The History of the Atari 5200

Atari 5200 Console and Hardware

The Atari 5200 was the second second-generation video game console released by Atari, the first being the 2600. It arrived to compete with the Intellivision, which had a superior 16-bit CPU, but months later it was faced with the launch of the ColecoVision, which became its real competitor, as it had one of the best hardware of the time, losing only in CPU and RAM to the 5200. The Atari console configuration had a customized MOS 6502 CPU with 1.79 MHZ, two graphics chips, the ANTIC and the GTIA, which worked together, the GTIA being the evolution of the TIA video chip created for the 2600. Despite supporting up to 256 colors, unlike all its second-generation and even third- generation competitors, it could only have 16 simultaneously, tying with the Intellivision and Odyssey 2. It also had 16kb of RAM, competing in this regard only with the SG-1000/Master System and third generation NES. And finally, it had 4-channel PSG sound with the Pokey chip, used in several Atari arcades. This was a big complaint about its predecessor, the audio quality, here very well worked.

Pac-Man

The console was launched with Super Breakout, a sequel to the famous Atari 2600 Breakout. Other successful games from its predecessor were launched and even continued on the console, such as Defender, Frogger, Galaxian, HERO, James Bond 007, Keystone Kapers, Mario Bros., Megamania, Missile Command, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, Pengo, Pitfall!, Pole Position, Popeye, Q*bert, River Raid, Robotron: 2084, Space Invaders, Star Trek, Star Wars, Zaxxon, Wizard of Wor, Qix, Berzerk, Choplifter, Mr Do's Castle, Miner 2049er, Centipede, Beam Rider, Vanguard, Congo Bongo, among others. Although most of the games were ports from the Atari 2600, 15 of them were new to the console, including Countermeasure, Meteorites, Zone Ranger, K-Razy Shoot-Out, Qix, Rescue on Fractalus!, Robotron: 2084, Space Dungeon, Return of The Jedi: Death Star Battle, Zenji, Astro Chase, Ballblazer, Bounty Bob Strikes Back!, Choplifter and The Dreadnaught Factor. Only Countermeasure was exclusive to the console. The demand for games was basically the same as its predecessor, primarily shmup (spaceship) games, platformers, racing games and sports games.

Atari 5200 Games

Despite the console having great hardware and competing with all second-generation consoles, in addition to the great titles released, it only remained on the market for two years, being the console that was produced the shortest amount of time. Market analysts say that the lack of backward compatibility with games from the Atari 2600, which at the time was still very famous, combined with few releases for the 5200 because Atari focused much more on releases for its predecessor, harmed its sales and automatically led to its closure. The console sold just over 60 games compared to 530 for its predecessor. The Atari 5200 was discontinued in 1984 in favor of its third-generation successor, the Atari 7800. Its total sales were a little over 1 million copies, compared to its predecessor's almost 30 million copies.