List of Atari 2600 games

The Atari 2600 is a home video game console released in September 1977. Sears licensed the console and many games from Atari, Inc., selling them under different names. Three cartridges were Sears exclusives.

The list contains 517 games, divided into three sections:

1. Games published by Atari and Sears
2. Games published by third parties
3. Hobbyist-developed games after the system was discontinued.

The console was released with nine cartridges: Air-Sea Battle, Basic Math, Blackjack, Combat, Indy 500, Star Ship, Street Racer, Surround and Video Olympics.

The final licensed Atari 2600 games released in North America were Ikari Warriors, 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 127 of the initial era of Atari 2600 games were developed and manufactured by Atari, Inc. These games were published by Atari, and many were also licensed to Sears, which released these games under its Tele-Games brand, often with different titles. Sears's Tele-Games brand was unrelated to the company Telegames, which also produced cartridges for the Atari 2600 (mostly re-issues of M Network games.)

Three games were also produced by Atari Inc. for Sears as exclusive releases under the Tele-Games brand: Steeplechase, Stellar Track, and Submarine Commander.

Games published by third parties

As the Atari 2600 console grew in popularity, in 1980 other game developers, such as Activision and Imagic, 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! and Demon Attack, are third-party games.

Homebrew games

The Atari 2600 has been a popular platform for homebrew projects, with 87 games publicly released. Unlike later systems, the Atari 2600 does not require a modchip to run cartridges. Many games are clones of existing games written as programming challenges, often borrowing the name of the original.

In 2003, Activision selected several games for inclusion in the Game Boy Advance version of their Activision Anthology, as indicated below.

Additional titles (publisher unknown)

Included with Atari Flashback 9 / Flashback 9 Gold

1. Adventure II
2. Asteroids Deluxe
3. Atari Climber
4. Burnin’ Rubber 
5. Championship Soccer
6. Chase It!
7. Combat Two
8. Decathlon
9. Escape It!
10. Fun with Numbers
11. Miss It!
12. RealSports Basketball
13. Return to Haunted House
14. Saboteur
15. Shield Shifter
16. Space Raid
17. Strip Off
18. Tempest
19. Wizard

See also

• List of best-selling Atari 2600 video games
• Lists of video games
• List of GameLine games for the Atari 2600
• Category:Cancelled Atari 2600 games

Notes

References

• Bogost, Ian; Montfort, Nick (2009). Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
• Carless, Simon (2005). Gaming Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 0-596-00917-8.
• Kohler, Chris (2005). Retro Gaming Hacks: Tips & Tools for Playing the Classics. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 0-596-00917-8.
• Herman, Leonard (1997). Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames. Rolenta Press. ISBN 0-9643848-2-5.
• Weiss, Brett (2007). Classic home video games, 1972-1984: a complete reference guide. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3226-4. Retrieved April 11, 2011.

External links

• Atari 2600 Rarity Guide
• Console Library: Atari 2600 at the Internet Archive - Dozens of games freely playable from within the web browser.