History of video games/Platforms/Atari 7800

Development
The system was initially known as the Atari 3600, with some prototype consoles bearing this marking.

Launch
The Atari 7800 was announced in 1984, mothballed despite being ready for launch for two years following losses Atari sustained during the crash of 1983, and launched in 1986. The system cost $140 on launch.

Legacy
The Atari 7800 was discontinued in 1992. 3.77 million Atari 7800 consoles were sold, with its peak sales year being 1988.

The system is well regarded for it's clean yet techie design aesthetic.

The Atari 7800 was meant to be followed by the Atari Panther, though was instead followed by the Atari Jaguar.

Games
The Atari 7800 is backwards compatible with the Atari 2600.

Compute
The Atari 7800 uses an 8-bit Atari "Sally" (MOS 6502c) CPU clocked at 1.79 megahertz.

The 7800 has 4 kilobytes of RAM.

The Atari 7800 used a "Tia Maria" chip for graphics. This chip allowed for the 7800 to display nearly 100 sprites.