Asteroids is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade video game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases.
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different model of joystick from the 2600-standard CX40 and included Pole Position II as the pack-in game. Most of the announced titles at launch were ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games.
Millipede is a fixed shooter video game released in arcades by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The sequel to 1981's Centipede, it has more gameplay variety and a wider array of insects than the original. The objective is to score as many points as possible by destroying all segments of the millipede as it moves toward the bottom of the screen, as well as eliminating or avoiding other enemies. The game is played with a trackball and a single fire button which can be held down for rapid-fire.
Missile Command is a 1980 shoot 'em up arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and later licensed to Sega for Japanese and European releases. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game Tempest from the same year. The game was released during the Cold War, and the player uses a trackball to defend six cities from intercontinental ballistic missiles by launching anti-ballistic missiles from three bases.
Centipede is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. Designed by Dona Bailey and Ed Logg, it was one of the most commercially successful games from the golden age of arcade video games and one of the first with a significant female player base. The primary objective is to shoot all the segments of a centipede that winds down the playing field. An arcade sequel, Millipede, followed in 1982.
Battlezone is a first-person shooter tank combat game released for arcades in November 1980 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a tank which is attacked by other tanks and missiles. Using a small radar scanner along with the terrain window, the player can locate enemies and obstacles around them in the barren landscape. Its innovative use of 3D graphics made it a huge hit, with approximately 15,000 cabinets sold.
Breakout is an arcade video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. and released on May 13, 1976. It was designed by Steve Wozniak, based on conceptualization from Nolan Bushnell and Steve Bristow, who were influenced by the seminal 1972 Atari arcade game Pong. In Breakout, a layer of bricks lines the top third of the screen and the goal is to destroy them all by repeatedly bouncing a ball off a paddle into them. The arcade game was released in Japan by Namco. Breakout was a worldwide commercial success, among the top five highest-grossing arcade video games of 1976 in both the United States and Japan and then among the top three highest-grossing arcade video games of 1977 in the US and Japan. The 1978 Atari VCS port uses color graphics instead of a monochrome screen with colored overlay.
Crystal Castles is an arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1983. The player controls Bentley Bear who has to collect gems located throughout trimetric-projected rendered castles while avoiding enemies, some of whom are after the gems as well.
Combat is a 1977 video game by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System. In the game, two players controlling either a tank, a biplane, or a jet fire missiles at each other for two minutes and sixteen seconds. Points are scored by hitting the opponent, and the player with more points when the time runs out wins. Variations on the gameplay introduce elements such as invisible vehicles, missiles that ricochet off of walls, and different playing fields.
Gravitar is a color vector graphics multidirectional shooter arcade video game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. Using the same "rotate-and-thrust" controls as Asteroids and Space Duel, the game was known for its high level of difficulty. It was the first of over twenty games that Mike Hally designed and produced for Atari. The main programmer was Rich Adam and the cabinet art was designed by Brad Chaboya. 5,427 cabinets were produced. An Atari 2600 version by Dan Hitchens was published by Atari in 1983.
Haunted House is a 1982 adventure video game programmed by James Andreasen for the Atari Video Computer System and published by Atari. The player controls an avatar shaped like a pair of eyes who explores a mansion seeking out parts of an urn to return to the entrance. The game world is populated by roaming enemies including vampire bats, tarantulas, and a ghost. Haunted House was among the first games to use player-controlled scrolling between large portions of the visual space.
The Atari Flashback is a line of dedicated video game consoles produced since 2004, currently designed, produced, published and marketed by AtGames under license from Atari SA. The Flashback consoles are "plug-and-play" versions of the 1970s Atari 2600 console with built-in games rather than using ROM cartridges. The latest home console model, Atari Flashback 12 Gold, was released in 2023.
Black Widow is a multidirectional shooter developed by Atari, Inc. and released in arcades in 1982. The game uses color vector graphics. The player controls a black widow spider via two joysticks, one to move and one to fire, defending the web from insects.
Super Breakout is a sequel to the 1976 video game Breakout released in arcades in September 1978 by Atari, Inc. It was written by Ed Rotberg. The game uses the same mechanics as Breakout, but allows the selection of three distinct game modes via a knob on the cabinet—two of which involve multiple, simultaneous balls in play. Both the original and sequel are in black and white with monitor overlays to add color. It was distributed in Japan by Namco and Esco Trading.
Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1 is a 1996 compilation of Atari arcade games for the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, published by Midway Games. It is a successor volume to Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits. Most of these games fall into the action game category. The Saturn and PlayStation versions of the game include an FMV documentary on the "Golden Age of Atari", featuring video interviews with the programmers behind the six games in the compilation. The later Super NES version was announced by Midway as their final release for any "16-bit" console.
The Atari Joystick Controller TV Video Game System was made in 2003 in Jakks Pacific's Plug It In & Play TV Games plug-n-play game system lineup. The device itself is designed to look like the joystick used on the Atari 2600 and has an Atari licence. It's made in China. It was sold in Europe by Revell GmbH.
Retro Atari Classics is a collection of Atari video games for the Nintendo DS developed by American studio Taniko and released in 2005 by Atari. The game features classic Atari games as well as remixed versions of each of the selections. The game's development faced challenges of working with the then-changing prototype Nintendo DS hardware. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
The Atari Greatest Hits series is composed of two compilations of retro Atari arcade games & Atari 2600 games ported to the Nintendo DS. While listed on the Atari web site as free for iOS & Android, Atari Greatest Hits has been removed from both app stores.
Atari Vault is a video game collection developed by Code Mystics and published by Atari Interactive for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux via the Steam client. Atari Vault contains titles from Atari, Inc. and Atari Corporation published on the Atari 2600 and arcade cabinets. dating from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The games, where possible, have been updated to include modern-day features such as local and online multiplayer and online leaderboards.
Atari 50 is a video game compilation and interactive documentary about the history of Atari. It comprises newly shot interviews with former Atari employees, archival footage, emulated games from the company's catalog, and six new games inspired by past Atari games. It was developed by Digital Eclipse, published by Atari, Inc., and released on Atari VCS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022, the 50th anniversary of Atari's founding. The main feature of the game is a five-part interactive timeline that lays out the history of the company and its products through video, scanned artifacts and related games.
