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Typical example of Atarisoft packaging. The predominantly red cover of Centipede corresponds to the Apple II format.

Atarisoft was a brand name used by Atari, Inc in 1983 and 1984 to market video games they published for home systems made by their competitors.^[1] Each platform had a specific color attributed by Atarisoft for its game packages. For example, video games sold for the Commodore 64 came up in green packages, games for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A in yellow, games for the IBM PC in blue, and so on.

By 1984 a rumor stated that Atari planned to discontinue hardware and only sell software.^[2] Despite being in existence for less than two years, Atarisoft had a huge video game library with dozens of game versions being released for various home computers and consoles. Almost all of the Atarisoft titles were produced by third-party software companies, as Atari only developed for their own systems.

The Atarisoft label did not bear Atari's recognizable "Fuji" logo nor the official logos of the games, rather, the game names were written in a different typeface. The Atarisoft brand was used on game boxes, manuals; and advertising, but the name that appeared on the title screen of these games was generally that of Atari, not Atarisoft.

The Atarisoft label as utilized by Atari Inc. was discontinued shortly after Warner Communications sold Atari Inc's consumer division to Jack Tramiel in 1984. Many additional titles were in production at the time. Most of these went unreleased although a few were eventually released by other companies. Some titles originally planned for cartridge release such as the C64 Mario Bros. were released on disk instead for cost reasons. Other titles such as the IBM port of Stargate were completed, but never published; they were leaked to BBSes.

The new Atari Corp. initially used the Atarisoft brand as well. Several Atari 8-bit family titles (both game and non-game) were published by Atari UK and Atari France using the Atarisoft label in 1985. Atari did not use the Atarisoft label again after 1985.

Cross-Platform Games

Released

These were published during 1983-84. Most were released by Atari, Inc., but some of these were released by Atari, Corp. later in 1984.

• 
  Battlezone (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Centipede (Apple II, ColecoVision, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Intellivision, TI-99/4A, VIC-20, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, BBC Micro)


• 
  Crystal Castles (Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST, BBC Micro, C64)


• 
  Defender (Apple II, ColecoVision, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Intellivision, TI-99/4A, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Dig Dug (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, Intellivision)


• 
  Donkey Kong (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Intellivision)


• 
  Donkey Kong Jr. (Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, Coleco Adam, ColecoVision, Intellivision)^[3]


• 
  Galaxian (Apple II, ColecoVision, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 5200)


• 
  Gremlins (Apple II, C64, IBM PC, Atari 5200)


• 
  Joust (Apple II, IBM PC, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 7800)


• 
  Jungle Hunt^[1] (Apple II, ColecoVision, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, Atari 8-bit, Atari 2600, Atari 5200)


• 
  Mario Bros. (Apple II, C64, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 2600)


• 
  Missile Command (Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST)


• 
  Moon Patrol^[1] (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST)


• 
  Ms. Pac-Man^[1] (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, ZX Spectrum, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Pac-Man (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Intellivision, TI-99/4A, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, Atari 2600)


• 
  Picnic Paranoia (TI-99/4A)


• 
  Pole Position^[1] (BBC Micro, C64, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, ZX Spectrum, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit, Intellivision)


• 
  Protector II (TI-99/4A)


• 
  Robotron: 2084 (Apple II, BBC Micro/Acorn Electron, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari ST)


• 
  Shamus (TI-99/4A)


• 
  Stargate (Apple II, C64, Atari 2600)


• 
  Track & Field (Apple II, C64, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Vanguard (Atari 2600, Atari 5200)

Never Released

Promoted, partially developed, or fully completed titles, but Atari did not publish them.

• 
  Asteroids Deluxe (BBC Micro)


• 
  Battlezone (BBC Micro/Acorn Electron)


• 
  Centipede (IBM PCjr)


• 
  Crystal Castles (IBM PC)


• 
  Dig Dug (BBC Micro/Acorn Electron, ColecoVision, Intellivision, ZX Spectrum)


• 
  Donkey Kong (BBC Micro/Acorn Electron, IBM PCjr, ZX Spectrum)


• 
  Donkey Kong Jr (Apple II, BBC Micro, C64, IBM PC, ZX Spectrum)


• 
  Galaxian (Intellivision)


• 
  Gremlins (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Joust (BBC Micro, ColecoVision, C64, Intellivision, VIC-20, TI-99/4A)


• 
  Jungle Hunt (Intellivision)


• 
  Mario Bros. (VIC-20, IBM PC, TI-99/4A, Atari 8-bit, Atari 5200)


• 
  Missile Command (Apple II, ColecoVision, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Intellivision, TI-99/4A)


• 
  Moon Patrol (ColecoVision, IBM PCjr, ZX Spectrum)


• 
  Ms. Pac-Man (BBC Micro/Acorn Electron, ColecoVision, IBM PCjr, Intellivision)


• 
  Pac-Man (ColecoVision)


• 
  Pole Position (Apple II, Intellivision)


• 
  Robotron: 2084 (TI-99/4A, ZX Spectrum)


• 
  Sinistar (Acorn Electron, BBC Micro; later debranded and released as DeathStar)


• 
  Slime (earlier name for the unreleased Super Storm) (TI-99/4A)


• 
  Stargate (VIC-20, TI-99/4A, IBM PC)


• 
  Super Storm (later name for the unreleased Slime) (TI-99/4A)


• 
  Track & Field (IBM PC)


• 
  Typo Attack (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, IBM PCjr)


• 
  Vanguard (Apple II, C64, VIC-20, IBM PC, Intellivision, TI-99/4A)

Releases by Atari UK

Atarisoft-branded "Paint" / "The Pay-Off" floppy disk supplied as part of "Software Pack" in computer bundle.

All released in 1985.

• 
  Chess (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Eastern Front (1941) (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  European Countries and Capitals (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  An Invitation to Programming (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  The Lone Raider (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Software Pack (The Home Filing Manager and The Pay-Off / Paint) (Atari 8-bit)

Releases by Atari France

All released in 1985.

• 
  Cameléon (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Énigme du triangle (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Nostradamus (Atari 8-bit)


• 
  Promoteur (Atari 8-bit)

References