Atari- The lesser known systems.

[Tupin]

I'm sure everyone has seen and probably played the famous 2600, the system that started 30+ years of video games, but you may have not heard of the other systems and computers to come after the VCS.



This is what the Atari 5200, released in 1982, is remembered for. Besides being absolutely enormous (supposedly it was a result of test marketers who thought bigger=better), it also had the first analog controller in gaming, and probably the worst. Chronic to breaking so often that they were often broken from the time they were manufactured to the time the consumer bought it, finding an original working controller today is practically impossible. That said, it's game library consisted mainly of good arcade ports, but had nowhere near the amount of market penetration or unique games as the 2600.



The 7800 was everything the 5200 wasn't: small, compatible with 2600 games, and it had a few third party titles. This would be great... in 1984, when it was supposed to be released. Atari's new president, Jack Tramiel, who previously ran Commodore, (irony) wanted Atari to shift away from video games after the crash of 83'. Thus, all units were put in a warehouse until 1987, when the NES proved gaming was viable. The 7800 quickly found itself a small fry between Nintendo and Sega, and lived out the few years it existed quietly.



Ah, the venerable Atari 8-bit line. Starting with the 800 (pictured above) and the 400 in 1979, it was produced in one way or another until 1993. It largely took second place to Commodore, mainly because of Atari not supporting a line of computers long before abandoning them. The Atari 400/800/XL/XE series had many peripherals, and were some of the better made and performing computers on the market. Later, they came out with a console version called the XE Game System, which only caused more problems for Atari in the late 80's.



Behold, the first color handheld system, the Lynx. Released in 1989, it trumped the Gameboy in technical ways, but failed to impress with its games. When the Turbo Express and Game Gear debuted several years later, its claim to fame meant nothing anymore. Atari got out of the handheld business.



The Jaguar is probably the most infamous Atari system ever. Released in 1993 as the first "64-bit" system, its games were largely lackluster, and its CD addon had no redeeming qualities about it. In 1996, after three years of horrible Jaguar sales and the new Playstation and N64, Atari dropped support for the Jaguar, and merged with a harddrive manufacturer JTS. JTS was later purchased by Hasbro Interactive, which itself was bought by Infogrames.

Atari exists today as a brandname used to publish the occasional title, and is really Atari in name only. Their history however, is video game legend. 

[Shujinco2]

I remember the 5200. In fact, my step-mom's nephew had both a 5200 and a 2600. (I later got the 2600 from him, but it died. :( )

There was one game where your this plane and your going down this river shooting at stuff. That was fun.

I remember the Jag too. I had Doom for that thing, and was fun. I had some other games, but they wern't as fun.

Doom was AWESOME though.

[Tupin]

I remember the 5200. In fact, my step-mom's nephew had both a 5200 and a 2600. (I later got the 2600 from him, but it died. :( )

There was one game where your this plane and your going down this river shooting at stuff. That was fun.

I remember the Jag too. I had Doom for that thing, and was fun. I had some other games, but they wern't as fun.

Doom was AWESOME though.

Was the 5200 game River Raid?

[Shujinco2]

Was the 5200 game River Raid?

It might have been, actually.

It was fun and addicting, and I played it all the time.

[Commander Awesome]

NO LOVE FOR JR.

[Tupin]

NO LOVE FOR JR.

It was a 2600, the thing Atari was known for. It was just redesigned and sold at a super-cheap price to compete with Nintendo, aiming for the "can't really afford new games" and "kid wanting to buy a system with a few months allowance" crowds. The MSRP of it was $50, and it was usually cheaper in stores. That said, the era did produce several great titles, most notably Midnight Magic, RealSports Boxing, Jr. Pac-Man, Solaris, and Roadrunner.