List of winnable Atari 2600 games

From TheAlmightyGuru
Jump to: navigation, search

This is a list of Atari 2600 games and what it takes to win them. The games are broken up into different categories based on how they may be won. Because "winnable" is a relative term, I define several variations below which a person might consider a "win." Some games may appear multiple times if they fit more than one category.

Scripted Ending

This is the most traditional view of winning a game. The game follows a scripted narrative as you play, and, upon finishing the script, often by defeating a boss or acquiring a sought-after object, the game ends.

Title Notes
Adventure The game ends when you bring the enchanted chalice into the golden castle.
Adventure II The game ends when you bring the enchanted chalice into the golden castle.
Bobby is Going Home The game ends when you get Bobby home.
Double Dragon After defeating Willy, you rescue Marion and the game says "You Win."
E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial You collect all the necessary pieces of E.T.'s ship and he returns safely to his home planet.
Fatal Run
Frankenstein's Monster You have to wall-off the monster before time runs out.
Haunted House
Pitfall! The game freezes when you collect all 32 treasures.
Pitfall! II: Lost Caverns The game ends when you reach your pet monkey.
Private Eye
Raiders of the Lost Ark You win when you reach the Ark of the Covenant.
Riddle of the Sphinx
Secret Quest
Skate Boardin' After jumping off all the jumps and skating through all the tubes (30 total), you win by reaching the steps of the school.
Solaris
Star Raiders
Starmaster You win once you defeat all the enemy ships in all the sectors.
Swordquest Earthworld
Swordquest Fireworld
Swordquest Waterworld

Victory over AI

These games have an artificial intelligence opponent who you must defeat according to the rules of the game.

Title Notes
3-D Tic-Tac-Toe Games 1-8 use an AI. Each game can be played with the player or the AI going first.
Air-Sea Battle In each AI game mode the artificial "intelligence" just fires non-stop in the same direction the entire time. Having a better score at the end of the two minutes is a victory. If a player scores 99 points, the game ends immediately.
Backgammon Games 1, 3, 5, and 7 play against an AI.
Basketball Game 2 plays against an AI. The highest score after 4 minutes is the winner.
Bridge You play against an AI team (and have an AI partner). Whichever team reaches the point maximum first wins.
Boxing You can play the AI. The first player to land 100 punches wins.
Championship Soccer Games 28-54 let you play the AI. The team with the highest score after two 3-minute halves wins.
Checkers Games 1-3 play against the AI. The player who captures all their opponent's checkers or prevents their movement wins.
Fishing Derby Game 1 plays the AI. The first player to reach a score of 99 wins.
Home Run Game modes 1-4 play against an AI.
Ice Hockey Game modes 1 and 3 play against an AI. The player with the highest score after 3 minutes wins.
Othello Games 1-3 play an AI. The player with the most tiles on the board at the end wins.
RealSports Baseball
RealSports Basketball
RealSports Football
RealSports Soccer
RealSports Tennis
RealSports Volleyball
Surround Game modes 2 and 4 let you play against an AI. The first player to 10 points wins.
Street Racer Game modes 1, 7, 13, 17, and 21 let you play against an AI, though it doesn't try to avoid walls. The player with the highest score at the end of time wins. Scoring 99 points in any game mode will end the game immediately.
Tennis Games 1 and 3 play the AI. The first player to win over 6 games and be ahead by 2 wins.
Video Chess All game modes play against an AI. Putting the AI's king in checkmate wins the game.
Video Checkers Games 1-9 and 11-19 play against an AI. The game stops when one player loses all their pieces or can't move, then the remaining pieces flash.
Video Olympics Games 1 and 2 are "Robot Pong" which let you play against an AI. First player to score 21 points wins.
Warlords Games 4, 9, 14, and 19 are a single player against the AI. The first player to score 5 points wins.

Planned Game Over

A planned game over occurs when a single-player game is designed to purposely stop functioning when the player reaches a specific set of criteria like reaching a particularly high score, level, etc. This is similar to a scripted ending, but a planned game over is used when the game doesn't attempt a proper ending and instead stops the game to prevent a kill screen.

