This is primarily about the package of Atari 50 and not the array of Atari games contained within, because it's really easy to emulate most of those (the Jaguar emulator they built for this package just got a stand-alone release! It's an exciting time!) and they've been repackaged in a bunch of other ways. I'm going to write those up one at a time as I dig into them more, I think. I've got an adapter to use real Atari sticks and paddles with my MiSTer in the mail, that's where I'm at.
But the actual package of Atari 50, the reason I think it's worth your $40, is the array of historical information contained within. Digital Eclipse forwards the documentary features and scans of arcade fliers/print ads/design documents in a way that sets a new standard for how to present gaming history. The main menu is a timeline that breaks Atari's history as a platform into five eras, with archival footage and talking heads interviews with people who were there in the era, and it's all combined into a sort of interactive museum where you can hear about the development of a game, then see high res art of the box that you can rotate in a model viewer, then load the game up and get a full scan of the manual alongside it.
Even if you don't spend much time with most of the games, the understanding of the development of the very idea of a home console and the ways Atari fucks that up are all good, especially if you haven't encountered most of these games or stories before. I wish more time was spent on the Atari home computers, and I'd kill for a version of this that was focused on like the ZX Spectrum or whatever, but this is absolutely one of the most ambitious versions of an old game rerelease I've ever seen. I hope this sets the new standard for these packages, doing the work to construct interacting museum documentaries out of history to not just provide roms, but to provide context and commentary.
Also, if you do pick this up, please seek out a bunch of the licensed stuff that doesn't appear in this set. Atari's Star Wars arcade game is wild, they talk about but don't show Halo 2600, ET is a better game than people give it credit for. There are gaps to be sure, but this is a great first step into understanding an entire era of history, and that's a thing games need more of