Atari 7800 - What Did You Think?

[ColecoFan1981]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800

What did you think of Atari's 7800 Pro System?

This was originally slated to be released in June 1984, but because of the effects of the video game crash of '83 still being afresh (and also the July 2, 1984 sell-off of Atari by Warner Bros. to the late Jack Tramiel), the system was delayed until 1986 when it was released in response to strong Christmas 1985 season sales of the 2600.

When the 7800 finally did get released, instead of there being all new launch-title games for '86-'87, they decided to release it with all the launch titles intended for the system's original 1984 launch. This is because all the launch titles for the 7800 were programmed in 1983-84, and also explains why you see a 1984 copyright for Atari in the game's ROMs.

The 7800 has backward capability with the 2600 library, although not all 2600 titles will work on the 7800, including Coleco's Time Pilot.

7800 launch titles in 1984 included:
CX7801 - Centipede
CX7802 - 3D Asteroids
CX7803 - Dig Dug
CX7804 - Food Fight
CX7805 - Galaga
CX7806 - Joust
CX7807 - Ms. Pac-Man
CX7808 - Pole Position II (included with 7800 console)
CX7809 - Robotron: 2084
CX7810 - Xevious
CX7811 - Desert Falcon
CX7812 - Millipede (cancelled)
CX7813 - Jr. Pac-Man (cancelled)
CX7814 - Track & Field (cancelled)
CX7815 - Ballblazer
CX7816 - Rescue on Fractalus! (prototype only)
CX7817 - Crystal Castles (cancelled)
CX7818 - Moon Patrol (cancelled)

~Ben

[Velvis]

I had the 2600, a C64, NES, and an Amiga and loved the arcade. So while I wasn't a total game nerd, I enjoyed them. What I always thought was interesting to me was it wasn't until about 1991 that I had ever heard of or seen a 7800. I came a across it in like a weird store of some kind. If I recall they had a bunch of them so it may have been like a store that bought old stock and sold them. The 7800 was completely unknown to me before that day. I ended up buying one in about 98 when I got back into the retro thing. (I figured it played all the 2600 games as well.)

So I must have been busy with cars and girls and completely missed the 7800 the first time around. Either that or it was barely advertised.

I do remember when the 2600 was only $50 though from the TV ads.

[tom]

What Wikipedia failed to mention is that the Atari 7800 was NOT included in the 1984 sale of Atari to Jack Tramiel. The Atari 7800 property belonged to GCC. Hence the short Atari 7800 relase by Atari Inc. was just that, very short. Warner sold Atari Inc. to Jack, and the 7800 rights reverted back to GCC.
It took Jack two years of negotiation with GCC to get the 7800 back and finally release it. Trouble was that Jack had no new games to go with the console, and every developer was getting onto the NES bandwagon. Times changed, people wanted to play platformers, not shoot'em ups anymore.

Nice console, with Maria they did have a hell of a chip, it could move any number of objects of any size in all possible directions on the screen. Robotron 2084 where you have 70 robots running all over your screen...without flicker. Joust, 10 different colours...etc....

[old_skoolin_jim]

I never saw/played one until the late 90s, despite my family having a 2600 pretty much my whole life (born in '83). My friend had one with DK Jr. and Pole Position 2. I think, had it released in 1984, it would have given the NES a run for its money. Unfortunately, being released after the system that was delivering masterpieces like SMB, Metroid, Kid Icarus, (not to mention all the arcade-perfect ports), it was doomed from the start. Too bad, really.

[o.pwuaioc]

The 7800 is an awesome machine, but it really doesn't compare to the NES. Galaga is one of my key tests. Granted that the 7800 comes in second among home ports, but the NES beats it by a mile.

[otoko]

Actually, I liked the system. It would be hooked up with several others if I had the room.

To be honest though. I only picked it up for one reason:
5039

[Badhornet]

I enjoy it!

