Several reviewers found the games were not up to the standards of contemporary titles in terms of gameplay and graphics and sound.

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.

[2] 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.

[12] A follow-up titled Atari 2600 Action Pack 2 was shown between May 11 and 13th at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 1995 by Activision.

[16] A review in Wired echoed this, calling the release a "rip-off" as the title featured "subcartoonish graphics, ratchety sound effects, and one-dimensional gameplay.

[10] David Upchurch of PC Gaming noted the simplicity made the games not work highlighting Boxing, where you the player can't block or duck, and can only punch when an opponent is in range or Freeway where the players movement is restricted to going up and down the screen.

[11] [15] Michael L. House of the online game database AllGame said that Pitfall!, Fishing Derby, H.E.R.O., Kaboom!