Atari 5200

The Atari 5200 is a video game console Atari released in 1982.

It is created to compete with the consoles Coleco and Mattel, which at this time are more powerful and less expensive market. The Atari 5200 is essentially an Atari 400 without keyboard. This proved that the concepts of Atari can quickly adapt to the market.

The console brings a new revolutionary joystick with a handle analog and function keys (start, pause, reset). She enjoys other innovations as an automatic firing and 4 ports joystick. The design of the handle without centering is no advantage and unreliable, irritating many buyers.

While the 5200 collection of many followers with a library of high quality games, it has to face a new competition with the Colecovision and an economy that is becoming increasingly flagging. The question of which system would be superior to another has become useless when the games market collapsed in 1983-1984, killing the two consoles in their perfection.

Technical Specifications

CPU: 6502C clocked at 1.79MHz
Display resolution: 320x192 pixels, 16 colors on the screen (about 256)
Sound: 4 lanes RAM: 16K