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.

Defender

Sears title: Defender Licensed by Williams Electronics DEFENDER ORIGINAL ATARI 2600 GAME INSTRUCTIONS  ATARI DEFENDER is very similar to the Williams coin-operated DEFENDER game. However, you will find some differences in the game play as well as in…

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Codebreaker

Codebreaker is a 1978 Atari cartridge with two logic games: a number-guessing game in the style of the board game Mastermind, and the ancient strategy game Nim. Released in October 1978 alongside Brain Games and Hunt & Score,…

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Combat – Tank Plus

Combat is one of the nine cartridges that launched the Atari Video Computer System (later the Atari 2600) in 1977. It came in the box with most Atari consoles until 1982, and Sears sold it under the name…

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Cookie Monster Munch

For Ages 3-7 Dive into a world where education meets entertainment, featuring your favorite Sesame Street Muppets and a cast of whimsical characters. This collaboration brings together the brilliant minds behind Sesame Street, Electric Company, and 3-2-1 Contact…

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Centipede

In Atari 2600 Centipede, the main objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede as it winds its way down the playing field. The centipede moves horizontally across the screen, and when it hits a mushroom…

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Pelé’s Soccer AKA Championship Soccer

Pelé's Soccer, first sold as Championship Soccer, is Atari's own football (soccer) game for the Atari 2600, designed by Steve Wright. It was planned for the 1980 holiday season and reached shops in early 1981. Each side fields…

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Circus Atari

Circus Atari is a 1980 paddle game from Atari, programmed by Mike Lorenzen. You slide a seesaw along the bottom of the screen so that two acrobatic clowns can take turns flying up to pop rows of balloons.…

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Breakout

Breakout is the Atari 2600 version of Atari's 1976 arcade classic: one paddle, one ball and a wall of coloured bricks. It came out for the console in November 1978, was programmed by Brad Stewart, and became one…

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Bowling

Bowling is one of the early Atari VCS (later Atari 2600) cartridges, released by Atari in January 1979 and also sold by Sears under the same name. It was designed and programmed by Larry Kaplan. It is a…

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BASIC Programming

BASIC Programming is not a game but a small programming language on a cartridge. Warren Robinett wrote it for Atari at the same time as he was finishing Adventure, and Atari released it for the 2600 in 1980.…

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