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Do you own an Atari console and wonder how many were made before the one you own? Maybe you are looking to buy an Atari console, and want to know the differences between them and how many there are. No matter what question you have, this article will answer them all.
So how many Atari consoles are there?
Including the Atari Pong, there are ten original gaming consoles that were made by Atari. These ten consoles do not include any of the flashback consoles that they are currently making more of regularly.
If you are trying to decide which one you want to buy, or which one is the best console, you will definitely want to keep reading this article to find out more about each one.
You can also check out the video below if you prefer.
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History of the Atari
The Atari was first introduced in 1972 and it is an excellent working video game console. By using the original Atari, you can easily play some of your favorite games from years gone by. After the first device was manufactured, Atari began introducing more advanced features on all of their future consoles.
ATARI PONG
Pong is where the Atari consoles all began and it was first introduced in 1972. Atari is included in the top popular gaming consoles that were ever made in the world. Atari has introduced many sequels for the Pong console since which helped them have great sales especially in the Christmas season.
The Pong console just played one single game on it, Pong. One other important feature was that Pong was easily remade for many other consoles and mobile platforms since then so the game is still highly regarded.
ATARI VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM
The Atari Video Computer System is also more commonly known as the Atari 2600. Their hardware is on the basis of the microprocessor while the games are stored in the ROM of the cartridge. With the availability of cartridge games, you can easily play whatever game you want on this classic console.
The Atari 2600 is what all of the Ataris since have been compared to and even what Atari makes all of this classic consoles look like.
PARTS OF ATARI 2600
The Atari 2600 (VCS) consists of the following parts.
- Two joystick controllers
- Two connected pairs of controllers
- Cartridge games
- Famous PAC man
This model of Atari is very popular among the public and approximately 30 million units were sold.
ATARI 5200
After the success of Atari 2600 the brand introduced the Atari 5200. The processor was considerably faster than the previous console, while some new and advanced features were added that were not the best on the 2600.
Although the Atari did have some backlash due to the content of their games, the 5200 was still a strong gaming console all across the world! The Atari 5200 also had enough space for the game library.
This is why many people loved the Atari and thought they had great potential compared to their competitors. The Atari 5200 also had a few different controllers that performed a variety of functions and gave the users multiple buttons like pause, start and reset.
Atari 5200 had a feature of killing Intellivision
Intellivision consistently gloated about its 16 position controller versus Atari’s 8 positions. This caused Atari to release an entire 360-degree speed responsive joystick. Even though this was extremely creative, it did have a few imperfections. The first one was that it did not self focus when being used. The second was that the joystick was touchy which made it harder to use for many people.
The Atari 5200 has not had any issues with the quality of the consoles, and has never had an issue with them crashing.
The Atari 5200 was introduced in 1982, and there are over 1 million units of it sold. This console was loved by many people even amongst the changing demographics of gaming and consoles.
ATARI 800
The Atari 800 was introduced in 1979. The housing block for the 800 was the first ever housing to be made up of aluminum.
The 800 also had features of customer co-processor chips. The function of these chips was to create the graphics and sound for the 800. This is an excellent platform and source of attraction for the game lovers of that time.
This user-friendly console had two main features.
- The cartridge
The cartridge is so you can easily plug it in and use it or remove it when you want. It also features sprite and collision detection which is why it’s the first choice for playing games.
- The ROM Chip
The RAM in the 800 was a maximum of 48kB while the CPU was 1.8MHz. It also had 4 interlay expansion slots and two cartridge slots. The Atari 800 consists of 6 slots; 2 cartridge slots and 4 slots for the controller.
The other features of Atari 800 console include:
- Printer support
- Real joystick support
- Supporting of sound by using UNIX
- Controlling of sound system with UNIX
- 8 disk drive,
- Direct loading of files like ATARI BASIC and ATARI executable.
- So we can say that Atari 800 is an excellent game machine.
In the duration of their major production approximately 2 million units of the Atari 800 were sold.
ATARI 400
Like the Atari 800, the Atari 400 is also an 8 bit home computer. The price for the 400 was a bit lower than the Atari 800. The 800 sold for $1,000 while the 400 sold for only $550. The 400 systems were heavier than the Atari 800, and they had excellent graphical representations and excellent sound quality for the time.
The parts of Atari 400 included
- 16KB RAM,
- one cartridge post
- a user-friendly keyboard.
The cartridge included basic and other Atari program languages. The circuit under the metal shield was used to limit the amount of radio waves allowed outside the console. The Atari 400 had an external floppy drive and castle recorder which were used for playing the games. In the duration of 1979 to 1992 it impressively sold over 4 million units.
ATARI 7800 PRO SYSTEM
This Pro System was introduced in 1984 and was made with advanced technology. The features of the 7800 included:
- A digital joystick with two buttons
- Arcade type of gaming quality
- High end graphics.
You could play almost every type of game imaginable by connecting the 7800 with your personal computer. The most popular games like Racetrack were played on the Atari 7800. The net RAM was 4 KB while the ROM was 48 KB. The Atari 7800 Pro System was the best video game console for every game lover. The Atari 7800 Pro System sold just over 1.1 million consoles when it was released.
Atari 65 XE & 130X
The 65XE and 130X are similar to the Atari 400 and 800 by all being a part of the 8-bit family. The 65XE Atari has 64KB of ROM while the 130XE Atari has 128kb of ROM.
Atari Lynx
This system produced by Atatri is an 8-bit handheld game system that was specially designed to compete with the Gameboy and Game Gear systems. They are decently popular among people because of their unique graphics and designs.
According to Atari approximately half a million units of the Atari Lynx were sold in the United States alone but it was far from being as popular as Nintendo’s Gameboy.
Atari Jaguar
The Jaguar is a well-advanced video game console that features 64 bit system. It supports a large number of games that include: Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Predators, and other popular games.
Conclusion
No matter what Atari you find that you like, you will be able to spend hours upon hours playing the games and loving every minute of it. There are still many people all around the world that still own their original Atari’s and enjoy playing on them every single day.