The Atari 2600 is a discontinued home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System, it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976. The VCS was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge—initially Combat and later Pac-Man. Sears sold the system as the Tele-Games Video Arcade. Atari rebranded the VCS as the Atari 2600 in November 1982 alongside the release of the Atari 5200.
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc. as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 5200's launch. Created to compete with Mattel's Intellivision, the 5200 wound up a direct competitor of ColecoVision shortly after its release. While the Coleco system shipped with the first home version of Nintendo's Donkey Kong, the 5200 included the 1978 arcade game Super Breakout which had already appeared on the Atari 8-bit computers and Atari VCS in 1979 and 1981 respectively.
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.
Pole Position is a racing arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was licensed to Atari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution. Pole Position is considered one of the most important titles from the golden age of arcade video games. It was an evolution of Namco's earlier arcade racing electro-mechanical games, notably F-1 (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on Pole Position.
A paddle is a game controller with a round wheel and one or more fire buttons, where the wheel is typically used to control movement of the player object along one axis of the video screen. A paddle controller rotates through a fixed arc ; it has a stop at each end.
Night Driver is an arcade video game developed by Atari, Inc. and released in the United States in October 1976. It's one of the earliest first-person racing video games and is commonly believed to be one of the first published video games to feature real-time first-person graphics. Night Driver has a black and white display with the hood of the player's car painted on a plastic overlay. The road is rendered as scaled rectangles representing "pylons" that line the edges.
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 the most 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.
Racing Destruction Set is a racing video game published in 1985 for the Commodore 64 by Electronic Arts. It was advertised as being Commodore 128 compatible. A version for Atari 8-bit computers, programmed by Rebecca Heineman of Interplay, was released in 1986 in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. The game allows players to design and race on tracks with a variety of vehicles. It is part of the Construction Set series along with Pinball Construction Set, Music Construction Set, and Adventure Construction Set.
Air-Sea Battle is a fixed shooter developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS. Air-Sea Battle is partially based on the 1975 Atari arcade video game Anti-Aircraft where each player uses a ground-based gun to shoot passing aircraft. The cartridge adds other variants, such as planes dropping bombs on ships and a carnival-themed shooting gallery.
Basic Math is an educational video game for the Atari Video Computer System. The game was developed at Atari, Inc. by Gary Palmer. The game involves a series of ten arithmetic problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. The player can edit different gameplay modes to alter how the numbers in the problem are chosen, or if their questions are timed. The game was released in 1977 as one of the earliest releases for the console.
Blackjack is a video game simulation of the card game blackjack. It was designed by Bob Whitehead for the Atari Video Computer System. The game allows up to three players to play a variation of blackjack. Each player is given 200 chips where they can bet 1 to 25 of each round. The game ends for a player when they either run out of chips or earns 1000 chips or more.
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 the 2600 system was released in September 1977. The cartridge is a collection of games from Atari's popular arcade Pong series. A similar collection in arcade machine form called Tournament Table was published by Atari in 1978.
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.
Indy 800 is an arcade racing video game released in 1975 by Atari Inc. It was distributed in Japan by Nakamura Seisakusho (Namco).
The Atari 2600 hardware was based on the MOS Technology 6507 chip, offering a maximum resolution of 160 x 192 pixels (NTSC), 128 colors, 128 bytes of RAM with 4 KB on cartridges. The design experienced many makeovers and revisions during its 14-year production history, from the original "heavy sixer" to the Atari 2600 Jr. at the end. The system also has many controllers and third-party peripherals.
Surround is a video game programmed by Alan Miller and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System. In the game, players navigate a continuously moving block around an enclosed space as a wall trails behind it. Every time the opposite player hits a wall with their block, the other player earns a single point. The first player to reach ten points is the winner.
Speed Race is a 1974 arcade racing video game developed and manufactured by Taito and released under the titles Racer and Wheels in North America by distributor Midway Manufacturing in 1975. Designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, the gameplay involves the player using the attached steering wheel to maneuver a car alongside a fast vertical scrolling road. The objective is to score points by driving past other cars without colliding with them; more points are awarded for driving faster. Players must do this under a 90-second time limit, which ends the game when it runs out. The gameplay concepts were adapted from two earlier driving electro-mechanical games: Kasco's Mini Drive (1958) and Taito's Super Road 7 (1970).
The Atari joystick port is a computer port used to connect various gaming controllers to game console and home computer systems in the 1970s to the 1990s. It was originally introduced on the Atari 2600 in 1977 and then used on the Atari 400 and 800 in 1979. It went cross-platform with the VIC-20 in 1981, and was then used on many following machines from both companies, as well as a growing list of 3rd party machines like the MSX platform and various Sega consoles.
Codebreaker is a video game released in 1978 by Atari, Inc. for the Atari VCS. It was in the first wave of Atari VCS games to follow the original nine launch titles. It was one of three cartridges to accompany the introduction of the Atari keyboard controller, an add-on launched in response to claims of false advertising that the VCS is a "computer".
Outlaw is a 1978 video game developed at Atari by David Crane. The game has a Western-setting, where one or two players either aim at targets or fellow gunsfighters to reach 10 points in a set time. Several modes are available allowing for different obstacles an rules varying how the players move, how their bullets act and how the obstacles block the bullets.
