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100 (mostly) unique games released by Atari, Inc. in North America?


DamonicFury

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I've been trying to figure out just how many games Atari, Inc. released for the VCS/2600 in North America from 1977 to 1984 when it closed up shop and was reborn as Atari Corp. (which didn't release any new games until 1986, I believe.) Below is the list of 100 games I came up with using the sources listed at the bottom of this post. Please note that the three games that were renamed with the exact same program contents aren't counted as separate releases (Basic Math/Fun with Numbers, Championship Soccer/Pele's Soccer and Hunt&Score/A Game of Concentration), but the two games that had at least some of the contents changed are counted (Atari Video Cube/Rubik's Cube and Taz/Asterix)

 

One could reasonably count the unique three games released by Sears as well (Stellar Track, Steeplechase, and Submarine Commander), as they were developed by Atari, Inc., but I have chosen not to do so here.

 

1977:
1. Combat
2. Air-Sea Battle
3. Star Ship (dropped around Fall 1980)
4. Indy 500
5. Street Racer
6. Video Olympics
7. Surround (dropped around Fall 1981)
8. Blackjack (dropped around Fall 1981)
9. Basic Math (re-released as Fun With Numbers around Summer 1980, then dropped around Fall 1981)
1978:
10. Hangman
11. Space War
12. Codebreaker
13. Home Run
14. Hunt & Score (re-released as A Game of Concentration around Summer 1980)
15. Outlaw
16. Slot Racers
17. Brain Games
18. Flag Capture (dropped around Fall 1981)
19. Breakout
20. Basketball
1979
21. Sky Diver
22. Football
23. Bowling
24. Canyon Bomber
25. Casino
26. Human Cannonball
27. Miniature Golf (dropped around Spring 1981)
28. Slot Machine (dropped around Fall 1980)
29. Video Chess
30. Backgammon
31. BASIC Programming
32. Superman
1980 (Note: Prior to 1980, no games were renamed or dropped.)
33. Space Invaders
34. Adventure
35. 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe
36. Circus Atari
37. Golf
38. Night Driver
39. Championship Soccer (re-released as Pele's Soccer around Summer 1981)
40. Dodge 'Em
41. Maze Craze
42. Video Checkers
1981
43. Othello (last of the "text labels", I believe)
44. Video Pinball
45. Asteroids
46. Warlords
47. Missile Command
1982
48. Super Breakout
49. Haunted House
50. Pac-Man
51. Yar's Revenge
52. Defender
53. Demons to Diamonds
54. Math Gran Prix
55. Berzerk
56. Star Raiders (last of the colored boxes)
57. RealSports Baseball
58. RealSports Volleyball
59. SwordQuest EarthWorld
60. Raiders of the Lost Ark
61. E.T.
62. RealSports Football
63. Vanguard
1983
64. Phoenix
65. Ms. Pac-man
66. SwordQuest Fireworld
67. Centipede
68. Crazy Climber (AtariAge magazine exclusive game)
69. Galaxian
70. RealSports Soccer
71. RealSports Tennis
72. Atari Video Cube (AtariAge magazine exclusive game)
73. Jungle Hunt
74. Kangaroo
75. Battlezone
76. Pole Position
77. Alpha Beam with Ernie
78. Krull
79. Dig Dug
80. Gravitar (AtariAge magazine exclusive game, later re-released by Atari Corp.)
81. Joust
82. Moon Patrol
83. SwordQuest WaterWorld (AtariAge magazine exclusive game, later sold in stores)
84. Big Bird's Egg Catch
85. Cookie Monster Munch
86. Pigs in Space
87. Snoopy and the Red Baron
88. Mario Bros.
89. Sorcerer's Apprentice
90. Obelix
91. Quadrun (AtariAge magazine exclusive game)
1984
92. Millipede
93. Oscar's Trash Race
94. Crystal Castles
95. Taz
96. Asterix (in Canada and Mexico, nearly the same program as Taz)
97. Pengo
98. Gremlins
99. Stargate
100. Rubik's Cube (nearly the same program as Atari Video Cube)
Thanks to Random Terrain for his site that lists his best researched guesses for release dates ( http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-history-1977.html)
If anyone has any corrections, please let me know!
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Not exactly a correction, just pointing out that the summer 1984 transition was messy, making Gremlins and Stargate questionable for your list. There are versions labeled Atari, Inc., but those of us who have tried hard to pin down release dates seem to come up with release dates after July 1, which would mean they were released under Atari, Corp. But perhaps they had been manufactured earlier? Or, perhaps they were manufactured under Atari, Corp. with labels unchanged from their design by Atari, Inc.? Or, perhaps software production continued under Warner for a while before Atari, Corp. really completed the takeover of all manufacturing?