Title Notes
Black Jack You break the bank when you reach $1,000 and the game stops.
Dolphin The game freezes when your score reaches 299,990 and switches to the word "amazing."
H.E.R.O. The game freezes when your score passes 999,995 and switches to !!!!!!.
Kaboom! The game freezes when your score reaches 999,999.
Kung-Fu Master Rescuing Sylvia restarts the game. The game freezes when your score surpasses 999,990.
Laser Blast The game freezes when your score passes 999,990 and switches to !!!!!!.
Megamania The game freezes when your score reaches 999,999.
Oink! The game freezes when your score reaches 999,999.
Outlaw Games 13-16 are for one-player target shooting. If you hit the target 10 times within 99 seconds, the game ends.
Pyramid War The game freezes when your score reaches 999,999.
River Raid The game freezes when your score reaches 999,999.
Slot Machine Getting over $9,999 in the bank flashes the screen and ends the game.
Tapeworm The game freezes when your score reaches 9,999.

Score Stops Counting

In these games, when you reach a particular score, you can continue to play, but the game just stops keeping track of your points. This is similar to both a planned game over and a score overflow.

Title Notes
Keystone Kapers Score stops incrementing at 999,999 and becomes all bells.
Rampage Score stops incrementing at 300,000.
Sorcerer Score stops incrementing at 9,999.
Spider Fighter Score stops incrementing at 900,000.

Score Overflow

Rather than end the game or stop incrementing the score, these games simply reset the score back to 0 to prevent an overflow.

Title Notes
Aardvark Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Air Raiders Score resets to 0 after 99 hits.
Alien Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.
Asteroids Score resets to 0 after 99,990 points.
Atlantis Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Beany Bopper Score resets to 0 after 99,990 points.
Bermuda Triangle Score resets to 0 after 999,950 points.
Berzerk Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Bump 'n' Jump Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.
Carnival Score resets to 0 after 99,990 points and briefly flashes "S. Kitchen," the game's porter.
Centipede Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points. There are some brief graphic glitches.
Congo Bongo Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Defender Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Dig Dug Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Dodge 'Em Score resets to 0 after 999 points.
Donkey Kong Score resets to 0 after 999,900 points.
Elk Attack Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Enduro Days reset to 0 after 99, and the miles reset to 0 after you pass 999,999.9.
Fast Eddie Score resets to 0 after 99,990 points.
Gremlins Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Joust Score resets to 0 after 999,950 points.
Jr. Pac-Man Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Lost Luggage Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.
Mario Bros. Score resets to 0 after 999,900 points.
Millipede Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.
Missile Command Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Mountain King Score resets to 0 after 999,995 points.
Mouse Trap Score resets to 0 after 9,999 points.
Mr. Do's Castle Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Night Stalker Score resets to 0 after 999,000 points.
Obelix Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Phoenix Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Pigs in Space Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.
Q*bert Score resets to 0 after 99,995 points.
Q*bert's Qubes Score resets to 0 after 999,995 points.
Sky Skipper Score resets to 0 after 99,990 points.
Space Invaders Score resets to 0 after 9,995 points.
Spitfire Attack Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Springer Score resets to 0 after 9,999 points.
Rescue Terra 1 Score resets to 0 after 999,995 points.
Thunderground Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Tomarc the Barbarian Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Vanguard Score resets to 0 after 999,990 points.
Vault Assault When the score surpasses 999,990 points, the left-most digit turns into a smiley face. The score will continue increasing, but the face will never change.
Video Pinball Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.
Wizard of Wor Score resets to 0 after 99,900 points.
Xenophobe Score resets to 0 after 999,995 points.
Yars' Revenge Score resets to 0 after 999,999 points.

Highest Score Possible

Games in this category could be considered won if the player is able to achieve a perfect score.

Title Notes
Bowling A perfect game is 300 points.
Breakout Clearing all walls in both screens will yield 864 points.
Dragster A perfect game will result in a time of 5.57.
Pitfall! A perfect game is 114,000 points.

Kill Screen

As far as I know, no Atari 2600 games have a kill screen, but, if one is found to have one, this could potentially be considered a way to "win" the game.

