Atari

Atari is one of the biggest names in gaming, maybe the biggest, but at least somewhere in the league of Nintendo. But Atari also stands for the most confusing array of platforms. Some of them are consoles, some of them computers.

Coin-Ops

Atari started out, in 1972, building arcade machines. Breakout is one of the games that originated from Atari. The Tetris arcade machine is another, later example.

Atari 2600

Launched in 1977 and originally named Atari VCS (for Video Computer System), this was not the first multigame console, but one of the most successful consoles of all times and the longest selling, up into the early 90s. There is no rational explanation for the 2600.

Atari 5200 and 7800

Featuring a new blach and silver design and better graphics, these were improved versions of the 2600, but with far less impact on the history of gaming.

Atari 8-bit Computers

While they sported some subtle incompabilities, the Atari 400, 800, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE (there are more) can be seen as a single platform. They had a MOS 6502 processor, between 16K and 128K RAM, could display 16 colors out of a palette of 256 at a resolution of 320&215;192 (most games, I think, used 160×192) and were in general pretty good for their time, which started in 1979. Important games that originated on this platform were Alternate Reality: The City and M.U.L.E.

Atari ST

This is the well-known 16-bit computer that gave birth to a few hit singles in the UK. Maybe the most important game to stem from it was Dungeon Master.

Atari Lynx

Developed by Epyx, bought by Atari, the Lynx was, in 1990, the first color handheld, and the best until Nintendo released the GBA in 2001. All-time classic Chip's Challenge was originally a Lynx game.

Atari Jaguar

initially released in 1993, then in larger quantities in 1994, this was the world's first 64-bit console. It has some relevance for the history of Wolfenstein 3D.

Links

• The Atari Times