(Image credit: Mike FANOUS (Getty Images))

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is one of the coolest games on Steam, and only in part because it’s a robust retro game compilation that introduced me to Yars’ Revenge, the only Atari game I’ve ever loved. It’s also a sort of digital coffee table book replete with interviews, historical blurbs, and quaint reimaginings of the games it archives.

It’s because that core game was so good I’m actually excited to play another compilation of Bandai Namco’s 80s classics—Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga, anything you’d expect to see wallowing in the corner of a local greasy spoon. In a DLC announced earlier this year without a release window, those games and a few others will finally be woven into the collection this Thursday, Nov. 13.

Atari 50 - The Namco Legendary Pack DLC - Announcement Trailer - YouTube

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If you’re like me, you have more Namco compilations and miscellaneous ports of Pac-Man than you know what to do with, but this is more than just another re-release. On top of the archived art, photos, and developer interviews, this DLC is set to include three Atari ports of Pac-Man: 2600, 5200, and the version released on Atari 8-bit computers. According to the Steam page, this is the first time these games have ever reared their ugly heads in an official re-release.

It’s not for nothing; they are small potatoes next to the arcade original, Ms. Pac-Man, Championship Edition, and so on, having to work around the severe limitations of old Atari hardware. But given that the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man sold millions of copies and was a major breadwinner for the console, it’s an essential piece of history for the little yellow… thing. Whatever he is.

If you’d rather learn about good games, there’s always the arcade versions of Xevious and Dig Dug, both of which will be included in the upcoming DLC. If you’re interested, it releases this Thursday on Steam.

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Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he’s amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky ’90s esoterica. Whether he’s extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it’s hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he’s not at his keyboard, he’s probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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