Warning massive Atari 5200 appreciation post ! 😉

[OldSchoolGamer]

Just more sorting, organizing my collection. Having recently put together my little retro gaming corner well, I think I definitely need to make some time and add some 5200 playtime and appreciation. Found all my 5200 related items in a couple boxes and it’s not a bad little collection I think.



I had gotten a decent sized lot consisting of the console and games probably 10 years or so ago. Later, one of the first things of course was getting an early Atarimax USB flash cart as I figured that would cover me for other games I might want to play. HOWEVER, looking through it just now I got to say overall it’s not to bad a collection of original carts? Definitely some titles like Vanguard I would have wanted anyways and I look forward to replaying some of these and see how some like Star Wars arcade compare to other versions? Really, as far as original cart collections I forgot that this is one of my better ones until I pulled it all out of storage 👍

Also shown a variety of manuals, some catalogs and such, controller overlays, some are doubles and I thought that was all of them but as I was sorting through I noticed many carts already have an original overlay tucked in the back of them. I am quite pleased with the overall condition especially of the 5200 still having the plastic on the silver label and specially the back storage cover is intact. It’s an original 4 port with the odd power passthrough RF box as well, I have two original power supplies but see one has heat shrink wrap near the end of the connector so I will stick with the other one. I do know it is compatible with the 2600 add on as well as all 5200 games because it had the fix applied.



At some point since it never came with a controller I got one of the original 5200 controllers from BEST ELECTRONICS with the gold contacts inside and a member on atariage, was creating his own db9 pc controller adapter that allows me to plug in both an original controller and PC CONTROLLER SIMULTANEOUSLY, it’s not pretty but I recall it working back when I originally tested it. Pretty sure I picked up the Gravis pc joystick back during my thrift shop days and though we’ll, this is the one to go with my 5200 🧐



So there is my massive post on it, sorry for the novel but I been building up to it and had to find time to put everything together take the pictures as well as have the motivation which comes and goes so easily these days. 🤷🤟 I know many hate on the 5200 but back when it initially came out I could not afford replacing or adding to my 2600, I knew only one person who had one in their home but it belonged to his step dad and so we were not allowed to play it, weird 🙄 I recall seeing commercials and thinking wow it looked so much better then my faithful old 2600 😍

[YoshiM]

Pretty impressive! And you have the original RF adapter with the power connector! When I had my first 4 port system, it didn't come with that. I figured out I could use the switch box from my RCA Studio II along with I think my 2600 power supply to power the sucker up.

[Gameguy]

I never owned one but I appreciate the system, it was definitely from a different era of video games when things were still being figured out.

[gbpxl]

Saw a 5200 yesterday at Half Price Books. that thing is massive

[Spartacus]

Nice 5200 collection! The Atari 5200 was the first video game console I owned. I bought mine during the video game crash and the console and games were being heavily discounted. Fixing the Atari 5200 controllers was a constant issue for me and I probably purchased over a half dozen replacement controllers before putting the 5200 in a closet and forgetting about it.
I was never an Atari guy and never visited Atari forums, but as I began collecting video games for a hobby, I decided that my very first game console deserved some respect. Starting with 5 or 6 game carts and a 2 port console, none of which I had box's for, I slowly built my Atari 5200 collection into something I could be proud to show family and friends. I found a boxed console that I could put on display and slowly replaced my carts with boxed games. I never did find a box for my Meteorites cart dammit!

My most memorable Atari 5200 games include Rescue On Fractalus! by Lucasfilm Games which gave me my first video game jump scare when an alien jumped on my spacecrafts windshield. Lucasfilm Games also made Ballblazer for the 5200 and I was really impressed with that game. I spent many hours with Pitfall II and River Raid. And the first time I played a Mario Bro's game was on the Atari 5200.

I also have a helicopter game collection and was delighted to add the Atari 5200 H.E.R.O. (Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operation) game to my collection. The helicopter in the game is a heli-pack that the hero uses to rescue trapped miners. Fun game. When H.E.R.O. was ported to the Sega My Card, the heli-pack was replaced with a jetpack which actually makes more sense than having rotor blades in mine shafts.





There are a lot of Atari Collections available on newer consoles, but when you check, they are Atari 2600 and Atari Arcade games. Evercade's Atari Collection's 1 and 2 include some Atari 7800 games and Atari Flashback Classics: Volume 3 included some Atari 5200 games, but I don't think they included the best 5200 games.

I must have eight or nine mostly non working Atari 5200 controllers around here and heard good things about using a Wico Command Controller for the 5200, so I picked up one of those. I also purchased a "modernized" Matrix Maker replacement controller for the 5200 a few years ago as well, but I'll be honest and admit that I have'nt played games on a 5200 console in over 30 years.



The Atari 5200 was replaced by the Atari 7800 and I saw that the 7800 controller ditched the numeric keypad the 5200 controller had and I thought YUP! they realized that was a dumb idea, but no...

[Gamevet]

I’ve seen replacement internal parts for the 5200 controllers, that use gold plated contacts. The original contacts were prone to corrosion, leading to them not working. The new part is supposed to eliminate the problem.

The 5200 was one of those consoles I’ve always wanted, but the reputation of the controllers always scared me away from getting one. Even back in the early 80s, the word spread pretty quick.

Here’s one of the gold contact kits.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373474384754

[OldSchoolGamer]

I’ve seen replacement internal parts for the 5200 controllers, that use gold plated contacts. The original contacts were prone to corrosion, leading to them not working. The new part is supposed to eliminate the problem.

The 5200 was one of those consoles I’ve always wanted, but the reputation of the controllers always scared me away from getting one. Even back in the early 80s, the word spread pretty quick.

Here’s one of the gold contact kits.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/373474384754

Yep, that is why I ordered a controller from Best Electronics at the time, it already had the gold contacts kit installed. I only have the one 5200 controller as such BUT my adaptor allows use on PC controllers while still accessing the 5200 keypad.

[Greg2600]

Though I replaced the buttons with the gold-contacts from Best, the Matrix Maker was a Godsend! I too have a console (AV modded ages ago), great deal of CIB games, Trak-Ball, and the Atarimax Ultimate SD cart. Love playing the original stuff plus the 8-bit computer conversions that AtariAge users have done over the years.

[Tron 2.0]

Recently i was watching,framerater look at the atari 5200 and damn given what he spent to have a proper setup is allot.I guess i dodge the bullet,never bothering with the secondary market for one.If i were ever to buy another atari based console id be better off with the 7800.

[Greg2600]

Ehhhh, he exaggerates on much of this video. Firstly, you can get boxed 5200 games affordably, not that you need the boxes or the overlays (which he admits). We're almost 40 years out from the release of this console, so to expect to accrue a collection from scratch NOW cheap is not going to be easy. You can find lots of the system with large loose game collections still though. He also unfairly criticized the Maker Matrix controller, as well as the "issues" he has with games. Spend a few minutes on Atari Age and most of those have solutions which are obtainable for most people. True, for the cost of the console, Maker Matrix, and AtariMax SD, that can run you well north of $300 to get a "full experience." In some ways the 400/800 could be "cheaper" if you also obtain a flash cart for those, because the games are astronomical for the Atari computer line.

[Gamevet]

Atarisoft published most of their 5200 games on the C64, so I’ve never felt a need to own one, other than to appeal to the younger me wanting one back in the day.

It would be cool to own, but with all of my current games and systems taking up an entire room, and then some. I can’t really see myself taking the plung, unless I found a bundle for a really sweet price.