Atari 2600
Atari 2600 four-switch "wood veneer" version
Manufacturer	Atari Inc.
Type	Video game console
Generation	Second generation
First available	NA October 1977 EU 1978
Discontinued	1 January 1992
CPU	MOS 6507 @ 1. A console manufacturer is a company that manufactures and distributes Video game consoles It is also known as a first-party Video game publisher. Atari Inc was a video game and computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney Video games were introduced as a commercial entertainment medium in 1971, becoming the basis for an important entertainment industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s in the United In the history of computer and video games the second generation (sometimes referred to as the early 8 bit era) began in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Events Agnes Kim opens the first Electronics Boutique, a Kiosk at the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia Pennsylvania selling Events Notable releases June - Taito Corporation releases the Space Invaders Arcade game in Japan. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) The 6507 is an 8-bit Microprocessor from MOS Technology Inc It is a "cut down" version of their popular 6502. 19 MHz
Media	ROM cartridge
Controller input	Joystick Paddles Driving Controller Trak-Ball Keypad
Units sold	30 million (as of 2004)[1]
Best-selling game	Pac-Man, 7 million (as of September 1, 2006)[2][3]
Predecessor	Atari Pong
Successor	Atari 5200

The Atari 2600, released in October 1977, is the video game console credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. A ROM cartridge is a removable cartridge that contains ROM devices and commonly Flash memory devices to allow some read-write capability This is a list of Video game consoles and Handheld game consoles that have sold or shipped at least one million units This is a list of Video games that have sold or shipped at least one million copies including the top ten best-selling franchises. Pac-Man was a port of the Arcade game of the same name for the Atari 2600. Events 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Pong is a first generation Video game released originally as a Coin -operated Arcade game by Atari Inc The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, or simply the Atari 5200, is a Video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc In various types of electronic equipment a cartridge can refer one method of adding different functionality or content (e A dedicated console is a Video game console that is dedicated to a built in game or games and is not equipped for additional games via cartridges or other media The first game console to use this format was the Fairchild Channel F. The Fairchild Channel F is a game console released by Fairchild Semiconductor in August 1976 at the retail price of $169 However, it was the Atari 2600 that made the plug-in concept popular among the game-playing public.

Originally known as the Atari VCS—for "Video Computer System"—the machine's name was changed to "Atari 2600" (from the unit's Atari part number, CX2600) in 1982, after the release of the more advanced Atari 5200. The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, or simply the Atari 5200, is a Video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc The 2600 was typically bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a cartridge game—initially Combat^[4] and subsequently Pac-Man. A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling A game controller is an Input device used to control a Video game. A paddle is a Game controller with a round wheel and one or more fire buttons, where the wheel is typically used to control movement of the player object Combat is an early Video game by Atari for the Atari 2600. It was released as one of the nine Launch titles for the system in October Pac-Man was a port of the Arcade game of the same name for the Atari 2600. ^[5]

The Atari 2600 was wildly successful, and during the 1980s, "Atari" was a synonym for this model in mainstream media and, by extension for video games in general similar to "Nintendo" and "PlayStation" in the 1980s and 1990s.

History

Development and market considerations

Atari Inc. had purchased an engineering think-tank in 1973 called Cyan Engineering to research next-generation video game systems, and had been working on a prototype known as "Stella" (named after one of the engineers' bicycles) for some time. Unlike prior generations of machines which used custom logic to play a small number of games, Stella's core was a complete CPU, the famous MOS Technology 6502 in a cost-reduced version, known as the 6507. Logic programming is in its broadest sense the use of mathematical logic for computer programming MOS Technology Inc, also known as CSG (Commodore Semiconductor Group, was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Norristown Pennsylvania The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit Microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle for MOS Technology in 1975 The 6507 is an 8-bit Microprocessor from MOS Technology Inc It is a "cut down" version of their popular 6502. It was combined with a RAM-and-I/O chip, the MOS Technology 6532, and a display and sound chip of their own design known as the TIA, for Television Interface Adaptor. In Computing, input/output, or I/O, refers to the communication between an Information processing system (such as a Computer) and the outside The 6532 RAM-I/O-Timer ( RIOT) was an integrated circuit made by MOS Technology, as well as second sources such as Rockwell. The Television Interface Adapter ( TIA) is the custom chip that is the heart of the Atari 2600 game console and was created by Jay Miner of Amiga Beyond those three, the first two versions of the machine contain just one more chip, a standard CMOS logic buffer IC, bringing the total chip count to the very low and cost-effective number of four. Microchipsjpg|right|thumb|200px|Microchips ( EPROM memory with a transparent window showing the integrated circuit inside Some later versions of the console eliminated the buffer chip.

