Atari 2600 games

Where home video games began: the Atari 2600’s simple, endless classics.

74 Atari 2600 games to play in your browser with a controller. Free every day; log in with Discord to play.

• Pitfall! (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): Pitfall Harry swings on vines over tar pits and crocodiles, hunting 32 treasures in 20 minutes across 255 screens of jungle.
• Adventure (Atari 2600, 1980, Atari): Guide a square hero through castles and mazes with a sword, keys and a magnet to bring back the enchanted chalice past three dragons. It hides one of gaming's first easter eggs.
• River Raid (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): Fly a fighter jet up an endless river, shooting ships, helicopters and bridges, and refuel over fuel depots before you run dry.
• Space Invaders (Atari 2600, 1980, Atari): Shoot down marching rows of aliens before they land, in the Atari 2600 version that became the console's first big hit, with 112 variations.
• Asteroids (Atari 2600, 1981, Atari): Turn and thrust your ship to blast drifting asteroids into smaller and smaller pieces, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade hit.
• Missile Command (Atari 2600, 1981, Atari): Defend six cities from waves of falling missiles by firing counter-missiles from your base, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade game.
• Yars' Revenge (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): Yar, a mutated fly, nibbles through the Qotile's shield and fires the Zorlon Cannon to destroy it, in Atari's best-selling original 2600 game.
• Combat (Atari 2600, 1977, Atari): Two players face off with tanks, biplanes and jet fighters across 27 variations, in the game that came packed with the Atari 2600.
• Kaboom! (Atari 2600, 1981, Activision): The Mad Bomber drops bombs faster and faster, and you slide your water buckets to catch every one before it hits the ground.
• Ms. Pac-Man (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Ms. Pac-Man clears four mazes of dots while dodging the ghosts, in an Atari 2600 version far better than the console's Pac-Man.
• Enduro (Atari 2600, 1983, Activision): Race through day, night, fog and snow in a cross-country endurance race, passing enough cars each day to keep going.
• H.E.R.O. (Atari 2600, 1984, Activision): Roderick Hero flies with a prop pack, blasts walls with dynamite and zaps creatures with his helmet laser to rescue miners trapped underground.
• Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (Atari 2600, 1984, Activision): Pitfall Harry explores a vast cavern to rescue his niece Rhonda and his cat Quickclaw, with music from a special chip in the cartridge.
• Seaquest (Atari 2600, 1983, Activision): Pilot a submarine, shooting sharks and enemy subs while picking up divers, and surface for oxygen before it runs out.
• Demon Attack (Atari 2600, 1982, Imagic): Blast waves of flapping demons over an icy planet as they split, dive and fire lasers back at your cannon.
• Frostbite (Atari 2600, 1983, Activision): Frostbite Bailey jumps across drifting ice floes to build an igloo block by block before he freezes.
• Keystone Kapers (Atari 2600, 1983, Activision): Officer Kelly chases the robber Harry Hooligan up the floors of a department store, dodging shopping carts, balls and toy planes.
• Beamrider (Atari 2600, 1984, Activision): Ride the beams of a space shield and blast fifteen enemy saucers in each sector before taking on its sentinel ship.
• Berzerk (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): Escape a maze of killer robots while Evil Otto bounces after you, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade game.
• Defender (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): Protect the humanoids on the planet's surface from abducting landers, with smart bombs and hyperspace, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade game.
• Dig Dug (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Tunnel underground and pump up Pookas and Fygars until they pop, or drop rocks on them, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade game.
• Frogger (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1982, Parker Brothers): Hop across a busy road and a river of logs and turtles to get every frog home, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade game.
• Phoenix (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Shoot down waves of birds, then the giant mothership and its alien commander, in the Atari 2600 version of the arcade shooter.
• Solaris (Atari 2600, 1986, Atari): Warp between the sectors of the galaxy defending planets from the Zylons, on a search for the lost planet Solaris.
• Warlords (Atari 2600, 1981, Atari): Four warlords guard their castles in the corners of the screen, deflecting a fireball with their shields until one is left standing.
