The Atari 8-bit computers were an interesting combination of a powerful 8-bit computer and a great video game console. One big aspect of this is that cartridges, especially game cartridges, were very common on the Atari. Other similar systems, such as the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore 64 and TI 99/4a, also had cartridges but it sure feels like the Atari 8-bits had way more cartridges available.

To that end, here’s a list of the 8-bit carts that I currently have:

Games

• Joust

  • This is my all-time favorite game.

    

• Ms. Pac-Man

  • The Atari 8-bit version is a classic.

    

• Wizard of Wor

  • I never really played this back in the day. It’s a fast-paced maze shoot-em-up I really like it.

    

• Miner 2049er

  • Another one of my favorite games that is kind of a combination of Donkey Kong and Pac-Man.

    

• Pole Position

  • I played this a lot as a kid, but I’m not sure I like it as much now. The steering is a bit touchy. Driving games are not meant for a digital joystick.

    

• Hardball!

  • I has this on floppy back in the day and played it a lot.

• Centipede

  • Not one of my favorites, but still entertaining. I bet it would be great with a trackball.

• Missile Command

  • I love this!

    

• K-razy Shoot-Out

  • A good Berzerk clone.

    

• Caverns of Mars

  • This was originally an APX (Atari Program eXchange — kind of an app store of sorts, for the time) game that proved so popular that it got a full release from Atari. Impressive vertical scrolling.

    

• Computer Chess

  • I don’t much like chess and I don’t think I’ve even tried this one.

• Defender

  • This looks and works great, but I may actually like the Atari 2600 version better.

    

• Donkey Kong

  • Another one of my all-time favorites. This was the first game we got with our Atari 400 back in 1983.

    

• Super Breakout

  • I live this, but having to hook up paddles to play it means I don’t play it much.

• Submarine Commander

  • Mid. I actually couldn’t figure this one out.

• Gorf

  • This requires a 400/800, so I have not been able to play it. As a space shoot-em-up, it looks like I’d like it.

    

Non-Games

• OSS BASIC XL

  • My favorite BASIC is OSS BASIC XE, but I like having an original cart of BASIC XL.

• OSS Action!

  • I never had or used Action! back in the 80s, but it looks really interesting. I’ve only done some simple things with it, but I hope to use it for some programming projects in the future.

• OSS 4-in-one Cart

  • I wrote about this last summer. I primarily got this for BASIC XE, but it also has MAC/65 assembler, BASIC XL and Action! all in one place.

Plus, there is one other important cartridge that I recently bought (from The Brewing Academy): SiDE3. This is a super-powerful cart that has built-in SpartaDOS X, a real-time clock, the ability to run things off an SD card, use the SD card as a hard disk and much more. It really supercharges an Atari 8-bit. I’ll be doing a series of posts on the SiDE3 at some point.

There are just so many Atari topics to write about!

What are your favorite Atari computer cartriges?