Atari 7800



"We re-invented the video game."

After it became clear the 5200 was a failure, Atari quickly prepared its successor, but the Crash of '83 put a halt to their plans. As the damage seemed irreversible, the company was sold to a new owner, and moved to the home computer market. However, once the gaming industry started recovering, they remembered that they still had tons of this thing still sitting in warehouses.

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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