Best Selling Atari 8-Bit Games

If you are curious to see which are the best selling Atari-8 bit games, this is the right article for you. Here you will be able to read about the best selling Atari 8-bit games that left the biggest impression on the video games community from the past century.

Best Selling Atari 8-Bit Games

As these games were sold in unbelievable numbers and broke all the records for video game sales, it is no wonder that people are still talking about them today. The things that make them the best selling Atari 8-bit games are the games’ complexity, graphics, technology, etc., which for those times were groundbreaking and considered the biggest revelation so far.

So, that said, let’s learn more about the games that have forever changed video game history and re-designed and re-shaped the video game community from the root.

Read more: Best Atari 5200 Games

Boulder Dash (1984)

The first of the best selling Atari-8 bit games is the Boulder Dash game, released in 1984. Through this game, you can see the actual creativity, thought, and care game developers put into designing their games to make them as innovative as possible. Although for today’s standards, this game might seem simple, just think of the lack of technology and software people had back then and how they were still able to come up with this complicated game.

Boulder Dash is a maze-puzzle game with extremely intriguing gameplay. There are multiple caves on the screen, and you have to guide the character through a grid of blocks into the caves. Once in the caves, you need to collect diamonds and, at the same time, keep an eye on the falling rocks. 

Finally, when you collect enough diamonds, the exit door opens, and once you go through it, it completes the cave.

Rescue on Fractalus! (1985)

When you hear “Rescue on Fractalus!” you may immediately think of this adventurous game to which no one can be indifferent. For 1985, this game was honestly incredibly advanced and full of little details that made the entire gaming experience more realistic compared to other games.

Thanks to the fractal technology that this game uses, you can see the interestingly shaped mountains on an alien planet through which you need to roam around in the fictional “Valkyrie”, a one-in-a-kind space fighter. The interesting part comes when the anti-aircraft guns on those mountains activate, and you need to do anything in your power to avoid them so that you can successfully save the Ethercorps pilots.

By using the direction finder, you need to locate all those pilots while going through different weather-related obstacles, flying kamikaze saucers, and the day and night specifics. Also, as the thick atmosphere around the space fighter is sufficiently acidic, you must pay great attention to that detail as well if you want to rescue all the pilots without losing your life.

Dropzone (1984)

Although there were many shooter games around these years, the Dropzone game is the highest-sold one and was rewarded with a Gold Medal in the Zzap! 64 magazine, more specifically, in its issue 3. 

Thanks to the horizontally scrolling shooter technology, this game was challenging but also extremely relaxing, and people just kept buying it and playing it constantly. 

The gameplay happens on the surface of Jupiter’s moon, where the aliens attack a human scientific research base. Your mission is to rescue the scientists and bring them back to the base with the help of a cloaking device, three smart bombs, and a laser.

To do this, you must engage or elude various aliens, some of which are fast and some are slow. When the aliens capture the scientists, you need to shoot the aliens so that they release the scientists and catch them while they are falling down.

Ultimately, as the Dropzone game has 99 levels whose difficulty increases as you progress through them, in the end, you are rewarded with a specific title depending on the overall game score.

Bounty Bob Strikes Again (1984)

The Bounty Bob Strikes Again gameplay was similar to the Miner 2049er in which the player needs to inspect every section of 25 mines while simultaneously avoiding the mutants in a particular set of time. As one of Billboard’s list of best selling Atari 8-bit games, Bounty Bob Strikes Again was the absolute favorite to many children and adults and definitely served as a base for the upcoming platform jumping games.

The Eidolon (1985)

The Eidolon is probably one of the most creative Atari-8 bit games featuring a strange vehicle from the 19th century and a cave full of creatures that want revenge. The gameplay goes as follows.

The player finds this mysterious old vehicle, and as they investigate it, they are transported into a cave where more and more creatures start waking up. The player’s main goal is to come alive out of the cave by utilizing the vehicle’s different features, as it is the only powerful weapon in the fight against the creatures.

You will have to go through multiple mazes and simultaneously collect energy orbs which can be green, red, yellow, or blue. As you move along, these energy orbs will have different meanings and purposes, and you can use them to successfully find your way out.

In the end, when you manage to go through all eight game levels and collect the diamonds in them, you will proceed to the dragon that guards the exit. Once you defeat it or run out of time, the game will be over.

Pastfinder (1984)

Finally, the last from the list of best selling Atari 8-bit games is the Pastfinder game from 1984. This game is a vertically scrolling shooter game with gameplay happening in the year 8878. As a player, you are a member of the elite legion The Pastfinders, which consists of planetary explorers. 

Your job will be to collect many artifacts from the irradiated mysterious planet and deliver them to the bases. These bases are distributed through the lifeless area filled with deadly mechanized landscapes and radiation. When the player loses all their ships, the game ends.

Also read: Best Atari 7800 Games Review