Just a quick note to say I heard from Leonard Tramiel that I got a few details wrong. I will be updating part 2 with some clarifications before I show the composite mod.
Leonard was the one who described the 7800 as doing everything in hardware, the 2600 did in software he never struck me as too big a fan of the system.
This channel was only recommended to me yesterday. How this only has 2.900 subscribers is beyond me! The content is fantastic. Really informative and well delivered. I hope it grows as big as a lot of the other retro channels. Good luck!!
I used to have the atari 7800 console and I started playing it when I was 6 years old. Donkey Kong, Mrs. Pac man and Super Mario bros. were the very first video games I played it's a cool console.
I have both my original Atari 2600 VCS as well as my Atari 7800 Pro System. What I have done is that I have bought practically every single Atari 7800 game cartridge that Atari had released. Now I am buying Atari 7800 homebrew game cartridges to expand my game library.
Not only informative on this misunderstood machine, your video is really entertaining to watches well and the production value is top notch. Can't wait for part 2!
Here in the UK, the 7800 was shown at a London trade show (the 5200 having been previously annouced, then canned) and we waited eagerly for it.. Atari UK boss, Bob Gleadow then convinces Atari USA that the XEGS system was a better match for us, with our cassette based market 7800 finally limps out. Atari then had the 2600 7800 and XEGS all competing for the same 8-bit console space over here thinking low priced hardware and games would be sufficient.. 🙄
My brother bought a 7800 at Toys R US in the early 90's they were a good cheep clearance price! After that it became are main Atari system with the Nintendo on the TV. For the price we got for it was good! The second button was good on games like Double Dragon and Choplifter
Grump, grump… the 2600 could run games like Star Strike and make them more sinuously fluid too - see Moonsweeper (best video game ever)! I’ll be sticking with my Video Computer System for a few more years.
I used a 7800 joystick for my Texas Instruments Home Computer. It was significantly better than the TI994a joysticks. It looked really cool too. I was never a fan of gamepads. I thought they were terrible when I first played a Nintendo Entertainment System. Now I use an arcade tankstick. The controller of my dreams.
Oh God do I remember that horrible 7800 commercial. I thought that commercial first aired in the late 1980's...not 1990 when you could get away with something like that, ouch. As a gamer that started playing back in 1986 with the Nes and Master System (yes, I had them both in '86) I was the supposed target demographic. Unfortunately for Atari, they were so out of touch with what we wanted as console/gamers they had no chance of survival in the market. For reference- I was playing my Sega Genesis and Nes in 1990. Looking back at the 7800 it had so many glaring issues that most of us didn't even consider it an option. For starters most of its games were old single screen, high score affairs. Atari was stuck in 1982 and we all lived in the current year. Can you explain to me why Tengen (Atari) released Guantlet for the Nes and Master System but not the 7800?! It's as if Atari wanted their own system dead. Addendum- I know I'm being very harsh but when you see glimpses of brilliance like Fractilis and Commando on the 7800 you realize what could have been. Food Fight had actual sprite scaling and warping on the 7800. Did we see that anywhere else? No. Lastly, the decision to forgo the Pokey chip while thinking the 2600's sound chip was good enough is insane. Yes, I would much rather listen to shrill screeching over the music in Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, and or R-Type...
Hey, I have a 7800 in a box in my garage (from a batch of consoles a friend gave me) and amusingly, it also has the half peeled plastic covering on it just like yours.. i guess no-one back then removed that. :)
Nice documentary Aaron! I acquired an Atari 7800 recently, have been enjoying it immensely, and even feature it in my channel's videos. Liked, and subscribed.
I need to get my 7800 out again sometime. We originally had the 5200 with the 2600 adapter. If I remember right, they had an offer back then to trade in the 5200 for a discount or something on the 7800.
Atari knew the terms of Nintendo's offer were horrible for Atari, so they strung them along while they prepared GCC's console for release. If they had actually supported their initial release in 1984 as planned it might have made a big dent in Nintendo's 1985 release. We'll never know because as you said, Warner sold to Tramiel who froze everything and when they finally did release the 7800 in 1986 it was too little, too late. GCC has a fascinating backstory, so this video could have really shown how amazing they were to explain why Atari was so confident in their work that they could pre-empt the NES.
