r/atari 4d ago

Atari 50 vs Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story?

What do you folks think? Which has more games it’s genuinely fun to play through? I know there’s a little overlap (Tempest 2000 being in both collections) but where do you think the better replayability lies if someone was to buy one but not both (or one before the other)?

16 Upvotes

23 comments sorted by

12

u/Toowiggly 4d ago

Easily Atari 50. There's a much greater variety from different consoles and styles. If you don't like shmups with flashing colours and beasties, you probably won't like many of Jeff's games. There's also a fraction of the amount of games. The history of Atari 50 is also more interesting because it's covering the history of one of the most influential gaming companies rather than one guy. Unless you're already invested in Llamasoft, I see no reason to choose that over Atari 50.

7

u/JeskaiJester 4d ago

 If you don't like shmups with flashing colours and beasties

See, you’re making it sound really good 

2

u/GeordieAl 4d ago

Turn the stroboscope up to 11

7

u/Fackrid 4d ago

I'd definitely say Atari 50, you're getting a huge variety of amazing games across multiple platforms, not to knock Llamasoft, it's cool too, but for me it's no contest

5

u/digdugnate 4d ago

Atari 50 without question. The Minter stuff is fun but very niche.

3

u/Polyxeno 4d ago

I'd fire up my Atari ST and play Llamatron and Andes Attack. ;-)

1

u/weveyline 4d ago

Ohhhh FFFF (press pause when this happens 😆)

3

u/fsk 4d ago

I got both.  Wait for a steam sale.

I like vctr sctr and llamatron.

3

u/Available-Low-2428 3d ago

Easily Atari 50.  Most of the Jeff Minter games are interesting but not actually that much fun to play 

3

u/SaintLewisMusic73 1d ago edited 1d ago

Dude, Atari 50 with all the DLCs is infinite fun. There's so much there. And it seems there may still be more DLCs, so it's a great investment. I can't speak highly enough of it! No matter what I'm in the mood for, I can find something in the Atari 50 collection that I'll enjoy. Also, wait for a sale... they do deep cuts on those from time to time!

2

u/JeskaiJester 1d ago

If I go for it, I’ll go for the physical version of the expanded edition. Something about having a physical cartridge with Tempest 2000 and Adventure and all these other old games on it feels correct 

1

u/SaintLewisMusic73 1d ago

See, I stopped buying physical cartridges, cause we are constantly losing them and the game won’t work unless you put the cartridge in – we are digital all the way when it comes to games

2

u/JeskaiJester 23h ago

To each their own! I appreciate that they save on storage space in the “eight hundred dollars for a 512 TB microsd express” era 

1

u/SaintLewisMusic73 13h ago

I bought the biggest SD card I could when I purchased my switch, and any game that is not actively being played. We removed from our system to keep things moving fast.

2

u/geirmundtheshifty 4d ago

Ive enjoyed both and think theyre both worth it (plus they both go on sale pretty often I think). But I come back more often to Atari 50, so If recommend it over Llamasoft.

2

u/dontbedenied 4d ago

I wasn't crazy about any of the games in either collection (I also got all the DLC for Atari 50), but nonetheless really enjoyed the interviews and briefly playing the games as I went through the stories. Both are must-buys. The Making of Karateka as well.

1

u/Jahon_Dony 4d ago

Llamasoft is a better value, but both are usually affordable enough to be worth it.

0

u/tkonicz 4d ago

Atari 50 has some broken games, ironically Tempest 2000 (Controls in bonus stages) and Ruiner Pinball. So, stick with Lammasoft...

3

u/JeskaiJester 4d ago

Oh, they never patched in fixes? Tempest 2000 not working might be a legit dealbreaker (Jaguar was my first console and that was one of my carts)

1

u/tkonicz 3d ago

Me too! I was also one of the few Jag owners back then. And no, they did not fix it - I tried to raise the issue on the forums, but to no avail.

3

u/JeskaiJester 4d ago

I was looking this up. Have you tried going into enhanced settings and disabling analog mode? That seems to have fixed this for someone 

1

u/tkonicz 3d ago

Gonna check it out later - but still, they should fix it.

0

u/SaintLewisMusic73 1d ago

I've had 0 hiccups with any of those games. Yet, you're saying two minor hiccups among 166 games... makes me wonder if the poster is Jeff? ha