Atari

Atari's logo.

Atari is a brand and company name that was formed on 1972-06-28, but has since gone through so many buyouts, bankruptcies, mergers, and restructurings that it's difficult to call it a single company any more. Despite that fact, it is one of the pioneers of the video game industry creating many important games, consoles, and home computers.

Personal

I learned about Atari around 1985 when my family acquired a used Atari 2600 from a garage sale. Though I loved the console and our collection of games, it became little more than a paper weight after my brother and I got a Nintendo Entertainment System. I remember reading about the impending release of the Jaguar in the mid-1990s and finding it comical that Atari was trying to make a comeback since I still thought of them as a primitive game company. Although, still having a love for Atari, I was sad to see how the console flopped.

Platforms

Video Game Consoles

The Atari 5200 set a precedence for the other consoles. The first console, originally called the "Video Computer System," was rebranded to the 2600 (half of the 5200), and the next console, was named the 7800 (5200 + 2600).

Handhelds

Lynx

The Lynx began a trend of naming consoles after wildcats. The second was intended to be a home console called the Panther which was intended to compete with the SNES, but it was canceled in favor of the Jaguar.