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Contents. Atari 2600. The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor -based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridges, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F in 1976.
The Atari 2600 is also known as Video Computer System or VCS. It was Atari's entry into the second generation of video games. The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in September 1977. It's the third console of its generation following the Fairchild Channel F and RCA Studio II.
This article traces the rise and fall of Atari 45 years later and explores some of the major game releases that made the Atari 2600 a household name. An interesting look at the history of one of the first video game systems that changed how we understood, played, and lived with video games. Reply reply. elsteevo. •.
I’ve spent years working on assembling such release date information for a variety of programmable game systems released in the United States (and Canada) between 1976 and 1984, as well as the Atari 7800. These dates are North America-specific except where noted and are as accurate as I’ve been able to get them; refinements will undoubtedly ...
- Press Reset
- The Key to Success
- Riding High
- The Market Splinters
- What Goes Up…Well, You Know
- Atari Forever
Atari was already flying high by the mid-1970s, having launched the coin-op video game industry with Computer Space and Pong. But it had nothing in the home yet—that fell to Magnavox, which was selling Ralph Baer's brilliant Odyssey. Originally designed in 1967 and launched in 1972, the Odyssey played 12 different games on your television; it didn'...
Thanks to the 2600’s cartridge slot, you could never get bored of the system—all you had to do was buy another game, or ask your parents to. Some early cartridges were mediocre (anyone out there love Basic Math?), but other games were fun despite their simplicity. It’s tough to beat two friends shooting up the carriages, and each other, in Outlaw. ...
Mattel tried to compete by launching the Intellivision, a solid system with numerous hardware advantages over the 2600 that especially helped in sports and strategy games. Mattel secured licenses from all the major sports organizations such as the NBA, NFL, and NHL. It eventually sold several million units, but it never threatened the 2600’s lead. ...
Famously, Atari kept its formulas secret—and even its employees, refusing to give them credit in games. In response, the Adventure cartridge contained the first popular Easter Egg, a hidden feature that showed programmer Warren Robinett's name in a special room if you executed exactly the right steps, a wonderful protest in retrospect. Four other k...
Then it all went south. Many people erroneously blame E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial as the reason the market sank. It certainly wasn’t a great game, with its crude graphics and frustrating pits. Anything less than perfection would have made a mockery of Atari’s $20 million deal with Steven Spielberg, but it wasn’t a terrible cartridge. Still, it fuel...
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the 2600 is how much has happened since. The homebrew scene lit up in the 1990s with excellent titles such as Oystron (1997) and Conquest of Mars (2003). All kinds of people began hacking existing titles, such as “fixing” the original 2600 Pac-Man release in various ways, or adding the missing voices to Berzerk ...
- Jamie Lendino
- Editor-In-Chief, Extremetech
Atari 2600. Years: 1977-1984 (Returned in the late '80s; officially discontinued 1991. Also known as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS), Sears Video Arcade. Compatible with: 2600 Video Family ...
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Nov 17, 2023 · The Atari 2600+ – a modern day faithful recreation of the pioneering console that first appeared in 1980 – has officially released today. Units have started shipping to pre-order customers. Atari and Plaion also today revealed three new accessories: the CX78+ Gamepad (supporting two-button 7800 games) a standalone CX3.
