Atari 2600: The Atlantis of Game Consoles

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Many tales have been instructed about an historic energy that attempted to overcome the world, solely to be punished for its hubris and vanish. This energy wasn't Atlantis – it was Atari.

Following the house model of arcade sensation Pong, the Atari 2600 turned a cornerstone of the second era of gaming consoles. With replaceable cartridges and a programmable CPU as an alternative of hardwired transistors, it aimed to carry the arcade expertise into the house – and succeeded, changing into the primary sport console owned by thousands and thousands.

The Atari 2600's downfall was simply as spectacular as its rise. In Japan, it turned referred to as the "Atari shock." Within the U.S., it was referred to as the online game crash. Regardless of this, the 2600 survived and remained in the marketplace into the Nineteen Nineties, competing with Nintendo till newer gamers took its place.

Picture credit score: darkrisingmitch

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The Rise of 1D Graphics

When Atari started engaged on Challenge Stella in 1975, there was little to check it to. The corporate shortly realized that the most important impediment to affordability was the excessive price of RAM on the time. The Fairchild Channel F, which beat Atari to market, had 2KB of VRAM – sufficient for a 104 x 60 decision and 4 colours throughout your entire display.

Atari employed Jay Miner to develop the console's Tv Interface Adaptor (TIA), which might render graphics line by line, permitting for 160 pixels per line and as much as 192 strains per body. Every line was restricted to 4 colours and 5 non-identical objects.

Video games like Video Chess used intelligent strategies to keep away from drawing many alternative objects on the very same line:

In contrast to right this moment's dot-matrix shows, which might refresh a full body directly, CRT televisions of the period drew pixels one after the other. The TIA used 20 bits of register reminiscence to render a blocky, two-color background on one facet of the display, then mirrored or duplicated it on the opposite – until instructed in any other case whereas the road was being drawn.

The 2600 was so underpowered that it could not even maintain a full sport display in reminiscence. Builders had to attract the display line by line, in actual time, because it was being despatched to the TV. That meant excellent timing all the way down to the microsecond, or the show would break. Devs referred to as this method "racing the beam."

Warner Communications acquired Atari in 1976, accelerating improvement. The next 12 months, the Atari Video Pc System (VCS) launched at $190 (about $1,000 right this moment). The console was bundled with three controllers: one 8-direction joystick and two rotary paddles, every with a single motion button.

Internally, the Atari 2600 was nicknamed "Stella," after the bicycle owned by one of many engineers. The title caught with the event group lengthy earlier than the console was formally branded because the Atari VCS. "Stella" lives on right this moment because the title of a preferred emulator and a nostalgic reference amongst retro gaming followers.

At first, the console's gross sales didn't impress. Atari did not but have the sport library to justify the price. The pack-in sport was Fight, based mostly on the arcade hit Tank. That sport did not totally make the most of the console's capabilities, utilizing the identical 4 colours for all strains. Even superstar endorsements from Pelé, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Pete Rose did not enhance early gross sales a lot.

The console's first killer app was House Invaders, launched in 1980. With an all-black background and rows of similar enemies, it held up surprisingly effectively in opposition to its arcade counterpart.

House Invaders was the primary formally licensed arcade port for a house console. Its success quadrupled Atari 2600 gross sales virtually in a single day – individuals purchased the console simply to play that sport. It set the usual for utilizing hit arcade titles to drive house console adoption. Over time, it bought greater than six million models.

A wave of pixelated aliens descends in House Invaders on the Atari 2600 – gaming's first killer app that helped launch the house console revolution.

Atari went from a $75 million firm to a $2 billion empire in just some years. Throughout this explosive development, the corporate developed a status for being each good and wildly unprofessional.

Atari's headquarters had been notorious for decent tubs, booze-fueled conferences, impromptu events, and even open drug use. At one level, founder Nolan Bushnell put in a scorching tub on-site, and tales of poker video games within the workplace solely added to the corporate's mythos.

The First "Easter Egg"

One of the crucial iconic tales from the Atari 2600 period is in regards to the sport Journey, launched in 1980. The sport's creator, Warren Robinett, was annoyed that Atari did not credit score builders for his or her work. So he secretly added a hidden room that displayed the message:

"Created by Warren Robinett"

Whereas hidden options had appeared in earlier video games – courting again to the 1973 online game Moonlander – Journey is notable for being the primary occasion the place such a hidden message was known as an "Easter egg."

The time period was coined by Steve Wright, Atari's Director of Software program Growth, who likened the expertise to a standard Easter egg hunt.

Robinett saved the key for over a 12 months, hiding it even from different Atari staff. The corporate solely found the hidden message after gamers uncovered it post-release. Moderately than take away it, Atari embraced the concept, and Easter eggs quickly turned a enjoyable and beloved custom within the gaming world.

The First Third-Occasion Studio

Picture credit score: MasonJarring

4 programmers at Atari had been referred to as the "Implausible 4": David Crane, Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead, and Larry Kaplan. They had been accountable for a few of Atari's most critically acclaimed video games, in addition to the working system for the corporate's upcoming line of house computer systems. But, they acquired no public credit score for his or her work – and no royalties from the gross sales of the video games they developed.

