The Atari 2600 was a pioneer of the home console industry. At a time when video gaming was predominantly played at arcades, Atari brought the experience to the comfort of people’s homes. The console found its feet after a slow start, eventually reaching an estimated sales figure of 30 million units. This figure eclipsed the next best-selling console of the second generation, the Intellivision, which sold 3 million units.
What goes up must come down though, and the Atari 2600 came down with a crash so hard that it almost destroyed the home console industry. This was predominantly due to the awful reception of two games that, surprisingly, both make it onto this list.
10 Dig Dug (1.64 million)
Dig Dug, like many entries on this list, started life as an arcade machine. Its maze gameplay is similar to Pac-Man and was praised at the time for its inclusion of loveable and marketable characters. As the name suggests, Dig Dug differentiates itself from Pac-Man by having players and enemies navigate through solid dirt.
The game was developed by Namco. A Japanese company that was the predecessor to Bandai Namco, the publisher that is known today for Dark Souls and Tekken.
9 Ms. Pac-Man (1.65 million)
Comfortably the second most recognizable game in the maze genre, the arcade classic came to the Atari 2600 in 1981. The Atari 2600 version of the game was very well received, unlike the disastrous Pac-Man port.
Ms. Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 won the Video Game of the Year (Less than 16k ROM Memory) Arcade Award in 1983. ColecoVision‘s Lady Bug won the over 16k award.
8 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1.97 million)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is one of the most infamous video games ever made. The corresponding film looked set to generate huge income, with director Stephen Spielberg having recently directed the lucrative Raiders of the Lost Ark. Atari saw dollar signs and commissioned Howard Scott Warshaw to make a tie-in game in just six weeks.
This ultra-tight schedule resulted in one of the worst games ever made. It lost Atari eye-watering amounts of money, as they had manufactured a reported 5 million cartridges in anticipation of high demand. An urban legend surfaced, claiming that the unsold cartridges were buried in a landfill. Amazingly, this was confirmed in 2014, when a group of diggers was hired to investigate the legend and found cartridges buried in New Mexico.
7 Demon Attack (2.13 million)
Demon Attack was a fixed shooter set in space. Its gameplay was similar to titles like Space Invaders, Galaxian, and Phoenix. Atari clearly picked up on the similarity to their game Phoenix, as they took legal action against Demon Attack‘s developer and publisher Imagic.
Despite this setback, Demon Attack was a success. It was Imagic’s highest ever selling game and won Video Game of the Year at the 1982 Arcade Awards.
6 Frogger (2.20 million)
Frogger is one of the most iconic games on this list. The game tasks players with crossing a road and river to reach a safe space on the other side. This is far harder than it sounds though, as the unfortunate frog has to deal with alligator-infested waters and the world’s busiest road.
The game was praised for its addictiveness at the time. The gameplay mechanics are so addictive, in fact, that clones of the game are successful even today. Exemplified by Crossy Road, a 2014 mobile game that generated over $10 million in income just months after release.
5 Space Invaders (2.53 million)
If it wasn’t for Space Invaders, video gaming may still be a niche form of media today. The game is recognized as one of the most influential games ever made, and for being a key figure in the aptly named golden age of arcade. Dates for when this golden age ended vary, but 1978 will always be the starting year, as this is the year when the iconic shooter originally released.
Space Invaders was created by Tomohiro Nishikado and is considered gaming’s first-ever Shoot em’ up.
4 Missile Command (2.76 million)
One of the many Shoot em’ up games that Space Invaders inspired is Missile Command. The game required players to shoot down enemy missiles that are trying to destroy six cities; it was inspired by the Cold War.
Consequently, the six cities were originally based on six real American cities. However, game creator Dave Theurer removed the city names, possibly due to him suffering from nightmares of his game’s nuclear warfare becoming real.
3 Asteroids (4.31 million)
Asteroids is another key figure in the golden age of arcade. The space shooter differentiated itself from the popular fixed shooters by giving players full multi-directional control. This gameplay mechanic was enough to knock Space Invaders off its perch, as Asteroids became the new leader of the arcade market.
Furthermore, it was soon ported to the Atari 2600, where it again surpassed the sales of Space Invaders.
2 Pitfall! (4.50 million)
Pitfall! is a platformer made by current industry giants Activision. Interestingly, Activision was founded by game creators who felt that Atari wasn’t giving them the financial reward or accreditation that they deserved. Furthermore, the first-ever gaming easter egg was also a by-product of Atari’s treatment of game creators. Adventure, which only narrowly missed out on this list, features a secret room. The room simply contains the words “Created by Warren Robinett”.
Although Pitfall! may not be able to hold a candle to modern platforming games like Crash Bandicoot 4 or Super Mario Odyssey, it is still contextually considered to be one of the best video games ever made.
1 Pac-Man (7.81 million)
Pac-Man, along with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, is the Atari 2600 game mentioned in the introduction that almost crashed the home console industry. The game was so bad, in fact, that stores began canceling customer’s orders of the game. As they were receiving so many returns and complaints that it wasn’t worth them selling it anymore.
The game was criticized for massively watering-down the arcade classic’s gameplay. Moreover, hardware limitations meant that the game’s ghosts would constantly flicker. Subsequently making the game unplayable for many people.
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