeing the 7800 really reach its potential.

So that brings us to the present, and a little glimpse of what the 7800 still has to offer.

Pac-Man Collection
5/5

In case you're one of the two or three people left on Earth who've never played Pac-Man, you maneuver the title character around a maze, eating dots, fruit and other bonus items, while avoiding four monsters (or ghosts) who are lethal to the touch. But you can strike back, because in each corner of the maze are flashing "energizers" which, when eaten, make the monsters vulnerable to your attack. Clear the maze of all the dots, and you'll move onto the next level with faster monsters, and bigger bonus points.

Pac-Man spawned a host of sequels and knock-offs, with pretty-much the same basic gameplay, but featuring different mazes and greater difficulty. Pac-Man Collection is a compilation of many of these, bringing Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Ms. Pac-Man and others together all in one cart.

Although Ms. Pac-Man already exists for the 7800, this collection has been tweaked to improve the graphics, and add far more options than the original release. In addition to letting you play Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, there are additional mazes, game modes, selectable lives and levels, and a "random maze" feature that will challenge even the most seasoned Pac-Man veteran. The games are very faithful to the arcade originals (with the exception of a few sounds), and are as close as you'll get to them on an Atari console. With excellent graphics, an easy-to-use options menu, and responsive controls, this is a first-rate collection all-around.

Pac-Man Collection is an idea that makes you wonder, "Why didn't Atari do this themselves?" Well, I can't answer that, but I can say this much: If you own a 7800, you owe it to yourself to buy Pac-Man Collection.


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