• Armor Ambush (Atari 2600, 1982, M Network): Two players each command two tanks on scrolling battlefields of forests, rivers and roads, in Mattel's port of its Intellivision Armor Battle.
• Atlantis (Atari 2600, 1982, Imagic): Defend the undersea city with three gun posts as Gorgon ships dive faster and faster; when the last building falls, Atlantis sinks.
• Battlezone (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): A first-person tank fight from the arcade, reworked for the 2600 with a radar and a view from behind your tank.
• Boxing (Atari 2600, 1980, Activision): Two boxers seen from above trade jabs and long punches for two minutes, best against a friend, from Activision's first year.
• Centipede (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): Shoot the centipede as it winds down through the mushrooms, with the spider, flea and scorpion making trouble, in the 2600's own take.
• Chopper Command (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): Fly a helicopter over the desert to guard a truck convoy from enemy planes and choppers, Activision's answer to Defender.
• Cosmic Ark (Atari 2600, 1982, Imagic): Shoot meteors from the ark, then beam creatures up from planets with a lander, in Imagic's two-part follow-up to Atlantis.
• Crystal Castles (Atari 2600, 1984, Atari): Bentley Bear grabs gems from isometric castles while Berthilda the witch and her trees give chase, from the arcade trackball game.
• Donkey Kong (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1982, Coleco): Mario climbs the girders and the rivet stage to rescue Pauline, in Coleco's famously stripped-down two-screen port.
• Dragonfire (Atari 2600, 1982, Imagic): Dash across the drawbridge under dragon fire, then grab the treasure in the castle room before the dragon catches you.
• Dragster (Atari 2600, 1980, Activision): Shift gears and dodge a blown engine on a quarter-mile drag strip, chasing the perfect start, in Activision's first cartridge.
• Fishing Derby (Atari 2600, 1980, Activision): Two anglers on a dock fish the same pond for the biggest catch, with a shark that eats anything reeled in too slowly.
• Freeway (Atari 2600, 1981, Activision): Guide a chicken across ten lanes of traffic as many times as you can in two minutes, side by side against a friend.
• Frogs and Flies (Atari 2600, 1982, M Network): Two frogs hop between lily pads snapping flies out of the air until night falls, a gentle one from Mattel's M Network line.
• Galaxian (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Galaxians swoop down from formation in Atari's port of Namco's arcade game, with the flagship escorts and the fast two-shot pace.
• Grand Prix (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): A side-scrolling road race against the clock through four courses with other cars, oil slicks and bridges to time right.
• Gravitar (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Fly your ship against gravity through planets of gun bunkers, refueling with the tractor beam, in the 2600 version of Atari's hardest arcade game.
• Gyruss (Atari 2600, 1984, Parker Brothers): Circle the screen's edge shooting inward at the swarms, warp by warp toward Earth, with Bach's Toccata underneath, from Konami's arcade game.
• Haunted House (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): A pair of eyes explores the dark mansion by matchlight, finding the three pieces of the urn while ghosts, bats and spiders snuff the matches.
• Ice Hockey (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1981, Activision): Two-on-two hockey where each player steers both skaters, with real stick handling, from Activision's early catalog.
• Joust (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Flap an ostrich into the buzzard riders and come down on top, alone or two players, with the lava troll and pterodactyl from Williams' arcade game.
• Jr. Pac-Man (Atari 2600, 1986, Atari): Junior's wide scrolling mazes, with tricycles and kites that turn dots into obstacles, in one of the last Atari-made 2600 games.
• Jungle Hunt (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Swing vine to vine, swim past crocodiles, dodge boulders and leap cannibals to save the lady, from Taito's arcade game.
• Mario Bros. (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Mario and Luigi flip Shellcreepers and Sidesteppers from below and kick them off the sewer floors, together or against each other.
• Maze Craze (Atari 2600, 1980, Atari): Two cops race through a randomly drawn maze to the exit, with robbers, invisible walls and fog among the sixteen game variations.
• MegaMania (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): A space nightmare of hamburgers, bow ties and dice swooping down in formation, shot from a ship with a dwindling energy bar.
• Millipede (Atari 2600, 1984, Atari): Centipede's sequel: a millipede, mosquitoes, dragonflies and DDT bombs, with the swarm waves between rounds, on the 2600.