[AdamAnt316]

I actually owned a 7800 before I ever had a 2600. Got the system, along with a bunch of 2600 and 7800 cartridges, from one of my brother's friends. Included were both the 2600 and 7800 versions of RealSports Baseball, and the differences were striking. The original AC adapter crapped out after the wires frayed and shorted, but I eventually managed to find a replacement, and I've had lots of fun with the system. My favorite games are probably Joust and Dig-Dug, since they're very similar to the arcade versions.
-Adam

[homerhomer]

I bought one a couple of years ago. It's pretty fun and nice to have because of the backward compatibility. Although it can do some really cool stuff like Robotron 2084, Centepede, it mostly feels like a fancy up 2600. I can still remember the commercials back in the day. While I LOVED all the games they were pitching for it, they were the same games that were already released for the 2600, 5200 and like for every other system. The game looked dated even when they were new.

If anyone wants to sell me Ikari Warriors for the 7800, that would be awesome.

[tom]

I bought one a couple of years ago. It's pretty fun and nice to have because of the backward compatibility. Although it can do some really cool stuff like Robotron 2084, Centepede, it mostly feels like a fancy up 2600. I can still remember the commercials back in the day. While I LOVED all the games they were pitching for it, they were the same games that were already released for the 2600, 5200 and like for every other system. .

And Nintendo is getting away with it for years nowadays. Who'd have thought.

[o.pwuaioc]

And Nintendo is getting away with it for years nowadays. Who'd have thought.

They have? I mean, yes, you've seen various Legend of Zelda titles rereleased with better graphics, but there have been more new Zelda titles than old ones.

[tom]

What is it now? Mario Kart 7 or 8 or so? Super Mario 111? And the same (old) online games on Wii?....Suckers....

I remember the story about Super Mario World, parents shouted: What, $250 bucks for console and game just to play the SAME game (referring to SMB3 on the NES, having just paid $50 for it 1/2 year ago). (Source: book Game Over)

[Atarileaf]

I love the 7800, even though I didn't own one during its inital run. It has a small but great library of some of my favorite arcade titles of the early 80's. After the 2600, its probably my favorite retro game system.

[Rob2600]

And Nintendo is getting away with it for years nowadays. Who'd have thought.

You must be related to kupomogli.

[Rickstilwell1]

What is it now? Mario Kart 7 or 8 or so? Super Mario 111? And the same (old) online games on Wii?....Suckers....

I remember the story about Super Mario World, parents shouted: What, $250 bucks for console and game just to play the SAME game (referring to SMB3 on the NES, having just paid $50 for it 1/2 year ago). (Source: book Game Over)

I don't really like people referring to sequels as the same thing if it's not exactly the same. Most of Nintendo's stuff has different levels, special moves, characters, bosses and music, while the Atari ports we are talking about are trying to represent the same exact board with whatever each system can handle graphics wise.

[o.pwuaioc]

I don't really like people referring to sequels as the same thing if it's not exactly the same. Most of Nintendo's stuff has different levels, special moves, characters, bosses and music, while the Atari ports we are talking about are trying to represent the same exact board with whatever each system can handle graphics wise.

Not to mention different physics. Ms. Pac-Man on the 7800 is just an updated version of Ms. Pac-Man, not that different from the dozens Ms. Pac-Man games in circulation. Meanwhile, Super Mario World is entirely different in every respect except genre and protagonist from Super Mario Bros. 3. Only an ignorant parent would think they're basically the same game (and let's face it, not every parent, probably not even most parents, played both).

[fergojisan]

I had no idea the 7800 existed until 1995, when I saw one at a flea market. I was lucky enough to start collecting for it when you could get sealed Atari-made games from $.80-$2.00. It's the only complete US collection I have left now. The games are great too, for the most part, especially the arcade ports. When I found out that Food Fight was released for this system, I searched high and low for it (no eBay back then). That's my favorite game for the system. Plus, it looks pretty nice.

[tom]

Not to mention different physics. Ms. Pac-Man on the 7800 is just an updated version of Ms. Pac-Man, not that different from the dozens Ms. Pac-Man games in circulation. Meanwhile, Super Mario World is entirely different in every respect except genre and protagonist from Super Mario Bros. 3. Only an ignorant parent would think they're basically the same game (and let's face it, not every parent, probably not even most parents, played both).

Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade game from Bally available on numerous platforms (actually a GCC original), why should it be different to any other versions? Bally themselves programmed the 7800 version, btw, totally faithful with the arcade version.

Parents might be ignorant, but they controlled the funds.

