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.

Space Invaders

Space Invaders is the 1980 Atari 2600 version of Taito's 1978 arcade game, designed by Tomohiro Nishikado. The home port was programmed by Rick Maurer and was the first arcade game officially licensed for a home console. You…

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Shooting Arcade

Shooting Arcade is an unreleased Atari 2600 target-shooting game made for Atari's light gun. It was developed in Mexico by Agustin Ortiz of the company Heuristica, with final changes by Tod Frye, and the last builds date from…

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Sinistar

Sinistar is an Atari 2600 version of the 1983 Williams arcade game, programmed for Atari by Lew Harp in 1984. It is a prototype that was never released. Atari squeezed the arcade game into an 8K cartridge, and…

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Sky Diver

Sky Diver is a two-player parachuting game that Atari released for the 2600 in 1979, based on its 1978 arcade game of the same name. Jim Huether programmed the home version, and Sears sold it in its own…

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Slot Machine

Slot Machine is a 1979 Atari 2600 cartridge that turns the console into a three-reel casino slot machine. It was programmed by David Crane, who later co-founded Activision, and Sears sold it under the name Slots. There is…

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Slot Racers

Slot Racers is a two-player chase game that Atari released for the 2600 in 1978. It was the first game Warren Robinett designed at Atari, before he went on to make Adventure. Two cars race around a maze…

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Saboteur

Saboteur is an unreleased Atari 2600 game from 1983, programmed by Howard Scott Warshaw, the designer of Yars' Revenge and E.T., with graphics by Jerome Domurat. You play Hotot, a robot sent into an alien missile base to…

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Save Mary!

Save Mary! is an unreleased Atari 2600 puzzle game. Tod Frye programmed it at Nolan Bushnell's company Axlon, and Atari planned to publish it as CX-26178. It was finished in 1989, but Atari closed down its 2600 business…

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Secret Quest

Secret Quest is a science-fiction action adventure released by Atari in 1989, near the end of the Atari 2600's life. It was developed by Axlon, a company set up by Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, and programmed by Steve…

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Sentinel

Sentinel is a 1990 light-gun shooter for the Atari 2600, developed by Imagineering, programmed by David Lubar and published by Atari. It was the only game released for the 2600 that uses the Atari XG-1 light gun. You…

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