A Wetpaint Site | TV Fandex 100

Atari 7800

Box Out

Box Out

Distributor	Atari
Manufacturer	Atari
Release Dates	1986
Units Sold
R/S	4/3 Click here for RS Guide
Expect to Pay	GBP
List of games available at	Wikipedia
Best fan site	Atari Age
Official console Homepage
Distributor Homepage
Technical Site

General Information

General Information

The Atari 7800 is a video game console released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. A test market release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 was designed to replace Atari Inc.'s unsuccessful Atari 5200 and later to re-establish Atari Corp.'s market supremacy against Nintendo and Sega. With this system, Atari Inc. addressed all the shortcomings of the Atari 5200: it had simple digital joysticks; it was almost fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600; and it was affordable (originally priced at $140). The Atari 7800 Prosystem was the first game system from Atari Inc. designed by an outside company, General Computer Corporation (GCC). The system had been designed in 1983 and 1984 with an intended mass market rollout at the end of 1984. The project was originally called the 3600 and then later renamed the 7800. Several key factors influenced the design of the 7800. First, Atari had been facing mounting pressure from the Colecovision, which boasted graphics that more closely mirrored arcade games of the time than Atari’s reigning 2600 VCS system. Second, the Atari 5200 (the original intended successor to the Atari 2600 VCS) had been widely criticized for not being able to play Atari 2600 VCS games and for the poor quality of its analog joysticks. Finally, dropping prices of home computers like the Commodore 64 had caused many parents to believe that buying a home computer was a better investment because it provided more detailed game play and could be used for other purposes such as word processing.

The Atari 7800 is a video game console released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. A test market release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 was designed to replace Atari Inc.'s unsuccessful Atari 5200 and later to re-establish Atari Corp.'s market supremacy against Nintendo and Sega. With this system, Atari Inc. addressed all the shortcomings of the Atari 5200: it had simple digital joysticks; it was almost fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600; and it was affordable (originally priced at $140).
The Atari 7800 Prosystem was the first game system from Atari Inc. designed by an outside company, General Computer Corporation (GCC). The system had been designed in 1983 and 1984 with an intended mass market rollout at the end of 1984. The project was originally called the 3600 and then later renamed the 7800.
Several key factors influenced the design of the 7800. First, Atari had been facing mounting pressure from the Colecovision, which boasted graphics that more closely mirrored arcade games of the time than Atari’s reigning 2600 VCS system. Second, the Atari 5200 (the original intended successor to the Atari 2600 VCS) had been widely criticized for not being able to play Atari 2600 VCS games and for the poor quality of its analog joysticks. Finally, dropping prices of home computers like the Commodore 64 had caused many parents to believe that buying a home computer was a better investment because it provided more detailed game play and could be used for other purposes such as word processing.

Games & Accessories

Games & Accessories

Best Selling Game
Top 10 Must have games (Expect to pay)	Xevious, Pacman, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Mario Bros, Tapper, Jinks, Impossible Mission,Joust, Double Dragon.
Key Accessories (Expect to pay)

Ebay Watch - Last 3 Ebay price checks - How much could it cost?

Ebay Watch - Last 3 Ebay price checks - How much could it cost?

Console	Last Check	Previous	Previous	Buy On Ebay Now!
Console with standard controllers				Ebay
Boxed console with standard controllers				Ebay
Accessories
Contolller Pak				Ebay
Expansion Pak				Ebay
Wide-Boy 64				Ebay
Games
Low End - Fifa				Ebay
High end - Elite				Ebay

Technical Specs
CPU Speed: 1.79 MHz, drops to 1.19 MHz when the TIA or RIOT chips are accessed (note: This is Atari's custom 6502 known as SALLY which can be halted to allow other devices to control the bus) RAM: 4 KB (2 6116 2Kx8 RAM ICs) ROM: built in 4 KB BIOS ROM, 48 KB Cartridge ROM space without bankswitching Graphics: MARIA custom graphics controller 160x240 (160x288 PAL) resolution or 320x240/288 resolution 25 color palette out of 256 colors (16 hues * 16 luma), different graphics modes restricted the number of usable colors and the number of colors per sprite Direct Memory Access (DMA) Graphics clock: 7.16 MHz
Technical Advice
Give Technical advice here

Technical Specs

CPU Speed: 1.79 MHz, drops to 1.19 MHz when the TIA or RIOT chips are accessed
(note: This is Atari's custom 6502 known as SALLY which can be halted to allow other devices to control the bus)
RAM: 4 KB (2 6116 2Kx8 RAM ICs)
ROM: built in 4 KB BIOS ROM, 48 KB Cartridge ROM space without bankswitching
Graphics: MARIA custom graphics controller
160x240 (160x288 PAL) resolution or 320x240/288 resolution
25 color palette out of 256 colors (16 hues * 16 luma), different graphics modes restricted the number of usable colors and the number of colors per sprite
Direct Memory Access (DMA)
Graphics clock: 7.16 MHz

Technical Advice

Give Technical advice here

Add a console picture here	Add a console picture here
Add a console picture here	Add a console picture here

Accessory Picture Here	Accessory Picture Here
Accessory Picture Here	Accessory Picture Here

Other Useful Websites

Other Useful Websites

Add a website name and link it here	Add a website name and link it here
Add a website name and link it here	Add a website name and link it here

Misc Info

Misc Info

Add any Misc info here

Add any Misc info here

Add console Advert or similar here using a video widget	Add an in game footage video here using a video widget

Add console Advert or similar here using a video widget

Add an in game footage video here using a video widget

Home I Console A-Z I Forums I Buy it now I iNTERACTIVE I News I Q&A I Links

This site is constructed on Firefox web browser, if you experience difficulties
then please let us know so we can make changes email us at: contact@retrohead.co.uk

Contact us at: contact@retrohead.co.uk

bhafc87	Latest page update: made by bhafc87 , Mar 19 2009, 6:25 AM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by bhafc87 107 words added view changes - complete history)
	Keyword tags: 7800 Atari More Info: links to this page