Parker Brothers was best known for board games when it began making Atari 2600 cartridges, and in 1982 its versions of Frogger and The Empire Strikes Back were its two best-selling video games. The company built its range on licences: the Star Wars films, Marvel’s Spider-Man, G.I. Joe and Strawberry Shortcake, plus a run of arcade games from Konami, Nintendo and Universal. Some cartridges were written by its own programmers, such as Rex Bradford, Laura Nikolich and Mark Lesser; others came from outside teams. A few good places to start:
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1982): snowspeeders against Imperial Walkers on Hoth, the first licensed Star Wars video game.
Spider-Man (1982): climb skyscrapers on a web line to defuse the Green Goblin’s bombs.
Amidar (1982): Konami’s maze game in which you fill in the boxes of a grid.
Tutankham (1983): explore King Tut’s tomb with a laser that only fires sideways.
Popeye (1983): catch Olive Oyl’s hearts, notes and kisses while Brutus chases you.
Frogger II: Threeedeep! (1984): the Frogger sequel, spread over underwater, surface and sky screens.
The list below also holds Jedi Arena, Death Star Battle, Sky Skipper, Mr. Do!’s Castle, G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike and the children’s game Strawberry Shortcake: Musical Match-Ups. Pick any of them and play it in your browser.
Star Wars: Jedi Arena is a 1983 paddle game from Parker Brothers, programmed by Rex Bradford. Two Jedi Knights face each other across a training arena while a floating Seeker ball fires laser bolts, and you use your lightsaber both to block the bolts and to send them back at your opponent. It is known as the first video game built around lightsaber combat. You can play it here in your browser, against the computer or a friend.
Mr. Do!’s Castle is Parker Brothers’ Atari 2600 version of Universal’s 1983 arcade game, released on the console in 1984. The clown from Mr. Do! swaps his orchard for a castle full of ladders and stone floors, and instead of digging he swings a hammer. You knock blocks out of the floors to trap and flatten the unicorns chasing you. Every hole you make can help you or trap you. You can play it here in your browser, with nothing to install.
Tutankham is Parker Brothers’ 1983 Atari 2600 version of Konami’s 1982 arcade maze game. Programmed by Dave Engman, it sends you into King Tut’s tomb as an archaeologist, hunting for keys and treasure while tomb creatures close in. Your laser only fires sideways, which turns every corridor into a small puzzle about where to stand. You can play it here in your browser.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Death Star Battle is a space shooter published by Parker Brothers for the Atari 2600 in October 1983. It was the first video game based on Return of the Jedi. You fly the Millennium Falcon against TIE Interceptors, slip through the Death Star’s energy shield and blow up the half-built battle station before it is finished. The game keeps getting harder as your score rises. You can play it here in your browser.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1982 Atari 2600 game from Parker Brothers, programmed by Rex Bradford. It was the first licensed Star Wars video game, and it recreates one famous scene from the film: Rebel snowspeeders fighting giant Imperial Walkers on the ice planet Hoth. You can never win, only hold the Walkers back a little longer each time. You can play it here in your browser.
Strawberry Shortcake: Musical Match-Ups is a 1983 Atari 2600 puzzle game for young children, published by Parker Brothers and programmed by Dawn Stockbridge. The Purple Pieman has cast a spell over Strawberryland and scrambled the characters’ heads, bodies and legs, and you have to put them back together. Each finished character dances to their own tune, which makes it a gentle first video game for small players. You can play it here in your browser.
Spider-Man is a 1982 Atari 2600 action game from Parker Brothers, programmed by Laura Nikolich. The Green Goblin has planted bombs on New York skyscrapers, and you climb each building on your web line to defuse them. It was the first Spider-Man video game and the first based on a Marvel comic. The web controls take practice, but then the game is tense and fun. You can play it here in your browser, with nothing to install.
Sky Skipper is Parker Brothers’ 1983 Atari 2600 version of a Nintendo arcade game from 1981. You fly a small biplane over a walled course, bombing gorillas to knock them out so their cages spring open, then swoop down to rescue the animals inside before the gorillas get back up. It is a quick, easy-to-learn score-chaser with a nice twist: rescuing animals is also how you refuel. You can play it here in your browser.
Popeye for the Atari 2600 is Parker Brothers’ 1983 home version of Nintendo’s 1982 arcade game. You guide the spinach-loving sailor around a set of platforms, catching the hearts, notes and kisses that Olive Oyl throws down before they sink, while Brutus chases you and the Sea Hag throws bottles. It keeps the arcade game’s three screens in a simpler form. You can play it here in your browser.
G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike is a 1983 Atari 2600 action game designed by John Emerson and published by Parker Brothers. It was the first licensed G.I. Joe video game. A giant robot cobra rears up over a G.I. Joe training camp and spits venom and laser beams at the recruits running for cover below, and you defend them with a moving shield and a gun turret. You can play it here in your browser.