Needs More Research

The following games need to be researched for how they can be won:

2005 Minigame Multicart 2048 2600 32 in 1 A-VCS-tec Challenge Acid Drop Actionauts The Activision Decathlon Adventures of Tron Air Raid Airlock Alfred Challenge Alien Greed Alien Greed 2 Alien Greed 3 Alien Greed 4 Alien Holocaust Alien Holocaust 2: Invasion Earth Alien's Return Allia Quest Alpha Beam with Ernie Amidar Armor Ambush Artillery Duel Artillery Duel/Chuck Norris Superkicks Artillery Duel/Ghost Manor Artillery Duel/Spike's Peak Assault Asteroids Deluxe Astroblast Astronomer Atari Climber Atari Video Cube Atlantis II BMX Air Master Bachelor Party Bachelorette Party Bank Heist Barnstorming Base Attack BattleZone Beamrider Beat Em and Eat Em Bee-Ball Bell Hopper Berenstain Bears Bermuda Big Bird's Egg Catch Bigfoot Family Search Birthday Mania Blue Print Boing! Boulder Dash Brain Games Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom Bugs Bumper Bash BurgerTime Burning Desire Burnin' Rubber Cakewalk California Games (BMX has an ending, Footbag stops at 99,990 points) Canyon Bomber Casino Cathouse Blues Challenge Challenge of Nexar Championship Soccer Chase It! Chase the Chuck Wagon Chetiry China Syndrome Chopper Command Chuck Norris Superkicks Chuck Norris Superkicks/Ghost Manor Chuck Norris Superkicks/Spike's Peak Circus Atari Circus Convoy Climber 5 Coconuts Codebreaker Color Bar Generator Combat Two Commando Commando Raid Communist Mutants from Space Condor Attack Confrontation Conquest of Mars Cookie Monster Munch Cosmic Ark Cosmic Commuter Cosmic Corridor Cosmic Creeps Cosmic Free Fire Cosmic Swarm Crab Control Crackpots Crash Dive Crazy Climber Creature Strike Cross Force Crossbow Cruise Missile Crypts of Chaos Cubicolor Custer's Revenge Dancing Plate Dark Cavern Dark Chambers Deadly Discs Deadly Duck Death Trap Demolition Herby Demon Attack Demons to Diamonds Desert Falcon Dice Puzzle Dishaster Donald Duck's Speedboat Donkey Kong Junior Double Dunk Draconian Dragon Treasure Dragonfire Dragonstomper Dragster Duck Attack! Dungeon Dungeon II: Solstice Dungeon Master Earth Attack Earth Dies Screaming Eddy Langfinger, der Museumsdieb Edtris 2600 Eggomania Eli's Ladder Encounter at L-5 Entombed Escape It! Escape from the Mindmaster Espial Euchre Exocet Exocet Missile Extra Terrestrials Fall Down Fantastic Voyage Farmer Dan Fast Food Fathom Fighter Pilot Final Approach Fire Fighter Fire Fly Fireball (cassette) Fisher Price Fishing Derby Flag Capture FlapPing Flash Gordon Football Four-Play Frogger Frogger II: ThreeeDeep! Frogs and Flies Front Line Frostbite Fun with Numbers G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike Galactopus! Galagon Galaxian Gamma-Attack Gangster Alley Gas Hog Gauntlet General Retreat Ghost Manor Ghost Manor/Spike's Peak Ghostbusters Ghostbusters II Gigolo Glacier Patrol Glib Go Fish! Gopher Gorf Grand Prix Gravitar Great Escape Grizzards Guardian Gunfight Gyruss Halloween Halo 2600 Hangman Harbor Escape Heist High Score Screen Burn Slow Burn Hunchy II Hunt & Score I Want My Mommy Ikari Warriors Inca Gold Indy 500 Infiltrate International Soccer James Bond 007 Jammed Jawbreaker Journey Escape Jungle Fever Juno First K.O. Cruiser Kangaroo Karate Killer Satellites King Kong Klax Knight on the Town Kool-Aid Man Krull L.E.M. Lunar Excursion Module Lady Bug Lady in Wading Laser Gates Laser Volley Lochjaw Lock 'n' Chase London Blitz M*A*S*H M.A.D. MagiCard Malagai Mangia Mappy Marauder Marble Craze Marine Wars Master Builder Masters of the Universe: The Power of He-Man Math Gran Prix Mean Santa Medieval Mayhem Mega Force MegaBoy Midnight Magic Miner 2049er Miner 2049er II Mines of Minos Miniature Golf Miss It! Missile Control Mission 3000 A.D. Mission Survive Mogul Maniac Monkey King Montezuma's Revenge: Starring Panama Joe Moon Patrol Moonsweeper MotoRodeo Motocross Motocross Racer Mr Run and Jump Mr. Do! Mr. Postman The Music Machine My Golf Name This Game Nightmare No