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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.
Aug 4, 2023 · The story of the Atari 2600 begins in the early 1970s when founders Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell established Atari in 1972. Atari’s first entry into the gaming space is also one of its best-known, as Pong was released in 1972 as a coin-operated arcade game and was a runaway hit.
- $199
- September 11, 1977
- 1977-1992
- 30 million
- 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
Jan 26, 2024 · The first company to launch a successful home console, Atari effectively built an industry through the 1970s with their home Pong console. Hundreds of Pong machines from just as many...
The Atari 2600, despite its shortcomings, was the most popular pre-crash system, selling over 25 million units.
The Atari 2600 is probably the best known games console of all time. Over it’s life span it had several different names such as ‘The Woody’, the VCS – (Video Computer System), the CX-2600, CX-2600A and most famous of all “The Heavy Sixer”.
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Mar 31, 2020 · The Atari 2600 (sometimes referred to as the Atari VCS), features 1970s vibes through and through. From its simple black design and angular form factor to the switches that adorn its front, the console is a remnant from a bygone era.
