Activision made some of the best home console games of the early 80s; it's no surprise considering the company was formed by ex-Atari programmers who wanted more recognition for their work. They were the first 3rd party developer ever and the games they made were simply legendary. So what's your favorite Activision game for the Atari 2600?

Mine would be the addictive shooter "Spider Fighter."

That is a nice one. I'm a big fan of Starmaster. It has all the great gameplay of Star Raiders with less complicated controls (no goofy number pad), which makes it easier to deal with emulated ^_~

I'll go with Ice Hockey. Most addictive sports game ever made - even beats out Nintendo's Ice Hockey for the NES.

Thanks Sean and Adamant for the comments! I was worried for a second that there were no true retro gamers in the house!

"Ice Hocky" is amazing. I actually did own that one as a kid and it really enriched my childhood and like you said it still plays well. My memories of "Starmaster" are a bit rusty at the moment, but it's on the GBA collection,so I should give it a spin again.

I LOVED the Activision and Imagic games for the Atari 2600. They were way better than the Atari stuff.

1. Megamania
2. Pitfall
3. Frostbite
4. Laser Blast
5. Keystone Kapers
6. Plaque Attack
7. River Raid
8. Spider Fighter
9. Seaquest
10. Oink!

I've even still got my Megamaniacs, Arctic Architects, Spider Fighters, Billy Club, River Raiders, and Explorer's Club patches.

Good list Corbie, but where's Ghostbusters and H.E.R.O.?

You have proven to be hardcore again with your patches!

I didn't care much for Ghostbusters, but I liked H.E.R.O. I did hate to leave off Crackpots and Enduro. Love those too.

I was always amazed that Activision never tried to take a stake in the arcade market. They made awesome action packed games that certainly would've gobbled up quarters like crazy.

So I assume at some point, Activison absorbed Imagic? I wish the Activision collections would have more than just Atlantis and Demon Attack on them. I want to play that creepy Microsurgeon game again!

I'm surprised more of the Imagic games haven't been put onto the collections as well. Great games. I love Dragonfire, Cosmic Ark, Riddle of the Sphinx. I'm working on a side project right now that has some great interviews I did with the Imagic programmers. You should check it out.

Nice interviews Corbie. Imagic did some nice games. I remember having that Atlantis game, Cosmic Ark and Riddle of the Sphinx (that was really hard!).

Hm, let me try making a top 10 list, too:

1) Ice Hockey
2) Stampede
3) Enduro
4) Frostbite
5) Megamania
6) River Raid
7) Keystone Kapers
8) HERO
9) Pressure Cooker
10) Starmaster

Never particularly cared for Pitfall.

My favorite is Seaquest, followed by River Raid.

I've visted your Numb Thumb Club site before. Good stuff!

My top ten Activision list:

1. Spider Fighter
2. Ghostbusters
3. River Raid
4. Stampede
5. Seaquest
6. Ice Hockey
7. H.E.R.O.
8. Pitfall
9. Keystone Capers
10. Robot Tank

These David Letterman style lists are always hard to make because you always regret the order at some point.

Can't believe no one has said Kaboom!

So is Kaboom! your favorite?

Frostbite. Frostbite. Frostbite. Possibly one of my favorite games of ALL TIME. Currently working on submitting some scores on a number of versions to Twin Galaxies. I used to rock this game so hard back in the day that i would play it upside down so my friends and sister would have chance to get near my score.

After Frostbite, other Activision faves are Pitfall and Pitfall II (got it for Christmas when it first came out and spent the entire day playing it to the point where my dad was worried my 2600 was going to burn itself out), Keystone Kapers (awesome game, another i'm working on a score for), Kaboom and the legendary StarMaster -- that was actually reccommended by a programmer (in his 50s at the time) that my dad worked with because of its gameplay depth. Need to play that one again. I remember the highest difficulty (Starmaster) was pretty rough unless you really knew the game well.

@Corbie: ditto on Imagic. Riddle of the Sphinx was a huge fave, perhaps in spite of its abstract difficulty.

Pitfall or Spider Fighter.

I'm 17 and like Atari games. I know, I'm weird!

@Ricardo
It's good to know younger gamers can still appreciate awesome older games! =D
(BTW, i feel damn old now!)

Some kids actually surprise you these days!