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Games. Atari's dedicated consoles and many of their early console games were licensed for sale through Sears, which often sold them under a different name, on some occasions months prior to the Atari-branded version. When different, these variant names are listed in the table below.
- Atari Consoles
- Atari Handhelds
- Atari Computers
- Canceled Atari Hardware
Atari Pong
Most of us have grown up playing Pong in the arcades, but only a few people owned the Atari Pong. The Atari’s journey began with the pong, a table tennis simulator that blew us away when it was first released. To this day, it stands as the first commercially successful video game. Its success influenced other companies to copy the formula. Hence, an array of clones have emerged, like Coleco and the Commodore. Actually, what made Pong a great deal is the fact that it allowed players to hook up...
Atari Video Pinball series
Manufactured, marketed, and released by Atari back in 1977, the Video Pinball brand is a series of single-player dedicated home video game consoles launched around the same period as the Atari 2600 and the Atari Stunt Cycle. Looking back, the origins of this console are a delight to explore nowadays. Before Pong came into existence, the developer and designer behind the Pong, Harold Leebecame burnt out from his work designing arcade game boards. As a result, he left Atari. Shortly after his d...
Atari’s Stunt Cycle’s Home Console
After a humble debut in the arcades back in 1976, Atari would follow up with two dedicated console versions a year later. The first version branded Stunt Cycle plays four games: the original game and three variants titled Enduro, DragRace, and Motocross. Based on the AY-3-8760 chip by the now-defunct General Instrument, the games could be played using the Handlebar grips installed on the chip. Players were able to wheelie, whip, and even jump up to 32 onscreen buses, which was pretty impressi...
The handheld version of Touch Me
First introduced as an arcade game in 1974, Touch Me was eventually adapted into a handheld version in 1978. This handheld release marked one of Atari’s strongest entries into the handheld market and is considered one of the earliest attempts to be released in the gaming industry. This orange handheld was tiny, featuring four colorful buttons: blue, yellow, red, and green. Four additional buttons were included along with a turn ON/Off slot in case you want to call it a day. For those interest...
Atari Lynx
Lynx was Atari’s answer to Nintendo’s Gameboy, TurboExpress, and Sega’s Game Gear handhelds. And as always, Atari never disappoints, making sure it always surprises the world with something new. Lynx was a technological step forward as it was the first handheld with an LCD color display compared to the original Game Boy. Thanks to its advanced graphics at the time and the ambidextrous design, Lynx managed to sell very well, boasting over 3 million units sold according to the Wikipedia page.
Atari Lynx II
Following the moderate success of the Atari Lynx, the company introduced the Atari Lynx II to the market in July 1991, only to discontinue it a year later. This upgraded iteration of the console boasted several enhancements, notably a redesign that made it slightly smaller and more symmetrical, optimizing comfort for handheld use. The screen was also brighter, and Atari incorporated a new feature that allowed players to turn off the screen using a blacklight button, conserving energy during b...
Atari 400
The Atari 400 is a home computer that is part of the 8-bit family series. The look of this thing may deceive you, but at the time, it managed to sell 4 million units between 1979 and 1992 alongside the more powerful Atari 800. These systems not only were a technical marvel when they came out, but they also helped make home computers go mainstream. The Atari 400 cost 550 US Dollars back then. As of right now, the cost of a brand new one is 1960$ among retro collectors.
Atari 800
A slightly powerful home computer in comparison with the Atari 400 and is also part of the 8-bit family series of consoles. Both the Atari 400 and 800 were released in November 1979 and came packed with plug-and-play peripherals using the Atari SIO serial bus. Unlike, the Atari 400 which could fit up to 16kb of DRAM, the Atari 800 allowed easy RAM upgrades up to 48KB. Thanks to its advanced capabilities it made gaming a whole lot more popular.
Atari 1200XL
The Atari 1200XL was first presented at the Winter CES on January 6-9, 1983, and it shipped in February of the year for the consumer. This computer which is part of the 8-bit family, boasted 64kb of RAM, a re-designed keyboard (featuring four function keys and a help key), and a redesigned cable port layout. Originally announced at a retail price of 1000$, with no available units in Europe, the price was ultimately changed to 899$. The 1200XL was ultimately discontinued a few months after its...
Atari Game Brain
An unreleased home video game console that was intended to be released back in June 1978 by Atari. Unfortunately, the system is capable of running only 10 games converted from previous Atari dedicated consoles. Games such as Pong, Stunt Cycle, Super Pong, Ultra Pong, and more. The system was canceled around 1978 since it wasn’t meant to be a big seller for Atari. Similar to the Atari 2600, Game Brain would have featured a ROM Cartridge. However, the system didn’t include a set of controllers...
Atari Cosmos
Yet another unreleased piece of hardware by Atari that was intended to be released somewhat between 1978 to 1981. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Similar to the Atari Game Brain, it would have come included with 9 games. Including Asteroids, Road Runner, Superman, Dodge ’em, Sea Battle, and more. Work on the Atari Cosmos was initiated back in 1978 by Atari Inc. engineers Roger Hector, Allan Alcorn, and Harry Jenkins. As a tabletop handheld electronic system, it would have benefited from the hologr...
Atari 2700
The Atari 2700 — or known as the Atari Remote Control VCS — is a prototype home console that was sadly not launched. The latter was intended to be one of the follow-ups to the commercially successful Atari 2600. The system would have included several new interesting features such as wireless controllers featuring an amalgamation of a joystick and paddle that would work via radio signals, touch-sensitive switches, and a wedge-shaped case. Surprisingly, the Atari 2700 was fully compatible with...
Atari Games retained most of the same employees and managers from the coin-operated games division and continued many of the divisions projects from before the transition. In 1985, a controlling interest in the coin-operated games division was sold to Namco , which also took the Atari Games name.
26 video games released on the Atari 2600 sold at least one million copies, of which 14 were developed and/or published by the console's manufacturer, Atari, Inc. Other publishers with multiple entries in the top 26 are Activision (six titles), Imagic (three titles) and Parker Brothers (two titles).
TitleDeveloper / PublisherArcade PortLicensorYesYesYesNo—- Editor
- Pac-Man (7.81 million) Pac-Man, along with E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, is the Atari 2600 game mentioned in the introduction that almost crashed the home console industry.
- Pitfall! (4.50 million) is a platformer made by current industry giants Activision. Interestingly, Activision was founded by game creators who felt that Atari wasn't giving them the financial reward or accreditation that they deserved.
- Asteroids (4.31 million) Asteroids is another key figure in the golden age of arcade. The space shooter differentiated itself from the popular fixed shooters by giving players full multi-directional control.
- Missile Command (2.76 million) One of the many Shoot em' up games that Space Invaders inspired is Missile Command. The game required players to shoot down enemy missiles that are trying to destroy six cities; it was inspired by the Cold War.
Aug 21, 2008 · Besides the vector games, Atari released other arcade games in 1979. In an attempt build on the success of Football in 1978, Atari created the Atari Sports label to market its games. The first Atari sports game released was Baseball, in May 1979 -- 1050 units were manufactured and sold for $1595 each.
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The console was released with nine games, and with close to 400,000 units sold in its first year, the VCS sold out its initial production run and was a smash-hit in holiday sales.
