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.
Skate Boardin' is a 1987 skateboarding game for the Atari 2600, designed by David Crane and released by Absolute Entertainment. You are late for school, and overnight someone has filled the streets with ramps, tubes and hurdles. You…
Play ▸River Raid II is Activision's 1988 sequel to River Raid, designed by Dan Kitchen and programmed at Imagineering. You fly an F-14 from an aircraft carrier, cross the sea to a river delta, destroy an enemy bridge and…
Play ▸Pete Rose Baseball is a baseball game for the Atari 2600 from Absolute Entertainment, designed by Alex DeMeo and released near the end of the console's life, around 1988–89. Instead of the usual top-down diamond, it shows pitching…
Play ▸Kung-Fu Master is Activision's 1987 Atari 2600 version of Irem's 1984 arcade game, released under licence from Data East USA and programmed by Dan Kitchen. You fight your way through five levels of a temple, kicking and punching…
Play ▸Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter Simulator is a late Atari 2600 flight game designed by Dan Kitchen and published by Absolute Entertainment. You launch an F-14 from an aircraft carrier, fight enemy jets with guns and missiles, and then…
Play ▸Double Dragon for the Atari 2600 is Activision's 1989 home version of Technos Japan's 1987 arcade beat 'em up. It was programmed by Dan Kitchen and came out late in the console's life, alongside a separate Atari 7800…
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