Standard plug for this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Beam-Computer-Platform-Studies...

and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_the_Beam

Great read. Very in-depth on some of the great games of that era.

Whenever this topic comes up, some inevitably points to the book "Racing The Beam". Maybe this time I'll be first? :)

https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_the_Beam

https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Beam-Computer-Platform-Studies...

It goes in to deep detail on a handful of Atari games, and discusses the tricks and hacks the programmers used. If you're in development now and grew up on these games, it's a great book.

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System

Is a good read about the Atari 2600 and how the devs were able to fight within the limitations of 1970s and 1980s hardware to develop a gaming platform.

https://www.amazon.com/Racing-Beam-Computer-Platform-Studies...