Atari 2600 Action Pack

This led to companies releasing compilation titles such as the Atari 2600 Action Pack. The games emulator was programmed by Mike Livesay and was his first game he made for the Windows 95 operating system. The game was announced in 1995 and released the same year for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh based computers. A follow-up, Atari 2600 Action Pack 2, was shown as early as May 11 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 1995. Several reviewers found the games were not up to the standards of contemporary titles in terms of gameplay and graphics and sound. Some more lukewarm reviews found some of the games to have held up better than others, with criticism aimed towards a lack of content for a compact disc game or grammatical mistakes in the interviews with developers.

• Title — Atari 2600 Action Pack • Developer — Activision • Publisher — Activision • Platforms — Windows, Macintosh • Released — May 1995

In the early to mid-1990s, an fanbase for retrogaming grew through self-published fanzines such as Tim Duarte's 2600 Connection, Joe Santulli's Digital Press and Frank Polosky's Video Magic. In 1997, Ralph Barbagallo of Digital Diner magazine stated that the contemporary interest of older video games was with the emergence of the internet, with Usenet discussion groups like rec.games.video.classic and its own IRC channel and fan websites developed by its users. Prior to the mid-1990s, older video games would occasionally be re-released for a few consoles. Following a stronger interest of older games, companies began re-releasing their back catalog in commercially, such as with the 1995 release of Atari 2600 Action Pack. Jeff Vavasour, who was a programmer on Activision's Commodore 64 15 Pack (1995) and Digital Eclipse's Williams Arcade Classics (1995) was pitched to Activision to use his emulator of the Atari 2600 for a compilation of their games after working on the Commodore 64 15 Pack. Activision opted for Mike Livesay, who had also been bidding on the project. The game was Livesay's first program made for the Windows 95 operating system. Electronic Gaming Monthly announced that the game would initially include 10 to 15 titles.

Atari 2600 Action Pack included 15 games originally made for the Atari 2600 by Activision. In this release, the games can be played with either a keyboard or computer mouse. Each game is selectable and displays the games as Windows icons to look like the original games box art. The release includes the following games: Beyond the games, the release also contained commentary from the original developers.

The game was released for Windows on compact disc and 3.5" floppy disk and published by Activision. Computer Game Review reported it was set to be the first of a four-volume set of releases. A follow-up titled Atari 2600 Action Pack 2 was shown between May 11 and 13th at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 1995 by Activision.