| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1200px_atari_7800_console_set.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:The North American model of the 7800 with the original controller.]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | During MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfVideoGames, Creator/{{Atari}} was king. Their [[Platform/Atari2600 2600 system]] reigned over the TV room as the console of choice and the company was a household name. But then a reckoning came, as the failure of the [[Platform/Atari5200 5200]] and the fallout from MediaNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 left Atari a shell of its former self. The company was split into two entities: Atari Corporation (which produced hardware for the home market) and Atari Games (which continued to make arcade games). Atari Corp, now under the ownership of Jack Tramiel, decided to come back into [[MediaNotes/The8bitEraOfConsoleVideoGames an emerging market of 8-bit games]] with a new system: the '''Atari 7800'''. The system was initially released for a one-month run in June 1984 in southern California, but a number of legal and logistical issues led to its official launch being delayed until January 1986, by which time Creator/{{Nintendo}} and its Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem had successfully revived the console market from the Crash. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Atari made sure not to repeat the mistakes they made with the 5200. Unlike its predecessor, the 7800 is fully compatible with the library and accessories of the 2600 right out of the box, because it ''is'' a 2600, with a 6502 instead of the 2600's chopped-down 6507, a new graphics chip in addition to the 2600's TIA, and 4K of extra RAM. The 5200 controller was a malfunction-prone abomination, so the 7800 went back to basics and sported nothing but a simple joystick with two buttons. The controller was still criticized, though, so a new version with a form factor more in line with the NES and Master System controllers was released, [[NoExportForYou but only in Europe]]. All games designed for the 7800 had to be approved by Atari due to the system's lockout mechanism, ensuring there was no glut of third-party MediaNotes/{{shovelware}} to plague the system like with the 2600. Atari had great plans for this system, the High Score Cart, the 7800 computer add on, and the 7800 trackball were planned but those addons were killed. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | The system was roughly on par with the Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem in terms of graphics and overall processing power, though sound processing was greatly inferior to its competitors due to constraints related to making the system backwards compatible with the 2600. The sound could be upgraded if an optional [[Platform/Atari8BitComputers POKEY]] sound processor was included in the game cartridge, though only two games did so. The 7800 somewhat unfairly gained a reputation as being much less powerful than the NES, largely due to the number of lazily done ports from its two predecessors. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | While Nintendo were abusing their position as king of the mountain to hoard third-party games for the NES, Atari managed to still get a small amount of support for the 7800. Nintendo had a two year home console exclusivity requirement for third-party developers, but some NES conversions of arcade games were not made by the arcade manufacturers they originated from. The arcade manufacturers were not beholden to Nintendo's agreements as a result, so Atari could go straight to them to secure licensing rights. Atari also had rights to some Nintendo games as a result of negotiations from a failed deal between the two to distribute the Famicom in North America. This led to the 7800 getting its own versions of 7 NES games: ''VideoGame/CommandoCapcom'', ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'', ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'', ''VideoGame/KungFuMaster'', ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'', and ''VideoGame/{{Xenophobe}}''. |
| 11 | |
| 12 | The 7800 was discontinued in 1991, selling just under 5 million units in its lifetime. This number might not sound impressive now, but the 7800 was able to pull this off despite Nintendo's market dominance during the time period right after the Crash, a lacking library, and middling support from Atari. It also did turn a profit thanks to low development costs and the strength of the huge 2600 backlog. There was clearly still an appetite for Atari's consoles; unfortunately, the company's following efforts with the Platform/AtariLynx and Platform/AtariJaguar wasted their chance to get back on their feet. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Homebrew development for the 7800 was stalled due to lack of a special programming key to bypass the system's lockout mechanism, though the key was eventually discovered in 2001. It's relatively easy to collect for the platform, as the library is so small and few of the games are really rare. |
| 15 | ---- |
| 16 | !!Specifications: |
| 17 | |
| 18 | [[AC:Processors]] |
| 19 | * [[UsefulNotes/CentralProcessingUnit CPU]]: Atari custom 6502C, 1.79 [=MHz=] (7800 mode) or 1.19 [=MHz=] (2600 mode) |
