Atari 50: The Namco Legendary Pack Review: The Best Gets Better

Even three years after its release, it feels like Atari 50 is still the standard-bearer for collections. It redefined what a release like this can be, something that continues to bear fruit both in other collections released by Digital Eclipse and those around the industry. It helps that it has continued to expand with multiple DLC packs that provide even more history about the early days of Atari. This latest release, The Namco Legendary Pack, adds an entirely new grid with interviews, archival footage, documents, and of course games to play from Namco, one of the most important third-party publishers of the early Atari era.

Some Of The Best Games Of The Era

It is worth noting that if you’re just looking for a ton more games to play, you’ll have limited success here. There are a grand total of five games included in Atari 50: The Namco Legendary Pack. You have Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Xevious, Galaxian, and Galaga. Breakout is inserted into the chart here as well due to its ties to Namco but don’t be fooled, that was already in the game.

There are a number of different versions of these games. We have 2600 versions, 5200 versions, 7800 versions, and, in a few cases, even Atari 8-bit computer and arcade versions of these games. Seeing the various releases of each title is certainly neat, but ultimately, after messing around with them, you’ll pick a favorite version and stick with that going forward. These are some of the best arcade versions of the era, but plenty of these home versions aren’t great. The 2600 version of Pac-Man, for example, is extremely important historically, and it’s impressive that they got it on the system at all given the time constraints they were under, but this is not how you really want to play Pac-Man.

Interesting If Not Revelatory

On top of the games, you’ll find a ton of new documentary footage, documents, and artwork showing off the history of Namco’s early ties to Atari. This is definitely cool to see, and I really enjoyed some of the early artwork, in particular. High-quality images from “National Pac-Man Day”, when the game first hit the Atari 2600, are a treat, for example. It’s also cool just to hear from these early Atari designers and get this history on the record. None of the people involved here are getting any younger, which means this is an important time to make sure the formative days of video games are well-documented.

There aren’t any massive revelations here or much that will be surprising to those who are well versed in this period of gaming history but that’s okay. The footage is well directed, well presented, and it makes an impact. In that way, this is an ideal way for those who don’t know this history to learn about it and it fits in great with the rest of the Atari 50 package.

Conclusion

I won’t go so far as to call The Namco Legendary Pack a must-purchase. The history captured here isn’t unique enough for that, especially when you consider only a handful of playable games have been added to the overall package. Still, what’s here is interesting, well presented, and offered at a reasonable price for the couple of hours of education and entertainment it can provide. If you’re a fan of Namco’s earliest works, it’s worth the price of admission.

Final Verdict: 3.5/5

Available on: Xbox Series X(Reviewed), Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Switch, PC; Publisher: Atari; Developer: Digital Eclipse; Players: 1; Released: November 13th, 2025; ESRB: T for Teen; MSRP: $7.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Atari 50: The Namco Legendary Pack provided by the publisher.