While it wasn't the very first of its kind, the Atari 2600 legitimized the concept of the home console and helped to usher in a new era of gaming. It's undeniably Atari's most iconic piece of hardware, and, from innovative arcade ports to endlessly entertaining original titles, it made an incredible and lasting impact on the industry.
That said, it was far from Atari's final console, having spawned a lineage that continues to this day via the Atari VCS. Hosting a variety of forgotten gems and coveted rareties, these are some of the most valuable Atari games ever produced.
Meteorites ($174.65)
Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 is often remembered as one of the most egregious miscalculations in console gaming history. The system was bulky, the controllers broke easily, and it launched less than a year before the notorious video game crash of 1983.
Yet, there are more than a few worthwhile video games on the Atari 5200, most of which are overlooked due to the system for which they were developed. Meteorites, an obvious clone of the arcade hit Asteroids, offers more gameplay depth and variety when compared to the title that inspired it, and, in 1984, it would have been an awesome rendition of a 1979 favorite.
Tank Command ($208.26)
Atari 7800
Nintendo usurped Atari as the number-one name in home video game consoles with the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Atari responded with the Atari 7800 in 1986, but the system failed to topple the stiff competition.
There aren't many ultra-rare games for the Atari 7800, though Tank Command is a notable exception. Easily the most valuable officially-released game for Atari's third-generation system, Tank Command is a top-down shooter that resembles popular 8-bit titles of the time like Akari Warriors and Twin Cobra. A fairly unforgiving title that emphasizes accuracy and ammo conservation, it's certainly an interesting piece of Atari history.
Atari Karts ($280.53)
Atari Jaguar
Marketed as a 64-bit console in an era during which 16-bit consoles were the norm, the Atari Jaguar turned heads initially, but it notoriously failed to live up to the hype and was shortly after steamrolled by systems like the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
Hidden gems are few and far between on the Atari Jaguar, though the mascot racer Atari Karts seems to have earned favorable reviews. A Mario Kart clone that demands some pretty slick steering on harder difficulties, it was serviceable for the time, though the title couldn't outpace its primary influence, which ran on hardware that was supposedly significantly inferior.
Softp*** Adventures ($379.98)
Atari 8-Bit Computers
In 1979, Atari introduced a line of 8-bit home computers that were surprisingly capable gaming systems, especially for the time. Marketed as multifaceted machines perfect for both work and play, the Atari 400 and Atari 800 made gaming on a home computer more widely accessible than it had ever been to that point.
While most of the titles available for these machines were traditional sidescrollers or typical arcade ports, Softp*** Adventures is a notable oddity that sought to bridge the gap between adults and gamers. Today, it's a clunky and very out-of-date text-based adventure, but it still stands as an important PC gaming relic that, according to PCGamer, actually served as a starting point for the Leisure Suit Larry series.
Bounty Bob Strikes Back ($610.00)
Atari 5200
Released in 1982, Miner 2049er was a modest success for Atari's 8-bit line of computers, and it eventually received a sequel in Bounty Bob Strike Back. An arcade platformer that plays like a cross between Donkey Kong and Qbert, the game tasks players with navigating a series of platforms and avoiding enemies while filling in a series of colored tiles.
There's not that much that stands out about the Atari 5200 port of the game save for the price. In 2022, a loose copy goes for around six hundred dollars, making it one of the priciest non-Atari 2600 games by quite a bit.
Ultima 1 ($810.00)
Atari 8-Bit Computers
The godfather of fantasy RPGs, Ultima was among the first games to accurately replicate the complex gameplay of traditional tabletop role-playing titles. An epic tale of sorcery and time travel, Ultima was way ahead of its time, and it helped to begin a trend that would eventually spawn modern-day hits like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Cyberpunk 2077.
While it's so clunky and hard to get running as to be nigh-on unplayable today, Ultima's innovative open world and impressive first-person dungeon crawling segments remain worthy of praise. It's a must-have for hardcore RPG fans, though some ports of the game come with a massive price tag.
Battlesphere ($850.01)
Atari Jaguar
Battlesphere is a first-person aerial combat title that was originally set to release in 1994, but various issues and delays led to cancelation and subsequent revival in the year 2000, four years after the Atari Jaguar was officially discontinued. Undoubtedly the prized collection of a small number of Atari Jaguar collections, the title is incredibly pricey today, sometimes selling for in excess of $1,000.
While it's a surprisingly robust title that far outstrips many of the clunky, poorly-optimized 3D games on the system, Battlesphere has remained an unknown oddity relegated mostly to circles of dedicated Atari fans.
Red Sea Crossing ($1,306.97)
Atari 2600
Red Sea Crossing is among the absolute rarest video games ever to exist. Sold exclusively through the magazine Christianity Today in 1983, only two copies are known to exist, one of which, according to IGN, sold for over $10,000 at auction in 2012.
Currently, Pricecharting.com speculates the title to be worth over $1,000, though less recent estimates value the game at nearly $14,000. Regardless of an exact figure, Red Sea Crossing is about as priceless as a video game cartridge can be.
Pepsi Invaders ($1,512.25)
Atari 2600
Another Atari 2600 game so rare as to be almost mythical, Pepsi Invaders is a simple clone of the beloved arcade hit Space Invaders that simply swaps out the enemy sprites for the letters P, E, S, and I. Though to have been distributed to Coca-Cola higher-ups in the early 1980s, Pepsi Invaders is a relentlessly weird and unbelievably rare title.
With that in mind, physical copies of the game do indeed exist and are estimated to be worth around fifteen hundred bucks in 2022. That's quite a sum for a slightly modified version of the otherwise very common Space Invaders game.
River Raid ($8,143.50)
Atari 2600
By far the rarest Atari 2600 game ever released, Air Raid tasks players with defending Manhattan from alien invaders. Something of a different take on the standard Space Invaders formula, players must prevent enemy ships from destroying 12 skyscrapers as the screen constantly scrolls to the left.
According to Polygon, a Texas Goodwill store sold a loose copy for $10,000 dollars as recently as 2021, and, as per IGN, a complete-in-box version of the game sold at auction for $33,000. This would definitely make for a great conversation piece among collectors, to say the least.