Anyway:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4226/electronic_games_the_arnie_katz_.php?page=5


And the Tramiels did come back, but like you said about the 5200, they just sold the same games over and over again.

AK: Yeah, but Nintendo has done the same thing with their games.

Sure, but Nintendo made major improvements every time out.

AK: Yeah, but so did Atari. However, they were starting from such a primitive system that the improvements had to be small by comparison, and maybe not as good as the fans wanted them to be.

[o.pwuaioc]

Apples and oranges. Super Mario World is a completely different game than Super Mario Bros. 3. Not even close to Ms. Pac-Man on the 2600 and Ms. Pac-Man on the 7800. :roll:

[tom]

Ms. Pac-Man is Ms.Pac-Man on any console SMW is just an update (it was also called SMB 4) of a previous Super Mario title.

[o.pwuaioc]

Ms. Pac-Man is Ms.Pac-Man on any console
Right, which is why the 7800 did so poorly.


SMW is just an update (it was also called SMB 4) of a previous Super Mario title.
Just because you say it doesn't make it true. I think you need to look up the word "update" and "sequel", since you're clearly confused about what the former means.

[101011]

50435044After many long years of ninja training, you are finally ready for the most difficult test of all... Nine Holes Of Ninja Golf

[CRV]

Anyway:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4226/electronic_games_the_arnie_katz_.php?page=5

I was going to post that. Beyond most of the launch games that were supposed to come out in 1984 and the Nintendo games, what else on the 7800 are "the same games over and over again?" It's a meme. I think there are about 10-15 "old" arcade games that were previously released on the 2600 and 5200, and most of those were from '84. I guess since most of those came out first and they were the most plentiful (Ms. Pac-Man was the best-selling game), those were the ones that stuck with people.

[Xian042]

I got a 5200 and a 7800 at their respected releases.

The 5200 was my preferred system minus the botched controllers. The outdated library really hurt the 7800, they didn't look much better than 5200 games. In fact, Mario Bros. for the 7800 was actually noticeably inferior to the 5200 version. Also there was confusion as to what games the 7800 could play. Either people didn't know it could play 2600 games, or they thought it could play 5200 games and felt burned when they got it home and realized it couldn't. (Store clerks were partially to blame for this, telling people it can play ALL Atari games because they had no clue the 5200 even existed)

Plus it looked like a stripped down version of the 5200, I think if it had a drastically different look than the older Atari systems it would have helped, not saved it, but helped.

The hardware of the 7800 was underutilized, many argue it was technically superior to the NES minus the dung sound chip. Like someone else noted, Robotron had a crazy amount of sprites on screen moving in different directions with no flicker. Try that NES!

I liked the system. The arcade classic lineup was the best you could get so far at home, but this appeal only lasted so long until Super Mario Bros. arrived.

[tom]

Right, which is why the 7800 did so poorly.


Just because you say it doesn't make it true. I think you need to look up the word "update" and "sequel", since you're clearly confused about what the former means.

Just because you say I'm confused that doesn't make it true. I think you need to examine if you even have knowledge about video gaming, since you clearly don't know a lot.

[Blanka789]

Is there a list of games exclusive to the 7800? I know Midnight Mutants is exclusive to the system, but I'm not sure about the rest of the library.

Also, on the note of arcade ports-is there any reason to pick up any of these for the 7800 instead of for another system? Robotron 2084 seems to be getting quite a bit of respect, so I might grab that one.

[Gameguy]

Just because you say it doesn't make it true. I think you need to look up the word "update" and "sequel", since you're clearly confused about what the former means.
If I'm remembering right tom is from Europe where the NES sold poorly due to very poor marketing and many of the games released there weren't widely available to all areas so it came across as having few good games. What did sell well there was the Sega Master System, when 90% of the good games were European exclusives it makes sense why it did so well even though the hardware was pretty much crap including the almost unusable D-pad on the controllers and poor quality Light Phasers where you have to compensate for the innacurate sight.

It explains why he's severely biased against Nintendo. As much as I don't like Super Mario World(I haven't kept a single copy in my collection to play) I know it's more than just a simple update of a previous game, there is enough changed that makes it significantly different. Maybe he's confusing it with Super Mario All-Stars but otherwise we all know Super Mario World is a sequel and not just an update. I am getting tired though of seeing the same series just getting a new release all the time with all the Nintendo ones lately, I just don't get excited when hearing about a new one coming out.