Programs for small computers were generally stored on cassette tape, disk, or paper tape. By the early 1970s, Hewlett Packard manufactured desktop computers costing thousands of dollars such as the HP 9830 which packaged ROM memory into removable cartridges to add special programming features, and these were being considered for use in games. The HP 9800 was a family of what were initially called programmable Calculators and later Desktop computers made by Hewlett-Packard which replaced their first At first, the design was not going to be cartridge-based, but after seeing a "fake" cartridge system on another machine, they realized they could place the games on cartridges essentially for the price of the connector and packaging.

In August 1976, Fairchild Semiconductor released their own CPU-based system, the Video Entertainment System. Present day Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc is a spin-off company resulting from reconstitution of assets in National Semiconductor The Fairchild Channel F is a game console released by Fairchild Semiconductor in August 1976 at the retail price of $169 Stella was still not ready for production, but it was clear that it needed to be before there were a number of "me too" products filling up the market – which had happened after they released Pong. Pong is a first generation Video game released originally as a Coin -operated Arcade game by Atari Inc Atari Inc. simply didn't have the cash flow to complete the system quickly, given that sales of their own Pong systems were cooling. Nolan Bushnell eventually turned to Warner Communications, and sold the company to them in 1976 for US$28 million on the promise that Stella would be produced as soon as possible. Nolan K Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American electrical Engineer and Entrepreneur who founded both Atari Inc Time Warner Inc ( is the world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York City. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been

Key to the eventual success of the machine was the hiring of Jay Miner, a chip designer who managed to squeeze an entire breadboard of equipment making up the TIA into a single chip. Jay Glenn Miner ( May 31, 1932 &ndash June 20, 1994) was a famous Integrated circuit designer known primarily for his work in A breadboard ( solderless breadboard, protoboard, plugboard) is a reusable Solderless device used to build a (generally temporary Prototype Once that was completed and debugged, the system was ready for shipping. By the time it was released in 1977, the development had cost about US$100 million.

Launch and runaway success

The initial price was US$199 with a library of 9 titles. In a move to compete directly with the Channel F, Atari Inc. named the machine the Video Computer System (or VCS for short), as the Channel F was at that point known as the VES, for Video Entertainment System. The 2600 was also rebadged as the Sears Video Arcade and sold through Sears, Roebuck and Company stores. Sears Roebuck and Company, commonly known as Sears, is an American mid-range chain of International Department stores founded by Richard When Fairchild learned of Atari Inc. 's naming, they quickly changed the name of their system to become the Channel F. However, both systems were now in the midst of a vicious round of price-cutting: Pong clones made obsolete by these newer and more powerful machines sold off their boxes to discounters for ever-lower prices. Soon many of the clone companies were out of business, and both Fairchild and Atari Inc. were selling to a public that was completely burnt out on Pong. In 1977, Atari Inc. sold only 250,000 VCSs. For the first year of production, the 2600 was manufactured in Sunnyvale, California. Sunnyvale ( or) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The consoles manufactured here had thick internal RF shielding & thick plastic molding around the sides & bottom. Electromagnetic shielding is the process of limiting the flow of Electromagnetic fields between two locations by separating them with a barrier made of conductive material These added weight to the console, and being that all 6 switches were on the front, these consoles were nicknamed "Heavy Sixers". After this first year, production moved to Hong Kong, and the consoles manufactured there had thinner RF shielding & plastic molding. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders In 1978, only 550,000 units from a production run of 800,000 were sold, requiring further financial support from Warner to cover losses. This led directly to the disagreements that caused Atari Inc. founder Nolan Bushnell to leave the company in 1978. Nolan K Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American electrical Engineer and Entrepreneur who founded both Atari Inc

Once the public realized it was possible to play video games other than Pong, and programmers learned how to push its hardware's capabilities, the 2600 gained popularity. By this point, Fairchild had given up, thinking video games were a passed fad -- thereby handing the entire quickly growing market to Atari Inc. By 1979, the 2600 was the best-selling Christmas gift (and console), mainly because of its exclusive content, and one million units were sold that year.

