Pitfall!, River Raid, Kaboom!, and H.E.R.O. return on physical cartridges — with preorders open now and Deluxe sets shipping into 2027.
39 games, real cartridges
Atari and Activision have reunited — nearly 50 years after Activision’s founders walked out of Atari — for the Atari x Activision Collection: 39 classic Atari 2600 titles re-released on physical cartridges. The lineup covers the games that defined the 2600’s golden age: Pitfall!, River Raid, Kaboom!, and H.E.R.O. among them. Preorders are open now at atari.com.
The three tiers
There are three ways in. Standard Edition cartridges cover a dozen popular titles at $34.99 each, shipping in November. Then come four Deluxe Box sets — Treasure, Speed, Secrets, and Victory — expanding the collection to all 39 games at $249.99 per set, with the first shipping in late November and the rest following through Spring, Summer, and Fall 2027. And for the committed: a Complete Collection with all four sets plus an unannounced collectible item for $999.96.
Why this one matters
Physical re-releases of 2600 games aren’t new, but the Atari–Activision pairing is the story. As Atari’s Matt Burnett put it, this is about the developers who proved great games could come from independent creators — the same people whose work built the third-party publishing model the whole industry runs on now. These are cartridges you can hold, shelve, and actually play on real hardware: preservation you can touch.
The bottom line
A thousand dollars for the full set is collector-brain territory, but the $34.99 singles are the sweet spot — a real Pitfall! cartridge, brand new, in 2026. If you’ve got a 2600 (or one of the modern retro consoles that plays the carts), this is about as good as retro physical releases get.
Announced via Atari press release, August 26, 2026; preorder details via The Gamer’s Guide and Bleeding Cool. Preorders open now at atari.com.