Atari 7800



"We re-invented the video game."

After it became clear the 5200 was a failure, Atari quickly decided to make a follow-up to it, but the Great Video Game Crash put a halt to their plans. And so they moved to the personal computer market, as the damage seemed irreversible. However, once the gaming industry started recovering, they decided to bring back that project to clean their reputation and thus the Atari 7800 was born.

Technically, it was a both a huge step up and a step down from the 5200. Its graphics were great for the time, standing pretty well against the NES' finest. Also, it was fully backwards-compatible with 2600 games. However, its audio capabilities were dismal: rather than introduce a better sound chip, or even reuse the 5200's POKEY, it relied on the 2600's long obsolete TIA for that. Games could have a POKEY built in the cartridge for better sound, but only Ballblazer and Commando did.

The 7800 was not a commercial success (although it fared quite well in the UK), and had little support, as Nintendo quickly dominated the market and demanded exclusivity from third-parties. Even so, it had some pretty nice games that are worth checking out.

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