Publisher: Activision

Activision was the first company other than Atari to sell games for the Atari 2600. It was founded in 1979 by programmers who had left Atari, among them David Crane, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, and it started out in Crane’s garage. Its first four cartridges, Boxing, Dragster, Fishing Derby and Checkers, appeared in the summer of 1980. Many more followed from designers such as Carol Shaw, Steve Cartwright, Garry Kitchen and Larry Miller. Activision kept making 2600 cartridges long after the 1983 crash, including late arcade conversions such as Kung-Fu Master, Commando and Double Dragon.
The site has 50 pages from Activision, including several unreleased prototypes. A few to start with:

River Raid (1982): Carol Shaw’s river shooter, the second best-selling 2600 game of 1983.
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (1984): David Crane’s underground sequel, with swimming, balloon rides and a full musical score.
Seaquest (1983): rescue divers before your submarine’s oxygen runs out.
Kaboom! (1981): catch the Mad Bomber’s bombs in water buckets, using the paddle controller.
H.E.R.O. (1984): fly a backpack helicopter down mine shafts to reach trapped miners.
Enduro (1983): a long-distance race through day, night, snow and fog.

Browse the full list below and play any of them in your browser.

Bloody Human Freeway

Bloody Human Freeway is David Crane's early version of Activision's 1981 hit Freeway, made before the chicken was invented. Here a man tries to dodge ten lanes of traffic instead. Activision changed the hero before release, so this…

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Pitfall II: Lost Caverns

Pitfall II: Lost Caverns is the Atari 5200 version of David Crane's 1984 Activision adventure, programmed by Mike Lorenzen. Pitfall Harry explores an underground cave system to find his niece Rhonda, his cat Quickclaw and the Raj diamond,…

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H.E.R.O.

H.E.R.O. is Activision's 1984 rescue game, designed by John Van Ryzin, in which Roderick Hero flies a helicopter backpack down into mineshafts to reach trapped miners before his power runs out. The Atari 5200 version, released that August,…

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Kaboom!

Kaboom! is Activision's 1983 Atari 5200 version of Larry Kaplan's 1981 bucket-and-bomb game, converted by Paul Willson. The Mad Bomber drops lit bombs faster and faster and you catch them in a stack of water buckets, and this…

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River Raid

River Raid is Carol Shaw's own 1983 Atari 5200 conversion of her Activision hit, flying a jet up a never-ending river past tankers, helicopters and bridges while the fuel gauge drains. This version adds tanks that fire from…

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Pitfall!

Pitfall! is the Atari 5200 version of David Crane's 1982 Activision jungle adventure, converted by Beck-Tech and released in March 1984. Pitfall Harry has 20 minutes to collect 32 treasures spread over 255 screens, jumping rolling logs, swinging…

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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…

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Rampage

Rampage is Activision's 1989 Atari 7800 conversion of Bally Midway's 1986 arcade game, in which giant monsters climb and smash city buildings until they fall. Pick George the ape, Lizzie the lizard or Ralph the wolf and wreck…

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Pitfall!

About the Game Pitfall! is a platform video game designed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released by Activision in 1982. The player controls Pitfall Harry and is tasked with collecting all the treasures in a…

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Crackpots

Crackpots is a 1983 Activision game for the Atari 2600, and the first 2600 game by designer Dan Kitchen. You play Potsy, a rooftop gardener in Brooklyn, whose building is being eaten by bugs crawling up from the…

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