As for Ms. Pac Man the 7800 version put in the original cut scenes that were removed from the 2600 version so that's something, but it's still Ms. Pac Man so there's about 10 minutes of fun with it by the time it was released on the 7800. Later the NES Tengen version added several options to add to the fun, but this was released years after the 7800 version. There were several better more complex and detailed games available on other platforms by the time Ms. Pac Man came out on the 7800, few people cared about getting it by that point.

[tom]

Of course it was a sequel, SMW 4 as it was called, but I like to call it an update, confused people are allowed to do that :-)

Actually, the Japanese hadn't even learned to program 16 bit yet, according to Greg Fischbach of former Activision.

http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/bookGameOver.jpg


Maybe Miyamoto should have invested in a 16 bit computer way back in the mid 90s, like an ATARI ST or AMIGA to get some programming skills.

.

[tom]

Is there a list of games exclusive to the 7800? I know Midnight Mutants is exclusive to the system, but I'm not sure about the rest of the library.

Also, on the note of arcade ports-is there any reason to pick up any of these for the 7800 instead of for another system? Robotron 2084 seems to be getting quite a bit of respect, so I might grab that one.

It had a few exclusives, and although I had a complete collection, I hated the 7800 and I sold my collection in 2006:

Alien Brigade
Barnyard Blaster
Basketbrawl
Crack'ed
Meltdown
Midnight Mutants
Motor Psycho
Ninja Golf
Planet Smashers
Pole Position II
Scrapyard Dog
Tank Command
Touchdown Football
Water Ski

[tom]

If I'm remembering right tom is from Europe where the NES sold poorly due to very poor marketing and many of the games released there weren't widely available to all areas so it came across as having few good games. What did sell well there was the Sega Master System, when 90% of the good games were European exclusives it makes sense why it did so well even though the hardware was pretty much crap including the almost unusable D-pad on the controllers and poor quality Light Phasers where you have to compensate for the innacurate sight.

It explains why he's severely biased against Nintendo. As much as I don't like Super Mario World(I haven't kept a single copy in my collection to play) I know it's more than just a simple update of a previous game, there is enough changed that makes it significantly different. Maybe he's confusing it with Super Mario All-Stars but otherwise we all know Super Mario World is a sequel and not just an update. I am getting tired though of seeing the same series just getting a new release all the time with all the Nintendo ones lately, I just don't get excited when hearing about a new one coming out.

As for Ms. Pac Man the 7800 version put in the original cut scenes that were removed from the 2600 version so that's something, but it's still Ms. Pac Man so there's about 10 minutes of fun with it by the time it was released on the 7800. Later the NES Tengen version added several options to add to the fun, but this was released years after the 7800 version. There were several better more complex and detailed games available on other platforms by the time Ms. Pac Man came out on the 7800, few people cared about getting it by that point.

The NES failed but the SNES was quite huge in Europe. I'd amassed approx 200 SNES titles before I traded the lot for the awesome PlayStation back then.
I kept my SNES, and I still love Super Mario World and Mr. Do!.

[ubersaurus]

My parents bought one in 87/88, after I broke the controller port on our 2600. They liked the fact it was backwards compatible but had new games as well, especially since they had a lot of games for the 2600 picked up during the crash clearance sales.

Having only played 2600 up to that point, I thought it was amazing, and played games like Rampage, Asteroids, Galaga, Fight Night, and Choplifter a lot. In late 1988 (I think) we got an NES, and the 7800 fell a bit to the wayside, but we still got new games for it for another year or so before they became scarce. At that point, I started using my allowance money to buy up as many new ones I could from Big Lots as they did their clearance sale. For a while in the 90s we couldn't play it - the power cable had become frayed and broke apart - but my cousin-in-law had a spare power supply for some reason he gave us.

Still one of my favorite game consoles, and I imagine had I gotten some of the later and weirder games in its run, I'd have had an even more positive view of the console.

[ubersaurus]

Is there a list of games exclusive to the 7800? I know Midnight Mutants is exclusive to the system, but I'm not sure about the rest of the library.