• Montezuma's Revenge (Atari 2600, 1984, Parker Brothers): Panama Joe jumps, climbs and collects keys through the pyramid's rooms of snakes, skulls and disappearing floors, in the 2600 port of the platformer classic.
• Moon Patrol (Atari 2600, 1983, Atari): Drive the moon buggy over craters and under UFOs, shooting up and ahead, through the course's checkpoints, from Irem's arcade game.
• Pac-Man (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): The 2600 Pac-Man, famous for its flickering ghosts and strange maze, is still Pac-Man: eat the wafers, grab the vitamins and chomp the ghosts.
• Popeye (Atari 2600, 1983, Parker Brothers): Catch the hearts, notes and letters Olive drops while Brutus and the Sea Hag chase, with spinach for the turnaround, from Nintendo's arcade game.
• Pressure Cooker (Atari 2600, 1983, Activision): Catch the toppings flying across a burger kitchen, build each order right and send it down the correct chute, in Activision's fast-food frenzy.
• Q*bert (Atari 2600) (Atari 2600, 1983, Parker Brothers): Hop Q*bert across the pyramid changing cube colors while Coily, Ugg and Wrongway close in, on the 2600.
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600, 1982, Atari): Indy trades for a whip, a shovel and the ankh across Cairo's marketplace, the Map Room and the Well of Souls, in Atari's two-joystick adventure.
• Riddle of the Sphinx (Atari 2600, 1982, Imagic): Walk the desert as the Pharaoh's son, trading treasures with Isis and Anubis and braving thieves and scorpions to reach the Sphinx and answer its riddle.
• River Raid II (Atari 2600, 1988, Activision): Take off from a carrier, fly the river's course and land again, with fuel and bridges to manage, in the late-1980s sequel to Carol Shaw's classic.
• Robot Tank (Atari 2600, 1983, Activision): A first-person tank battle through day, night, rain and snow, with damage that knocks out your radar, cannon or treads one by one.
• Skiing (Atari 2600, 1980, Activision): Slalom and downhill runs against the clock, with the skier's lean controlling speed and the gates to thread, from Activision's first batch.
• Solar Fox (Atari 2600, 1983, CBS Electronics): Skim a ship over grids of solar cells to collect them all while sentinels fire across the field, from Bally Midway's arcade game.
• Spider Fighter (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): Spiders and bugs drop toward your fruit while a fast-firing blaster sweeps the bottom of the screen, in Activision's quick shooter.
• Stampede (Atari 2600, 1981, Activision): Ride a horse across the range lassoing stray cattle before they stampede off the left of the screen, with Black Angus in the way.
• Star Wars: The Arcade Game (Atari 2600, 1983, Parker Brothers): Fly the X-wing against TIE fighters, the Death Star's towers and the trench run in Parker Brothers' port of Atari's vector arcade game.
• Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (Atari 2600, 1982, Parker Brothers): Fly a snowspeeder against the AT-AT walkers on Hoth, hitting them 48 times each or using the Force, in the first Star Wars video game.
• StarMaster (Atari 2600, 1982, Activision): Warp between sectors on the galactic map to defend starbases from enemy fighters, with a cockpit view and ship damage to repair at base.
• Stargate (Atari 2600, 1984, Atari): Defender's sequel: protect the humanoids with inviso and smart bombs and use the Stargate to jump across the planet, in Atari's port.
• Super Breakout (Atari 2600, 1981, Atari): Breakout with double walls, cavities and a progressive mode, played here with the stick or D-pad, in Atari's own sequel.
• Tapper (Atari 2600, 1984, Sega): Slide root beers down four bars to thirsty customers and catch the empties, in the 2600 version of Bally Midway's arcade game.
• Tennis (Atari 2600, 1981, Activision): A clean, quick tennis match from above, with the ball's shadow for depth and a second player to serve against.
• Turmoil (Atari 2600, 1982, 20th Century Fox): Shoot the ships that fly down seven lanes toward you while grabbing prizes before they turn into tanks, in Mark Turmell's twitchy shooter.

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