Release date: 1983
1983 is by far the largest year in our archive, with around 270 games. Toy makers, film studios, food companies and small firms that vanished within months all put cartridges on the shelves. It was also the year of the video game crash. Atari lost $536 million, and in September it buried unsold stock in a New Mexico landfill. In October it brought the console to Japan as the Atari 2800, where it made little impact.
Plenty of good games still came out. Activision released Dan Kitchen’s first 2600 game, Crackpots, and Parker Brothers brought Konami’s Tutankham and the lightsaber duel Star Wars: Jedi Arena. Atari continued its Swordquest series with Swordquest: Fireworld, and Starpath’s Sword of Saros showed how far the Supercharger could go. At the other end of the scale is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, better known for its controversy than for its gameplay.
Some titles on this page reached shops in early 1984, such as Private Eye and Track & Field, and Xevious is a prototype that was never released.
There is a lot to explore below, and every game plays right in your browser.
Condor Attack
Atari 2600 Condor Attack Overview By Ultravision Earth Base Command Directives In an advanced future, a million years ahead, Earth faces a catastrophic event. An intergalactic conflict has led to a massive space-time explosion, regressing civilization to the…
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Chuck Norris Superkicks
Atari 2600 Chuck Norris Superkicks Instructions Embark on an adventure in an exotic Oriental setting as “Chuck Norris,” on a mission to rescue a prominent leader held captive in an ancient monastery. Begin your quest as a novice…
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China Syndrome
China Syndrome is an Atari 2600 action game from Spectravision, one of the smaller third-party publishers of the early 1980s. An earthquake has damaged the nuclear reactor on Spectra Island, and in a training simulator you steer a…
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Base Attack
Base Attack is a 1983 shooter sold in Europe on the Home Vision label and manufactured in Taiwan by Gem International. You fly a small craft over a city skyline and try to wipe out the enemy bases…
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Spike’s Peak
Spike's Peak is a 1983 mountain-climbing game for the Atari 2600, published by Xonox. You guide a climber named Spike from the meadows at the foot of a mountain to its icy summit, dodging animals, falling rocks and…
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Alpha Beam with Ernie
Alpha Beam with Ernie is a 1983 Sesame Street learning game for children aged 3 to 7, made by Atari together with the Children's Computer Workshop. Michael Callahan programmed it and Preston Stuart did the graphics. Ernie is…
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