First Licensed Star Wars Game for Atari 2600 Predates Iconic Arcade Cabinet

Star Wars is one of the oldest franchises in the video game industry, and its early releases are perfect examples of George Lucas’ then-revolutionary approach to the synergy of marketing and merchandising. In total, it is believed that over 100 (possibly as many as 130) Star Wars games have been produced, ranging from console titles to educational games from Lucas Learning, with 90 million copies sold as of 2020.

The chances of you already owning a Star Wars game are high. Some of the most significant titles of the past 20 years have come from a galaxy far, far away. The Star Wars: Battlefront and Star Wars: Jedi series are two of the most notable examples from a franchise that is almost 45 years old.

For many, Star Wars games kicked off with the groundbreaking arcade machine, Star Wars, which arrived alongside Return of the Jedi in 1983. However, the first official Star Wars tie-in video game arrived in 1982 for the Atari 2600

This Atari 2600 Star Wars Game Is Rare

Currently listed on eBay is a copy of Star Wars; The Empire Strikes Back, an Atari 2600 cartridge in pretty good condition, with an asking price of $959. This is a two-player game, challenging you to take down AT-ATs in your snowspeeder on the ice planet of Hoth.

So why is this copy of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back particularly interesting? You have two main elements at play with this example: context and condition.

Video Game Tie-ins in 1983

By the early 1980s, Lucas had already proved that toys could be an important aspect of merchandise. The next step was obvious: video games, and the Atari 2600 was the most popular platform in North America. Interestingly, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released around six months before the notorious E.T. game (based on the movie by Steven Spielberg, a long-time friend and collaborator of George Lucas), and their reputations could not be more different.

While challenging, the Atari 2600 Star Wars game is pretty well-regarded; conversely, the E.T. game is forever tied to the video game crash that hit the USA between 1983 and 1985.

Happily, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is free of any overblown connection to overproduction, is an example of a playable early movie tie-in, and remains an influential entry within the massive series of Star Wars games. Indeed, someone has even created a modern version of this game for the Commodore 64, a contemporary platform that never received a port of the Atari game (it was originally released only on Atari 2600 and Intellivision, which Atari now owns).

Is Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Worth $1,000?

The condition of this particular instance of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is significant. Used copies ship for around $30, and as a Star Wars title published on a mainstream console, it is not rare. But this example – graded 8.0 with an A+ seal rating – has remained unopened since 1982.

The usual price is upward of $500, depending on the quality, and some copies have pushed into the $800+ territory over the past few years.

However, this particular item has two things that push the price up: first, the WATA grader has confirmed “no stripe,” which means this is from the game’s first production run. The second thing is that it is confirmed as “Made in Malaysia,” which may be of interest to collectors looking for variants.

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