10 of The Rarest Atari 2600 Games
The Atari 2600 is considered be the console that started the video game revolution. The system was in production in some form for over 14 years. Some of the games are worth quite a bit of money. Here are 10 Atari 2600 that are very rare and valuable.
image by Wikipedia
Air Raid(Menavision) – This was the only game released by Menavision for the Atari 2600. It is easily identifiable by it’s light blue color and the T-shaped handle. Considered to be the most valuable Atari 2600 commercially released, Air Raid usually sells for $1500 – $3000 when it shows up on Ebay. So far only one box has ever turned up for this game.
Asterix (Atari) – The European version is not very uncommon but the North American version is extremely rare. It was later altered and sold as Taz.
Atlantis II(Imagic) – Imagic held a video game contest in 1982 to see who was the best Atlantis player in the world. Unfortunately several people maxed out the score and Imagic sent each of the gifted players a copy of Atlantis II to settle the tie. The box was the same except for the label “Atlantis II” attached to the front. The game play was identical to first was one except that it was more difficult. The thinner font on the score is the only visual difference in the graphics.
image by Wikipedia
BMX Airmaster (Atari) – TNT created this game for the Atari 2600 but the video game market crashed and they sold the rights to Atari. Only a handful of copies were ever released by Atari before they stopped production.
image By Wikipedia
Eli’s Ladder(Simage) – An educational game where you had to solve math problems in order to help a character named Eli climb a ladder.
Karate(Ultravision) – A fighting game originally released by Ultravision and later manufactured by Froggo. The graphics were crude even by Atari 2600 standards. The Froggo version is easy to find by the Ultravision cartridge is very rare.
image by Wikipedia
Pepsi Invaders – This game was exactly like Space Invaders except the letters of the word “Pepsi” was used for the invaders. It was given to sales executives at a Coke convention in 1983. Reportedly only 125 copies were given out making this game one of the hardest games to find. The game is only a black cartridge with no label.
image by Wikipedia
River Patrol(Tigervision) – Based on an obscure Japanese arcade game, River Patrol bears some resemblance to River Raid, but with much brighter colors. Although not as rare as some of the other Atari 2600 games on the list, it’s popularity has kept the selling price very high.
The Music Machine(Sparrow) – This game was only sold in religious bookstores and is similar to the Activision game Kaboom. A new copy turned up on Ebay in 2009 which squashed a long standing rumor that the game was only sold with an accompanying album.
image by Wikipedia
Video Life(CommaVid) Video Life was only available by mail order to owners of their previous release Magicard. The game is a computer simulation of the life stages of an organism. It is believed that less than 500 copies were ever produced.
Liked it
Wonderful compilation you have here
Atari, what a way we have come with gaming consoles.
Good post.
Thanks to share this one.
good one
Interesting one.
I miss Atari! They need to bring that back :>
Good article, and well written.
great write well done..
Interestingly enough, as a ’semi-finalist’ in the ‘Defend Atlantis’ contest, my Atlantis II box had no label on it when I received it. The only real way to tell is to play it, or open it up, which I’ll NEVER do!
excellent share
There is a game out right now called taz but its not worth anything
there was just a few months ago on ebay an air raid game with box and i believe it went for $32,000.