Source Code for Multiple Atari 7800 Games Released

It’s not all too often that a cool piece of video gaming history becomes available to the public, but that’s just what happened last week with the release of the source code of multiple Atari 7800 games… the source code! For current or up-and-comer game developers, this is a real treat, because such code can give insight into seeing how games were coded over 25 years ago. Dig Dug, Robotron 2084 and Ms. Pac Man are among the included.

The code has been released “unofficially”, as it wasn’t Atari themselves who released it. They don’t seem to have much of a problem with it though. Just don’t go trying to rename it and sell it as your own… I hear the 25-color game market is quite hot right now!

In case you’re not familiar with the Atari 7800, don’t worry… many aren’t. Instead, the Atari 2600 seems to be the most remembered console from that era, and for good reason. It did many things right, while consoles such as the Atari 5200 did many things wrong. That console did so much wrong, in fact, that the 7800 was essentially the successor, and was designed to right what was wronged, such as with the gamepads and 2600 backwards-compatibility.

Either way, what matters is that the code is available for a few classics, so hopefully the trend will continue and we’ll see even more come out over time (I can’t help but feel like I need to take a look at the code for Custer’s Revenge (possible NSFW). I know, I know… I can’t help it).

During those times nobody would have imagined in their wildest dreams the games that Atari’s developers floated into the gaming thirsty market and instantly swept across continental boundaries. But things changed soon after that and a company once regarded as one of the most successful gaming console manufacturers and developers faded away in the pages of our technology’s hall-of-fame.