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.

Pit Fighter

Pit Fighter is an unfinished, never-released Atari 7800 conversion of Atari Games' 1990 arcade brawler. This early prototype is a single screen where you punch and kick a group of street fighters, a glimpse of a project dropped…

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Planet Smashers

Planet Smashers is a vertically scrolling space shooter made for the Atari 7800 by Datafast and released by Atari Corporation in 1990, late in the console's life. You fight through seven galaxies, collect power-up capsules and hunt for…

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Pole Position II

Pole Position II is a Formula 1 racing game based on Namco's 1983 arcade sequel: qualify against the clock, then race on one of four tracks. General Computer Corporation made the Atari 7800 version, and Atari included it…

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Rampart

Rampart is an unfinished Atari 7800 conversion of Atari Games' 1990 arcade castle-defence game, which was never released. Only an early work-in-progress build has surfaced, with a bare title screen and a rough version of the cannon battle.…

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RealSports Baseball

RealSports Baseball is the Atari 7800 version of Atari's 1982 baseball game, published by Atari Corporation near the end of the 1980s. It offers eight different pitches, high, low and bunt swings, and full nine-inning games against the…

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Rescue on Fractalus

Rescue on Fractalus is an unfinished 1984 Atari 7800 version of Lucasfilm Games' flight game, programmed at General Computer Corporation and never released. This prototype lets you fly low over fractal mountains on an alien planet, with smooth…

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Robotron: 2084

Robotron: 2084 is the frantic 1982 Williams arcade shooter in which you protect the last human family from endless waves of robots. This Atari 7800 version, developed by General Computer Corporation and programmed by David Brown, was released…

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Sentinel

Sentinel is a light-gun shooter: you guard a glowing energy orb as it drifts across four alien planets, blasting everything that attacks it. David Lubar of Imagineering made it, and Atari released it in 1991, in Europe only,…

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Summer Games

Summer Games is Epyx's Olympic-style sports collection, brought to the Atari 7800 by Atari. Up to eight players pick a country and compete in six events, from diving and gymnastics to sprinting and swimming, with medals for the…

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Super Huey UH-IX

Super Huey UH-IX is a helicopter flight simulator with combat, first published by Cosmi for the Commodore 64 in 1985 and brought to the Atari 7800 by Atari Corporation. You start the engine step by step, learn to…

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