Sixty Atari 2600 Classic Games (and a few Others)

The Atari 2600 had many classic games as befitting the first really successful home video game console.  However, it has a lot of not so classic games and a lot of derivative games.  I have devised a list of must have games.  The games on this list are generally easy to pick up and play, provide some of the most fun gameplay on the console.  Moreover, there are no holy grails on this list.  If you want to actually collect the cartridges, as opposed to playing them on a Harmony Cart, none should break the bank.

If you are going for a pure cartridge route, note that four of these games will require a Starpath Supercharger.  A Supercharger is a very wise investment because almost every game is really good.  Moreover, you do not even need the original cassette tapes to play the games.  You can run the binary files through a digital to analog program like makewav and output the audio signal from your computer to the Supercharger.

There are a lot of direct arcade ports on this list.  I have highlighted them in yellow.  Some of the early 2600 games like Indy 500, Combat and Video Olympics are more of the embodiment of a series of arcade games (the Indy, Tank and Pong series), but I consider them the official home port of these arcade system lines.  Some arcade ports like Stargate and The Official Frogger are truly amazing.  If you want to obtain the cassette before playing The Official Frogger, the Parker Bros. cartridge is good enough to fill the void.

You will note a fair number of paddle games on this list.  The paddle controller is the second most used controller for the 2600 and I tried to give a sampling of the best games that support it.  Warlords is a great four player game, an essential addition to any 2600 library.  Indy 500 uses driving controllers, which are far more precise than paddle controllers and are always responsive.

Most of these games are essentially pick up and play, but there are a few exceptions.  You will need the manual and overlay for Space Shuttle, which uses every switch on the console.  Dragonstomper, the only true RPG for the 2600, requires a read of the manual before sitting down with the game.

A 2600 game does not need advanced hardware to earn classic status.  Of the sixty games on this list, thirty one do not require any additional hardware.  Of the 8K and 16K cartridges, only six require extra RAM, noted in blue background :

Game Title	Publisher	Size	Notes
Communist Mutants from Space	Starpath	1 Tape Load
Fireball	Starpath	1 Tape Load	Paddle Controller
Frogger, The Official	Starpath	1 Tape Load
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns	Activision	10.2K	Unique Hardware
Crystal Castles	Atari	16K
Dig Dug	Atari	16K
Jr. Pac-Man	Atari	16K
Midnight Magic	Atari	16K
Millipede	Atari	16K
Road Runner	Atari	16K
Secret Quest	Atari	16K	Has a password save system
Solaris	Atari	16K
Bowling	Atari	2K
Boxing	Activision	2K
Combat	Atari	2K	Two players required
Fishing Derby	Activision	2K
Freeway	Activision	2K
Frogger	Parker Bros.	2K
Indy 500	Atari	2K	Driving Controller, two players highly recommended
Kaboom!	Activision	2K	Paddle Controller
Video Olympics	Atari	2K	Paddle Controller, four player support
Dragonstomper	Starpath	3 Tape Loads
Adventure	Atari	4K
Atlantis	Imagic	4K
Berzerk	Atari	4K
Chopper Command	Activision	4K
Circus Atari	Atari	4K	Paddle Controller
Cosmic Ark	Imagic	4K
Demon Attack	Imagic	4K
Dolphin	Activision	4K
Enduro	Activision	4K
Haunted House	Atari	4K
Megamania	Activision	4K
Missile Command	Atari	4K
Pitfall!	Activision	4K
Q*bert	Parker Bros.	4K
River Raid	Activision	4K
Seaquest	Activision	4K
Space Invaders	Atari	4K
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back	Parker Bros.	4K
Super Breakout	Atari	4K	Paddle Controller
Warlords	Atari	4K	Paddle Controller, four player support
Wizard of Wor	CBS Electronics	4K
Yars' Revenge	Atari	4K
Asteroids	Atari	8K
Battlezone	Atari	8K
Beamrider	Activision	8K
Centipede	Atari	8K
Frogger II: Threeedeep!	Parker Bros.	8K
H.E.R.O.	Activision	8K
Joust	Atari	8K
Jungle Hunt	Atari	8K
Moon Patrol	Atari	8K
Ms. Pac-Man	Atari	8K
Pressure Cooker	Activision	8K
Robot Tank	Activision	8K
Solar Fox	CBS Electronics	8K
Space Shuttle	Activision	8K	Has an overlay for 4-switch and 6-switch consoles
Stargate	Atari	8K
Tapper	Sega	8K

There are several games, that while not bona fide classics, have such a historical impact or made in such large numbers that they may deserve to be on any list regardless of quality.  This includes the unholy three of the 2600, Defender, Pac-Man and E.T. the Extra-terrestial.  Defender is fairly disappointing compared to Stargate, Pac-Man's reputation is well-known and E.T. status is legendary.  However, the first two are pick up and play.  E.T. requires reading the manual and avoiding the worst of the bugs (do not stop levitating until every pixel of E.T. has cleared the pit.)  Breakout and Star Raiders are OK, but Breakout pales in comparison to Super Breakout and Star Raiders is best played on the Atari 8-bit and 5200 systems. Donkey Kong from Coleco is also extremely common but only has two of the four levels from the arcade and is rather lacking.  The Swordquest games are not very fun and the third is rare.  But if you really want to explore garbage on the 2600, you could try the adult games available for that system, starting with the execrable Custer's Revenge.

With this post, my 257th, one can no longer number the number of blog entries on this blog in an 8-bit number!