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The History Of Atari

  • Atari Pong

    Atari Pong
    Pong is the game that started it all. Atari released its Home Pong console as its first system in 1972.
  • Atari Founders

    Atari Founders
    Atari founders Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell with Fred Marincic and Al Alcorn.
  • Period: to

    The History of Atari

  • Atari 2600 prototype

    Atari 2600 prototype
    Steve Mayer and Ron Milner built this prototype system for the Atari 2600 Video Computer out of a standard Jolt card that used the 6502 microprocessor.
  • Atari 2600

    Atari 2600
    First called the Atari Video Computer System, 1977’s Atari 2600 fits multiple games in its ROM storage. The system came with two joysticks and two controllers for multiplayer fun.
  • Atari 400

    Atari 400
    The Atari 400 is a less expensive version of the Atari 800, costing only $550 at the time of its release. It offered many of the Atari 800’s perks.
  • Atari 800

    Atari 800
    Atari introduced an 8-bit family of home computers in 1979 with the Atari 800. Its custom coprocessor chips allowed for better audio quality and graphics than previous models. It had a price tag of $1,000 at the time of its release.
  • Activision

    Activision
    By 1980, the third-party video game company Activision had started producing games for Atari’s consoles, which ate into Atari’s profits.
  • Atari 5200

    Atari 5200
    The 1982 Atari 5200 was a follow-up to the Atari 2600 that improved processing power and featured a new joystick with 360-degree responsiveness.
  • Video Game Crash 1983

    Video Game Crash 1983
    The video game crash was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985, primarily in the United States. This crash negatively impacted Atari's sales and they would unfortunately never fully recover from that point on.
  • Atari 65XE

    Atari 65XE
    Atari added to its 8-bit family in 1985 with the Atari 65XE. The 65XE contained 64 KB of Ram.
  • Atari 130XE

    Atari 130XE
    The Atari 130XE had a new case and keyboard, double the RAM at 128k and an Enhanced Cartridge Interface, which allowed external devices access to the computer's bus and data lines.
  • Atari 7800 ProSystem

    Atari 7800 ProSystem
    The Atari 7800 ProSystem was released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges which made it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility.
  • Atari Lynx

    Atari Lynx
    The Atari Lynx is a 16-bit fourth-generation hand-held game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989. It was the first handheld game console with a color liquid-crystal display.
  • Atari Jaguar

    Atari Jaguar
    The final console Atari ever produced was in 1993. The Jaguar was a 64-bit console.