Atari 2600 Emulators for Windows 10

Stella Atari 2600 emulator

Stella is the best Atari 2600 emulator we have encountered so far to play Atari 2600 games on a Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista or XP computer.

  • Stella Atari 2600 emulator.Latest version 6.5 (9 January 2021)
  • Works on Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP (32/64 bits)
  • Emulates the Atari 2600
  • Supports .BIN and .ROM cartridge image files
  • Comments: It is maintained regularly. It has a nice, vintage looking point and click interface. Since the Atari 2600 is a game computer, the program starts with a folder explorer from which you can launch your games. As simple as that.
  • Project website https://stella-emu.github.io

Play Atari 2600 games with the Stella emulator on Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7

So, what do you need to do to play Atari 2600 games (like River Raid) on Windows with the Stella emulator?

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  • Download the Stella Binary zip
    • Windows 32 bits: Stella-6.x.x-win32.zip
    • Windows 64 bits: Stella-6.x.x-x64.zip
  • Copy the contents of the zip file to an empty folder of choice
  • Create a folder for your Atari games in the Stella folder
  • Search for an Atari game file and copy it to the game folder you've created

  • Start Stella with Stella.exe (in either the 32 or 64-bit folder)
  • Click the Options button
  • Click the Config files button
  • Click the Rom path button and click to the folder you've created for your games
  • Click on the Ok button and exit the menu
  • Double click on the game file (riverraid.bin) to start the game

In-game options

When playing a game, you can enter the options menu by pressing the tab key. For in-game functions (which are essential when you want to start playing a game), you need to familiarize yourself with the function shortcut keys. Those are:

  • F1 - Select
  • F2 - Reset / Start game
  • F3 - Color TV
  • F4 - Black & White TV
  • F5 - Port 0 difficulty A
  • F6 - Port 0 difficulty B
  • F7 - Port 1 difficulty A
  • F8 - Port 1 difficulty B
  • F9 - Save state
  • F10 - Change state number (0 to 9)
  • F11 - Load state
  • F12 - Snapshot image
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