TheAtari2600was 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 anestimated sales figure of 30 million units. This figure eclipsed the next best-selling console of the second generation, theIntellivision, which sold 3 million units.
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What goes up must come down though, and theAtari 2600came 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.
This list’s figures are taken from VGChartz.
10Dig Dug (1.64 million)
Dig Dug, like many entries on this list, started life as an arcade machine. Its maze gameplay is similar toPac-Manand was praised at the time for its inclusion of loveable and marketable characters. As the name suggests,Dig Dugdifferentiates itself fromPac-Manby having players and enemies navigate through solid dirt.
The game was developed by Namco. A Japanese company that was the predecessor toBandai Namco,the publisher that is known today forDark SoulsandTekken.
9Ms. Pac-Man (1.65 million)
Comfortably the second most recognizable game in the maze genre, the arcade classic came to theAtari 2600in 1981. TheAtari 2600version of the game was very well received, unlike the disastrousPac-Manport.
Ms. Pac-Man on the Atari 2600won the Video Game of the Year (Less than 16k ROM Memory) Arcade Award in 1983.ColecoVision’sLady Bugwon the over 16k award.
8E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1.97 million)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrialis 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 lucrativeRaiders of the Lost Ark. Atari saw dollar signs and commissioned Howard Scott Warshaw to make a tie-in game in just six weeks.
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This ultra-tight schedule resulted in one of the worst games ever made. It lost Atarieye-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.
7Demon Attack (2.13 million)
Demon Attackwas a fixed shooter set in space. Its gameplay was similar to titles likeSpace Invaders, Galaxian,andPhoenix. Atari clearly picked up on the similarity to their gamePhoenix, as they took legal action againstDemon Attack’s developer and publisher Imagic.
Despite this setback,Demon Attackwas a success. It was Imagic’s highest ever selling game andwon Video Game of the Year at the 1982 Arcade Awards.
6Frogger (2.20 million)
Froggeris one of the mosticonic 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 byCrossy Road,a 2014 mobile game that generated over $10 million in income just months after release.
5Space Invaders (2.53 million)
If it wasn’t forSpace Invaders, video gaming may still be a niche form of media today. The game is recognized as one of themost 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.
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Space Invaderswas created by Tomohiro Nishikado and is consideredgaming’s first-ever Shoot em' up.
4Missile Command (2.76 million)
One of the many Shoot em' up games thatSpace Invadersinspired isMissile 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 himsuffering from nightmares of his game’s nuclear warfare becoming real.
3Asteroids (4.31 million)
Asteroidsis 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 knockSpace Invadersoff its perch, asAsteroidsbecame the new leader of the arcade market.
Furthermore, it was soon ported to theAtari 2600,where it again surpassed the sales ofSpace Invaders.
2Pitfall! (4.50 million)
Pitfall!is a platformer made by current industry giantsActivision. Interestingly,Activisionwas founded by game creators who felt that Atari wasn’t giving them the financial reward or accreditation that they deserved.Furthermore, thefirst-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”.
AlthoughPitfall!may not be able to hold a candle to modern platforming games likeCrash Bandicoot 4orSuper Mario Odyssey,it is still contextually considered to beone of the best video games ever made.
1Pac-Man (7.81 million)
Pac-Man,along withE.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, is theAtari 2600game 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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