Atari × Activision: The Collection is putting 39 classic Activision games back onto physical cartridges, with releases designed to work on original Atari hardware as well as Atari’s modern 2600+ and 7800+ systems. The line includes some of the most recognisable games ever released for the Atari 2600, including Pitfall!, River Raid, Kaboom!, H.E.R.O. and MegaMania.
The new cartridges are being split between individual Standard Editions and four larger Deluxe Collections. Standard releases cost $34.99 each and use black cartridges with newly produced full-colour manuals, while the Deluxe versions add coloured cartridges, woven patches and enamel pins.
Ten Standard Editions are available to pre-order now, with Pitfall II: Lost Caverns and The Activision Decathlon due to follow in 2027. Atari says all of the releases are compatible with the original Atari 2600 and 7800 alongside the newer 2600+ and 7800+ machines.
Activision’s 2600 catalogue gets a proper physical return
The first Deluxe set is the Treasure Collection, which ships in November 2026. It contains ten games: Pitfall!, River Raid, MegaMania, Dragster, Freeway, Grand Prix, Chopper Command, Sky Jinks, Barnstorming and Dolphin.
Each of those ten comes on its own colourful cartridge with a matching patch and pin, all packed into a collector slipcase. The Treasure Collection costs $249.99, with three more sets named Speed, Secrets and Victory scheduled to arrive during 2027.
For anyone who wants absolutely everything, Atari is also offering an Ultimate Deluxe Set containing all four collections and all 39 games. That package costs $999.96 and adds 12 exclusive metal trading cards, while an even larger Superfan Bundle combines the Deluxe sets with ten individually boxed Standard Editions for $1,349.86.
The pricing may be collector territory, but the more interesting part is that these are actual cartridges rather than another compilation running behind a menu. A new copy of Pitfall! can go straight into hardware made in the early 1980s, while the same cartridge also works in Atari’s current machines.
There is some history behind seeing the Atari and Activision names together in this way. Activision was founded in 1979 by former Atari programmers David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, becoming the first independent third-party console game publisher and producing some of the defining software for the 2600.
Those games also helped establish something we now take for granted: the idea that individual developers could be recognised for the work they created. Activision’s early cartridges and manuals put their creators front and centre, a sharp contrast with Atari’s approach at the time.
More than four decades later, there is something satisfyingly circular about Atari manufacturing new cartridges containing games created by the company founded by those former employees. The hardware has long since become retro, but the cartridges are being sold as usable software rather than decorative replicas.
The first wave also covers a useful spread of Activision’s catalogue. Kaboom! still supports paddle controllers, while games such as Keystone Kapers, Pressure Cooker, Private Eye and Enduro are among the individually packaged releases alongside the better-known Pitfall! and River Raid.
Atari’s decision to make the cartridges work across both old and new consoles is the part we like most. If you still have an original 2600 under the television, these are new physical releases for that machine. If you have moved onto a 2600+ or 7800+, the same cart comes with you.
The Treasure Collection and first Standard Editions are scheduled to ship in November 2026, with the remaining Deluxe Collections and additional Standard releases following during 2027.
You can see the full range, individual cartridge options and collector sets on Atari’s official Activision collection page.
