List of best-selling Atari 2600 video games

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Atari 2600 four-switch "wood veneer" model

The best-selling video game of all-time on the Atari 2600 console (previously known as the Atari VCS) is Pac-Man, a port of the arcade game of the same name programmed by Tod Frye.[1] Originally created by Toru Iwatani and released in 1980, Pac-Man was later ported to many home video game consoles, beginning with the Atari 2600 in 1982.[2] Within months it became the best-selling home video game of all-time, with more than 1.5 million units pre-ordered by customers before its release.[2] Pac-Man went on to sell over 7.9 million units worldwide.[3]

The second best-selling Atari 2600 game is Space Invaders,[3] a port of the 1978 Taito arcade game that was programmed by Rick Maurer, which was the first video game to sell a million copies.[4] It went on to sell over 6 million copies, and was the best-selling Atari VCS game up until Pac-Man.[3] The other three titles among the top five best-selling Atari 2600 games are Pitfall! (designed by David Crane for Activision), Donkey Kong (a port of the 1981 Nintendo arcade game programmed by Garry Kitchen for Coleco), and Frogger (a port of the Konami and Sega arcade game programmed by Ed English for Parker Brothers), each having sold over 4 million units.

Of the top 28 best-selling Atari 2600 video games, 15 were developed and/or published by the console's manufacturer, Atari, Inc. Other publishers with multiple entries in the top 20 are Activision (six titles), Imagic (three titles) and Parker Brothers (two titles). Three of the games in the top 20 were programmed by David Crane, three by Howard Scott Warshaw, three by Rob Fulop, and two by Bradley G. Stewart.

Video games[]

List of best-selling video games on the Atari 2600
Title Developer / Publisher Licensor(s) Programmer(s) Release date Sales Reference(s)
Pac-Man Atari, Inc. Namco Tod Frye March 16, 1982 7,956,413 [3][a]
Space Invaders Atari, Inc. Taito Rick Maurer March 1980 6,091,178 [3][b]
Pitfall! Activision N/A David Crane April 20, 1982 4,000,000 [5][6]
Donkey Kong Coleco Nintendo Garry Kitchen July 1982 4,000,000 [7][8][9]
Frogger Parker Brothers Konami, Sega Ed English August 1982 4,000,000 [10]
Asteroids Atari, Inc. N/A Bradley G. Stewart July 1981 3,800,000 [11]
Defender Atari, Inc. Williams Electronics 1982 3,006,790 [3][c]
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atari, Inc. Universal Pictures Howard Scott Warshaw December 1982 2,637,985 [d]
Missile Command Atari, Inc. N/A Rob Fulop March 8, 1981 2,500,000 [12]
Demon Attack Imagic Imagic Rob Fulop March 1982 2,000,000 [13]
Ms. Pac-Man Atari, Inc. Midway Manufacturing Mike Horowitz, Josh Littlefield February 1983 1,963,078 [3]
Night Driver Atari, Inc. N/A 1980 1,978,916 [3][e]
Berzerk Atari, Inc. Stern August 1982 1,798,773 [3][f]
Warlords Atari, Inc. N/A 1981 1,730,239 [3][g]
Breakout Atari, Inc. N/A November 1978 1,650,336 [3][h]
Centipede Atari, Inc. N/A 1982 1,475,240 [3]
Adventure Atari, Inc. N/A Warren Robinett July 1980 1,000,000 [14]
Laser Blast Activision N/A David Crane March 1981 1,000,000 [15]
Freeway Activision N/A David Crane July 1981 1,000,000 [15]
Kaboom! Activision N/A Larry Kaplan July 1981 1,000,000 [15]
Yars' Revenge Atari, Inc. N/A Howard Scott Warshaw May 1982 1,000,000 [16]
Atlantis Imagic N/A Dennis Koble July 1982 1,000,000 [1]
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Parker Brothers Lucasfilm Rex Bradford July 1982 1,000,000 [17][additional citation(s) needed]
Cosmic Ark Imagic N/A Rob Fulop August 1982 1,000,000 [13]
Megamania Activision N/A Steve Cartwright October 1982 1,000,000 [1]
Raiders of the Lost Ark Atari, Inc. Lucasfilm Howard Scott Warshaw November 1982 1,000,000 [16]
River Raid Activision N/A Carol Shaw December 1982 1,000,000 [15]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ 7,271,844 in 1982. 684,569 in 1983.
  2. ^ 1,318,655 in 1980. 2,964,137 in 1981. 1,373,033 in 1982. 435,353 in 1983.
  3. ^ As of 1982. At least 68,993 copies later returned in 1983.
  4. ^ As of 1982. At least 669,733 copies later returned in 1983.
  5. ^ 161,352 in 1980. 779,547 in 1981. 457,058 in 1982. 580,959 in 1983.
  6. ^ As of 1982. At least 20,314 copies later returned in 1983.
  7. ^ 936,861 in 1981. 420,924 in 1982. 372,454 in 1983.
  8. ^ 256,265 in 1980. 838,635 in 1981. 242,764 in 1982. 312,672 in 1983.

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Buchanan, Levi (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Katz, Arnie; Kunkel, Bill (May 1982). "The A-Maze-ing World of Gobble Games: A Guide to Maze-Chase Gamers". Electronic Games. Vol. 1 no. 3. New York City, New York: Reese Publishing Company. pp. 62–63. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l Cartridge Sales Since 1980. Atari Corp. Via "The Agony & The Ecstasy". Once Upon Atari. Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in.
  4. ^ Weiss, Bret (July 6, 2007). Classic Home Video Games, 1972–1984: A Complete Reference Guide. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7864322-6-4.
  5. ^ Bogost, Ian; Montfort, Nick (2009). Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
  6. ^ Kohler, Chris (January 26, 2010). "Pitfall! Creator David Crane Is Named Videogame Pioneer". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  7. ^ Kitchen, Garry. "Donkey Kong 2600". Garry Kitchen. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  8. ^ Morrison, Mike (1994). The Magic of Interactive Entertainment. Sams Publishing. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-672-30456-9. Kitchen's first cartridge game (Donkey Kong, 1981), sold 4 million units, took five months to create, and used 4,000 lines of code.
  9. ^ Kitchen, Garry E. (March 5, 2010). Expert Report of Garry E. Kitchen (PDF). United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. p. 3.
  10. ^ "Ed English: 2600 (Frogger, Mr. Do!, Roc 'n Rope)" (PDF). Digital Press (52). May–June 2003. p. 7. Retrieved 19 April 2021.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  11. ^ Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (November 25, 2012). Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun. Carmel, New York: Syzygy Press. p. 582. ISBN 978-0-9855974-0-5. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Wallis, Alistair (2006-11-23). "Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Wallis, Alistair (November 23, 2006). "Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  14. ^ Baker, Chris (March 13, 2015). "How One Man Invented the Console Adventure Game". Wired. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Capparell, James (June 1984). "Activision's James Levy: A software success story". Antic. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b Stilphen, Scott. "DP Interviews... Howard Scott Warshaw". Digital Press. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  17. ^ Wojahn, Ellen (February 1, 2003). The General Mills/Parker Brothers Merger: Playing by Different Rules. Washington, D.C.: Beard Books. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-5879818-2-1. Retrieved April 22, 2017.

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