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.

Missile Command

Missile Command is Atari's 1981 Atari 2600 version of its own 1980 arcade game. Rob Fulop programmed it, and it became a commercial success. You defend six cities from waves of falling missiles by placing explosions in their…

Play ▸

Monster Cise

Monstercise (shown on its title screen as Monster Cise) is an unreleased Atari prototype from 1984. It belongs to Atari's Sesame Street series for young children, made with the Children's Computer Workshop, and the name is a play…

Play ▸

Midnight Magic

Midnight Magic is a pinball game for the Atari 2600, programmed by Glenn Axworthy and published by Atari in 1986. It borrows its name from Broderbund's computer game David's Midnight Magic, but the table itself is a completely…

Play ▸
Advertisement

Millipede

Millipede is the Atari 2600 version of Atari's 1982 arcade sequel to Centipede. It was released in 1984, programmed by Dave Staugas with graphics by Jerome Domurat. As in Centipede, you shoot at a segmented bug winding down…

Play ▸

Mind Maze

Mind Maze is an unfinished Atari 2600 prototype from 1983–84, built around a strange idea: a video game that tests your ESP. It was meant for the MindLink, a headband controller Atari was developing at the time, and…

Play ▸

Miss Piggy’s Wedding

Miss Piggy's Wedding is an unreleased Atari 2600 prototype from 1983, based on the Muppets. Atari planned it under model number CX-26113, with Gary Shannon as programmer and Dave Joly on graphics, but work stopped in June 1983…

Play ▸

Mario Bros.

Mario Bros. is Atari's 1983 Atari 2600 version of Nintendo's arcade game from the same year. Mario and his brother Luigi clear pests out of a set of water pipes by knocking them over from below and kicking…

Play ▸

Math Gran Prix

Math Gran Prix is an educational Atari 2600 cartridge from 1982, programmed by Suki Lee at Atari and aimed at children of about 7 to 10. It turns arithmetic practice into a board-game style car race: every sum…

Play ▸

Maze Craze: A Game of Cops and Robbers

Maze Craze: A Game of Cops and Robbers is a 1980 maze race for the Atari 2600, programmed by Rick Maurer and published by Atari. Sears sold it under the name Maze Mania for its Tele-Games line. Two…

Play ▸

Klax (PAL)

Klax is Atari's 2600 conversion of the 1990 Atari Games arcade puzzler, programmed by Steve DeFrisco. Coloured tiles tumble down a ramp, you catch them on a paddle and drop them into five bins to line up three…

Play ▸