Atari 7800 is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it the first console with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different model of joystick from the 2600-standard CX40 and Pole Position II as the pack-in game. Most of the announced titles at launch were ports of 1980–83 arcade games.
Designed by General Computer Corporation, the 7800 has significantly improved graphics hardware over Atari's previous consoles, but the same Television Interface Adapter chip that launched with the 2600 in 1977 is used to generate audio. In an effort to prevent the flood of poor quality games that contributed to the video game crash of 1983, cartridges had to be digitally signed by Atari.
The console was originally supposed to hit the market in May 1984, but because of the sale of Atari and the disputes between Warner Communications and the new owner Atari's consumer division did not hit the market until two years later. The original production run of the Atari 7800 languished in warehouses until it was reintroduced in January 1986. A two-year loss to the competition, which at the time was mainly represented by NES and SMS consoles, but it could no longer catch up.
The console has been selling for less than $ 80 since its relesase. Thirteen games were announced for the system's launch:: Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position II, Centipede, Joust, Dig Dug, Desert Falcon, Robotron: 2084, Galaga, Food Fight, Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus !, Track & Field and Xevious. At the end of 1986, however, the Atari 7800 game library had only 10 games. Compared to the competition, it was very little. It's no wonder, then, that console owners have often complained about the slow release of new games. But it was not valid for them. Only 59 games were created for the Atari 7800 console during its active existence.
On January 1, 1992, Atari Corporation announced the end of production and support for the 7800, 2600, and the 8-bit computer family including the Atari XEGS. it was clear at that time, that Atari had lost its battle with the competition. By the time of the discontinuation, the Nintendo Entertainment System controlled 80% of the North American market while Atari had only 12%.
The Atari 7800 returned to the world in 2004 as a console Atari Flashback. It resembles a miniature Atari 7800 and has five 7800 and fifteen 2600 games built-in. However, even this retro console was not successful and the project was canceled shortly thereafter.
Text: RetroGames.cz, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
More info
- Atari Corporation · 1986–1992
- Third (8-bit) generation
- EmulatorJS · ProSystem
- 64 games
- 10,155,369 plays on RetroGames.cz
