List of best-selling Atari 2600 video games

The best-selling video game of all-time on the Atari 2600 console 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 7.7 million units worldwide.[3] The second best-selling Atari 2600 game is Pitfall!, designed by David Crane for Activision, which has sold over 4 million units.[4]

Atari 2600 four-switch "wood veneer" model

Of the top 22 best-selling Atari 2600 video games, ten 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. The Atari 2600 port of Space Invaders, programmed by Rick Maurer for Taito, was the first video game to sell a million copies,[5] while the console port of Asteroids was the best-selling video game prior to the release of Pac-Man.[3]

Video games
List of best-selling video games on the Atari 2600
Title Developer(s) Publisher(s) Programmer(s) Release date Sales Ref.
Pac-Man Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Tod Frye March 16, 1982 7,700,000 [3]
Pitfall! Activision Activision David Crane April 20, 1982 4,000,000 [6]
Asteroids Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Bradley G. Stewart July 1981 3,800,000 [3]
Missile Command Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Rob Fulop March 8, 1981 2,500,000 [7]
Space Invaders Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Rick Maurer March 1980 2,000,000 [8]
Frogger Intellivision Inc. Parker Brothers Ed English August 1982 2,000,000 [9]
Demon Attack Imagic Imagic Rob Fulop March 1982 2,000,000 [10]
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Howard Scott Warshaw December 1982 1,900,000 [11]
Ms. Pac-Man Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Mike Horowitz & Josh Littlefield February 1983 1,600,000 [12]
Adventure Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Warren Robinett July 1980 1,000,000 [13]
Laser Blast Activision Activision David Crane March 1981 1,000,000 [14]
Freeway Activision Activision David Crane July 1981 1,000,000 [14]
Kaboom! Activision Activision Larry Kaplan July 1981 1,000,000 [14]
Yars' Revenge Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Howard Scott Warshaw May 1982 1,000,000 [15]
Atlantis Imagic Imagic Dennis Koble July 1982 1,000,000 [1]
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Parker Brothers Parker Brothers Rex Bradford July 1982 1,000,000 [9]
Cosmic Ark Imagic Imagic Rob Fulop August 1982 1,000,000 [10]
Megamania Activision Activision Steve Cartwright October 1982 1,000,000 [1]
Raiders of the Lost Ark Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Howard Scott Warshaw November 1982 1,000,000 [15]
River Raid Activision Activision Carol Shaw December 1982 1,000,000 [14]

See also

References
  1. Buchanan, Levi (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  2. 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. 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.
  4. Kohler, Chris (January 26, 2010). "Pitfall! Creator David Crane Is Named Videogame Pioneer". Wired. Condé Nast. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  5. 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.
  6. Bogost, Ian; Montfort, Nick (2009). Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01257-7.
  7. Wallis, Alistair (2006-11-23). "Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  8. Hutcheon, Stephen (June 7, 1983). "The video games boom has yet to come". The Age. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  9. 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.
  10. Wallis, Alistair (November 23, 2006). "Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop". Gamasutra. UBM TechWeb. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  11. Orr, Gillian (April 28, 2014). "Why did Atari bury its E.T. video game?". The Independent. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  12. Pursey, Jack (October 20, 2020). "Atari 2600: The 10 Best-Selling Games, Ranked By Sales". Screen Rant. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  13. Baker, Chris (March 13, 2015). "How One Man Invented the Console Adventure Game". Wired. Retrieved March 25, 2016.
  14. Capparell, James (June 1984). "Activision's James Levy: A software success story". Antic. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  15. Stilphen, Scott. "DP Interviews... Howard Scott Warshaw". Digital Press. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
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