Yes to all of this. I would have loved to be able to play around with that keyboard, too. It could have encouraged all sorts of home brew. I will admit that I spent a lot more time just looking at all the GCC pictures I found than I anticipated. It looks like it was a really fun place to work at least up until the 7800 was finished.
The Commodore 64 market comparison is a good one. I had a 64 that played great games while still letting me write my school reports, and the school's "sneaker net" of piracy ensured I always had more than I needed. Unless I was a hardcore arcade game fan of the classics like Pac Man or Donkey Kong I didn't have a pressing reason to get something like a 7800 or for that matter a Nintendo either. Only years later did I break from "PC gaming" to enjoy a Sega Mega Drive in Japan. Now, having never ownee one, the 7800 games feel fresh and new to me and I'll be getting a 7800+ in the mail today.😊
The 7800 was basically a slightly altered Atari 800 which was conceived in 1978. Given that the hardware was almost 10 years old, it held up very well.
Nice vid. Yeah, Atari's marketing team for the 7800 was pretty bad. I think Commodore must have hired them later for the Amiga marketing, which was also awful. :-) I think the 7800 compares nicely spec wise to the NES. You can really see that in the great 7800 homebrew games. That said, I also think the SMS was better than both of those others. And Nintendo smashed them all with their marketing and licensing... :-)
The 7800 did Not have better sound, it used the same crappy audio chip as the VCS. Colecovision was a better system,better graphics and way better sound and music.
why the atari 7800 failed? Answer: Atari was trying to hard to rehype and keep oldthe 2600 alive, whilsts the Master system and NES were pushing out games that people actually wanted to play.
Atari failed because they wouldn't (then couldn't) have big game's licenses. Even if they managed to grab (not Super) Mario Bros, the others licenses were basically the one created/acquired for the Atari 2600's years prior. Then, the Nintendo exclusive license (if you make a game for the NES, you can't make for other platform) was basically nail in the coffin since most companies would rather go for Nintendo or Sega first. Also, let be honest, even if the machine could compete with the already existing NES games, it looked quite cheap when mapper came out allowing for more ingame details (something the Master system completely destroyed from start).
Yes, Atari had very old liscences, that they had made the same games for 2600/5200/computer line with not much difference other than graphic improvements. So Atari games looked very dated vs nes/master system...By now nes was adding chips to their games,making their games look light years ahead
Besides the lousy game selection (not all their fault, Nintendo had a strangle hold on 3rd party games), the sound was also awful, as it had the 2600 sound chip in order to do the backward compatibility. Even the sound of the 5200 was worlds better. I think if the system would have came out in 1984 it might have had better success with limited competition in the US, but by the late 80s, kids moved on from playing Galaga, Pole Position, and Centipede, they were playing Zelda, Metroid, and Contra.
@@jeffjackson9679 true, worst controller ever made a pack-in game of pole position with limited appeal. The ref connector and shielding made tvs of that era shows lines and slight distortion. Year 1 line up was maiy old 2600 arcade titles (granted ner arcade perfect ports) of games thay had been played to death. But, after everything was said and done it was able to breath more life into the 2600 along with sales of 2600jr sold a ton of old stock and made atari tons of profit.
Just a quick note to say I heard from Leonard Tramiel that I got a few details wrong. I will be updating part 2 with some clarifications before I show the composite mod.
Will you discuss its canceled laserdisc add on?
@@rustymixer2886 So cool! ruclips.net/video/cp1b-diLK2g/видео.html
Leonard was the one who described the 7800 as doing everything in hardware, the 2600 did in software he never struck me as too big a fan of the system.
LOVE that Kessel Run t-shirt!! It recreates the iconic Atari 2600 artwork nicely and combines it with a legendary Star Wars reference. So cool.
Yeah. It's one of my favs.
This channel was only recommended to me yesterday. How this only has 2.900 subscribers is beyond me! The content is fantastic. Really informative and well delivered. I hope it grows as big as a lot of the other retro channels. Good luck!!
Thank you!
I used to have the atari 7800 console and I started playing it when I was 6 years old. Donkey Kong, Mrs. Pac man and Super Mario bros. were the very first video games I played it's a cool console.
👍
I have both my original Atari 2600 VCS as well as my Atari 7800 Pro System. What I have done is that I have bought practically every single Atari 7800 game cartridge that Atari had released. Now I am buying Atari 7800 homebrew game cartridges to expand my game library.
Nice
Not only informative on this misunderstood machine, your video is really entertaining to watches well and the production value is top notch. Can't wait for part 2!
