Developer: Activision

Activision was founded in 1979 by four Atari programmers, David Crane, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead and Larry Kaplan, who wanted to make games for the Atari 2600 outside Atari. In the summer of 1980 it released its first four cartridges, the first 2600 games ever sold by a company other than Atari, and showed that an independent publisher could succeed on the console. Many of its games came with a mail-in patch for players who reached a target score.
The site has 39 Activision games, from those first releases such as Boxing, Dragster and Fishing Derby to late titles such as Ghostbusters (1985). A few good places to start:

Kaboom! (1981): Larry Kaplan’s paddle game about catching the Mad Bomber’s bombs in buckets.
Megamania (1982): Steve Cartwright’s shooter, with waves of hamburgers and steam irons.
River Raid (1982): Carol Shaw’s scrolling shooter along an endless river.
Enduro (1983): Larry Miller’s long-distance race through day, night, snow and fog.
H.E.R.O. (1984): John Van Ryzin’s rescue mission down a maze of mine shafts.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (1984): David Crane’s huge underground sequel to Pitfall!

Scroll down for the full list and play any Activision game right here in your browser.

Freeway

Freeway is a 1981 Activision game designed and programmed by David Crane. You guide a chicken across ten lanes of speeding traffic, and every safe crossing scores a point. It is simple, but judging gaps in eight traffic…

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Dragster

Dragster is a 1980 drag racing game for the Atari 2600, designed and programmed by David Crane and published by Activision. It was among the new company's very first cartridges. A race lasts only seconds, but a perfect…

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Enduro

Enduro is a 1983 racing game by Activision, designed by Larry Miller. You drive in the "National Enduro", a long-distance race where you have to overtake a set number of cars every day to stay in the competition.…

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Dolphin

Dolphin is a 1983 Activision game designed by Matthew Hubbard. You guide a dolphin through the open sea while a giant squid chases her, and the most unusual thing about it is that you have to play partly…

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Cosmic Commuter

Cosmic Commuter is a 1985 Activision game for the Atari 2600, designed and programmed by John Van Ryzin. You drive the Astrobus, a space-age bus service of the year 2075: land it on a planet, fly along a…

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Chopper Command

Chopper Command is a horizontally scrolling shooter designed by Bob Whitehead and released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982. You fly a helicopter gunship over the desert, shooting down enemy jets and helicopters before they can…

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Boxing

Boxing is a 1980 sports game by Activision, designed and programmed by Bob Whitehead. It was one of the four cartridges Activision launched with that summer, the first games ever sold for the Atari 2600 by a company…

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Barnstorming

Barnstorming is a 1982 Activision race against the clock, designed by Steve Cartwright. You fly a biplane low over the countryside and try to thread it through a set number of open barns as fast as you can,…

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The Activision Decathlon

The Activision Decathlon is a track-and-field game designed by David Crane and published by Activision in 1983. It packs all ten events of the Olympic decathlon onto one cartridge, from the 100-meter dash to the 1500-meter race, for…

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