Atari Inc. then licensed the smash arcade hit Space Invaders by Taito, which greatly increased the unit's popularity when it was released in January 1980, doubling sales again to over 2 million units. A video arcade (also known as an amusement arcade in the United Kingdom in Japan or as an "arcade" is a venue where people play arcade video games is an arcade Video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978 The is a Japanese developer of Video game software and arcade hardware wholly-owned by RPG publisher Square Enix. The 2600 and its cartridges were the main factor behind Atari Inc. grossing more than $2 billion in profits in 1980. Sales then doubled again for the next two years, with almost 8 million units selling in 1982.

In 1980, the Atari 2600 was given a minor revision in which the left and right difficulty switches were moved to the back of the console, leaving 4 switches on the front. Other than this, these 4-switch consoles looked nearly identical to the earlier 6-switch models. In 1982, another version of the 4-switch console was released without woodgrain. They were nicknamed "Darth Vader" consoles due to their all-black appearance. Anakin Skywalker Darth Vader is a fictional character in George Lucas ' Science fiction saga Star Wars. These were also the first consoles to be officially called "Atari 2600", as the Atari 5200 was released the same year. The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, or simply the Atari 5200, is a Video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc

During this period, Atari Inc. expanded the 2600 family with two other compatible consoles. They designed the Atari 2700, a wireless version of the console that was never released because of a design flaw. The Atari 2700 (also referred to as the Atari Remote Control VCS) was an unreleased console by Atari. [1] The company also built a sleeker version of the machine dubbed the Atari 2800 to sell directly to the Japanese market in early 1983, but it suffered from competition with the newly released Nintendo Famicom. The Atari 2800 is the Japanese version of the Atari 2600, released in 1983 For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. is a Multinational corporation headquartered in Kyoto Japan founded on The Nintendo Entertainment System (often abbreviated as NES or simply Nintendo) is an 8-bit Video game console that was released by

Sears Tele-Games 2600s

Atari Inc. also continued their OEM relationship with Sears under the latter's Tele-Games brand label started in 1975 with the original Pong. An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM is typically a company that uses a component made by a second company in its own product or sells the product of the second company Pong is a first generation Video game released originally as a Coin -operated Arcade game by Atari Inc Sears released several versions of the 2600 as the Sears Video Arcade series from 1977 to 1983. These include the Rev. A "Heavy Sixer" model in 1977, the Rev. B "4 switch" model in 1980, and the US version of the Atari 2800 branded as the Sears Video Arcade II in 1983. ^[6] Sears also released their own versions of Atari Inc. 's games under the Tele-Games brand, which included the Tele-Games branded variations of text and picture labels. Three games were also produced by Atari Inc. for Sears as exclusive releases under the Tele-Games brand: Steeplechase, Stellar Track, Submarine Commander. ^[7]

Decline

During this period, Atari Inc. continued to grow until it had one of the largest R&D divisions in Silicon Valley. The phrase research and development (also R and D or more often R&D) according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers For the valley nicknamed "Silicone Valley" see San Fernando Valley. However, it spent much of its R&D budget on projects that seemed rather out of place at a video game (or even home computer) company; many of these projects never saw the light of day. Meanwhile, several attempts to bring out newer consoles failed for one reason or another, although Atari Inc. 's home computer systems, the Atari 8-bit family, sold reasonably, if not spectacularly. A home computer was a class of Personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit Home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992 Warner was more than happy anyway, as it seemed to have no end to the sales of the 2600, and Atari Inc. was responsible for over half of the company's income.

