Sometimes a blast-from-the-past bundle is just what the avid gamer needs; familiar fun in snack sized portions and preferably portable for play during stolen moments on the bus. Sometimes, however, an old-school game compilation is just a cash-grab, as is the case with Retro Atari for Nintendo DS.

Though all 10 included games were bona fide blockbusters in their arcade heyday, almost none of them translate very well to Nintendo's bi-folding touchy feely device.

First of all, none play quite like their original arcade counterparts, having endured an ambitious retooling for DS dynamics that inadvertently sucked any sense of old-school rapport from each. The formerly remarkable Tempest, for example, plays by way of a stylus in lieu of its original rotary dial knob, swinging your shooter around circumscribed geometrics with slipshod stabbing and slack smudging motions, which is as hopeless as it sounds. Sprint is like racing to keep spilled milk from falling off the table and Centipede is spilled milk with spiders in it and one arm tied behind your shoulder button. Other games, like Missile Command, Breakout and Pong, fair better with touch-me interfacing, but not enough to redeem this butchered retro cash cow.