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.
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 jungle within 20 minutes. The world consists of 255 screens which are horizontally connected in a flip … Read more
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 sewer. Your only defence is a row of flowerpots on the roof ledge, which you push over onto the bugs below. It is easy to pick up, and it gets surprisingly tense as the bugs speed up. You can play it here in your browser, with nothing to install.
Atari 2600 Checkers Instructions A New Twist on a Classic Game Checkers, a classic game known by many, has been transformed to allow an entire family to challenge the Activision computer across three difficulty levels. Before jumping into the game, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with the basics of moving your pieces and the innovative … Read more
Bridge is a card game cartridge from Activision, released in December 1980 and programmed by Larry Kaplan. It lets one person bid and play contract bridge, with the computer handling the opponents and your partner’s bids. It is quiet and slow, and probably Activision’s least popular title, which makes it a curiosity today. Note that it does not teach the rules: you need to know how bridge works already. You can play it here in your browser.
Frostbite: Chilling Adventures on the Atari 2600 In 1983, Activision released Frostbite, an action-packed game for the Atari 2600. This exciting game is centered around a daring protagonist who must survive the freezing cold by building an igloo to stay warm. Players must navigate a series of icy obstacles and avoid dangerous creatures to gather … Read more
Private Eye is a detective game for the Atari 2600, designed by Activision co-founder Bob Whitehead and released by Activision in early 1984. You play the French detective Pierre Touché, driving a jumping Model A car around a big scrolling city to find evidence, return stolen goods and arrest the master criminal Henri Le Fiend. It mixes driving, jumping and map-learning in a way few 2600 games do, and it rewards patience more than quick reflexes. You can play it here in your browser.
Oink! is a 1983 Activision game designed by Mike Lorenzen and based on the fairy tale of the Three Little Pigs. The wolf, here called Bigelow B. Wolf, blows holes in the wall of a pig’s house, and you have to patch them faster than he can make them. It is a short, frantic repair job with a sense of humour. You can play it here in your browser.
Unknown Activision Game #1 is an unreleased Activision puzzle prototype for the Atari 2600. It plays like a cross between a Rubik’s Cube and a sliding-tile puzzle: you shift rows and columns of coloured squares until every row runs from light to dark. Its real name has never been found. You can play it here in your browser.
Unknown Activision Game #2 is an unreleased Activision prototype from 1983 that has since been identified as Hard Head. You play a small alien who builds a tower out of blocks and climbs it to escape to the next level. It looks nearly finished, down to a little can-can dance at the start, yet it was never released. You can play it here in your browser.
Venetian Blinds Demo is not a game. It is a short Activision test program credited to David Crane, from the company’s early years, that shows a window with a pair of Venetian blinds. It was never sold as a cartridge, but it has a good story behind it, and you can try it here in your browser.