2600 Pac Man cartridge

The programmers of many of Atari Inc. 's biggest hits grew disgruntled with the company for not crediting game developers and many left the company and formed their own independent software companies. The most prominent and longest-lasting of these third-party developers was Activision, founded in 1980, whose titles quickly became more popular than those of Atari Inc. Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher. itself. Atari Inc. attempted to block third-party development for the 2600 in court but failed, and soon other publishers, such as Imagic and Coleco, entered the market. Imagic was a third-party maker of games for the Atari 2600 and other early Video game consoles in the early 1980s Coleco was a company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as " Co nnecticut Le ather Co mpany " Atari Inc. suffered from an image problem when a company named Mystique produced a number of pornographic games for the 2600. Mystique was the name of a company that produced a number of pornographic video games for the Atari 2600, such Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of Sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer The most notorious of these, Custer's Revenge, caused a large number of protests from women's and Native American groups[2] because it depicts General George Armstrong Custer raping a bound Native American woman. Custer's Revenge (also known as Westward Ho and The White Man Came) is a pornographic video game made for the Atari 2600 Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States [3] Atari Inc. sued Mystique in court over the release of the game. [4]

Atari Inc. continued to scoop up licenses during the shelf life of the 2600, the most prominent of which included Pac-Man and E.T. Public disappointment with these two titles and the market saturation of poor third-party titles are cited as big reasons for the video game crash of 1983. Pac-Man was a port of the Arcade game of the same name for the Atari 2600. Starting with the release of the film in 1982 and its susbsequent 20th anniversary re-release E The North American video game crash of 1983 (sometimes known as the video game crash of 1984 because it was in that year that the full effects of the crash became apparent Suddenly, Atari Inc. 's growth meant it was losing massive amounts of money during the crash, at one point about $10,000 a day. Warner quickly grew tired of supporting Atari Inc. , and started looking for buyers in 1984.

Although not formally discontinued, the 2600 was de-emphasized for two years after Warner's 1984 sale of Atari Inc. 's Consumer Division to Commodore Business Machines founder Jack Tramiel, who wanted to concentrate on home computers. Commodore, the commonly used name for Commodore International, was a US-American Electronics company based in West Chester Pennsylvania Jack Tramiel (born 13 December 1928) is a Businessman, best known for founding Commodore International - manufacturer of the Commodore A home computer was a class of Personal computer entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s He froze all development of console games, including a 2600 Garfield game and an Atari 5200 port of Super Pac-Man. Garfield is an Atari 2600 game that Atari planned but cancelled because of the Videogame crash of 1983. Super Pac-Man, released in 1982 and taking a slant on the legendary Comic book hero Superman, is the third installment of the In 1986, a new version of the 2600 was released (although it was planned for release two years earlier). The new redesigned version of the 2600, unofficially referred to as the 2600 Jr. , featured a smaller cost-reduced form factor with a modernized Atari 7800-like appearance. The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a Video game console released by Atari Corporation in June 1986 The redesigned 2600 was advertised as a budget gaming system (under $50) that had the ability to run a large collection of classic games. With its introduction came a resurgence in software development both from Atari Corp. and from a few third parties (notably, Activision, Absolute Entertainment, Froggo, Epyx, and Exus). Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher. Absolute Entertainment was a Video game developer and publisher that produced titles for the Amiga, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Sega Aka Pella Aka Pella, voiced by Cree Summer, is the only African-American member of the Kid Chorus Epyx Inc was a Video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and entire 1980s The Atari 2600 continued to sell in the USA and Europe until 1990, and in Asia until the early 1990s. Its final Atari-licensed release was KLAX in 1990. Klax is a 1989 Computer puzzle game designed by Dave Akers and Mark Stephen Pierce Over its lifetime, an estimated 40 million units were shipped, and its video game library reportedly numbers more than 900 titles with commercial games released for this system all the way until 1991. This is a list of games for the Atari 2600 video game console, organized alphabetically by name In Brazil, the console became extremely popular in the mid-1980s. |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld The Atari 2600 was officially retired by Atari Corp. on January 1, 1992, making it the longest-lived home video game console in US game history. New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar) It had a lifespan of 14 years and 2 months, nearly three times the typical lifespan of a console.

