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Activision Anthology

GBA

X-Play Rating:

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Tonight on "X-Play" we do some time-travelling with the retro-iffic "Activision Anthology" for the Game Boy Advance. Compiling many of Activision's early titles for the Atari 2600, it includes such classics as "Pitfall," "River Raid," and "Kaboom!" The question is, how well do these games hold up on a handheld system 20 years later?

Activate

"Activision Anthology" includes more than 50 titles (look at them all). The lineup is a fairly complete representation of the era, minus titles that involved outside licenses, such as "Ghostbusters." The collection's interface is scaled down from the PlayStation 2 version released in 2002. It still captures much of the early '80s look and feel, and you can access each game's artwork and instructions via the in-game menu. The game also keeps track of your high scores and rewards you with an on-screen representation of the mail-away program for high score patches that Activision ran in the early '80s.

Two six zero zero

The developer translated the original code to the Game Boy Advance, and the compilation's key strength is that not much was sacrificed when it was adapted to the handheld platform. The Atari 2600 used the most basic joystick of any console system ever, so the GBA's controls are more than suitable. Since most titles for the system revolved around a simple premise, they're also easy to pick up and play for minutes or hours.

What's most surprising is that titles such as "Pitfall" are still a lot of fun, and even the included sports games still offer a decent amount of replay value. Everyone has their favorite title from this era, but even in this solid lineup a few games seem like filler. Also, if some games don't strike you as familiar, it's because a handful of them are home-brew games designed by amateur coders. They weren't among Activision's classics, but they're included as extras.

Many of the included titles also support the system's link cable. This is a cool feature, but if your friend doesn't have the cartridge, the other GBA merely acts as a second controller. Still, it's good for some of the old-school two-player games.

Retro-video

"Activision Anthology" succeeds largely because the simple graphics are both colorful and clear on the small screen. Most of the Atari 2600 games used bright, contrasting colors, and they don't look quite so dated when scaled down. The developer did some tweaking to adapt the resolution to the Game Boy Advance screen, but, if anything, this tweaking cuts off some of the black bars we saw on the original game's television presentation. If you were alive to play the games upon their initial release, the graphics probably look better here than you remember them.

The same can't be said for the sound, mostly the same bare-bones music and sound effects that annoyed many gamers the first time around and don't add much today. At least it's amusing to listen to the sound for a few minutes before turning it down. There's some original music included in the game, but it's perhaps the only aspect of the collection that's out of place.

A piece of history

"Activision Anthology" is a solid compilation of classic titles. If you experienced Activision's Atari 2600 games the first time around, it's essential for your portable collection. The same goes for Game Boy Advance owners, who could benefit from having such an extensive array of classic games on the go. Also, GameCube owners who have a Game Boy Player will find this title offers just as much fun on the home console. For most gamers, the end result is one of the more worthwhile carts to own, and a welcome sense of déjà vu.

"Activision Anthology" (GBA)