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.

Centipede

Centipede is Atari's own Atari 5200 version of its 1981 arcade hit, released in the console's first months. You shoot at a centipede winding down through a field of mushrooms while a spider, a flea and a scorpion…

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Super Breakout

Super Breakout is the game Atari packed in with every Atari 5200 at its launch in October 1982, a conversion of its 1978 arcade sequel to Breakout. You bat a ball into a wall of coloured bricks in…

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Dig Dug

Dig Dug is the Atari 5200 version of Namco's 1982 arcade game, programmed by General Computer Corporation and released by Atari in October 1983. You tunnel through four layers of earth, inflating Pookas and Fygars with your pump…

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Galaxian

Galaxian is Atari's 1982 Atari 5200 version of Namco's 1979 arcade shooter, programmed by Joseph Tung and released in the console's first months. Aliens peel out of formation and dive at your ship while you pick them off…

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Joust

Joust is the Atari 5200 version of Williams' 1982 arcade game, programmed by General Computer Corporation and released by Atari in October 1983. You ride a flying ostrich and unseat buzzard-riding knights by hitting them from above, alone…

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Pac-Man

Pac-Man on the Atari 5200 is Atari's 1982 home version of Namco's maze game, programmed by James Andreasen, and it is the one that finally looked and sounded like the arcade machine after the much-criticised 2600 cartridge. Eat…

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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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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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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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