Also, on the note of arcade ports-is there any reason to pick up any of these for the 7800 instead of for another system? Robotron 2084 seems to be getting quite a bit of respect, so I might grab that one.

The 7800 has a lot of really good arcade ports. Robotron uses two sticks and captures the speed of the arcade version very successfully, and has been mentioned, Ms. Pac-Man was done by the same people who did the arcade version, so it's pretty accurate too.

Centipede, Asteroids, and Joust are all great ports, and the two-player simultaneous modes are badass on all three. Food Fight only came out on 7800, and that's really fun... i would also recommend Ikari Warriors, Commando, and Rampage on 7800 over the NES versions. Ikari and Rampage are closer to the arcade version, and Commando is not only expanded from the arcade concept, but is just head and shoulders superior to that crummy NES port. Dig Dug and Mario Bros. are solid ports, and Donkey Kong and DK jr. are basically the same as the NES version, just with crummier audio.

Hope that gives you a good idea!

[sloan]

Being a fan of 80's arcade games, 7800 is a beloved system in my house. I only wish they had done some missing arcade ports for it, like Mappy, Crystal Castles, Battlezone, Make Trax, Elevator Action, I-Robot, Bubbles, Sinistar and Bosconian.

I realize Nintendo's exclusivity agreement made some of these impossible on the 7800, but it sure would have been nice to see. I don't think the 7800 was ever pushed to its limits by game developers.

[Steve W]

I picked up a 7800 not too long after I found out it was on the market. And once I realized that Nintendo was a terrible company who were screwing over the American market (alleged chip shortages giving them excuses for price gouging, anti-competitive business practices against Sega and Atari, et cetera) I put my NES in the closet and got more into the 7800 (along with a newly acquired Intellivision and an Amiga 1000).

Here's my question for you guys... which game amongst the launch titles would have been a better pack-in game than Pole Position II? I'm thinking Ballblazer, mainly because it shows how much farther the tech had gone from the 2600. Plus it's a really good, fast paced game for one or two players. The problem with that would be that Jack Tramiel was too damn cheap to license it from Lucasfilm Games to make it a pack-in. Rescue on Fractalus! would have been a better choice if it had been completed.

[Gameguy]

The NES failed but the SNES was quite huge in Europe. I'd amassed approx 200 SNES titles before I traded the lot for the awesome PlayStation back then.
I kept my SNES, and I still love Super Mario World and Mr. Do!.
I didn't know the SNES did that well in Europe, I thought the Mega Drive won out like with it's previous SMS system(I guess I was wrong). I really never got into Super Mario World for some reason, since I never got into it I never kept a cart for myself as I didn't want to be stuck with a copy after the battery eventually dies. I'm not really sure why, I have the first 3 Mario games and while they're not my favourite games I do play them occasionally. I wish I could find a copy of Mr. Do! for the SNES, it's one of the harder to find titles for the North American system.

To me Super Mario World is significantly different to the previous titles as it was so large you needed a battery to save your progress, plus it's the first game that introduced Yoshi which added a different gameplay experience. I don't really consider it just a remake of earlier titles as it adds so much, though I get that feeling more with all their current Mario games. That and the modern Zelda games.

I don't think that book you've sourced is reliable, it goes on to say that Sonic the Hedgehog was mediocre and that the only reason it sold well was because there were no other titles to compete with it. It may not have aged that well when compared to it's direct sequels but it was a great game at the time on a technical level not just with it's speed but with introducing momentum-based physics to the platforming genre. It was well made then and still holds up today. Also I don't know what they mean by saying it was produced by an independent developer under contract to Sega, as far as I can tell the developer was created and owned by Sega. Also saying that Super Mario World was a disappointment seems wrong, I'm aware that marketing studies showed kids prefered Sonic the Hedgehog to Super Mario World but it wasn't like it was a failure.

[tom]

Yeah Megadrive won, but SNES came a very close second.

The book Game Over is very reliable it had input from numerous people of the industry even from Nintendo US and Nintendo Japan.