Thanks for the encouragement, Tommy!
Great video; concise and well explained
Thanks!
I can really appreciate the history in this.
Here in the UK, the 7800 was shown at a London trade show (the 5200 having been previously annouced, then canned) and we waited eagerly for it.. Atari UK boss, Bob Gleadow then convinces Atari USA that the XEGS system was a better match for us, with our cassette based market 7800 finally limps out.
Atari then had the 2600 7800 and XEGS all competing for the same 8-bit console space over here thinking low priced hardware and games would be sufficient.. 🙄
Thanks for sharing that. I didn't realize the 5200 never hit the shelves in the UK.
@@RetroHackShack it did appear in some UK home shopping catalogues, as those designed months in advance, but nope, launch plans killed here 😭
My brother bought a 7800 at Toys R US in the early 90's they were a good cheep clearance price! After that it became are main Atari system with the Nintendo on the TV. For the price we got for it was good! The second button was good on games like Double Dragon and Choplifter
Thanks for sharing!
Grump, grump… the 2600 could run games like Star Strike and make them more sinuously fluid too - see Moonsweeper (best video game ever)! I’ll be sticking with my Video Computer System for a few more years.
I used a 7800 joystick for my Texas Instruments Home Computer. It was significantly better than the TI994a joysticks. It looked really cool too.
I was never a fan of gamepads. I thought they were terrible when I first played a Nintendo Entertainment System.
Now I use an arcade tankstick. The controller of my dreams.
this made me want a 7800! thanks for rad video!
Glad you liked it!
Oh God do I remember that horrible 7800 commercial. I thought that commercial first aired in the late 1980's...not 1990 when you could get away with something like that, ouch. As a gamer that started playing back in 1986 with the Nes and Master System (yes, I had them both in '86) I was the supposed target demographic. Unfortunately for Atari, they were so out of touch with what we wanted as console/gamers they had no chance of survival in the market. For reference- I was playing my Sega Genesis and Nes in 1990.
Looking back at the 7800 it had so many glaring issues that most of us didn't even consider it an option. For starters most of its games were old single screen, high score affairs. Atari was stuck in 1982 and we all lived in the current year. Can you explain to me why Tengen (Atari) released Guantlet for the Nes and Master System but not the 7800?! It's as if Atari wanted their own system dead.
Addendum- I know I'm being very harsh but when you see glimpses of brilliance like Fractilis and Commando on the 7800 you realize what could have been. Food Fight had actual sprite scaling and warping on the 7800. Did we see that anywhere else? No. Lastly, the decision to forgo the Pokey chip while thinking the 2600's sound chip was good enough is insane. Yes, I would much rather listen to shrill screeching over the music in Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, and or R-Type...
Somehow havent seen this before...
Still have my Christmas '89 7800 Dad got us for Christmas.
Crazy Stoked for the 7800+!!
The second I saw your shirt, I had to order one. Nice find!
I do love a good vintage mashup.
Hey, I have a 7800 in a box in my garage (from a batch of consoles a friend gave me) and amusingly, it also has the half peeled plastic covering on it just like yours.. i guess no-one back then removed that. :)
Yeah. I never realized it was there when I was a kid. I am sure that was not what was most important to us back then.
Nice documentary Aaron! I acquired an Atari 7800 recently, have been enjoying it immensely, and even feature it in my channel's videos. Liked, and subscribed.
Very professional video. Well done! Keep it up ☺️
As much as I love Atari, they relied on old arcade games. The other consoles had platformers, and other more modern games.
I still have mine. And about 20 games. Still play it.
I need to get my 7800 out again sometime. We originally had the 5200 with the 2600 adapter. If I remember right, they had an offer back then to trade in the 5200 for a discount or something on the 7800.
Awesome content! Great quality! 😎
Love this ~10 min long format ^_^
Super cool video very informative!! Subscribed to your channel! :)
Awesome! Thank you.
how have i NEVER seen the commercials for Atari in the 90s until now?!
I missed them too since I was in collage at the time.
Atari knew the terms of Nintendo's offer were horrible for Atari, so they strung them along while they prepared GCC's console for release. If they had actually supported their initial release in 1984 as planned it might have made a big dent in Nintendo's 1985 release. We'll never know because as you said, Warner sold to Tramiel who froze everything and when they finally did release the 7800 in 1986 it was too little, too late. GCC has a fascinating backstory, so this video could have really shown how amazing they were to explain why Atari was so confident in their work that they could pre-empt the NES.
