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.
Donald Duck’s Speedboat
Donald Duck's Speedboat is an unreleased Atari 2600 game from 1983, programmed by Suki Lee with graphics by Dave Joly. You steer Donald's speedboat through a watery obstacle course as fast as you can. It was cancelled very…
Play ▸Double Dunk
Double Dunk is a two-on-two, half-court basketball game released by Atari Corporation in 1989, one of the last new cartridges Atari made for the 2600. It was programmed by Matthew Hubbard, who had earlier written Dolphin for Activision.…
Play ▸Defender II
Defender II is Atari's Atari 2600 version of Stargate, the 1981 arcade sequel to Defender designed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar and released by Williams. The 2600 cartridge, programmed by Bill Aspromonte with sound by Andrew Fuchs,…
Play ▸Demons to Diamonds
Demons to Diamonds is a 1982 paddle-controlled shooting game from Atari for the Atari 2600, programmed by Nick Turner, who had earlier brought Super Breakout to the console. Rows of demons drift across the screen, and the colour…
Play ▸Desert Falcon
Desert Falcon is a late-1980s isometric shooter from Atari. You fly a falcon over a diagonally scrolling desert, grabbing the Pharaoh's scattered treasure and dodging the creatures that guard it. Bob Polaro designed the game, first planned for…
Play ▸Crazy Climber
Crazy Climber for the Atari 2600 is Atari's home version of the 1980 Nichibutsu arcade game, programmed by Alex Leavens and released in 1983. You scale the outside of four skyscrapers one window ledge at a time, dodging…
Play ▸Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles is Atari's 1984 home version of its own 1983 arcade maze game. You guide Bentley Bear through castles drawn at an angle, so the mazes look three-dimensional, and you gather every gem before the monsters get…
Play ▸Dark Chambers
Dark Chambers is a top-down maze shooter published by Atari in 1988 for the Atari 2600, and also released for the Atari 7800. It is a reworked version of Dandy, a 1983 Atari 8-bit computer game that John…
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