{"id":4259,"date":"2016-09-30T18:23:44","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T22:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armchairarcade.com\/perspectives\/?p=4259"},"modified":"2016-11-21T13:01:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T18:01:30","slug":"review-atari-flashback-7-atgames-2016-version-includes-videos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armchairarcade.com\/perspectives\/2016\/09\/30\/review-atari-flashback-7-atgames-2016-version-includes-videos\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Atari Flashback 7 (AtGames, 2016 version) (includes videos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

AtGames<\/strong> has released the Atari Flashback 7<\/a><\/strong>, which is just now starting to be available from major US retailers. While list price is $69.99, typical retail price is often quite a bit less.<\/p>\n

The Flashback 7 is part of the new AtGames Flashback Zone<\/a><\/strong>, which encompasses an increasing number of retro-themed products and a new social media presence on both Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a>. The AtGames Flashback Zone<\/strong> is expected to be the AtGames retro gaming portal going forward and should hopefully see regular expansion. Other products for this year include: Atari Flashback Portable<\/a><\/strong> (available November), Sega Genesis Classic Game Console<\/strong><\/a> (available now), Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player<\/strong><\/a> (available now), and Atari Flashback Classics Volume 1<\/strong> and Volume 2<\/strong><\/a> for Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One (both available soon). I should eventually have reviews posted for all of those products.<\/p>\n

Differences from Atari Flashback 6<\/h3>\n

You can see the full game list<\/a> here. For this year, the big new addition is Frogger<\/strong>, which adds to the previous Flashback 6<\/strong>‘s 100 game total (although really it was 99, since Secret Quest<\/strong> wasn’t fully playable).<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, as you may or may not know, the original Frogger<\/strong> arcade game<\/a> allegedly used music lifted from Japanese cartoons without permission. As a result, since 2006, any new release of Frogger<\/strong> has not been allowed to have the original audio. Sadly, this also applies to the possibility of including the original Atari 2600 release of the game on this console. As a result, just like with Space Invaders<\/strong>, this is a from-scratch port designed to take advantage of the Flashback’s hardware rather than remain true to the Atari 2600’s limitations.<\/p>\n

Despite having nostalgia for the original Atari 2600 port of Frogger<\/strong> (not to mention the amazing Supercharger<\/strong> version), this new version is still a good consolation prize. And much like the new version of Space Invaders<\/strong>, this Frogger<\/strong> does not strive for 100% authenticity, but instead includes the key elements while offering its own variation on the way the original played.<\/p>\n

If you’re curious how Frogger<\/strong> looks and plays on the Flashback 7, here’s a brief video:<\/p>\n