Legacy & History
Released in 1977. It dominated the late 70s and early 80s. Its library includes Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Pitfall. It crashed the market in '83, but its legacy is immortal.
Cultural Impact
It created the home video game industry. It introduced the joystick. It taught a generation what a "video game" was.
Modern Legacy
The "Easter Egg" was invented in the Atari game Adventure. Activision, the first third-party publisher, was formed by disgruntled Atari developers.
Under the Hood
The 2600 was incredibly primitive. It had no frame buffer; the CPU had to "race the beam," updating the graphics registers for every single scanline of the TV. This made programming it a nightmare but led to incredible coding feats to display things the hardware shouldn't have been capable of.
CPUMOS 6507 (8-bit)
MEMORY128 bytes RAM
DISPLAY160 x 192
AUDIO2-channel mono
Defining Titles
Pitfall!Platformer • 1982
River RaidShooter • 1982
Space InvadersShooter • 1980
AdventureAction-Adventure • 1979
Yars' RevengeShooter • 1982
Best Selling Title
Pac-Man
ATARI Games
Showing 60 of 797
5
Another Adventure
Atari 2600
5
Arkyology
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
5
Bushido
Atari 2600
2019
5
Candy Catcher
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
5
Chetiry
Atari 2600
5
Duck Attack!
Atari 2600
2010
5
Elevator Agent
Atari 2600
5
Enigma Machine
Atari 2600
5
Escape It!
Atari 2600
5
Gorf Arcade
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
5
Grandma's Revenge
Atari 2600
5
Omicron
Atari 2600
5
Pitkat
Atari 2600
2020
5
RobotWar: 2684
Atari 2600
5
Space Treat Deluxe
Atari 2600
2003
5
Stay Frosty 2: Stay Frostier
Atari 2600
2014
5
Super Cobra Arcade
Atari 2600
5
Unknown Activision Game #2
Atari 2600
5
Xonox Double Ender: Artillery Duel and Ghost Manor
Atari 2600
4.9
Diamond Drop
Atari 2600
4.85714285714286
Candybar
Atari 2600
4.83333333333333
Bifrost Breakout
Atari 2600
4.83333333333333
Dragon Defense
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
4.8125
2600tris
Atari 2600
4.75
Alien Greed II
Atari 2600
4.75
Berzerk: Enhanced Edition
Atari 2600
2023
4.75
CGE Adventures
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
4.75
Combat: Redux
Atari 2600
2004
4.75
Qyx
Atari 2600
4.75
Squish 'Em
Atari 2600
2007
4.73076923076923
Alien Greed 3
Atari 2600
4.72222222222222
Aardvark
Atari 2600
4.71428571428571
Berzerk: Voice Enhanced
Atari 2600
4.66666666666667
CompuMate
Atari 2600
4.66666666666667
Spies in the Night 2
Atari 2600
2019
4.66666666666667
Toyshop Trouble
Atari 2600
2006
4.63636363636364
Balloon Trip
Atari 2600
4.56944444444444
Arcade Asteroids
Atari 2600
2005
4.53846153846154
Alien Greed 4
Atari 2600
4.53333333333333
2048: 2600
Atari 2600
4.51923076923077
2005 MiniGame MultiCart
Atari 2600
4.5
Chunkout 2600
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
4.5
Felix Return
Atari 2600
4.5
Galagon
Atari 2600
2019
4.5
Handy Pick Hank
Atari 2600
4.5
Laser Volley
Atari 2600
1983
4.5
Miss It!
Atari 2600
4.5
Rocky & Bullwinkle
Atari 2600
4.5
The Stacks
Atari 2600
2012
4.5
Thrust+: Platinum Edition
Atari 2600
4.5
Venture II
Atari 2600
4.45833333333333
Bomb on Pixel City
Atari 2600
4.40909090909091
Alien Greed
Atari 2600
4.4
Elevators Amiss
Atari 2600
2007
4.375
2 Pak Special: Planet Patrol / Wall Defender
Atari 2600
4.375
A Roach in Space
Atari 2600
4.375
Climber 5
Atari 2600
4.375
Reindeer Rescue
Atari 2600
4.33333333333333
Chase It!
Atari 2600
Atari 2600
4.33333333333333
Frog Demo
Atari 2600