Design

Hardware

A typical 2600 game cartridge consisted of a small circuit board with a ROM chip (center) and a dual-sided 24-pin edge connector (bottom). A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect Electronic components using conductive pathways or traces An edge connector is the portion of a Printed circuit board consisting of traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into a matching socket

Main article: Atari 2600 hardware

The basic layout of the 2600 is fairly similar to most consoles and home computers of the era. The Atari 2600 went through many makeovers and revisions in its 14 year history The CPU was the MOS Technology 6507, a cut-down version of the 6502, running at 1. The 6507 is an 8-bit Microprocessor from MOS Technology Inc It is a "cut down" version of their popular 6502. The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit Microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle for MOS Technology in 1975 19 MHz in the 2600. The hertz (symbol Hz) is a measure of Frequency, informally defined as the number of events occurring per Second. The 6507 included fewer memory address pins —13 instead of 16 —and no external interrupts to fit into a smaller 28-pin package. Smaller packaging was, and still is, an important factor in overall system cost, and since memory was very expensive at the time, the 6507's small 8 kB of maximum external memory space wasn't going to be used up anyway. A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix Kilo -, meaning 1000 is a unit of Information or Computer storage equal to either 1024 In fact, memory was so expensive they couldn't imagine using up even 4K, and when they got a deal on 24-pin connectors for the cartridge socket, they were only too happy to thereby limit the games to 4K. ^[8] Later games got around this limitation with bank switching. Bank switching (also known as "paging" but only loosely related to the ordinary meaning of " Paging " in computing was a technique common in 8-bit

The console had only 128 bytes of RAM for runtime data that included the call stack and the state of the game world. A byte (pronounced "bite" baɪt is the basic unit of measurement of information storage in Computer science. In Computer science, runtime or run time describes the operation of a Computer program, the duration of its execution from beginning to termination In Computer science, a call stack is a dynamic stack data structure which stores information about the active Subroutines of a Computer program There was no frame buffer, as the necessary RAM would have been too expensive. A framebuffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data Instead the video device had two bitmapped sprites, two one-line "missile" sprites, a one-pixel "ball," and a "playfield" that was drawn by writing a bit pattern for each line into a register just before the television scanned that line. In Computer graphics, a bitmap or pixmap is a type of memory organization or Image file format used to store Digital images The In Computer graphics, a sprite (also known by other names see Synonyms below is a two-dimensional/three-dimensional Image or Animation that As each line was scanned, a game had to identify the non-sprite objects that overlapped the next line, assemble the appropriate bit patterns to draw for those objects, and write the pattern into the register. In a telling reveal of its Pong heritage, by default, the right side of the screen was a duplicate of the left; to control it separately, the software had to modify the patterns as the scan line was drawn. After the controller scanned the last active line, a more leisurely vertical blanking interval began, during which the game could process input and update the positions and states of objects in the world. The vertical blanking interval (VBI also known as the vertical interval or VBLANK, is the time difference between the last line of one frame or field of a Raster Any mistake in timing produced visual artifacts, a problem programmers called racing the beam.

Standard joystick

The video hardware gave the 2600 a reputation as one of the most complex machines in the world to program, but those programmers who understood it realized that such direct control over the video picture was also a source of flexibility. One advantage the 2600 had over more powerful competitors such as the ColecoVision was that the 2600 had no protection against altering settings in mid-line. The ColecoVision is Coleco Industries ' second generation home Video game console and was released in August. For example, although each sprite nominally had only one color, it was possible to color the rows differently by changing the sprite's color as it was drawn. If the two hardware sprites were not enough for a game, a developer could share one sprite among several objects (as with the ghosts in Pac-Man) or draw software sprites, which was only a little more difficult than drawing a fixed playfield. Pac-Man was a port of the Arcade game of the same name for the Atari 2600. The Pitfall! screen shot below demonstrates some of these tricks: the player is a multi-color sprite, one sprite is multiplexed for the logs and the scorpion, and the swinging vine is drawn by shifting the position of the "ball" on each scan line. Pitfall! is a Video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in 1982 Despite the hardware limitations, many Atari 2600 games have a lot of action on the screen, creating an engaging experience.

Additionally, the 2600 supported several types of input devices (joysticks, paddles, keyboards, etc. ) and third-party peripherals, and many of these peripherals were interchangeable with the MSX and several other Japanese systems. MSX was the name of a standardized Home computer architecture in the 1980s In some cases, it is possible to use the Atari joysticks with the Sega Master System and Mega Drive/Genesis, though functionality may be limited. The Sega Master System is an 8-bit cartridge-based Video game console that was manufactured by Sega and was first released in 1986. The is a 16-bit Video game console released by Sega in Japan in 1988 North America in 1989 and the PAL region in 1990 However Master System and Genesis controllers work quite well on the 2600.

