The best retro collection ever made is getting a massive expansion all about the game industry’s first console war

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration set a new standard for retro collections when it launched in 2022, proving that these compilations could be much more than random assortments of beloved games by turning the whole thing into an interactive documentary. Now, Atari 50 is getting a massive expansion with 39 additional games that’s telling more of the publisher’s history, including the story of gaming’s first console war.

Atari 50 is split between five “timelines” focusing on different parts of the publisher’s history, and the upcoming Expanded Edition is set to add two more. The Wider World of Atari features 19 added games and seems like a bit of a grab bag, featuring games like cult classic shooter Berzerk, a look at the artist who created the Atari logo, and a dive into the world of Atari Homebrew.

The other timeline is The First Console War, which digs in on the rivalry between the Atari 2600 and its closest competitor, the Intellivision – years before Nintendo and Sega create their own battle lines. This one adds 20 additional games, including some from Intellivision maker Mattel’s M Network division, which skipped the company’s own console to make games for the 2600.

Of course, both timelines will feature plenty of the real highlights of Atari 50: interviews with historians and the creators of those original games. Atari’s catalog doesn’t have quite the cachet among modern retro fans that, say, Nintendo’s does, but the story of gaming’s earliest days is a fascinating one, and Digital Eclipse’s work telling that story with this collection has been fantastic.

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Expanded Edition is set to hit PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Switch as a standalone release on October 25 for $39.99. The two new timelines will be available as DLC for owners of the original game, but there’s no word on pricing for that just yet.

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