[CRV]

It had a few exclusives, and although I had a complete collection, I hated the 7800 and I sold my collection in 2006:

Add Super Skateboardin'. Barnyard Blaster came out for the XEGS (as did Food Fight). Basketbrawl came out for Lynx. Scrapyard Dog did, too, but it looks different. Crack'ed is based on an ST game. Ninja Golf was announced for the XEGS but not released. Pole Position II was an arcade game. Touchdown Football was an Imagic computer game.

[tom]

Super skateboardin was on VCS first?
The Lynx titles came after the 7800 versions?

[CRV]

Super skateboardin was on VCS first?

Skateboardin' and Super Skateboardin' are different.


The Lynx titles came after the 7800 versions?

Yes.

[Atarileaf]

When I found out that Food Fight was released for this system, I searched high and low for it (no eBay back then). That's my favorite game for the system. Plus, it looks pretty nice.

Me too. I had never played food fight before the 7800 and really enjoyed it. So simple yet so much fun. Love it.

[Greg2600]

I was a little kid then, but we didn't get an NES until 1988. We had a 2600, and occasionally I used to buy a game for that. In it, if it was an Atari game, I wound up with one of the catalogs that showcased the 7800 games. Like the 5200 games I would see in earlier 2600 game catalogs, as a kid, I really wasn't impressed with the "improved" graphics. Plus there was no way on earth I was going to erase the action figures on my Christmas list for a new Atari system. My impression then was that the 7800, like the 5200, had the same games the 2600 did, and so it was essentially a waste.

When the NES caught fire around '88-89 big time, the 7800 and SMS had been taken off most store shelves. I was fully into the NES, and didn't care one iota for the other systems. All my friends had an NES, why would you buy a different system? You had to be a fool, that's what we thought. In the case of the 7800, we were right. You had to be crazy to like it over the NES or the SMS.

So I really didn't get accustomed to the 7800 until the late 90's via emulators. And my impression was it was a moderately improved 2600. Several years ago, I got one, and collected about 3 dozen games. I do not like the Pro Stick, though the buttons are good, the stick is horrible. I find the console to be quite shabby. Games don't slide into the slot well at all, not like the 2600. The lack of composite output is another downer, although the music/sound is so terrible it really doesn't matter. The sound is just completely putrid, to have a 1970's sound system but for a few Pokey games. The choice and depth of games released was really lousy. Frankly the 5200 had a more diverse offering and it was out for 2 years only. Also, I do not have a light gun for it, but the games via emu are so cheesy I wouldn't want one.

About the only reason I haven't sold it, is that I love many of the homebrew games that have come out recently, particularly from PacManPlus. But it's a system that I was excited to get and collect for, and the aftertaste is not really a good one for me.

[tom]

Yeah I hated the sticks and the screen graphics. The games just didn't feel right.
As I said, I did have a complete collection, but 80% I didn't even play.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c173/thomasholzer/Atari7800.jpg

OK I didn't have a Tank Command, but ....f**k it, I did have it copied on disk.

[NoahsMyBro]

I was hugely into videogames until around 1983 or 1984. Post-5200, I still paid attention to arcade games, but never had any interest in the SMS or NES and stopped paying attention to home systems for a long time. So I had no idea the 7800 even existed until seeing an index card on a bulletin board at college in 1989. I bought some guy's system, with 9 cartridges for it.

Frankly, I found the 7800 to be a pretty boring system. I did enjoy Xevious on it though.

[Aswald]

Well, I did buy an Atari 7800 back in 1988- mainly for Joust.

I'd first heard of it back in the summer of 1984, in Electronic Games Magazine. The pictures of what it could do, and the overall report, was very interesting indeed. Xevious in particular was a new one for the home.

BUT- as we all know, that same year the Tramiels (grrrr!) took over Atari. The 7800 was put on hold.

Now, it has to be said that the stupid idea of dumping the 5200 cannot be blamed on them; that decision had been made before they took over. The Tramiels sort of inherited the 7800.

This was a very confused era in videogaming. The 5200 had been abandoned by Atari after only about 1 1/2 years (an insanely stupid idea). Atarisoft games and prototypes like Galaxian, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and (of course!) Joust, along with Moon Patrol, all showed that Atari was making superior versions of these games for the 5200's deadliest rival! Coleco, of course, blew it with the ADAM computer.

Enter Nintendo.


