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.

RealSports Baseball

RealSports Baseball is a baseball game that Atari released for the Atari 2600 in October 1982, as part of its RealSports line. It replaced the very simple Home Run with a proper diamond, fly balls, fielders who throw…

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RealSports Basketball

RealSports Basketball is a two-on-two basketball game that Atari planned for the Atari 2600 in 1983 as part of its RealSports line, but never released. The programming was done under contract by Roklan, with Joe Gaucher as programmer,…

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RealSports Boxing

RealSports Boxing is a side-view boxing game for the Atari 2600, programmed by Alex DeMeo and released by Atari Corporation in 1987. You pick one of four boxers, each with his own weak spot, and fight up to…

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Polo

Polo is an unreleased Atari 2600 game programmed by Carol Shaw at Atari in 1978. It was made as a promotional tie-in for Ralph Lauren's Polo cologne, and it may be one of the first video games ever…

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Pole Position

Pole Position is the Atari 2600 version of Namco's 1982 Formula One arcade racer, which became the highest-grossing arcade game in North America in 1983. Atari released the cartridge under licence from Namco in August 1983, with programming…

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Peek-A-Boo

Peek-A-Boo is an unreleased Atari 2600 game for young children, made at Atari in 1984 by programmer Kevin Sacher and graphics artist Jerome Domurat. It was developed together with the child psychologist Dr. Lee Salk and is described…

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Pengo

Pengo is Atari's 1984 Atari 2600 version of the 1982 arcade game made by Coreland and released by Sega. You are a small penguin on a field of ice blocks, and your job is to crush the blob-like…

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Pepsi Invaders

Pepsi Invaders is a promotional version of Atari's Space Invaders made in 1983 for the Coca-Cola Company. It was never sold in shops: Coca-Cola gave it to its own salespeople at a sales convention that year. Instead of…

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Phoenix

Phoenix is Atari's 2600 version of the 1980 arcade shooter, made under licence from Amstar Electronics and programmed by Mike Feinstein and John Mracek of General Computer Corporation. It came out in early 1983 and, like the arcade…

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Pigs in Space

Pigs in Space is a 1983 Atari 2600 cartridge based on the "Pigs in Space" sketches from The Muppet Show. Instead of one game it holds three short space games, each starring a different member of the starship…

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