Thanks to the Internet, video games from every era have become easy to copy and preserve. However, physical copies and cartridges can be incredibly hard to come by, which is why museums and private collectors put in a lot of time and effort to find and preserve these pieces of history.
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TheAtari 2600was the first really successful cartridge-based home gaming console, and it has a massive library of titles with some incredibly valuable cartridges. Because while some games were bestsellers with copies that are easy to find even now, others hardly sold any cartridges and have become rare collector’s items instead.
All prices were taken fromPriceCharting.comand were accurate at the time of publication.
$8.90
$24.00
New
$25.44
Back in 1982, video games were still new enough that developers could get away with generic titles likeKarate.Reviewers panned this fighting gameboth at the time and in retrospective reviews, but then collectors don’t care much about game quality. What’s more important is that two different publishers would release the game: first Ultravision, and then Froggo.
Ultravision would hand distribution over to Froggo soon afterKaratecame out, so there are far fewer copies with the Ultravision name on them in circulation. So, while the listed prices are fair for Froggo editions of the game, an Ultravision copy can sell for $1,000 or even more.
$9.69
$45.03
$149.99
Journalists have written a lot aboutE.T.on the Atari 2600, focusing mostly on its quality (or lack thereof). Still, gamers shouldn’t think any less of programmer Howard Scott Warshaw. Warshaw developed the game in a little over a month, a breathtakingly short timeframe when average development cycles at the time were anywhere from seven months to a year. It also didn’t help thatE.T.demands that players collect phone parts to phone home if they want to complete the game. Most Atari 2600 titles have players repeat the same task on the same screen over and over to achieve a high score, which is much easier to program.
The story ofE.T.’s release andthe shock it dealt to the games industryis well known. Eventually, Atari would collect the unsold and returned copies and throw them into a desert landfill, there to be lost forever. When company Fuel Industries finally unearthed the landfill in 2014, they found nine hundred copies ofE.T., along with other Atari games. Fuel Industries brought several hundred of them to auction, where they collectively sold for over $100,000. With a copy now sitting in the Smithsonian Institution,E.T.has turned out to have quite an important legacy.
$30.10
$59.50
$210.57
While Atari would makea fantasy arcade game calledGauntletin 1985, this game for the Atari 2600 is completely unrelated. In it, players assist Sir Robert Wittenbottom through a gauntlet of obstacles to prove his worth to a remote tribe in the Amazon jungle. Unlike most other Atari 2600 tiles, which were available in stores, gamers could only getGauntletby mail order directly from the developer, Answer Software.
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The fact that the game was never mass-produced adds to its value, which, when it first resurfaced sold for around $3,000. However, the price has declined quite a bit since then as collectors have found more copies.
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$92.00
Not to be confused with the infamous video game adaptation,Extra Terrestrialswas made by a Canadian familywho wanted to take advantage of the video game craze. Sadly, however, they joined in a little too late. Their company, Skill Screen Games, didn’t finishExtra Terrestrialsuntil after the big market crash.
To try and salvage their investment, the game was reportedly sold door-to-door locally, with only one hundred copies ever produced. The game wouldn’t resurface until 2011, and in 2019 a private sellerput a copy on eBay for $90,000. They didn’t get the full asking price, but the number of known authentic copies is still in the single digits. As such, most collectors can only expect to buy museum-funded recreations.
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It may not be the most expensive, butGamma Attackis quite possibly the rarest Atari 2600 game ever made.Reportedly, only a single authentic original copy exists, and its whereabouts are well known. One collector has it, and they refuse to part with it for anything less than half a million dollars.
Fortunately, there are ways for other collectors to get copies of this game. The original developer created a limited-release edition of the game afterGamma Attack’s rediscovery in 2008, and this is the version collectors can find listed by online sellers. They may not be authentic, but they’re still physical examples of gaming history.
$15.58
$389.50
$584.00
The Man of Steel has not had the best luck with video game adaptations. However, his first entry fared better than most of his follow-ups, and it’s significant for being both one of the first licensed games and one of the first action-adventure games to feature several locations. In fact, the landmark gameAdventurewouldn’t come out until a year later.
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Not every edition ofSupermanis worth a lot, but the limited Sears tie-in edition with a yellow title can fetch several thousand dollars. Other versions, like the one that came in a blue box instead of the usual red, can also command a significant sum, makingSupermanone of the most expensive games for the Atari 2600.
$781.55
$832.67
$1,249.00
River Patrolcame out in arcades and on several other consoles, but it’s the Atari 2600 version that collectors covet. Players have to save NPCs on a river while avoiding hazards along the way. It’s not the only game of the era tohave players navigate a river, but this one is about saving people instead of destroying boats and helicopters.
The arcade version came out in 1981, but developer Tigervision released the Atari 2600 port in 1984. This was bad timing because the great video game crash had been going on for a year by that point. The poor performance due to the crash is the major reason for the game’s scarcity.
$381.77
$1,249.85
Mangiameans “eat” in Italian and perfectly describes the game’s mechanics. Players areforced to eat plate after plate of spaghettiuntil their stomach explodes. To prevent this game over, players must feed some food to their dog or cat without their mother looking.
The graphics are surprisingly good for an Atari 2600 game, but the simple game loop and unpleasant end state are probably why the game never sold well. On the bright side, poor sales have made the North American version ofMangiaone of the rarest Atari 2600 games in existence.
$1,498.94
$3,500.00
People complain about ads in sports games all the time, but even back in the Atari 2600’s day, there were times when entire games were essentially just interactive ads. For instance,Pepsi Invadersis a clone ofSpace Invadersmade by the Coca-Cola company.
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In this title, players destroy ships that spell out Coca-Cola’s main competitor, Pepsi. They only made about 125 copies, and the company gave them out for free during conventions, which is whyPepsi Invadersis one of the most valuable Atari 2600 games. Pepsi wouldn’t respond to this game until 1999’sPepsiman, an endless runner starring the titular mascot.
$2,001.89
$5,419.87
$8,029.44
Eli’s Ladderis the single raresteducational video gamein existence. The game was developed and published by Simage in 1982, and, like most Atari 2600 titles, the gameplay is simple. Players must perform basic arithmetic to help the alien Eli climb back into his spaceship and go home.
What makesEli’s Laddersuch a collector’s item is the fact that the box came with a dozen different extras like stickers, worksheets, wall posters, instructions, and more. So, while the cartridge on its own is worth a lot, collectors will pay even more for a boxed version that still has every last sticker.
