Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The core draw of Imagic 1-2-3 is its trio of distinct gameplay experiences, each catered to a different mood and playstyle. Laser Gates delivers a classic side-scrolling shoot-’em-up challenge reminiscent of the arcade favorite Scramble. Players must expertly pilot a nimble spacecraft through a series of increasingly treacherous gates, blasting enemy ships and ground installations while carefully managing thrust and momentum. Colliding with a gate or an enemy projectile carries a hefty penalty, so split-second reflexes and precision control are essential for survival.

Quickstep, by contrast, shifts gears entirely with its competitive vertical-scroller puzzle action. In one- or two-player mode, colorful food items cascade down the screen like conveyor-belt sushi. Your goal is to jump from item to item, stamping them with your color before they scroll off the bottom. It’s a battle of timing and territory control, pitting you against either a human opponent or a CPU adversary who’s just as keen to claim the tiles. The added risk of losing a life if you’re still perched on an item as it disappears injects a thrilling risk-rewards dynamic absent from many contemporaneous puzzle titles.

Rounding out the trilogy is Wing War, an action-adventure title that casts you in the scales of a mother dragon on a quest to recover her stolen eggs. Flying from screen to screen in a roomy open playfield, you’ll dodge or confront rival beasts—griffins, wyverns, colossal insects—while shepherding each precious egg back to your lair. The interplay between exploration, airborne combat, and the urgency of safeguarding fragile eggs crafts a surprisingly rich gameplay loop for an early ’80s release.

Despite their shared cartridge, these three games never feel like filler—each one stands on its own, with tight controls and gameplay loops that reward mastery. Beginners will appreciate the gradual learning curves, while seasoned players will find enough depth in enemy patterns, timing puzzles, and flight maneuvers to justify repeated playthroughs.

Graphics

Given its late-golden-age Atari 2600 heritage, Imagic 1-2-3’s graphics strike a fine balance between practicality and aesthetic flair. Laser Gates employs vibrant bursts of red, green, and purple to demarcate enemy installations, gates, and projectiles. The scroll is smooth for its time, and the player ship sports enough detail to feel animated and alive as it tanks through waves of foes.

Quickstep’s color palette is perhaps the brightest of the three, with oversize sprites representing hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza slices, and other comestibles. Each food item has just enough pixel art to be instantly recognizable, and the background remains uncluttered so the eye can follow frantic color-claiming action without confusion. The rapid vertical scrolling is impressively flicker-free, upholding readability even during the most heated two-player matches.

Wing War flexes the hardware’s sprite capabilities to depict a variety of mythical creatures, each rendered in distinct color combinations that stand out against the sandy, mountain, or forest backdrops. The dragon protagonist moves with a satisfying sense of weight, wings flapping in a well-timed cycle as she glides and banks. Enemy creatures, from spindly wyverns to lumbering trolls, each have their own animation frames, offering visual variety on every screen.

Across all three titles, Imagic’s signature bold color choices and smooth scrolling put many contemporaries to shame, making this compilation feel like a showcase album of what the 2600 could achieve at its peak.

Story

Storytelling isn’t the main focus of Imagic 1-2-3, yet each game establishes just enough narrative context to give your actions purpose. Laser Gates comes with a simple yet effective premise: navigate treacherous sectors to halt the enemy’s warp-gate network before it engulfs the galaxy. That single goal suffices to drive repeated runs, with each new sector upping the ante.

Quickstep’s premise is almost abstract, pitching you into a culinary duel with an unseen rival. You aren’t saving kingdoms or hunting artifacts—you’re marking food items in your hue to claim supremacy. It’s a minimalist story, but one that makes a surprisingly satisfying competitive backdrop, and the escalating speed of descent mirrors a tense rivalry on a grand stage.

Wing War offers the richest narrative thread: a mother dragon, her clutch stolen by mysterious poachers, must traverse perilous skies and territories to rescue her offspring. The loops of exploration and egg-retrieval missions foster a genuine sense of maternal urgency, weaving a simple but effective emotional hook into each aerial skirmish.

While none of the three games features lengthy cutscenes or dialogue, their succinct premises are perfectly suited to the pick-up-and-play design philosophies of early home consoles, offering just enough context to frame each action-packed session.

Overall Experience

Imagic 1-2-3 stands as a testament to the company’s creativity and technical prowess at the height of Atari 2600 development. By packaging three entirely different genres—shoot-’em-up, puzzle-action, and side-scrolling adventure—it delivers remarkable value and variety in a single cartridge. Whether you’re racing through laser-lit corridors, marking fast-falling food tiles, or soaring through beast-infested skies, there’s never a dull moment.

The compilation’s learning curve is welcoming: new players can find joy in incremental mastery, while veterans can chase high scores, timed runs, and two-player bragging rights. The intuitive controls, when paired with responsive hardware performance, ensure that skill—rather than technical frustration—dictates success.

From a modern perspective, each game holds up as a pure, distilled experience. While lacking the graphical polish or narrative depth of contemporary titles, they compensate with immediacy, challenge, and replayability. Imagic 1-2-3 not only preserves its own legacy but also provides a window into the diverse design philosophies that once defined the golden age of home gaming.

For collectors, retro enthusiasts, or anyone curious about early multi-game cartridges, Imagic 1-2-3 remains a compelling purchase. It’s an eclectic sampler that showcases how varied and engaging Atari 2600 titles could be when guided by inventive minds and relentless hardware optimization. Whether you crave high-octane shootouts, competitive puzzle duels, or winged quests for dragon eggs, this compilation delivers in spades.