Yes to all of this. I would have loved to be able to play around with that keyboard, too. It could have encouraged all sorts of home brew. I will admit that I spent a lot more time just looking at all the GCC pictures I found than I anticipated. It looks like it was a really fun place to work at least up until the 7800 was finished.
The Commodore 64 market comparison is a good one. I had a 64 that played great games while still letting me write my school reports, and the school's "sneaker net" of piracy ensured I always had more than I needed. Unless I was a hardcore arcade game fan of the classics like Pac Man or Donkey Kong I didn't have a pressing reason to get something like a 7800 or for that matter a Nintendo either. Only years later did I break from "PC gaming" to enjoy a Sega Mega Drive in Japan.
Now, having never ownee one, the 7800 games feel fresh and new to me and I'll be getting a 7800+ in the mail today.😊
The 7800 was basically a slightly altered Atari 800 which was conceived in 1978. Given that the hardware was almost 10 years old, it held up very well.
Great video subbed ! Ninja golf ftw
Thanks for the sub!
@@RetroHackShack no prob great vids
Interesting Thank you
You need more subscribers
First!
I have my 7800 modded too. I'm lucky enough to own a Concerto Cart.
Nice vid. Yeah, Atari's marketing team for the 7800 was pretty bad. I think Commodore must have hired them later for the Amiga marketing, which was also awful. :-) I think the 7800 compares nicely spec wise to the NES. You can really see that in the great 7800 homebrew games. That said, I also think the SMS was better than both of those others. And Nintendo smashed them all with their marketing and licensing... :-)
Asteroids is a classic. That 3d space game for Intellivision is a forgotten footnote
I like them both ☺️
Interesting
I like that shirt!!!
Kessel Run...best Atari VCS game that never existed!
Did you to blow in atari cartridges like nintendo
I like that shirt!
And a hot plate!
25 fps video: bold move. Usually you'd want to do either 24 or 30/60 because Tvs know what to do with that.
The 7800 did Not have better sound, it used the same crappy audio chip as the VCS. Colecovision was a better system,better graphics and way better sound and music.
My question is how did atari have rights to nintendo games to release on their console during when the NES was out?
Some rights were from before, when Atari got rights to the games initially for their 2600 system. And some were more murky.. (cough) Tengen (cough)...
why the atari 7800 failed? Answer: Atari was trying to hard to rehype and keep oldthe 2600 alive, whilsts the Master system and NES were pushing out games that people actually wanted to play.
Atari failed because they wouldn't (then couldn't) have big game's licenses. Even if they managed to grab (not Super) Mario Bros, the others licenses were basically the one created/acquired for the Atari 2600's years prior. Then, the Nintendo exclusive license (if you make a game for the NES, you can't make for other platform) was basically nail in the coffin since most companies would rather go for Nintendo or Sega first.
Also, let be honest, even if the machine could compete with the already existing NES games, it looked quite cheap when mapper came out allowing for more ingame details (something the Master system completely destroyed from start).
Yes, Atari had very old liscences, that they had made the same games for 2600/5200/computer line with not much difference other than graphic improvements. So Atari games looked very dated vs nes/master system...By now nes was adding chips to their games,making their games look light years ahead
Besides the lousy game selection (not all their fault, Nintendo had a strangle hold on 3rd party games), the sound was also awful, as it had the 2600 sound chip in order to do the backward compatibility. Even the sound of the 5200 was worlds better. I think if the system would have came out in 1984 it might have had better success with limited competition in the US, but by the late 80s, kids moved on from playing Galaga, Pole Position, and Centipede, they were playing Zelda, Metroid, and Contra.
@@jeffjackson9679 true, worst controller ever made a pack-in game of pole position with limited appeal. The ref connector and shielding made tvs of that era shows lines and slight distortion. Year 1 line up was maiy old 2600 arcade titles (granted ner arcade perfect ports) of games thay had been played to death.
But, after everything was said and done it was able to breath more life into the 2600 along with sales of 2600jr sold a ton of old stock and made atari tons of profit.
i think sega beat them because they got the cool voice guy(tm) to do their commercial
The 7800 beat the Master System in US sales wise :)
The sega master system looks ugly and it had no nintendo games on it but the sleecker looking atari 7800 does.