Of course, once the NES held 85%+ of the market the Tramiels decided to release the 7800 along with the batch of games meant for 1984. Most of which had already appeared on the 2600 and 5200.

As a 7800 owner back in the day, it always amazed me how the Tramiels ruined every opportunity. Ever time opportunity knocked at their door, they'd call the police to report a trespasser. Every time it started to look like they might- just might- get something right, they'd ruin it. It was the late 1980s- where were the RPGs; even the CV had Lord of the Dungeon (albeit not released)? Where were the side-scroller/level/boss games? The one-on-one fighting games (Karateka didn't make it)? Who were they trying to reach?


So- my views? The 7800 was a nice enough system with weak sound. It had plenty of potential, but so did the Jaguar, the Lynx, and who knows what else. In retrospect, I should have either stuck with the CV, or gotten an NES.

[tom]

The 7800 was NOT part of the Atari sale to Tramiels.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>There wasn't a transition, they were completely different companies. Jack Tramiel simply bought the Consumer Division of Atari Inc., not the entire company. He then folded that in to his company, Tramel Technology Ltd., which he then renamed Atari Corporation. Likewise, he bought the Consumer related IP, consumer related facilities (corporate offices and buildings related to Consumer, manufacturing and warehouses related to Consumer) and the distribution network. The people were not part of the deal. Hence they did interviews of all the Consumer Division related people to see who they wanted to keep (and did interviews of some of the people at Coin to try and get them to come to the new company as well). Most were related to daily operations (one of the advanced research that were on the 68000 console project at Atari Inc. was simply hired on to help run Atari Corp.'s mainframe for instance), and the rest chiefly towards retail operations (since he planned on having the company survive in the immediate term on the large backstock of product that came in the purchase) and computer design operations (for what became the ST). Almost everyone from the console development area was not hired over or went away on their own. The issue of why there was a lot of confusion amongst the Atari Inc. employees is because the buyout happened so suddenly and with no normal "transition period" for employees. They came back from the July 4th extended vacations to find out about the purcase. They thought they were working for Jack now and that Jack owned "Atari". Likewise they thought they were being interviewed to see if they'd be fired. They were not. They were being interviewed to see if they would be *hired* to Jack's company. Atari Inc. still existed at that point (in fact it existed on paper for another good year to deal with legal issues), but was being wound down as the coin-op operations were split to another company (Atari Games) and the rest sold off or simply closed down.

When Jack finally settled with Warner and GCC over the 7800 development payment, he had to completely start up a new game division, which is where Mike Katz came in. He started up the 7800 again that October '85 and finally released the cost reduced 2600 (which was originally supposed to be the stopgap last model of the 2600 under Atari Inc.) He was against the XEGS being released when Jack pushed for it in '87, but not for any of the reasons you claim. It was because he didn't consider it to have any "hot" launch titles, which was true. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

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[Aswald]

The 7800 existed before they took over. Everyone knows that "Atari" became "Home Atari" and "Atari Games."

This was something the 7800 had to deal with that the 2600 and 5200 didn't: before, it was reasonable to assume that any Atari arcade game would appear on an Atari system, since it was all one big company. Tempest, for example (we could hope...). But after mid-1984, although they both had "Atari" in their names, they were independent, and Atari Games could thumb its nose at "Other Atari." Too bad, this arcade game goes to Nintendo. Neeyeh.

But after the Tramiel take-over, we all wondered what was going to happen to that "ultra-cool 7800 with the Maria chip that lets it move anything in any numbers around." We knew, after a time, that either it was NEVER going to see the light of day and would either end up in a landfill somewhere or in a near-forgotten box with other prototypes and unreleased products, or the Tramiels would release it. That's exactly what happened; we did not know back then that Nintendo had approached Atari earlier with a deal for the NES.

(Had it happened, the NES would likely have been a system that nobody here ever heard of...)

Sure enough, the Tramiels had the 7800. If Atari had NOT created it and had instead stuck with the 5200, the Tramiels would not have created the 7800. They wanted some quick money, and the 7800 existed, so- they released it. Why do you think the instructions were so cheap, as were the boxes and cartridges at first? To save money. Compare the whole 5200 Centipede package to the 7800's...or even the 7800 vs. 2600 versions!


