History of video games/Platforms/Atari 2600

Development
Development of hardware which would become the Atari 2600 had begun by December 1975. The prototype of the Atari 2600 was based on a Jolt card, which used a 6502 processor. Software for the console was developed on a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer, which despite the classification name was a computer about the size of a refrigerator. (And thus much smaller then room sized mainframes)

Launch
The Atari 2600 was launched in 1977. At launch the Atari 2600 cost $199. Atari was able to leverage their strong arcade game brands to create home ports the same games - achieving massive market success.

Early Atari 2600 units featured six switches and heavy RF shielding, which were later reduced to four switches and lighter shielding.

In 1981 VCS cartridges cost as little as $20 and as much as $35.

The launch of the Atari 5200 in 1982 may have harmed Atari 2600 sales, though a lack of coordination within Atari led to the Atari 2600 overshadowing it anyway.

The 2700, a version of the 2600 with support for wireless controllers, was planned for a 1981 release but was scrapped with only a few prototype units being produced.

The Video Game Crash
The combined success of Atari products in the home and in the arcade made the company a captain of industry, and the name Atari itself had become a cultural icon synonymous with video games and high technology. By 1982 Atari products had become so popular that it triggered an early panic among parents regarding possible negative effects of video games. By 1983 some politicians involved in promoting new high tech industries in the United States were labeled as "Atari Democrats", a moniker which shows just how much pull Atari had on the public mindshare. However this influence was not to last long, and Atari as well as the rest of the North American video game industry would soon find itself under an existential threat.

A major Christmas 1982 title, ET, was rushed into development and given only five and a half weeks of development time. A contributing factor to the glut of systems and games on the market came from Atari requiring retailers to overstock their systems. The game performed poorly on the market and caused massive financial harm to Atari.

Landfill
In September 1983 Atari disposed of surplus cartridges in a Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill. This fact became an urban legend as time went on, until it was confirmed in a landfill dig. Cartridges were found following 30 feet of digging. The recovery project caused many to look at archeology in a new light, due to the recovery of something relatively recent.

Later life and discontinuation
Following Nintendo's revival of the American video game market, Atari relaunched the system as the Atari 2600 Jr. in 1986. The system was discontinued in 1992, making the 2600 among the longest lasting consoles on the market.

Legacy
The Atari 2600 remained an iconic gaming system long after it was discontinued.

In 2021 various Atari 2600 games were used to demonstrate machine learning techniques at the organization Uber AI.

In 2021 It was announced that Atari would begin producing new Atari 2600 cartridges as part of the Atari XP line.

Myths
Due to its cultural prominence, a number of historically inaccurate myths have emerged regarding the system. One such false myth is that the blind musician Stevie Wonder was a spokesman for the system, though he was not.

Compute
The Atari 2600 used a MPU (CPU), the 8 bit MOS 6507 (Low cost version of the MOS 6502) clocked at 1.19MHz. This processor was bottlenecked somewhat by poor IO performance. A special chip is used to assist with graphics and sounds called the Television Interface Adapter (TIA) which contains about 10,000 transistors and handles two (first version) or three (Later revision) sprites. The Atari 2600 had 128 bytes of RAM, and up to a 4KB ROM.

Some games, such as Pitfall II, used expansion chips to enhance the graphical and audio capabilities of the Atari 2600.

Because of it's limitations, developers resorted to a number of tricks to make the most of the system performance. As an example, some skilled commercial developers and skilled Demoscene creators would later be able to push to Atari 2600 to perform pseudo 3D Games or simple 3D via raycasting.

Controller
A third party motion sensing controller that used mercury switches, the Le Stick, was released for the system. This is a notable example of an early motion controller for a home console.

Notable games
Over 500 games were released for the Atari 2600.

1977

 * Combat - Launch title and common pack-in cartridge, based on the arcade hit games Tank (1974) and Jet Fighter (1975).
 * Video Olympics - Launch title

1978

 * Super Breakout - port of the 1975 arcade game (see Pong and Breakout), using full-color graphics, instead of the black and white of the original version.

1979

 * Superman

1980

 * Space Invaders

Adventure
Adventure was an early game in the Action adventure genre. This game contained the first example of an Easter Egg in a game, the name of it's programmer Warren Robinett, as a way to protest Atari's decision not to credit programmers.

1981

 * Asteroids
 * Missile Command
 * Laser Blast
 * Freeway
 * Kaboom!

1982

 * Pitfall!
 * Yars' Revenge
 * Donkey Kong - Port
 * Pac-Man - Port
 * Frogger
 * Demon Attack
 * Atlantis
 * Megamania
 * Cosmic Ark
 * Centipede
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
 * E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

River Raid
River Raid was an early console game to use procedural generation to save limited console resources.

Notably, this game became the first to be banned in West Germany in 1984 as it portrayed paramilitary content.

Read more about River Raid on Wikipedia.

Pepsi Invaders
Pepsi Invaders is among the rarest games for the system with only 125 copies produced by Coca-Cola working with Atari.

Read more about Pepsi Invaders on Wikipedia.

External Resources

 * Atari Museum - Atari 2600 section.
 * AtariAge - Atari 2600 section.
 * Atari Mania - Atari 2600 section.
 * Old Computers - Atari 2600 page
 * The Strong National Museum of Play National Toy Hall of Fame - Atari 2600 page.
 * Science Museum Group (UK) - Atari 2600 Page.
 * Retro Games UK - Atari VCS page.