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 final licensed Atari 2600 games released in North America were Ikari Warriors, MotoRodeo, Sentinel, and Xenophobe in early 1991,[1] 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 (between the console's launch in 1977 and the summer of 1980) 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.[2] 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.)[3]
Three games were also produced by Atari Inc. for Sears as exclusive releases under the Tele-Games brand: Steeplechase, Stellar Track, and Submarine Commander.[2]
A multi-genre cartridge. It is a PAL-only release and is compatible with the Atari 7800.[5] 32 games are included, including games by Atari, Inc., Activision, CommaVid, and U.S. Games.
Licensed by Stern Electronics. A version of the game called Berzerk Enhanced Edition containing digitized speech and diagonal shooting was released in November 2023 after Atari purchased the rights to Berzerk.
As the Atari 2600 console grew in popularity, in 1980[8] 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.[9]
Researchers going through the game code in the 2010s have been unable to figure out how the game's maze-generating algorithm managed to consistently generate playable mazes. The original coder says he got it from another programmer who wrote it while drunk.
The Atari 2600 has been a popular platform for homebrew projects, with 88 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,[25] often borrowing the name of the original.
Based on the short film Alien Holocaust by Marcus Garrett and the developer as the character Bruce. It has a cartridge version and another sold with the DVD of the short film.[28]
Alien Holocaust 2: Invasion Earth
Fernando Rodrigues Salvio
Bitnamic
2023
Action/Shooter
Sequel to Alien Holocaust. In command of flying saucers, the player can destroy cities all over the world, being the first Atari game to graphically represent cities in Brazil, North America, Europe, Asia and Egypt. With soundtrack by Pedro Pimenta. It has a special version with a flying saucer-shaped packaging.[29]
The Jataí is a bee native to the Atlantic Forest and must fulfill its duty of pollinating flowers and collecting pollen and nectar to feed the hive. During the mission, some enemies will appear: spiders, which hang from the web; lemon bees, which raid the hive; and also a large spider, the Queen, who must be stopped. The game has a box with a 3D printed bee that serves as a key to open it.[39]
Clone of Atari 8-bit family game of the same name.[43]
The Stacks
Mike Mika and Kevin Wilson
Parzavision
2011
Action
Pitfall!-like game based on a fictional homebrew mentioned in the novel Ready Player One and made downloadable at Stacks as part of a contest to win a DMC DeLorean
The Atari 2600 is a 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.
ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision.
Kaboom! is an action video game published in 1981 by Activision for the Atari 2600. The game involves a Mad Bomber dropping bombs at increasing speeds as the player controls a set of water buckets to catch them. The gameplay was based on the Atari arcade video game Avalanche (1978). Kaboom! was programmed by Larry Kaplan with David Crane coding the graphics for the buckets and Mad Bomber. It was the last game designed by Kaplan for Activision, who left the company shortly after it was released. The game was later ported by Paul Wilson for the Atari 5200 system.
The Starpath Supercharger is an expansion peripheral cartridge created by Starpath, for playing cassette-based proprietary games on the Atari 2600 video game console.
Pitfall! is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is populated by enemies and hazards that variously cause the player to lose lives or points.
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 and has 130 games.
In the history of video games, the second-generation era refers to computer and video games, video game consoles, and handheld video game consoles available from 1976 to 1992. Notable platforms of the second generation include the Fairchild Channel F, Atari 2600, Intellivision, Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision. The generation began in November 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F. This was followed by the Atari 2600 in 1977, Magnavox Odyssey² in 1978, Intellivision in 1980 and then the Emerson Arcadia 2001, ColecoVision, Atari 5200, and Vectrex, all in 1982. By the end of the era, there were over 15 different consoles. It coincided with, and was partly fuelled by, the golden age of arcade video games. This peak era of popularity and innovation for the medium resulted in many games for second generation home consoles being ports of arcade games. Space Invaders, the first "killer app" arcade game to be ported, was released in 1980 for the Atari 2600, though earlier Atari-published arcade games were ported to the 2600 previously. Coleco packaged Nintendo's Donkey Kong with the ColecoVision when it was released in August 1982.
Larry Kaplan is an American video game designer and video game programmer.
Pac-Man is a 1982 maze video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. under official license by Namco, and an adaptation of the 1980 arcade game Pac-Man. The player controls the title character, who attempts to consume all of the wafers in a maze while avoiding four ghosts that pursue him. Eating flashing wafers at the corners of the screen causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue and flee, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points. Once eaten, a ghost is reduced to a pair of eyes, which return to the center of the maze to be restored.
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 games. The Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X versions are titled Activision Anthology: Remix Edition, and include the most games. The PlayStation Portable version is titled Activision Hits Remixed.
Video Chess is a chess game for the Atari VCS programmed by Larry Wagner and Bob Whitehead and released by Atari in 1979. Both programmers later developed games for Activision.
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.
AtariAge is a website focusing on classic Atari video games. The site features gaming news, historical archives, discussion forums, and an online store. It was founded in 1998.
Skiing is a video game cartridge for the Atari 2600. It was authored by Bob Whitehead and released by Activision in 1980. It is one of the first video games developed by Activision.
Halo 2600 is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Ed Fries and published by AtariAge for the Atari 2600, a video game console released in 1977 that ended production in 1992. Inspired by the Halo video game series, the game sees players control Master Chief and fight through 64 screens with varied enemies. Completing the game once unlocks a tougher "Legendary" mode.
The first hobbyist-developed game for the Atari 2600 video game console was written in 1995, and more than 100 have been released since then. The majority of games are unlicensed clones of games for other platforms, and there are some also original games and ROM hacks. With only 128 bytes of RAM, no frame buffer, and the code and visuals closely intertwined, the 2600 is a difficult machine to program. and many games were written for the technical challenge. Emulators, programming tools, and documentation are available.
Oystron is an action game developed for the Atari 2600 by Piero Cavina and released in 1997. It is one of the earliest hobbyist-written games for the console. The game, Cavina's first, was initially made available as a freeware 4 KB binary file designed for use on the Starpath Supercharger and with Atari 2600 emulators. It was later released in cartridge form by XYPE, a group of Atari 2600 homebrew developers.
Street Racer is a racing video game developed for the Atari Video Computer System, later known as the Atari 2600. It was programmed by Larry Kaplan and released by Atari, Inc. in September 1977 as one of the nine Atari VCS launch titles. The game was also published by Sears for their Tele-Games product line as Speedway II.
M Network was the brand name used by Mattel Electronics in 1982 and 1983, to publish video games for the Atari 2600, IBM PC, and Apple II.
Tooth Protectors is a video game for the Atari 2600 video game console. It is an early example of an advergame, released exclusively via mail order in 1983 by American company Johnson & Johnson.
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