
1977
AU Release
1 January 1978
AU Launch Price
$249 AUD
~$1380 today
Units Sold
30M
Processor
MOS 6507 @ 1.19 MHz
Memory
128 bytes RAM
Storage
None (cartridge-based)
Media
ROM Cartridges
Global lifetime sales
The Atari 2600 is perhaps the single most important console in gaming history. It made swappable cartridges the industry standard and brought video games into living rooms around the world, defining what a home gaming console meant. At its peak, the 2600 had more than 900 game titles and sold over 30 million units globally. It simultaneously birthed the golden age of arcade gaming at home AND triggered the catastrophic 1983 video game crash — when a glut of low-quality games, including the notoriously bad E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, destroyed consumer confidence. Atari infamously buried unsold E.T. cartridges in a New Mexico landfill, a fact that became an urban legend before being confirmed in 2014. Despite its role in the crash, the 2600 laid the foundation for every console that followed.
The E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial game for the Atari 2600 is widely considered the worst video game ever made — Atari buried millions of unsold cartridges in a New Mexico landfill in 1983, a fact confirmed by excavation in 2014
Space Invaders was the first 'killer app' in gaming — it quadrupled Atari 2600 sales when it launched in 1980, popularising the concept of a must-have title
The Atari 2600 used only 128 bytes of RAM — less than one millionth of the storage in a modern smartphone
Browse Atari 2600 titles available for trade on Greatest GOAT Australia — stop paying EB Games prices.
Browse Atari 2600 GamesAsteroids
4M copies sold