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.