| 20 | * [[MediaNotes/GraphicsProcessingUnit GPU]]: Atari MARIA (7800 mode) or TIA (2600 mode) |
| 21 | * Sound: TIA (optional POKEY on cartridges. Actually any custom chip that outputs analog audio is accepted, VideoGame/RikkiAndVikki uses an [=ARM7TDMI=] core the developers called ''[=The BupChip=]'' for music) |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[AC:Memory]] |
| 24 | * 7800 mode: 4K. 2600 mode: 128 bytes. |
| 25 | * Cartridges up to 48K, or more with bank switching. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[AC:Display]] |
| 28 | * 7800 mode: up to 320*240 (NTSC) or 320*288 (PAL), up to 25 out of 256 colors. |
| 29 | * 2600 mode: 160*192, 128 colors. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[AC:Sound]] |
| 32 | * Two tone generators. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | !!Accessories: |
| 35 | * Platform/StarpathSupercharger |
| 36 | * Croco Cart |
| 37 | * [[http://www.schells.com/cuttlecart.shtml Cuttle Cart]] |
| 38 | * [[http://www.schells.com/cc2.shtml Cuttle Cart 2]] |
| 39 | * [[http://harmony.atariage.com/ The Harmony Cart]] |
| 40 | * [[http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/7800/hsc/new_hsc/ Atari 7800 High Score Cartridge]] |
| 41 | * 7800 Expansion Module - adds additional RAM and a POKEY chip plus room for even more expanions (currently being worked) |
| 42 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_XG-1_light_gun XG-1 light gun]] (also compatible with the [[Platform/Atari8BitComputers XEGS]] and 2600, though only one 2600 game, ''Sentinel'', used it) |
| 43 | * [[http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/7800/7800keyboard.html 7800 computer (never finished)]] |
| 44 | |
| 45 | !!Games: |
| 46 | [[index]] |
| 47 | * ''VideoGame/AceOfAces'' |
| 48 | * ''VideoGame/AlienBrigade'' |
| 49 | * ''VideoGame/{{Asteroids}}'' |
| 50 | * ''VideoGame/{{AstroBlaster}}'' (homebrew) |
| 51 | * ''VideoGame/{{Ballblazer}}'' (notable for its procedurally-generated jazz title screen BGM, achieved using an added-on POKEY chip on the cartridge). |
| 52 | * ''VideoGame/BarnyardBlaster'' |
| 53 | * ''VideoGame/{{Basketbrawl}}'' |
| 54 | * ''Beef Drop'' (a homebrew port of ''VideoGame/BurgerTime'') |
| 55 | * ''B*nq'' (a homebrew port of ''VideoGame/QBert'') |
| 56 | * ''VideoGame/{{Centipede}}'' |
| 57 | * ''VideoGame/{{Choplifter}}'' |
| 58 | * ''VideoGame/CommandoCapcom'': The only game other than Ballblazer to use an on cartridge POKEY chip. |
| 59 | * ''VideoGame/{{Cracked}}'' |
| 60 | * ''VideoGame/{{Crossbow}}'' |
| 61 | * ''VideoGame/{{DarkChambers}}'' |
| 62 | * ''VideoGame/DesertFalcon'' |
| 63 | * ''VideoGame/DigDug'' |
| 64 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' |
| 65 | * ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongJunior'' |
| 66 | * ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' |
| 67 | * ''Dungeon Stalker'' (a homebrew port of ''VideoGame/NightStalker'' for the Intellivision) |
| 68 | * ''VideoGame/F18Hornet'' |
| 69 | * ''VideoGame/FatalRun'' |
| 70 | * ''VideoGame/FightNight'' |
| 71 | * ''VideoGame/FoodFight'' |
| 72 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{Berzerk}} Frenzy]]'' (homebrew) |
| 73 | * ''VideoGame/{{Galaga}}'' |
| 74 | * ''VideoGame/HatTrick'' |
| 75 | * ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'' |
| 76 | * ''VideoGame/ImpossibleMission'': Somewhat infamous in that there's a bug in this version rendering it unbeatable. |
| 77 | * ''VideoGame/{{Jinks}}'' |
| 78 | * ''VideoGame/{{Joust}}'' |
| 79 | * ''VideoGame/{{Karateka}}'' |
| 80 | * ''VideoGame/KCMunchkin'' (homebrew) |
| 81 | * ''VideoGame/KungFuMaster'' |
| 82 | * ''VideoGame/MarioBros'' |
| 83 | * ''VideoGame/MatManiaChallenge'' |
| 84 | * ''VideoGame/Mean18UltimateGolf'' |
| 85 | * ''VideoGame/{{Meltdown}}'' |
| 86 | * ''VideoGame/MidnightMutants'': One of the last 7800 games and one of the only ones that is exclusive to the console. |
| 87 | * ''VideoGame/MotorPsycho'' |
| 88 | * ''VideoGame/MsPacMan'' |
| 89 | * ''Moon Cresta'' (homebrew) |
| 90 | * ''VideoGame/NinjaGolf'' |
| 91 | * ''VideoGame/OneOnOneBasketball'' |
| 92 | * ''VideoGame/PeteRoseBaseball'' |
| 93 | * ''VideoGame/PlanetSmashers'' |
| 94 | * ''VideoGame/PolePositionII'' |
| 95 | * ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'' |
| 96 | * ''VideoGame/RealSportsBaseball'' |
| 97 | * ''VideoGame/RikkiAndVikki'' (homebrew) |
| 98 | * ''VideoGame/{{Robotron 2084}}'' |
| 99 | * ''VideoGame/{{Scramble}}'' (homebrew) |
| 100 | * ''VideoGame/ScrapyardDog'' |
| 101 | * ''VideoGame/{{Sentinel}}'' |
| 102 | * ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' (homebrew) |
| 103 | * ''VideoGame/SummerGames'' |
| 104 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{Circus}} Super Circus Atari Age]]'' (homebrew) |
| 105 | * ''VideoGame/SuperHueyUHIX'' |
| 106 | * ''VideoGame/SuperSkateboardin'' |
| 107 | * ''VideoGame/TankCommand'' |
| 108 | * ''VideoGame/TitleMatchProWrestling'' |
| 109 | * ''VideoGame/TomcatTheF14FighterSimulator'' |
| 110 | * ''VideoGame/TouchdownFootball'' |
| 111 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{Nebulus}} Tower Toppler]]'' |
| 112 | * ''VideoGame/WaterSki'' |
| 113 | * ''VideoGame/WinterGame'' |
| 114 | * ''VideoGame/{{Xenophobe}}'' |
| 115 | * ''VideoGame/{{Xevious}}'' |
| 116 | [[/index]] |
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