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The key to retro gaming
Pros
Inexpensive; lots of support; easy to collect for; definitive home editions of early arcade games
Cons
A lot of junk titles; graphics and sound are terrible compared to modern systems
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Have you played your Atari today? I've owned one of these since 1981 and I still play it. It may pale to today's system, but it has its charms.
I'm not even going to try debating the merits of this machine as this thing is absolutely puny when compared with the polygon-pushing video game consoles out there today. In fact, anyone who think an old console is a Sega Genesis or a Sony Playstation 1 will probably laugh at the simplicity of the old Atari 2600 (or Atari VCS as it was originally known). However, if you want to get an idea about what playing video games at home was actually like in the late 1970s and early to mid-1980s, the Atari 2600 is the choice for you.
A little bit about the history of this machine is necessary for those wanting to understand why the 2600 was such a cultural marvel. Back in 1977, the idea of a video game console that accepted cartridges programmed with various games was a bit of a new idea. Prior to that time, most video game systems displayed images only in black and white and several variations of Pong were typically hardwired into the systems. What you saw was what you got with those machines.
Now, Atari wasn't the first system on the block to feature the ability to accept game cartridges. In 1976, the Fairchild Channel F was released and it touted that ability. The Channel F never made a huge splash in the market, but it did inspire Atari to take the idea of a cartridge based machine, improve on it and develop its own machine. So, in 1977, Atari issued the VCS and a rebadged system was marketed by Sears as the Sears Video Arcade (the machines are identical in all but appearance).
The Atari VCS rocked along, but the company didn't really hit it big with the VCS until 1979 when Fairchild backed out of the market almost completely and people got excited about the prospect of playing video games at home (the VCS was the hottest selling Christmas present in 1979, in fact). In 1980, the Atari really took off when a little game called Space Invaders was released. That solid adaptation of an arcade hit made the Atari a very popular machine and the rest is history.
Everything started with the success of Space Invaders, so the Atari managed to generate enough money to produce even more games and attracted the interest of some excellent third party developers such as Activision. The sheer volume of games available for the 2600, then, makes it the system to get if you want to get an idea of what gaming was like in those years before the Nintendo Entertainment System showed up in 1985 and knocked Atari off the video game mountain.
You will find, for example, excellent home versions of such arcade classics as Space Invaders, Berzerk, Ms. Pac-Man, Joust, Centipede, Moon Patrol, Frogger (a Parker Brothers release), Asteroids, Missile Command, Defender (some hate that one, but I like it), Stargate and etc., etc. You'll find some provocative titles such as Adventure (an Atari release that is actually a laughably simple forerunner to the RPGs that we have today), third-party software from the likes of Activision (StarMaster, Sea Quest and Chopper Command, for example), Imagic (Demon Attack), Parker Brothers (Frogger and The Empire Strikes Back) and M-Network (Kool-Aid Man, for instance).
There's a ton of great software out there, but there's also some junk. Pac-Man and E.T. are two games that Atari should have been ashamed of as soon as they released them. Zaxxon and Donkey Kong from Parker Brothers are absolutely dreadful. The system is also a bit weak in the sports category, although Atari's Super Football, Activision's Ice Hockey and Tennis and M-Networks Football and Baseball are outstanding.
But, back to our history of the Atari. Things were going great for the company, but in 1981 and 1982, Atari made some horrible decisions. Yes, they released Pac-Man and E.T. during that time, and the backlash against the company from consumers over that awful game is often referenced when people talk about the video game crash of 1984. Yes, that was the year when we saw a lot of third party developers go bankrupt, systems like the IntelliVision and ColecoVision absolutely fail and Atari losing a ton of money on both the 2600 and the ill-advised 5200.
Atari also made a fateful decision back when markets were falling to pieces. A little company named Nintendo made a video game console that was popular in Japan, but company officials were worried about bringing it to the U.S. and competing with Atari. So, Nintendo officials met with the Atari folks and pitched the idea of having Atari rebadge and market the Japanese system. Atari refused, so Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Atari was already reeling from the video game crash of 1984, and they simply didn't have the resources or the foresight to keep up with Nintendo as the Japanese company set about making sure every kid in America had an NES and a copy of Super Mario Brothers.
