The Atari 5200 Discussion Thread

Started by TrekMD, July 27, 2013, 20:45:07 PM

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DreamcastRIP

Quote from: "64bitRuss"Home computers were a niche market in 1982...

...It happened to be in that particular time where the Atari 2600 dragged the entire industry into the gutter.

I presume you're solely referring to North America when making such statements.
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Gorf

He can refer to whatever he wants...I do not know what part of the world he comes from but just about every store had the computers and the consoles right next to each other. The system was a bad joke and it shoul dhave been an advancement in technology, not more of the same. They fooled no one. It was a miserable failure when you stack it up next to the 2600. That is what they needed to meet or exceed market wise and they failed horribly.
I like the system, I own the system but I bought a Colecovision over it back in the day...why? The Colecovision
had much more going for it in the way of different games as well as the ability to ply my old 2600 games.

No one loves Atari systems more than me but when they fucked up, I was the first in line to tell them so.
With this system, they put a hurting on themselves that they have never recovered from....and probably
never will...since the next bunch of hardware after this were pretty much miserable failures in comparison
to the day when they own/invented the industry.

sloan

I actually put 5200 as the last console where Atari had a well-conceived and enacted strategy. That is until the US crash brought it all to an end. Given until NES launched in 1985 for the 5200, who knows what may have ensued? Instead, Atari basically let 5200 die on the vine beginning in 1983 and the 7800 and XEGS were too little too late. With exciting and new games, along with an improved controller, the history for 5200 may have been far different.

onthinice

Quote from: "sloan"I actually put 5200 as the last console where Atari had a well-conceived and enacted strategy. That is until the US crash brought it all to an end. Given until NES launched in 1985 for the 5200, who knows what may have ensued? Instead, Atari basically let 5200 die on the vine beginning in 1983 and the 7800 and XEGS were too little too late. With exciting and new games, along with an improved controller, the history for 5200 may have been far different.

I agree!!!!

Sometimes I wonder if the 2600 was planned to perfection or just a fluke? Either way Atari had the loyalty and fan base to make the 5200 a success.

Stupid US videogame crash! >:(

Gorf

The VG crash had little to do with it. The crash hurt EVERYONE. Atari got it backwards on this one. If
they wanted to use the ANTIC/GTIA/POKEY chipset in a console, it should have been done before they
did it in a computer. Better yet...release it as a console with computer add-ons...ie the SIO, Keyboard
and such already built in to the 5200. Then offer all the add-ons later. Have the Basic built in so all
you needed to do was to plug a Keyboard connector into it and the Basic would boot....as long as no
other GAME cart was plugged in....so then if you want to extend the basic you could do it out on the cart
with a different header telling the system that basic could run with it. THAT would have been a truly
innovative move on Atari's part and I believe it would have worked and it would have survived the crash
as it would have been a very viable computer which was what most people were turning to, which is why
or at least a big reason why the crash took place anyway.

The 2600 was lucky....it was only designed to play pong type games. Atari never intended it to go where it
did, but the system had the abilities and the programmers were able to take advantage of them.

The 2600 was not by any means a big reason at all for the crash...just one of them and not really a
big one either. Home computers were probably one of the biggest reasons, that and the fact that a lot
of the software at the time for consoles was getting rather disappointing, especially when you consider
the much more advanced versions of games the computers were able to play.

onthinice

I would also add non-gaming parents. I saw the importance of upgrading from the Atari 2600 to the 5200, but my parents did not. We had the same appliances for years and years. If it was not broke, no sense in fixing it or replacing with a better model.

A for computers. I remember getting a Vic-20, felt great till a year or two later, when all of my friends had the Commodore 64. I did eventually get the C64 and spent most of the late 80's playing Buck Rodgers, Crusade in Europe and Pirates. Missed a lot of the Nintendo era. It had to have been 1988 or 1989 when I got an Nes. A year later, bought a Genesis and Turbo-16. Then the Commodores went in storage. Consoles for me at least had come full circle.

DreamcastRIP

Quote from: "onthinice"... the Nintendo era.

Say what?  :10:
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TrekMD

Quote from: "DreamcastRIP"
Quote from: "onthinice"... the Nintendo era.

Say what?  :10:

I'm sure he's talking about the Nintendo era in the US.  Something that has never existed in Europe.   :21:

Going to the final frontier, gaming...


onthinice

Quote from: "TrekMD"
Quote from: "DreamcastRIP"
Quote from: "onthinice"... the Nintendo era.

Say what?  :10:

I'm sure he's talking about the Nintendo era in the US.  Something that has never existed in Europe.   :40: My mistake. The Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1985/86 and I missed a few years. I bought the Nes when it was still new but like I stated it was 1988 or '89. So I did miss a few years of the Nintendo era. :4:

DreamcastRIP

Owned: Spectrum Jaguar JaguarCD Lynx ST 7800 Dreamcast Saturn MegaDrive Mega-CD 32X Nomad GameGear PS3 PS PSP WiiU Wii GameCube N64 DS, GBm GBA GBC GBP GB VirtualBoy Xbox Vectrex PCE Duo-R 3DO CDi CD32 GX4000 WonderSwan NGPC Gizmondo ColecoVision iPhone PC Mac

Gorf

Thanks for reminding me why I grew quickly sick of that nonsense! Nothing's changed
either! :107:

Now I need to listen to a few hours of some hateful death metal bands to clear my mind! :10:

DreamcastRIP

Quote from: "Gorf"Thanks for reminding me why I grew quickly sick of that nonsense! Nothing's changed
either! :4:

QuoteI will say, that most of those people were clearly singing out of their natural range.
MJ, Dianna Ross, Dionne Warwick, Cindy and Steve Perry aside. Those folks can
sing in any range...Springsteen? Really? :10:

Too funny! 'The Boss' certainly embarrassed himself, no argument there!
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Gorf

Quote from: "DreamcastRIP"Haha! I posted it not due to anything related to Africa but solely for the song's title... to humour onthinice's post!  :P

onthinice

Quote from: "DreamcastRIP"Haha! I posted it not due to anything related to Africa but solely for the song's title... to humour onthinice's post!  :21:

TrekMD

Found this video looking at 20 games that defined the Atari 5200.  What do you think?  Do you agree with the selection? 


Going to the final frontier, gaming...