Activision Anthology

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Activision Anthology
Developer(s) Activision
Publisher(s) Barking Lizards (PS2)
Contraband Entertainment(PS2)
MacPlay (PC, Mac)
Aspyr (GBA)
Nikkō Europe (digiBLAST)
Release date(s) PS2
Flag of European Union November 19, 2002
Flag of United States November 25, 2002
PC/Mac
Flag of United States October 6, 2003
GBA
Flag of United States December 8, 2003
DigiBLAST
Flag of European Union December 31, 2005
PSP
Flag of United StatesTBA 2006
Genre(s) Compilation
Mode(s) Single player, two player
Platform(s) Playstation 2, Windows, Mac, Game Boy Advance, digiBLAST, PSP

Activision Anthology is a compilation of most of the Atari 2600 games by Activision for various systems. It also includes some games originally released by Absolute Entertainment, and Imagic, as well as some homebrewed games. The Windows and Mac versions are titled Activision Anthology Remix. The PSP version is entitled Activision Hits Remixed.

The game features the original classical gameplay of the Atari 2600 emulated on modern machines, however after achieving high scores in some of the games, the player can unlock special modes, where the colors are distorted, or the game is projected on a rotating cube as added difficulty.

Since the sound capabilities of these classical games are more annoying today compared to the CD-quality sound of modern machines, the Anthology features a virtual tape-deck with several licensed 80's music tracks. The sound of the virtual tape recorder can be mixed with the original game sound, so both sounds are hearable to simulate playing the game on TV while having your tape running in the background.

The Anthology features a virtual kid's room as a main menu. The player zooms to several viewpoints to check highscores, choose a game from a rotating stand, change the background music on the virtual tape deck or change game settings while being zoomed in on the virtual VCS 2600.

Six Atari 2600 titles were not added to the Activision Anthology games, likely because Activision doesn't have the licenses for these series. The excluded games are Double Dragon (rights owned by Million Corp), Rampage (Midway Games), Kung Fu Master (Irem), Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II (Rights for both held by Columbia Pictures), and Commando (rights owned by Capcom, though they granted permission for the game to be featured on the PS2 version).

As well, Pete Rose Baseball had to be credited simply as "Baseball", though it's unclear whether this is due to licensing rights or due to Rose's gambling scandal.

Contents

[edit] Portable versions

Of the portable versions, the GBA version has the most games, including several homebrew games. It does not include the Imagic titles, nor does it play music during gameplay. It does have some custom 80-style songs that play in the menu screens, however.

The PSP version has the Imagic titles (Demon Attack, Atlantis, Moonsweeper), fullspeed emulation, and 1980's tunes featured on the PS2 and computer versions, but does not include the homebrew titles.

[edit] Game list

58 games
"*"s denote homebrewed games

[edit] Trivia

Activision Anthology is the second compilation of titles released for the Atari 2600 developed by Activision. In 1998, Activision Classics was released for the Sony Playstation. The compilation included 30 games: Atlantis, Barnstorming, Boxing, Chopper Command, Cosmic Commuter, Crackpots, Dolphin, Dragster, Enduro, Fishing Derby, Freeway, Frostbite, Grand Prix, HERO, Ice Hockey, Kaboom!, Keystone Kapers, Laser Blast, Megamania, Pitfall, Plaque Attack, River Raid, River Raid 2, Sea Quest, Skiing, Sky Jinks, Spider Fighter, Stampede, Starmaster, and Tennis.

[edit] Reviews

[edit] External links

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