Whew! Well, for those that are left after that wandering bit of history, let me get into the specifics of this machine. Each system comes bundled with an eight-bit 6507 CPU (a cousin of the MOS Technologies 6502 made famous by Apple 2, the NES and a host of eight bit computers such as the Commodore 64 and the Atari 400/800 line) running at a whopping 1.19 MHz. Most games are played with joysticks and two of those can be hooked up to an Atari. Paddle controllers were also packaged with early machines and four of those can be hooked up to an Atari (there aren't just a whole lot of games that use those paddles, however). You've also got some specialty controllers, such as a touch pad that came with Star Raiders and driving controllers that came with Indy 500.
Atari games are notoriously basic, due to the physical limitations of the machine. Cartridges range in size from a measly 4 kilobytes all the way up to 64 kilobytes (there aren't that many games that came on the 64 kilobyte carts, to be sure). But that's OK -- the emphasis was always on sheer gameplay rather than graphics, and the Atari excels at fun, challenging games that caused people to flock to the system.
For those wanting to collect one of those pre-Nintendo systems, it's hard to go wrong with an Atari. A lot of definitive arcade conversions were made for the 2600 and these machines can still be picked up for next to nothing on eBay. They're very durable, too -- if you take good care of a 2600, it will last for a very long time.
And, there's a wealth of support for these machines still. Atari enthusiasts hang out at sites like AtariAge.com and are more than willing to give advice to new collectors as to where to find games, what titles are best, how to modify an Atari and etc. Interestingly enough, there are still new games being developed by independent programmers for the Atari. Don't believe me? Check out the store at AtariAge.com, look at all the new games and read about the ones under development on the site's forums. You'll be amazed.
For those who are super geeky about the hobby of collecting games and such for the Atari 2600 (I fall into that category, I'm afraid), there are even expos around the country that focus on vintage consoles. The Atari 2600 is, of course, always a star at those things. I've been to one of those expos in Tulsa a couple of times, in fact, and they are great places to pick up new games (AtariAge is a frequent exhibitor at those things), pick up some bargains on older games and generally visit with people who love retro gaming.
In short, the Atari's day may have come and gone, but there is still a lot of support for and enthusiasm about this system. It's one of the easiest systems to collect for because of the low price, the support still offered through sites like AtariAge and AtariTimes.com, and the fact that most of the really good games for the system are very common and can be purchased for next to nothing. Besides, the old Atari is still a lot of fun. I may be one of those people who is still calling Best Buy every week in hopes of finally purchasing a Nintendo Wii (I've been trying to get one since the first of December), but I'm sure my 2600 will still be hooked up to a television set around here years after the Wii has been forgotten and is collecting dust in my garage.
A little bit about the history of this machine is necessary for those wanting to understand why the 2600 was such a cultural marvel. Back in 1977, the idea of a video game console that accepted cartridges programmed with various games was a bit of a new idea. Prior to that time, most video game systems displayed images only in black and white and several variations of Pong were typically hardwired into the systems. What you saw was what you got with those machines.
Now, Atari wasn't the first system on the block to feature the ability to accept game cartridges. In 1976, the Fairchild Channel F was released and it touted that ability. The Channel F never made a huge splash in the market, but it did inspire Atari to take the idea of a cartridge based machine, improve on it and develop its own machine. So, in 1977, Atari issued the VCS and a rebadged system was marketed by Sears as the Sears Video Arcade (the machines are identical in all but appearance).
The Atari VCS rocked along, but the company didn't really hit it big with the VCS until 1979 when Fairchild backed out of the market almost completely and people got excited about the prospect of playing video games at home (the VCS was the hottest selling Christmas present in 1979, in fact). In 1980, the Atari really took off when a little game called Space Invaders was released. That solid adaptation of an arcade hit made the Atari a very popular machine and the rest is history.
Everything started with the success of Space Invaders, so the Atari managed to generate enough money to produce even more games and attracted the interest of some excellent third party developers such as Activision. The sheer volume of games available for the 2600, then, makes it the system to get if you want to get an idea of what gaming was like in those years before the Nintendo Entertainment System showed up in 1985 and knocked Atari off the video game mountain.
You will find, for example, excellent home versions of such arcade classics as Space Invaders, Berzerk, Ms. Pac-Man, Joust, Centipede, Moon Patrol, Frogger (a Parker Brothers release), Asteroids, Missile Command, Defender (some hate that one, but I like it), Stargate and etc., etc. You'll find some provocative titles such as Adventure (an Atari release that is actually a laughably simple forerunner to the RPGs that we have today), third-party software from the likes of Activision (StarMaster, Sea Quest and Chopper Command, for example), Imagic (Demon Attack), Parker Brothers (Frogger and The Empire Strikes Back) and M-Network (Kool-Aid Man, for instance).
