Swordquest:Waterworld (Atari-1983) This was the third in a series of adventure games that Atari released as part of a contest. If players could find the clues in the games and their companion comic books, then they would be eligible to win fabulous prizes. The first two games, Earthworld and Fireworld, were farily common. However, the third game, Waterworld, was only available through the Atari Club.

The failure of Atari and it's subsequent sale killed the remainder of the contest. The fourth game in the series, Airworld, was never released, and Waterworld quietly disappeared. (The fabulous prizes never issued included a solid gold crown and a sword encrusted with jewels.)

One of the winners with one of the cool prizes, a gold chalice!

Karate (Ultravision-1982): Ultravision was planning on releasing a very ambitious video game console (which came with a built in TV) sometime around 1983. To drum up support for their new system and gain some name recognition, the company released some games for the 2600 in 1982. One of those games was Karate, which featured two large characters slowly kicking and punching each other. Very few copies of Karate were ever released (a company called Froggo would later release an almost identical version of this game, also called Karate, which is much easier to find).

Lochjaw (Apollo-1981): This game was basically an underwater version of Pac-Man in which the main character had to avoid sharks instead of ghosts. Soon after it was released, Lochjaw got the attention of the movie studio MCA, who believed that the game infringed on their copyrights to the movie Jaws. Apollo did not have the money to fight a lawsuit, so they recalled the game.

Lochjaw was altered and later re-released as Shark Attack. Only a few copies of the original Lochjaw had been sold before the recall, making it a very tough title to find today.

Music Machine (Sparrow-1983): This game was a companion to an album of the same name released by a religious group called Candle. The Music Machine cart was only sold in religious bookstores, with most copies recalled after the crash of the gaming industry. The gameplay resembles that of Kaboom!, in which the main character stands at the bottom of the screen and catches various objects

Quadrun (Atari-1983): This interesting game was only available to members of the Atari Club. As a result, only around 10,000 copies of this game are in existence.

In Quadrun, you have to maneuver a ship around the perimeter of a plus shaped room, shooting enemies that come toward you. The game's challenge comes from the fact that you only have a set number of shots, and you actually have to move around the room and catch the shots you had fired in order to use them again. Quadrun was also the very first Atari 2600 game to feature voice synthesis.

Chase the Chuckwagon (Spectravideo-1983): One of the most infamous Atari 2600 games. This game was an advertising project by dog food maker Ralston Purina. It was only available by sending in proofs of purchase from bags of Chuck Wagon brand dog food. Chase the Chuck Wagon is one of the best examples of the poorly made third party games that helped sink the video game industry in 1983-84.

The game is a simple maze chase game in which you play a dog trying to avoid a dogcatcher and find the Chuck Wagon (which we presume is full of delicious kibble). This was one of the first 2600 games to be considered a collector's item, and still has huge following.

Naughty Games: One of the Atari 2600's biggest legacies is it's robust collection of porno games. A couple of shady publishers created a number of dirty games designed to take the venerable pornography industry into the digital age.

Obviously, these games weren't going to be sold by any mainstream or even semi-mainstream retailers. Instead, gamers needing their Atari smut fix had to go through the usual porno back channels, including mail-order cards from dirty magazines, adult video stores, and your best friend's creepy uncle. As a result, not many copies of games were sold, making them rare collector's items (just keep telling yourself that when you bid on them, ya perv).

The most famous of these is Custer's Revenge, in which you control Civil War era General George Armstrong Custer in his never ending quest for booty. This game caused quite a stir when it was released, which made it more popular and helped it sell more copies. Despite it being more plentiful, the popularity of Custer's Revenge makes it a very expensive collectible. Other dirty games include luminaries such as Beat 'Em and Eat 'Em, Knight on the Town, Burning Desire, Bachelorette Party, Cathouse Blues, Philly Flasher and Lady in Wading.

The rarest of all XXX games is X-Man by Universal Gamex (no, that's not a typo, it really is spelled with an X). X-Man was a maze chase game with an interactive sex scene at the end. Unfortunately, hot pixelated action wasn't enough to keep Universal Gamex in business, and X-Man only sold a small handful of copies.

That is all for our rare Atari games showcase. There are many more rare and collectible games for the 2600 out there. There are a few good online resources for those interested in collecting for the 2600 or other classic consoles, including AtariAge and Digital Press who have rarity guides and collectors' forums.

Other Atari VCS/2600 Articles:

System Overview
Console Variations
Peripherals
Rare Games Part 1