THE CUTTING EDGE / PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY : GAMERS' CORNER : Hasbro's Remade Remake Is a Forgettable Package

By AARON CURTISS

Sept. 2, 1999 12 AM PT

Remember imagination? That’s what once separated video games from most other forms of modern entertainment. Is it in such short supply these days that the only thing left to do is remake remakes?

Although better, faster machines have enabled all sorts of original game play in the last five years, far too many companies fall back on the low-cost, low-risk, low-fun alternative of dragging out mummified games and cynically slapping them into a “classics” collection.

That trend alone is annoying. But Hasbro Interactive has taken it to the next penny-pinching level by repackaging games that have already been repackaged. “Atari Arcade Hits Volume 1” wraps “Asteroids,” “Super Breakout,” “Centipede,” “Tempest,” “Missile Command” and “Pong” together on a single CD-ROM for the PC.

The newest game in this bundle is 19 years old. The oldest, “Pong,” dates from 1972, when Richard Nixon was still in the White House and the Dow stood at 1,000. I’m all for honoring the history of video games, but how many versions of these do we need?

Microsoft bundled all but “Pong” and “Super Breakout”--and included “Battlezone”--in a disc about six years ago. Although those games were not perfect emulators, they did the job just fine, and they did it in about 2% of the 100 megabytes of hard disk space that “Atari Arcade Hits” devours on a full installation.

Since then, “Centipede,” “Tempest” and “Missile Command” have all undergone face lifts and been resurrected on various platforms. Most of those games included the original arcade versions as a curiosity. There’s really not much to be done with “Pong” or “Super Breakout.”

So what new value does “Atari Arcade Hits” offer? Sadly, none. Relatively little of the 100mb is devoted to games. These are the same old games with the same old graphics. The rest of the installation is bogged down with movies and bits of memorabilia--a sort of electronic museum. Some of it is interesting.

Players who want to spend a few spare minutes blasting asteroids or zapping giant centipedes would do well to track down an old copy of Microsoft’s “Arcade.” It installs easily, takes up very little space and gives nostalgic players a chance to catch up on games from their youth.

“Atari Arcade Hits Volume 1” requires a Pentium 133 with at least 16mb of RAM and 50mb of hard drive space.

‘Um Jammer Lammy’

It would be easy to dismiss “Um Jammer Lammy” as “Parappa the Rapper” for girls. Easy, but wrong. Yes, this Sony PlayStation game looks and plays like the addictive “Parappa” with a female star. But it’s more than a feminized version.

“Lammy” is really a well-executed extension of the original. Lammy and her friends play in the all-girl band Milkcan. But like Parappa before her, Lammy has self-confidence problems. That’s where the talking onion martial arts expert comes in.

Lost?

See, the talking onion helps Lammy learn confidence as he puts her through her paces on stage. He kicks. Hitting buttons on the PlayStation controller makes Lammy kick. He punches. Again, players make Lammy follow along. What makes this more than just a digital version of monkey see, monkey do is that players have to keep time with the music.

That’s the trick and the core of the game’s genius. Players need ra-hythm.

Visually, the game is as simple and joyful as “Parappa.” Bright colors, big shapes. And the music Lammy and her friends in Milkcan play is not half-bad. “Um Jammer Lammy” is the sort of game parents can feel good about letting kids play unsupervised--and the sort of game kids will actually like.

‘Command & Conquer’

In general, real-time strategy games don’t belong on consoles--particularly a cartridge-based rig such as Nintendo 64. The lower resolution of television screens rarely permit the kind of graphical detail the games require. And the limited storage space of cartridges means something has to give.

Yet while the graphics and intermissions were hardly state of the art, “Command & Conquer” for Nintendo 64 appears to have suffered relatively little in its transfer from PC to TV.

The missions remain challenging. The terrain looks great. All of the building and planning that made the original such fun on the PC infuse this port with surprising braininess.

Players who are tired of racing, flying, fighting and shooting on their Nintendo 64 should look to “Command & Conquer” to provide a healthy dose of thinking.

To comment on a column or to suggest games for review, send e-mail to aaron.curtiss@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Essentials

Atari Arcade Hits (Vol. 1)

Platform: PC

Publisher: Hasbro Interactive

ESRB* rating: Everyone

Price: $29.95

Bottom line: Remade remake

Um Jammer Lammy

Platform: Sony PlayStation

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment