Publisher: Atari

Atari made the Atari 2600, which first went on sale in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, and it also published many of the console’s games. Nine cartridges were available at launch, among them Street Racer, Surround and Video Olympics. Over the next years Atari’s programmers wrote original games and converted arcade hits, both Atari’s own, such as Missile Command, and licensed ones from companies like Taito, Namco and Williams. Sears sold many of the same games under its Tele-Games label, often with different names. The Atari name here also covers the later Atari Corporation, which kept releasing 2600 cartridges until 1990, among them Solaris, Radar Lock and Xenophobe.
This archive includes Atari’s released games as well as prototypes that never reached the shops. Some places to start:

Video Olympics (1977): 50 Pong-style games and variations for paddle controllers.
Video Chess (1979): a full chess opponent squeezed into a machine with 128 bytes of memory.
Warlords (1981): Carla Meninsky’s castle-smashing game for up to four players.
Missile Command (1981): Rob Fulop’s version of the arcade game about defending six cities.
Star Raiders (1982): first-person space combat with a galaxy map.
Solaris (1986): Doug Neubauer’s space combat and exploration game.

The full list is below, and every game on it runs in your browser.

Steeplechase

Steeplechase is a horse-racing game for the Atari 2600, programmed by Jim Huether at Atari and sold only by Sears under its Tele-Games label. It is a home version of the 1975 Kee Games arcade machine, and one…

Play ▸

Stellar Track

Stellar Track is a turn-based space strategy game for the Atari 2600, programmed at Atari by Rob Zdybel and sold only by Sears under its Tele-Games label. It brings the text-based Star Trek game from 1970s university mainframes…

Play ▸

Star Raiders

Star Raiders is the 1982 Atari 2600 version of Doug Neubauer's 1979 space combat game for the Atari 8-bit computers. The 2600 conversion was programmed by Carla Meninsky and published by Atari, with a Sears edition as well.…

Play ▸
Advertisement

Star Ship

Star Ship is one of the nine cartridges available when the Atari Video Computer System (later called the Atari 2600) launched in September 1977. It was programmed by Bob Whitehead, who also wrote the launch title Blackjack, and…

Play ▸

Space War

Space War is one of the earliest Atari 2600 cartridges, released by Atari in October 1978 and programmed by Ian Shepard. It is a home version of Spacewar!, the 1962 computer game written by Steve Russell and friends…

Play ▸

Sprint Master

Sprint Master is a top-down racing game that Atari released for the 2600 in 1988, late in the console's life. It was programmed by Bob Polaro. One or two players race tiny cars around a choice of tracks,…

Play ▸

Snoopy and the Red Baron

Snoopy and the Red Baron is a 1983 Atari 2600 shooter in which Snoopy, from Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip, flies his doghouse into battle against his old enemy, the Red Baron. It was made by Atari, programmed…

Play ▸

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is an unreleased Atari 2600 prototype from 1982, based on the fairy tale and planned as part of Atari's line of games for young children. Greg Easter programmed it and Mimi Nyden…

Play ▸

Solaris

Solaris is a 1986 space combat and exploration game by Doug Neubauer, the creator of Star Raiders, published by Atari Corporation for the Atari 2600. You pilot a StarCruiser across a galaxy map, warp into battles with the…

Play ▸

Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Sorcerer's Apprentice is a 1983 Atari 2600 game based on the Mickey Mouse segment of Disney's film Fantasia. Peter Niday designed and programmed it, with music by Robert Vieira, and Atari released it in December 1983 for younger…

Play ▸