There's a ton of great software out there, but there's also some junk. Pac-Man and E.T. are two games that Atari should have been ashamed of as soon as they released them. Zaxxon and Donkey Kong from Parker Brothers are absolutely dreadful. The system is also a bit weak in the sports category, although Atari's Super Football, Activision's Ice Hockey and Tennis and M-Networks Football and Baseball are outstanding.
But, back to our history of the Atari. Things were going great for the company, but in 1981 and 1982, Atari made some horrible decisions. Yes, they released Pac-Man and E.T. during that time, and the backlash against the company from consumers over that awful game is often referenced when people talk about the video game crash of 1984. Yes, that was the year when we saw a lot of third party developers go bankrupt, systems like the IntelliVision and ColecoVision absolutely fail and Atari losing a ton of money on both the 2600 and the ill-advised 5200.
Atari also made a fateful decision back when markets were falling to pieces. A little company named Nintendo made a video game console that was popular in Japan, but company officials were worried about bringing it to the U.S. and competing with Atari. So, Nintendo officials met with the Atari folks and pitched the idea of having Atari rebadge and market the Japanese system. Atari refused, so Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. Atari was already reeling from the video game crash of 1984, and they simply didn't have the resources or the foresight to keep up with Nintendo as the Japanese company set about making sure every kid in America had an NES and a copy of Super Mario Brothers.
Whew! Well, for those that are left after that wandering bit of history, let me get into the specifics of this machine. Each system comes bundled with an eight-bit 6507 CPU (a cousin of the MOS Technologies 6502 made famous by Apple 2, the NES and a host of eight bit computers such as the Commodore 64 and the Atari 400/800 line) running at a whopping 1.19 MHz. Most games are played with joysticks and two of those can be hooked up to an Atari. Paddle controllers were also packaged with early machines and four of those can be hooked up to an Atari (there aren't just a whole lot of games that use those paddles, however). You've also got some specialty controllers, such as a touch pad that came with Star Raiders and driving controllers that came with Indy 500.
Atari games are notoriously basic, due to the physical limitations of the machine. Cartridges range in size from a measly 4 kilobytes all the way up to 64 kilobytes (there aren't that many games that came on the 64 kilobyte carts, to be sure). But that's OK -- the emphasis was always on sheer gameplay rather than graphics, and the Atari excels at fun, challenging games that caused people to flock to the system.
For those wanting to collect one of those pre-Nintendo systems, it's hard to go wrong with an Atari. A lot of definitive arcade conversions were made for the 2600 and these machines can still be picked up for next to nothing on eBay. They're very durable, too -- if you take good care of a 2600, it will last for a very long time.
And, there's a wealth of support for these machines still. Atari enthusiasts hang out at sites like AtariAge.com and are more than willing to give advice to new collectors as to where to find games, what titles are best, how to modify an Atari and etc. Interestingly enough, there are still new games being developed by independent programmers for the Atari. Don't believe me? Check out the store at AtariAge.com, look at all the new games and read about the ones under development on the site's forums. You'll be amazed.
For those who are super geeky about the hobby of collecting games and such for the Atari 2600 (I fall into that category, I'm afraid), there are even expos around the country that focus on vintage consoles. The Atari 2600 is, of course, always a star at those things. I've been to one of those expos in Tulsa a couple of times, in fact, and they are great places to pick up new games (AtariAge is a frequent exhibitor at those things), pick up some bargains on older games and generally visit with people who love retro gaming.
In short, the Atari's day may have come and gone, but there is still a lot of support for and enthusiasm about this system. It's one of the easiest systems to collect for because of the low price, the support still offered through sites like AtariAge and AtariTimes.com, and the fact that most of the really good games for the system are very common and can be purchased for next to nothing. Besides, the old Atari is still a lot of fun. I may be one of those people who is still calling Best Buy every week in hopes of finally purchasing a Nintendo Wii (I've been trying to get one since the first of December), but I'm sure my 2600 will still be hooked up to a television set around here years after the Wii has been forgotten and is collecting dust in my garage.
