Atari 2600 Emulators for Windows

Stella Atari 2600 emulator

Stella is the best Atari 2600 emulator we have encountered so far to play Atari 2600 games on a Windows 11, Windows 10 or older computer.

  • Stella Atari 2600 emulator.Latest version 6.7 (13 June 2022)
  • Works on Windows 11, Windows 10 and older (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 11 or Windows 10

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

  • 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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