Developer: Atari
Atari made the Atari 2600 itself, first sold as the Atari Video Computer System in September 1977, and it was also the console’s biggest publisher. The very first cartridges were Atari’s own, and many were sold by Sears under different names in its Tele-Games line. In 1980 it brought out Taito’s Space Invaders, the first arcade game officially licensed for a home console, and many more arcade conversions followed.
The site lists 135 games under Atari, from 1977 launch titles to cartridges released in the late 1980s, after Jack Tramiel’s Atari Corporation took over the business and revived the 2600. Here are a few to begin with:
Space Invaders (1980): Rick Maurer’s version of the arcade game, with many variations.
Missile Command (1981): Rob Fulop’s conversion of Atari’s own arcade game about defending six cities.
Pac-Man (1982): Tod Frye’s much-criticised version, which still became the console’s best-selling cartridge.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1982): Howard Scott Warshaw’s puzzle adventure based on the first Indiana Jones film.
Video Chess (1979): a full chess opponent squeezed into a machine with 128 bytes of memory.
Solaris (1986): Doug Neubauer’s space combat game from the Atari Corporation years.
Browse the full list below and play any of these Atari games in your browser.
Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors for the Atari 2600 is Atari Corporation's 1990 home version of SNK's 1986 arcade game. One or two soldiers fight their way through jungle, rivers and enemy bases to rescue a captured colonel, with guns, grenades…
Play ▸Jr. Pac-Man
Jr. Pac-Man is the Atari 2600 version of the 1983 Bally Midway arcade game starring Pac-Man's son, who wears a propeller beanie. It was programmed at General Computer Corporation (GCC), with Ava-Robin Cohen as the credited programmer, and…
Play ▸Jungle Hunt
Jungle Hunt is Atari's 1983 home version of Taito's 1982 arcade game. It was programmed for the Atari 2600 by Mike Feinstein and John Allred at General Computer Corporation (GCC). As the explorer Sir Dudley Dashly, you race…
Play ▸Hangman – Spelling
Hangman is Atari's 1978 version of the classic pen-and-paper word game, programmed by Alan Miller, who later co-founded Activision. Sears sold the same cartridge under the name Spelling. You guess a hidden word one letter at a time,…
Play ▸Haunted House
Haunted House is a 1982 adventure game from Atari, programmed by James Andreasen. You are just a pair of eyes in a pitch-black mansion, lighting matches to find the three pieces of a magic urn while a bat,…
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