Long ago I read up on why Tramiel did so well with Commodore, but completely blew it with Atari. It had something to do with the differences between the two companies in large part, and they could not handle Atari the way they did Commodore.

I was there as the Tramiels ruined any chances with the 7800. I had to watch in awe as the system I bought with the once-great Atari name on it became a joke. I actually felt sorry for the thing!

To all 7800 homebrewers- more power to you.

[Cafeman]

I was hugely into videogames until around 1983 or 1984. Post-5200, I still paid attention to arcade games, but never had any interest in the SMS or NES and stopped paying attention to home systems for a long time. So I had no idea the 7800 even existed until seeing an index card on a bulletin board at college in 1989. I bought some guy's system, with 9 cartridges for it.

Frankly, I found the 7800 to be a pretty boring system. I did enjoy Xevious on it though.

Kind of close to my own experience. Other than occasional Atari A8 gaming, I quit home system gaming after 5200 was abandoned, and I missed the NES/Master System/7800. But I remember around 1986 or 1987 seeing 7800 in Kmart , and I'd kind of marvel that they were still selling Asteroids, yet the '3d' look of the asteroids was admittedly pretty awesome. But I didn't have time, money , or desire to buy one.

But I didn't actually play 7800 or Master System until sometime in the past couple of years when I bought them used. I've since picked up what I could find and some Pac-Man Plus homebrews which really breathe life into 7800. I like Master System more to be honest, and I use 7800 for 2600games, homebrews, and Xevious & Food Fight. I do not like the 7800 controller; I greatly prefer the 5200 stick (sue me!). The 7800 has nice visuals, and I appreciate greatly the backwards compatibility of 2600 games, but I cannot accept the crappy 2600 sound of many games. Donkey Kong 7800 makes me cringe, especially after hearing Atari 8-bit computer Pokey Donkey Kong sounds which are fantastic. Why Atari, why didn't you just put a Pokey in that system??

[tom]

The 7800 existed before they took over. Everyone knows that "Atari" became "Home Atari" and "Atari Games."

This was something the 7800 had to deal with that the 2600 and 5200 didn't: before, it was reasonable to assume that any Atari arcade game would appear on an Atari system, since it was all one big company. Tempest, for example (we could hope...). But after mid-1984, although they both had "Atari" in their names, they were independent, and Atari Games could thumb its nose at "Other Atari." Too bad, this arcade game goes to Nintendo. Neeyeh.

But after the Tramiel take-over, we all wondered what was going to happen to that "ultra-cool 7800 with the Maria chip that lets it move anything in any numbers around." We knew, after a time, that either it was NEVER going to see the light of day and would either end up in a landfill somewhere or in a near-forgotten box with other prototypes and unreleased products, or the Tramiels would release it. That's exactly what happened; we did not know back then that Nintendo had approached Atari earlier with a deal for the NES.

(Had it happened, the NES would likely have been a system that nobody here ever heard of...)

Sure enough, the Tramiels had the 7800. If Atari had NOT created it and had instead stuck with the 5200, the Tramiels would not have created the 7800. They wanted some quick money, and the 7800 existed, so- they released it. Why do you think the instructions were so cheap, as were the boxes and cartridges at first? To save money. Compare the whole 5200 Centipede package to the 7800's...or even the 7800 vs. 2600 versions!


Long ago I read up on why Tramiel did so well with Commodore, but completely blew it with Atari. It had something to do with the differences between the two companies in large part, and they could not handle Atari the way they did Commodore.

I was there as the Tramiels ruined any chances with the 7800. I had to watch in awe as the system I bought with the once-great Atari name on it became a joke. I actually felt sorry for the thing!

To all 7800 homebrewers- more power to you.


Of course the 7800 existed already with Atari Inc (Neither Atari Inc.nor Atari Corp. created the 7800, that was GCC, man you gotta read up about your Atari history), BUT WHEN WARNER SOLD ATARI INC TO JACK TRAMIEL, THE 7800 WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE SALE.

The 7800 packaging was cheap? Of course, Jack had to save money wherever he could. Maybe you have no idea how much money was owed.

Jack Tamiel did very well with Atari Corp, considering the amount of monies owed. The Atari XE was a great success, so was the Atari ST.