# List of best-selling Atari 2600 video games

The Atari 2600 (previously known as the Atari VCS) was the most successful home system of its generation, and it was home to many popular games that sold millions of copies (a figure unheard of before). The best-selling video game on the console is Pac-Man, a port of the arcade game of the same name programmed by Tod Frye. 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. 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. Pac-Man went on to sell over 8 million units worldwide.
The second best-selling Atari 2600 game is Space Invaders, a port of the 1978 Taito arcade video game that was programmed by Rick Maurer, which was released in 1980 and became the first video game to sell a million copies. It went on to sell over 6 million copies, was the best-selling game on the system (until Pac-Man), and is credited with increasing the VCS’s sales and popularity. 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.
26 video games released on the Atari 2600 sold at least one million copies, of which 14 were developed and/or published by the console's manufacturer, Atari, Inc. Other publishers with multiple entries in the top 26 are Activision (six titles), Imagic (three titles) and Parker Brothers (two titles). Three of the games in the top 26 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 | Arcade port | Licensor | Programmer(s) | Release date | Sales |
| Pac-Man | Atari, Inc. | Yes | Namco | Tod Frye | March 16, 1982 | 8,095,586 |
| Space Invaders | Atari, Inc. | Yes | Taito | Rick Maurer | March 1980 | 6,252,229 |
| Donkey Kong | Coleco | Yes | Nintendo | Garry Kitchen | July 1982 | 4,180,523 |
| Pitfall! | Activision | No | — | David Crane | April 20, 1982 | 4,000,000 |
| Frogger | Parker Brothers | Yes | Sega Enterprises | Ed English | August 1982 | 4,000,000 |
| Asteroids | Atari, Inc. | Yes | — | Bradley G. Stewart | July 1981 | 3,832,886 |
| Defender | Atari, Inc. | Yes | Williams Electronics | Bob Polaro | 1982 | 3,040,684 |
| E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | Atari, Inc. | No | Universal Pictures | Howard Scott Warshaw | December 1982 | 2,740,232 |
| Ms. Pac-Man | Atari, Inc. | Yes | Midway Manufacturing | Mike Horowitz, Josh Littlefield | February 1983 | 2,311,428 |
| Demon Attack | Imagic | No | — | Rob Fulop | March 1982 | 2,000,000 |
| Night Driver | Atari, Inc. | Yes | — | Rob Fulop | June 1980 | 1,990,643 |
| Berzerk | Atari, Inc. | Yes | Stern | Dan Hitchens | August 1982 | 1,870,642 |
| Centipede | Atari, Inc. | Yes | — | Douglas B. Macrae, Josh Littlefield | March 1982 | 1,815,661 |
| Warlords | Atari, Inc. | Yes | — | Carla Meninsky | 1981 | 1,788,462 |
| Breakout | Atari, Inc. | Yes | — | Bradley G. Stewart | November 1978 | 1,678,965 |
| Adventure | Atari, Inc. | No | — | Warren Robinett | July 1980 | 1,000,000 |
| Laser Blast | Activision | No | — | David Crane | March 1981 | 1,000,000 |
| Freeway | Activision | No | — | David Crane | July 1981 | 1,000,000 |
| Kaboom! | Activision | No | — | Larry Kaplan | July 1981 | 1,000,000 |
| Yars' Revenge | Atari, Inc. | No | — | Howard Scott Warshaw | May 1982 | 1,000,000 |
| Atlantis | Imagic | No | — | Dennis Koble | July 1982 | 1,000,000 |
| Cosmic Ark | Imagic | No | — | Rob Fulop | August 1982 | 1,000,000 |
| Megamania | Activision | No | — | Steve Cartwright | October 1982 | 1,000,000 |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark | Atari, Inc. | No | Lucasfilm | Howard Scott Warshaw | November 1982 | 1,000,000 |
| River Raid | Activision | No | — | Carol Shaw | December 1982 | 1,000,000 |