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.

Ace of Aces

Ace of Aces is a World War II flight game: you fly an RAF Mosquito fighter-bomber against fighters, bombers, V-1 flying bombs, U-boats and trains. Accolade's 1986 computer game was adapted for the Atari 7800 by Nova Game…

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Asteroids

Asteroids for the Atari 7800 swaps the arcade game's thin vector outlines for solid, shaded rocks that spin as they drift across the screen. General Computer Corporation programmed it for Atari in 1984, but it had to wait…

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Ballblazer

Ballblazer is a futuristic one-on-one ball game designed by Lucasfilm Games and released for the Atari 7800 by Atari Corporation in 1988. Two hovercraft chase a floating ball on a split-screen checkerboard field, and the cartridge carries an…

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Barnyard Blaster

Barnyard Blaster is a light-gun shooting game that Atari published for the 7800 in 1988, made for the XG-1 light gun. You clear a farm of pests and bottles with a limited supply of bullets, so accuracy matters…

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Basketbrawl

Basketbrawl is a street basketball game with fists, published by Atari Corporation for the 7800 in 1990. Pick one of six tough characters and play one-on-one or two-on-two on a street, a junkyard or a rooftop, where punching…

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Centipede

Centipede is the 1986 Atari 7800 version of Atari's 1981 arcade shooter, made by General Computer Corporation and released as one of the console's first games. You zap a centipede as it winds down through a mushroom forest,…

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Choplifter!

Choplifter! puts you in a rescue helicopter, flying into enemy territory to free 64 hostages and bring them home. Dan Gorlin created it for the Apple II in 1982, and Ibid, Inc. made this graphically enhanced version for…

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Crack’ed

Crack'ed is a cheerful shooting game about saving eggs: you aim a slingshot's cross hairs at birds, snakes and stranger creatures raiding five nests. Robert Craig designed it for the Atari ST, and Atari Corporation brought it to…

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Crossbow

Crossbow is Atari Corporation's 1989 Atari 7800 version of Exidy's 1983 light-gun arcade game. Instead of fighting yourself, you guard a small band of travellers with your crossbow, shooting every creature that threatens them on the way to…

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Dark Chambers

Dark Chambers is an overhead maze shooter for one or two players, developed by Sculptured Software and published by Atari for the 7800. It is based on Dandy, the 1983 computer game that also inspired the arcade hit…

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