This is a list of games for the Atari Video Computer System, a console renamed to the
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...
in November 1982. Sears licensed the console and many games from Atari, Inc., selling them under different names. A few cartridges were Sears exclusives.
The list contains
games, divided into three sections:
#Games
published by Atari and Sears
#Games
published by third parties
#
Hobbyist-developed games after the system was discontinued.
The Atari VCS was first released in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
on September 11, 1977 with nine cartridges: ''
Air-Sea Battle
''Air-Sea Battle'' is a game developed by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS (renamed to the Atari 2600 in 1982), and was one of the nine original launch titles for that system when it was released in September 1977. It was published by Sears as ' ...
'', ''
Basic Math'', ''
Blackjack
Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
'', ''
Combat
Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...
'', ''
Indy 500
The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianap ...
'', ''
Star Ship'', ''
Street Racer'', ''
Surround
Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener (surround channels). Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to sur ...
'' and ''
Video Olympics
''Video Olympics'' is a video game programmed by Joe Decuir for the Atari 2600. It is one of the nine 2600 launch titles Atari, Inc. published when that system was released in September 1977. The cartridge is a collection of games from Atari's p ...
''.
The final licensed Atari 2600 games released in North America were ''
Ikari Warriors
''Ikari Warriors'', known as in Japan, is a vertically-scrolling, run-and-gun shooter arcade video game released by SNK in 1986. It was published in North America by Tradewest. The game was released at the time when there were many ''Commando'' ...
'', ''MotoRodeo'', ''Sentinel'', and ''
Xenophobe'' in early 1991, and the final licensed games released in Europe were ''
Klax'' and ''Acid Drop'' in 1990 and 1992 respectively.
Games published by Atari and Sears
All of the initial era of Atari 2600 games were developed and manufactured by
Atari, Inc.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry.
Based primarily around the Sunny ...
These games were published by Atari, and many were also licensed to
Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
, which released these games under its Tele-Games brand, often with different titles.
Sears's Tele-Games brand was unrelated to the company
Telegames
Telegames, Inc. is an American video game company based in Mabank, Texas, with a sister operation based in England.
Telegames was known for supporting not just modern game systems but also classic game systems, after they had been abandoned by ...
, which also produced cartridges for the Atari 2600 (mostly re-issues of
M Network
M Network was a video game division of Mattel that, in the 1980s, produced games in cartridge format for the Atari 2600 video game system.
History
In the early 1980s, Mattel's Intellivision video game console was a direct competitor to Atar ...
games.)
Three games were also produced by Atari Inc. for Sears as exclusive releases under the Tele-Games brand: ''
Steeplechase
Steeplechase may refer to:
* Steeplechase (horse racing), a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles
* Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing ...
'', ''Stellar Track'', and ''
Submarine Commander
''Submarine Commander'' is a 1982 in video gaming, 1982 simulation video game for the Atari 8-bit family written by Dean Lock and published by Thorn EMI Computer Software. A VIC-20 port by Gary York was released in 1983, and an Apple II version ...
''.
Games published by third parties
As the Atari 2600 console grew in popularity, in 1980 other game developers, such as
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
and
Imagic
Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', ''Cosmic Ark'', and ''Demo ...
, entered the market and published more than 380 of their own cartridges for the Atari 2600. Many of the
most popular Atari 2600 games, such as ''
Pitfall!
''Pitfall!'' is a platform video game designed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released by Activision in 1982. The player controls Pitfall Harry and is tasked with collecting all the treasures in a jungle within 20 minutes. The world con ...
'' and ''
Demon Attack
''Demon Attack'' is a fixed shooter written by Rob Fulop for the Atari 2600 and published by Imagic in 1982. It was ported to the Intellivision, Magnavox Odyssey 2, Atari 8-bit family, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Tandy 1000 (as a self-booting disk ...
'', are third-party games.
Homebrew games
The Atari 2600 has been a popular platform for
homebrew projects, with games publicly released. Unlike later systems, the Atari 2600 does not require a
modchip
A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray player ...
to run cartridges. Many games are clones of existing games written as programming challenges, often borrowing the name of the original.
In 2003,
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
selected several games for inclusion in the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...
version of their ''
Activision Anthology
''Activision Anthology'' is a compilation of most of the Atari 2600 games by Activision for various game systems. It also includes games that were originally released by Absolute Entertainment and Imagic, as well as various Homebrew (video games), ...
'', as indicated below.
Additional titles (publisher unknown)
Included with Atari Flashback 9 / Flashback 9 Gold
# Adventure II
# Aquaventure
# Asteroids Deluxe
# Atari Climber
# Burnin’ Rubber
# Championship Soccer
# Chase It!
# Combat Two
# Decathlon
# Escape It!
# Fun with Numbers
# Miss It!
# Realsports Basketball
# Return to Haunted House
# Saboteur
# Save Mary
# Shield Shifter
# Space Raid
# Strip Off
# Tempest
# Wizard
# Yars’ Return
See also
*
List of Atari 2600 prototype games
*
List of best-selling Atari 2600 video games
The best-selling video game of all-time on the Atari 2600 console (previously known as the Atari VCS) is ''Pac-Man'', a port of the arcade game of the same name programmed by Tod Frye. Originally created by Toru Iwatani and released in 1980, '' ...
*
Lists of video games
This is a list of all video game lists on Wikipedia, sorted by varying classifications.
By platform
Acorn
* List of Acorn Electron games
Apple
* List of Apple II games
* List of Apple IIGS games
* List of iOS games
* List of Macintosh game ...
*
List of GameLine games for the Atari 2600
*
:Cancelled Atari 2600 games
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Atari 2600 Rarity Guide* - Dozens of games freely playable from within the web browser.
{{Video game lists by platform
*
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocessor- ...