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Aw, yeah! It's really cool to see all the Atari releases organized chronologically--well, by year anyway. I love this! I gotta ask, is there a particular reason you're going through the trouble, sdamon? Whatever it might be, thanks for posting! :thumbsup:

 

You know, it would also be cool to see all releases by all manufacturers organized chronologically by exact date. At least, I think so anyway. Obviously, that'd be a tonnn of work though. :ponder:

 

From there, it would be amazing to see the complete chronological list of all carts released in conjunction with the list of top pop/rock radio hits for that year! Also listed chronologically, of course.

 

Then maybe sitcoms, same way. Then maybe movies. Then maybe cars. Then maybe we'd have basically built a functioning time machine. WHEEE!

 

Sorry. Off the rails. As you were. ;)

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Not exactly a correction, just pointing out that the summer 1984 transition was messy, making Gremlins and Stargate questionable for your list. There are versions labeled Atari, Inc., but those of us who have tried hard to pin down release dates seem to come up with release dates after July 1, which would mean they were released under Atari, Corp. But perhaps they had been manufactured earlier? Or, perhaps they were manufactured under Atari, Corp. with labels unchanged from their design by Atari, Inc.? Or, perhaps software production continued under Warner for a while before Atari, Corp. really completed the takeover of all manufacturing?

Im sure youre right that it was a messy transition that summer! Its certainly possible that Atari Corp. actually released those games, but as the early releases still feature those great silver (not gray!) labels with Atari, Inc. on them, suggesting that they were at least manufactured by Atari, Inc. , thats good enough for me.

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Aw, yeah! It's really cool to see all the Atari releases organized chronologically--well, by year anyway. I love this! I gotta ask, is there a particular reason you're going through the trouble, sdamon? Whatever it might be, thanks for posting! :thumbsup:

Like many of us, I collect this stuff, and I just got curious what the exact number of Atari Inc. 2600 games was. The renamed games and minor hacks complicate things a bit, but I was delighted to find the number was an even 100 when viewed as described above.

 

Please check out Random Terrains site I linked to above... he actually did include many contemporaneous media releases in his lists!

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I think that it is interesting how some of the early releases were dropped from the line-up, while others remained available.

 

For example, who would purchase Home Run or Championship/Pele's Soccer once the Realsports games were available?

 

I question how wide a release Asterix received in Canada. I did not have an Atari 2600 in 1984 (I sold it in 1983, then I bought another in about 1989), but the underlying comic series was not normally translated into English. I only knew one person who read it (in the original French). The Asterix character (and thus the game) would have had minimal mass-market recognition. It may have been more popular in Francophone communities.

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Regarding Asterix...

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but where I'm from (west coast of Newfoundland) my school had a huge collection (the whole series?) of these 8.5x11 or larger hardcover "graphic novel" style books, each volume in both french and english.

Plus the local video store had two Asterix VHS tapes in the kids/cartoon section, one was the one with the Cleopatra, can't remember the other one.

Everyone loved the books in my classes (grades 4-6), mainly because it meant a trip to library or any french related thing you could usually squeeze in some comic time instead of just boring old textbooks.

Plus with the movies in our local store (small town, only had the one) everyone had that little extra exposure...

Anyone in my age range, from my small town, could still tell you who Asterix is I'm sure.

 

I always thought he was a thing here in Canada, mainly because of the french connection... but as I learned in adulthood, it must have just been my little town.

Cause no one knows who Asterix is except a handful of french immersion students... if they aren't busy reading les schtroumpfs.

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Regarding Asterix...

 

 

I always thought he was a thing here in Canada, mainly because of the french connection... but as I learned in adulthood, it must have just been my little town.

Cause no one knows who Asterix is except a handful of french immersion students... if they aren't busy reading les schtroumpfs.

 

Asterix is known from along the Quebec boarder in Ontario and east to all the coastal provinces. Most people in Centeral Ontario and further west out towards BC won't have a clue who those characters are. It's the heavier European influence on this part of Canada for sure from what I have experienced myself. Especially the French speaking areas.

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