Stella

Released in 1977, the Atari 2600 was the most popular video game console of its time. It delivered hours of fun, directly on our TV screens. If you're feeling nostalgic and want to relive those moments, you can use Stella to play Atari 2600 games on your computer. It emulates the system perfectly and it lets you load your ROMs at a moment's notice. All the games from that era can be played without any issues with this piece of software.

Stella is offered completely free of charge, but you can make a donation if you want to. It comes in a small package and it can be installed in under a minute, without making any complicated settings. The software doesn't have any special requirements and you won't feel any impact on your computer's performance.

The user interface is essentially a file browser, but with a wide range of useful options. You can navigate to your ROMs folder unhindered, after which you can simply double-click a ROM to start a game. You can also use a search function to locate a specific ROM instantly. When you select a ROM, the software will display a few details about the game, on the right side of the interface, where you may also find images, if they are available.

Games can be played with the keyboard, but you can also configure a controller or joystick. If you decide to use a keyboard, you can use the arrow keys and space bar to play your games or you could reconfigure the controls in the general settings menu. The software places a vast range of options, for tweaking anything, including controls, video and audio, inputs and outputs.

Playing an Atari game with Stella feels quite comfortable. What's more, the software provides you with a few options for simulating certain aspects of the old console. For example, you can switch to black and white mode or you can hit a key to simulate a cassette crash.

If you are an old gamer, Stella will definitely bring a lot of fond memories.