Actually, they're coming back.

Atari recently released the Flashback, a slim TV-top box stuffed with 20 games from the 1980s. Gamemakers Midway and Nintendo now offer Vol. 2 of their respective retro game compilations. "Xbox Live Arcade" brings in an Internet component so retro gamers with broadband-enabled Xboxes can compete against one another.

The differences between retro games and today's games are simple.

"Older games are reaction-based," notes Adam Sessler, co-host of a cable TV video game review show, "X-Play." To play, all you have to do is destroy the aliens or escape the monsters or jump at the right time, and you don't have to be inside anybody's head.

"There is no learning curve, no intimidation," says Michael Wolf, Xbox public relations manager, "just the opportunity to pick up and play with anyone at any skill level."

Hit story-driven titles this year, such as "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal," include old-school-style mini-games that are heavy on action and light on plot, a nod to the popularity of this kind of simpler entertainment and a break from the intensity of the main game's mission.

There's clearly an audience — these games have become staples of the Internet. Sites such as Yahoo!, AOL and MSN draw hundreds of thousands of gamers, typically women in their 40s and 50s, with quick-play games of pool, bowling and cards that also invite players to chat with one another.

The addictive games last minutes, not hours.

"In the newer games," Sessler adds, "you don't get that much instant gratification. They are closer to immersive gameplay, where (scenes) don't exist in a vacuum. Everything is tied together. The game itself becomes more of an experience than a challenge."

That "experience," while compelling to hardcore gamers, can scare off newcomers to gaming on the Xbox, PS2 and GameCube.

What's more, modern controls are foreign to gamers who enjoyed the days of "Donkey Kong" and "Tank."

In the new systems, the simple combination of joystick and firing button has been replaced by a controller pad studded with a plus-sign-shaped button, two mini-joysticks, four buttons and up to two triggers.

The combination of unfamiliar controls and total immersion storylines mean "there's an intimidation factor for someone to step up and play 'Halo 2,' " the hot game that did $125 million in sales in its first 24 hours last month, agrees Wim Stocks, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Atari.

The retro gaming revival lets companies such as Atari and Midway cash in on 20-year-old games that are gathering dust.

Just as a record company can score sales of forgotten tunes by issuing a CD boxed set, a game company can tap into a money stream with a new compilation of once-popular games. It's much less risky to retool titles that gamers recognize than to build a game from scratch that features a character no one has heard of.

Techno Source has tried to bridge the gap between old and new by packing a modern-looking controller with versions of '80s Intellivision games.

"We put ours in a more PlayStation-like controller," says Eric Levin, president of Techno Source, maker of Intellivision Lives!

"It's not just a retro product, but more accessible to today's kids. They don't know what a joystick is."

Jakks Pacific has gone in a different direction with one of its TV games, building a console that looks like a simple old Atari paddle and is filled with familiar Atari titles.

Nintendo has retooled old console games such as "Donkey Kong" and "The Legend of Zelda" for the portable Game Boy Advance SP system.

If today's gamers still crave 20-year-old games, will gamers in 2024 prefer "Halo 2" over "Halo 22"?

"I bet (20 years on) you'll see PS2 compilations," says Midway's Allison. "A Midway 4 pack of PS2 games from back in the day.