Escape! Nuts Ocean City Defender Off Your Rocker Off the Wall The Official Frogger Okie Dokie Omega Race Open Sesame Oscar's Trash Race Out of Control Oystron Pac-Kong Panda Chase Parachute Paris Attack Party Mix Pengo Pesco Pete Rose Baseball Phantom Tank Phantom-Panzer Phaser Patrol Philly Flasher Pick 'n Pile Pick Up Picnic Piece o' Cake Pinball Piraten-Schiff Planet Patrol Planeten Patrouile Plaque Attack Polaris Pole Position Pooyan Popeye Porky's Pressure Cooker Pressure Gauge Princess Rescue Qb Quadrun Quest for Quintana Roo Quick Step Rabbit Transit Racquetball Radar Radar Lock Raft Rider Ram It Reactor RealSports Boxing Red Sea Crossing Return to Haunted House Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes River Patrol River Raid II Road Runner Robin Hood Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot - The Joust Robot Commando Raid Robot Tank Roc'n Rope Room of Doom SWOOPS! Saboteur Save Our Ship Scramble Scuba Diver Sea Hawk Sea Hunt Seamonster Seaquest Seawolf Sentinel Shark Attack Shield Shifter Shootin' Gallery Shuttle Orbiter Sir Lancelot Skeet Shoot Skeleton Skeleton+ Skiing Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle The Smurfs Save the Day Snail Against Squirrel Snappy Sneak 'N Peek Snoopy and the Red Baron Solar Fox Solar Storm Sorcerer's Apprentice Sound X Space Adventure Space Attack Space Canyon Space Cavern Space Game Space Grid Space Instigators Space Jockey Space Raid Space Rocks Space Shuttle: A Journey into Space Space Treat Deluxe Space War Spacechase Spacemaster X-7 Spider Maze Spider-Man Spiderdroid Spike's Peak Sprint Master Spy Hunter Squeeze Box Squish 'Em Sssnake The Stacks Stampede Star Fire Star Fox Star Ship Star Strike Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator Star Voyager Star Wars Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle Star Wars: Jedi Arena Star Wars: The Arcade Game Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Stargate Stargunner Stay Frosty Stay Frosty 2 Steeplechase Stell-A-Sketch/Okie Dokie Stellar Track Strat-O-Gems Deluxe Strategy X Strawberry Shortcake: Musical Match-ups Strip Off Stronghold Stunt Man Sub-Scan Submarine Commander Subterranea Suicide Mission Summer Games Super Baseball Super Baumeister Super Breakout Super Cobra Super Cobra Arcade Super Football Superman Surfer's Paradise: But Danger Below! Survival Island Survival Run Sword of Saros Synthcart Tac-Scan Tank Brigade Tank City Tanks But No Tanks Tapper Task Force Tax Avoiders Taz Tempest The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Threshold Thrust Time Pilot Time Warp Title Match Pro Wrestling Tomcat: The F-14 Fighter SimulatorTooth Protectors Towering Inferno Toyshop Trouble Track & Field Treasure Below Trick Shot Tron: Deadly Discs Tunnel Runner Turbo Turmoil Tutankham Universal Chaos Up'n Down Venture Video Jogger Video Life Video Reflex Vong Vulture Attack Wabbit Wall Ball Wall Jump Ninja Wall-Defender War Zone Warplock Warring Worms Weltraumtunnel Westward Ho The Wicked Father Wing War Winter Games Wizard Word Zapper Worm War I X-Man The Year 1999 Z-Tack Zaxxon Zippy the Porcupine Zoo Fun Zoo Keeper

No Win Condition

Games in this section do not have a win condition for one or more of the reasons listed below.

Humans Only

These include competitive games of two or more players but the game doesn't have an AI player or solo scoring.

Combat, Freeway, Golf, Maze Craze: A Game of Cops and Robbers, Skydiver (game stops if a player gets 99 points), Slot Racers, Super Challenge Baseball, Super Challenge Football

Non-Competitive or Self-Competitive

These include games where there either isn't anything to win, or you're only competing against yourself and overflowing the score isn't possible. If the game has an objective optimal score, it should be moved to the Highest Score Possible section.

Basic Math, BASIC Programming, Decathlon, Human Cannonball, Night Driver, Pepsi Invaders, Sky Jinks, Venetian Blinds

See Also