Atari - Developer

Asteroids

Asteroids is an arcade space shooter released in November 1979. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The objective of the game is to destroy both, asteroids and saucers. The triangular ship can rotate left and right, fire shots straight forward, and thrust forward. Once the ship begins moving in a direction, it will continue in that direction for a time without player intervention unless the player applies thrust in a different direction. The ship eventually comes to a stop when not thrusting. The player can also send the ship into hyperspace, causing it to disappear and reappear in a random location on the screen, at the risk of self-destructing or appearing on top of an asteroid.

Publishers: Adventure International , Sega , Taito , Atari

Black Widow

Black Widow is a vector arcade game developed by Atari released in 1982. The player takes the role of a Black widow spider defending a web from invading bugs. The player must move the spider around the web while simultaneously shooting/avoiding various bugs and collecting the bonuses that appear after the enemies are eliminated. The spider is controlled through two joysticks: the left one is used to move the spider, and the right one to control the shot direction.

Publishers: Atari

Breakout

The objective of the game is to destroy a multilayered wall of bricks at the top the screen. Upon hitting the bricks with a ball which bounces off of a paddle at the bottom of the screen the bricks are destroyed. If the player misses the ball with his horizontally moveable paddle the ball is lost. After loosing five balls the game is over.

Publishers: Atari , ASCII Corporation , Namco

Caverns of Mars

An excellent arcade-style shooter, Caverns of Mars is a downward-scrolling game where players must pilot their craft through a series of five underground levels filled with alien ships, narrow passageways and a variety of obstacles, including blue diamonds, force field barriers and floating space mines. Fuel must be collected along the way, and at the bottom of the last level a Martian base must be destroyed. Horizontal sections provide variety, scrolling is smooth, and the fast paced, though methodical shooting action is intensely enjoyable, making this a truly addictive game.

Publishers: AtariAge

Centipede

Centipede is a vertically-oriented shoot 'em up arcade game produced by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game was designed by Ed Logg along with Dona Bailey, one of the few female game programmers in the industry at this time. It was also the first arcade coin-operated game to have a significant female player base. The player defends against swarms of insects, completing a round after eliminating the centipede that winds down the playing field.

Publishers: Atari , Sanritsu Denki Co., Ltd.

Gravitar

Gravitar is a color vector graphics arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The player controls a small blue spacecraft in a fictional solar system with several planets to explore. If the player moves his ship into a planet, he will be taken to a side-view landscape. Unlike many other shooting games, gravity plays a fair part in Gravitar: the ship will be pulled slowly to the deadly star in the overworld, and downward in the side-view levels. In the side-view levels, the player has to destroy red bunkers that shoot constantly, and can also use the tractor beam to pick up blue fuel tanks. Once all of the bunkers are destroyed, the planet will blow up, and the player will earn a bonus. Once all planets are destroyed, the player will move onto another solar system.

Publishers: Atari

Missile Command

As a regional commander of three anti-missile batteries, the player must defend six cities in their zone from being destroyed. The player's six cities are being attacked by an endless hail of ballistic missiles, some of them even splitting like multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs). New weapons are introduced in later levels: smart bombs that can evade a less than perfectly targeted missile, and bomber planes and satellites that fly across the screen and launch missiles of their own.

Publishers: Sega , Taito , Atari Corporation , Atari

Yars' Revenge

Yars' Revenge is a video game released for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It was created by Howard Scott Warshaw and was Atari's best-selling original title for the 2600.

Publishers: Atari , Polyvox