Color and graphics

Main article: Television Interface Adapter

The Atari 2600 used different color palettes depending on the television signal format used. The Television Interface Adapter ( TIA) is the custom chip that is the heart of the Atari 2600 game console and was created by Jay Miner of Amiga ^[9] With the NTSC format, a 128-color palette was available, while in PAL, only 104 colors were available. Additionally, the SECAM palette consisted of only 8 colors. SECAM, also written SÉCAM ( Séquentiel couleur à mémoire, French for "Sequential Color with Memory" is an analog color television system

Notable games

Pitfall!, one of the most popular third party games for the Atari 2600.

Main article: List of Atari 2600 games

During the console's lifetime, Atari Inc and Atari Corp. This is a list of games for the Atari 2600 video game console, organized alphabetically by name published many titles that would become some of the best-known video games of all time. These games include Adventure (often credited as starting the action-adventure game genre), Breakout, and Yars' Revenge. Adventure is a 1979 Its creator Warren Robinett, also introduced the first widely known Easter egg to the gaming world Yars' Revenge is a Video game developed for the Atari 2600. It was created by Howard Scott Warshaw, who also wrote the 2600 titles ^[10] The console's popularity attracted many third-party developers, which led to popular titles such as Activision's Pitfall^[11] and Imagic's Atlantis. Activision Inc is an American Video game developer and publisher. Imagic was a third-party maker of games for the Atari 2600 and other early Video game consoles in the early 1980s Atlantis is a Fixed shooter video game produced by Imagic in 1982 for the Atari 2600 Video game console. However, two Atari published titles, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial^[11] and Pac-Man,^[12] are frequently blamed for initiating the video game crash of 1983. Pac-Man was a port of the Arcade game of the same name for the Atari 2600. The North American video game crash of 1983 (sometimes known as the video game crash of 1984 because it was in that year that the full effects of the crash became apparent

Legacy

The Atari 2600 in its 1986 cost-reduced version, also known as the "2600 Jr. "

The console and its old and new games are very popular with collectors because of its significant impact on video game and consumer electronics history and also due to its nostalgic value for many people. In addition, modern Atari 2600 clones remain on the market. One example is the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game, manufactured by Jakks Pacific, which simulates the 2600 console, and includes converted versions of 10 games into a single Atari-brand-look-a-like joystick with composite video outputs for connecting directly to modern televisions or VCRs. JAKKS Pacific Inc is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of Toys and consumer products and is based in Malibu California. Composite video is the format of an Analog television (picture only signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF Another is the TV Boy, which includes 127 games in an enlarged joypad. The TV Boy and its successors TV Boy 2 and Super TV Boy are 1990s Video game consoles produced by many different companies including Systema Akor

Additionally, Benjamin Heckendorn has created several different versions of a portable 2600, created by cutting apart full-sized vintage units, adding screens and putting them into new enclosures. Benjamin J Heckendorn (b October 19 1975 and raised near Richland Center Wisconsin Now lives in Verona Wisconsin

The Atari Flashback 2 console, released in 2005, contains 40 games (with four more programs unlockable by a cheat code). The Atari Flashback and Atari Flashback 2 are dedicated Video game consoles marketed by Atari Inc A Cheat code (also called debug code or backdoor) is a code that can be entered into a computer program to alter the run-time behavior or configuration of that program The console implements the original 2600 architecture and can be modified to play original 2600 cartridges by adding a cartridge port, and is compatible with original 2600 controllers.

The Atari insignia has become an iconic pop cultural logo.

In music

Many games for the Atari 2600 have detailed and easily identifiable music, and its distinctive sound makes it ideal for use in modern lo-fi and industrial music. "Lo-fi" redirects here For the music genre see Lo-fi music Lo-fidelity redirects here Industrial music is a loose term for a number of different styles of Experimental music, especially but not necessarily Electronic music. In 2002, Dallas musician and visual artist Paul Slocum developed a cartridge called Synthcart for the Atari 2600, which allows the user to turn an Atari 2600 into a 2 voice synthesizer and drum machine. Adapters have also been developed by amateurs enabling the Atari 2600's use with MIDI devices. MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers A number of bands, such as 8 Bit Weapon, MIKE BISON, Bud Mevlin, TEMPHUiBIS and The Squigs, as well as Slocum's own band Tree Wave, use Synthcart to make modern music on the Atari 2600. 8 Bit Weapon is a chiptune music band created by Seth Sternberger Some effects units like the MXR Blue Box are often cited for their ability to produce an Atari-like sound.

