Developer: Imagineering
Imagineering was a development studio behind many of the last Atari 2600 games, released between 1987 and 1990 when the console was sold as a budget machine. Its games came out on the Activision and Absolute Entertainment labels, and one, My Golf, through HES in Australia. Absolute was founded in 1986 by former Activision designer Garry Kitchen with his brother Dan Kitchen and others, and Dan Kitchen designed or programmed several of these cartridges.
Many are late conversions of arcade hits that push the old hardware hard. Some to try:
Kung-Fu Master (1987): Dan Kitchen’s version of Irem’s temple brawler, with five floors of fights.
Double Dragon (1989): another Dan Kitchen port, a street fight squeezed onto a one-button joystick.
River Raid II (1988): Activision’s sequel, designed by Dan Kitchen and coded by David Lubar, with take-offs, bridges and landings.
Commando (1988): Mike Reidel’s vertically scrolling run-and-gun, based on Capcom’s arcade game.
Skate Boardin’ (1987): David Crane’s hunt for thirty hidden tricks, one of the first skateboarding games.
My Golf (1990): David Lubar’s PAL-only golf game with 18 holes.
The list also has Tomcat, Pete Rose Baseball and Title Match Pro Wrestling. Pick one below and play it in your browser.
Double Dragon
Double Dragon is the Atari 7800 version of Technos Japan's 1987 street-fighting arcade game: brothers Billy and Jimmy Lee punch and kick their way through a gang to rescue Marion. Imagineering made the conversion and Activision published it…
Play ▸F-18 Hornet
F-18 Hornet is a one-player jet fighter simulator for the Atari 7800, released by Absolute Entertainment in 1988 and designed by John Van Ryzin. You fly four missions from a cockpit view, with take-offs, bombing runs, dogfights and…
Play ▸Fight Night
Fight Night is a light-hearted boxing game for the Atari 7800, adapted by Imagineering from Accolade's 1985 computer game and published by Atari. Work your way up through eleven contenders to the champion, train your moves, or box…
Play ▸Ikari Warriors
Ikari Warriors is a top-down action shooter based on SNK's 1986 arcade game: one or two soldiers fight through the jungle with machine guns, grenades and captured tanks to rescue a colonel. Imagineering made the 7800 version and…
Play ▸Touchdown Football
Touchdown Football is an American football game released by Atari Corporation for the Atari 7800 in 1989, based on a computer game first made by Imagic. You call real formations and pass routes, then run the play yourself,…
Play ▸Kung-Fu Master
Kung-Fu Master is the Atari 7800 version of Irem's 1984 arcade fighting game, published in 1989 by Absolute Entertainment. You punch and kick your way through the five floors of the Evil Wizard's temple to free Princess Victoria,…
Play ▸Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator AKA Dan Kitchen’s Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator
Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator is a late Atari 2600 flight game designed by Dan Kitchen and published by Absolute Entertainment. You fly an F-14 from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise: launch from the catapult, hunt enemy fighters…
Play ▸Title Match Pro Wrestling
Title Match Pro Wrestling is a 1987 wrestling game for one or two players, published by Absolute Entertainment, the company Garry Kitchen founded after leaving Activision. It came out late in the Atari 2600's life, and it packs…
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