The Best-Selling Games for The Atari 2600. — Repair Outlet icon Skip to content
The best-selling games for the Atari 2600.

The best-selling games for the Atari 2600.

It's one thing to commemorate how massive the gaming industry is nowadays, with numerous platforms of playing games available on such a mass scale. But everything has to start somewhere and be developed from certain areas to constantly improve and adapt. The Atari 2600, to many gamers, is considered to be where it all started. This reason alone, is why the Atari 2600 has such a cult following because it really does bring out the nostalgia of retro gaming. Retro gaming isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and what better way to congratulate this console by showcasing some of its best-selling games. Below, are the six best-selling Atari 2600 games, in order of sales.

6. Asteroids (3,800,000+ Sales)

Asteroids | Retro Gamer

Credit: Retro Gamer

Lyle Raines was the brains of the idea of Asteroids, who at the time, was Atari's vice president of engineering in 1979. However, it was Ed Logg, who was also responsible for the Atari classic Centipede who eventually took the lead on the project and is credited with it's programming. The game's concept is simple yet effective and that's why it was enjoyed and has developed into numerous modern variants. The aim is to shoot the large asteroids and break them into smaller asteroids. Then shoot those asteroids into even smaller asteroids. The smaller the size of the rocks, the faster they move. This asteroid field puts the player in an ever-increasing danger zone of flying debris. UFO's can also be occasionally added to spice things up and keep the player from just sitting there avoiding the asteroids.

5. Frogger (4,000,000+ Sales)

Frogger | ClassicReload.com

Credit: ClassicReload

Who would've thought the amazing company behind Metal Gear Solid & Silent Hill were the creators of the classic Frogger. Often games from this era never really upped the difficulty and Frogger was one of the first games that incorporated difficulty spikes. It is why this innovation, many games today feature rising and spiking difficulty to challenge players to get better. In Frogger, one player takes control of a frog who is trying to cross the road from the bottom to the top, but getting to the top is not that easy, as the frog would need to avoid moving cars and try to hop on the back of turtles or on logs of wood without touching the water on the river. As the player progresses in Frogger, the levels will get harder and harder, with cars moving much faster than before, logs having snakes that can kill the frog in one hit, and crocodiles appearing on the river to stop the frog from reaching the finish line.

4. Pitfall! (4,000,000+ Sales)

The Pitfalls Of Atari Development: The Industry's First Platformer - Game  Informer

Credit: Game Informer

The Call of Duty giants ActiVision are another company who created one of Atari's greatest ever games, Pitfall! According to gaming folklore, the game's concept was created in as little as ten minutes. The game was designed and programmed by ex-Atari programmer David Crane for the Atari 2600.  Players take control of Pitfall Harry in his quest to collect 32 treasures through the jungle in a 20-minute time limit while avoiding obstacles and hazards. Released in September 1982, Pitfall! is considered to be the first ever platform game, that inspired retro classics like Super Mario, Wonderboy and more!

3. Donkey Kong (4,100,000+ Sales)

Donkey Kong (Atari 2600) - online game | RetroGames.cz

Credit: RetroGames

Donkey Kong is amazing for many reasons, and not just for the game itself, but it was actually the reason why Mario was created. Mario first appeared as the protagonist of Donkey Kong. Originally, the creator Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to use Popeye as the protagonist, but when he could not achieve the licensing rights, he created Mario instead who was originally called Jumpman. The game was fairly simple, you played as Mario...or Jumpman, and you had to get to the top of a set of girders avoiding barrels and fireballs thrown by Doney Kong to rescue your girlfriend Pauline. The game was an instant hit in the arcades when it was released in 1981. 

2. Space Invaders (6,200,000+ Sales)

Space Invaders (Atari 2600) - online game | RetroGames.cz

Credit: RetroGames

Space Invaders was developed in 1978 by Taito. It was developed by Tomohiro Nishikado, who was inspired by other media: Breakout, The War of the Worlds, and Star Wars. The games was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a novelty to a global industry. The game Space Invaders became an immediate hit when it was released in 1978. In the original planning for the game, they had planned to have the aliens be human soldiers. Taito figured that they did not want to send the message that shooting humans was ok, so they changed it to aliens. Considering how marketable Space Invaders has become, with countless merchandise surrounding the name that to this day still gets released.

1. Pac-Man (6,200,000+ Sales)

TURN TO CHANNEL 3: Worse than 'E.T.,' 'Pac-Man' is a hard pill to swallow  on Atari 2600 | NEPA Scene

Credit: NEPA Scene

Would it have been any other game than Pac-Man? The classic and enormously popular Pac-Man came out in Japan on May 21, 1980, and by October of that year it was released in the United States. The yellow, pie-shaped Pac-Man character, who travels around a maze trying to eat dots and avoid four hunting ghosts, quickly became an icon of the 1980s. To this day, Pac-Man remains one of the most popular video games in history, and its innovative design has been the focus of numerous books and academic articles. The game was created by Namco in Japan, and released in the U.S. by Midway. By 1981, approximately 250 million games of Pac-Man were being played in the U.S. each week on 100,000 Pac-Man machines. Since then, Pac-Man has been released on nearly every video game platform. On May 21, 2010, the Google Doodle even featured a playable version to mark the 30th anniversary of Pac-Man's release.

So there you have it, Atari's best selling games and the list you have to admit contains some absolute classics. If you were lucky enough to own or remember the Atari 2600, let us know your favourite games from the console!

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