Atari 2600

A wood panel 4-switch model.

The Atari 2600, originally called the Video Computer System, is a video game console created by Atari and first released on 1977-09-11. It is powered by a MOS 6502 microprocessor.

This was the very first home video game console I ever played, somewhere around 1985. My parents bought a used system with a bunch of games, and I played it a lot. Our set included two wireless joysticks, two regular joysticks, two paddle controllers, and one of the 4-switch models (I think the all-black one). A friend of mine in 1988 had a later Atari Jr. model.

Games

See all Atari 2600 Games.

These are the Atari 2600 games that are important to me:

• 

  Adventure

• 

  Centipede

• 

  Combat

• 

  Crystal Castles

• 

  Defender

• 

  Enduro

• 

  Frogger

• 

  Jungle Hunt

• 

  Megamania

• 

  Millipede

• 

  Missile Command

• 

  Ms. Pac-Man

• 

  Outlaw

• 

  Pitfall!

• 

  Pole Position

• 

  Spider Fighter

• 

  Vanguard

• 

  Yars' Revenge

Hardware

• Atari 2600 Driving Controller
• Atari 2600 Joystick
• Atari 2600 Keyboard Controller
• Atari 2600 Paddle Controllers

Review

Good

• Compared to its competitors, this platform had the best game library of the day.
• The joysticks were very solid and could take a lot of abuse, many of them are still working today. Atari also used the standard 9-pin D-connector rather than invent a proprietary plug which was nice for 3rd party designers.
• For a system designed to be able to play Pong and not much else, it did amazingly well.

Bad

• Having only one button on the joystick made it pretty much impossible to make a complex game. Several developers tried with only limited success.
• The vast majority of the games released on the platform are terrible.
• The system's audio capabilities are very primitive.
• The controller ports are stupidly placed on the back on the console.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Books

• 

  Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System

Videos

• youtube.com/watch?v=YLoJ5jcccPU - Atari developers.
• youtube.com/watch?v=W7roWLrbwao - Computerphile.

See Also

• List of winnable Atari 2600 games

Links

     

• qotile.net/minidig - Decompiled Atari 2600 game source code.