Emulation

Atari 2600 emulation is available for most major operating systems and is now very accurate. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Despite the relative simplicity of the 2600 system, it is not an easy system to emulate. While it does not require a lot of computational power to emulate the 2600, it is hard to accurately do so. For example, because of the lack of a frame buffer (discussed below), 2600 emulators must not only emulate the console, but the television as well. A framebuffer is a video output device that drives a video display from a memory buffer containing a complete frame of data Due to the longevity of the system, many 2600 games used undocumented features, and even exploited bugs in the hardware to squeeze the most out of the system, doing things even the original designers would deem impossible (a notable example is the starfield of the game Cosmic Ark). Typical PC hardware A typical Personal computer consists of a case or chassis in a tower shape (desktop and the following parts Motherboard Cosmic Ark is an Atari 2600 Video game developed and published by Imagic as the sequel to Atlantis. It took some time for the emulator programmers to mature their software to properly emulate the undocumented features, bugs and quirks of the system.

The MESS emulator supports recording and playing back of Atari 2600 emulation sessions. MESS ( Multi Emulator Super System) is an Emulator for many game consoles and computer systems based on the MAME core The Home Action Replay Page^[13] (aka HARP) allows Atari 2600 users to archive their favorite play sessions of the Atari 2600 system and its games.

Some well known Atari 2600 emulators today are:

• Stella - An open source, multiplatform emulator (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Dreamcast). Stella is an emulator for the Atari 2600 game console It is Open source, and runs on most major modern platforms including Windows, Mac Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge In computing cross-platform (also known as multi-platform) is a term used to refer to Computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently Linux (commonly pronounced ˈlɪnəks The is Sega 's most recent Video game console and the successor to the Sega Saturn.
• z26 - Another open source, multiplatform customizable emulator (Windows, MS-DOS, Linux)
• PC Atari Emulator - Easy to use, very fast emulator (Windows, MS-DOS). z26 is an emulator for the Atari 2600 game console It is Open source, and runs Windows and x86 Linux. MS-DOS (short for M icro' s' oft D isk O perating S ystem is an Operating system commercialized by Microsoft. PC Atari Emulator is a software Emulator for running Atari 2600 videogame console programs in Microsoft Windows or in MS-DOS. Handles the Cosmic Ark starfield effect correctly.
• MESS - the multi system emulator that supports all old Atari console systems
• The Pocket VCS - PPC —Easy to use, very fast and emulator (Windows CE). MESS ( Multi Emulator Super System) is an Emulator for many game consoles and computer systems based on the MAME core

Homebrews

Main article: Homebrew (video games)

Homebrew "Four Play" (2006)

After 30 years since the launch of the Atari 2600, new homebrew games for the system are still made and sold by hobbyists with several new titles available each year. Homebrew is a term frequently applied to Video games produced by consumers to target Proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary Most of the development on the platform is still done in 6502 assembly language. The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit Microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle for MOS Technology in 1975 See the terminology section below for information regarding inconsistent use of the terms assembly and assembler Homebrews written for the Atari 2600, in assembly, are typically considered programming challenges for expert-level computer scientists.

Games created for the Atari can be executed using either an emulator or copied directly to a blank cartridge making use of either a PROM or EPROM chip. An emulator duplicates (provides an emulation of the functions of one System using a different system so that the second system behaves like (and appears to A programmable read-only memory ( PROM) or field programmable read-only memory ( FPROM) is a form of digital memory where the setting of each bit is An EPROM, or E rasable P rogrammable '''''R'''ead-'''O'''nly '''M'''emory'', is a type of memory chip that retains its This allows the construction of homebrew cartridges that will run on an original Atari 2600.

See also

• History of Atari
• Atari 2000
• Coleco Gemini
• TV Games
• TV Boy

Notes

References

External links

• Atari 2600 at the Open Directory Project
• Gamasutra's A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 2600 Video Computer System/VCS
• Review of Atari 2600 games
• Some Playable Atari 2600 Games online