An inner memo circulated to Atari programmers in early 1979 revealed that the video games created by the 4 accounted for 60% of Atari's complete sport gross sales. Miller drafted a proposal impressed by normal practices within the music trade (wherein Warner, Atari's mum or dad firm, was concerned), and the group offered it to Atari's new CEO, Ray Kassar.

Kassar threw the 4 out of his workplace, famously saying they had been "no extra necessary than the man on the meeting line who places the cartridges collectively." The CEO did not acknowledge the distinction between the significance of a job and the worth of the individual doing it.

Picture credit score: MasonJarring

Along with businessman Jim Levy, the 4 determined to discovered their very own firm to develop video games for the VCS. On this new studio, programmers would obtain royalties and even a devoted web page about them within the sport guide. They initially referred to as themselves "VSync," however realizing the time period wasn't extensively understood by the general public, they modified the title to Activision.

Activision's best-selling title for the VCS was Pitfall! – an countless platformer that used pseudo-random quantity era to create the identical degree format for each participant.

A traditional second from Pitfall! on the Atari 2600 – gamers swing over crocodile-infested pits in one of many earliest and most iconic platformers in gaming historical past.

Activision ultimately turned one of many largest third-party publishers on this planet, with franchises like Name of Responsibility, Tony Hawk, and Crash Bandicoot below its belt. The corporate underwent a number of transformations, first by means of the Activision Blizzard merger, and later by changing into an entirely owned subsidiary of Microsoft's gaming division.

Atari sued Activision in 1980, however the case was settled inside two years. As a part of the settlement, Activision agreed to pay royalties to Atari. This decision set a precedent that allowed dozens of different firms to start creating video games for the VCS.

In gaming's early days, skilled builders had been uncommon by definition – the trade itself was model new. Many early video games had been created by pioneers who had been studying as they went: electrical engineers, comp sci geeks, hackers, and tinkerers exploring uncharted territory. They might have lacked formal coaching in sport design, however they made up for it with uncooked creativity, technical ingenuity, and a willingness to invent the foundations as they went.

Earlier than the Web, it might take weeks between the launch of a sport and its first opinions in sport magazines, which most individuals weren't subscribed to anyway. When seeing a sport on the shelf, most individuals had no strategy to know whether or not it was any good. This case might really profit Atari so long as the standard of its personal video games remained constant.

Nicely… about that.

Hubris Results in Sinking

Picture credit score: DrAg0r

The brand new arcade sensation Pac-Man was launched for the VCS in 1982, changing Fight because the console's pack-in sport. Atari was assured that your entire sport – together with a two-player mode – might match on a normal 4KB ROM chip.

To forestall the ghosts from showing on the identical scanline, they had been programmed to flicker continually, making certain they by no means appeared in the identical body. The sport featured just one maze, and the sound results had been drastically inferior to these of the arcade model. Ms. Pac-Man, launched the next 12 months on an 8KB cartridge, was tragic proof that it might have been achieved a lot better.

The Atari 2600 had solely 128 bytes of RAM, and cartridges had been initially restricted to 4KB of ROM. Builders quickly found a way referred to as "financial institution switching," which allowed cartridges to swap between a number of 4KB banks of code, successfully increasing the sport's dimension with out altering the {hardware}. This trick enabled more and more complicated video games like Pitfall! and River Raid.

Later in 1982, E.T. turned probably the most profitable film of all time. Warner CEO Steve Ross started negotiations with Steven Spielberg and Common Studios to launch a online game adaptation in time for the vacation season. Developer Howard Scott Warshaw was given simply 5 weeks to create it.

The end result? Not as dangerous as you would possibly anticipate. The sport was simplistic and flawed in a number of methods, however it was totally useful. Evaluations on the time had been largely optimistic. So why is it now thought of one of many worst video games ever made?

First, it was mainly unplayable with out studying the guide first. The graphics usually clashed with gameplay logic – E.T. might fall into pits even when solely his head was over them, whereas his toes had been visibly on strong floor. The sport might have been an instance of a sport that was critically acceptable however not commercially profitable. In brief: it simply wasn't enjoyable.

Atari made 5 million E.T. cartridges, however most went unsold or had been returned. On the time, rumors swirled that unsold copies had been buried in a landfill in New Mexico and coated in concrete. Like many extraordinary tales, it was dismissed as a delusion – till 2014, when a dig on the website confirmed the burial of E.T. and different Atari video games.

The VCS was formally renamed the Atari 2600 with the launch of the Atari 5200, which coincided with the discharge of E.T.

The 5200 turned a case research in how to not design a "Professional" model: it was primarily a house laptop, however it lacked compatibility with each Atari's earlier consoles and its precise house computer systems. Its analog joystick did not robotically return to middle, making it deceptively arduous to cease shifting in video games. The 5200 was discontinued in 1984.

Savior Over the Ocean

The Atari 2600 "Darth Vader" version, launched in 1982, is a particular model of the traditional console that includes an all-black, design paying homage to Vader's iconic helmet from Star Wars. It was additionally the primary mannequin to be formally branded because the Atari 2600, dropping the VCS branding. Picture: renatobara

Atari misplaced $538 million in 1983, in comparison with a $300 million revenue the earlier 12 months. In 1984, the corporate's house division was bought to somebody who knew a factor or two about overcoming adversity: Holocaust survivor and Commodore founder Jack Tramiel.

The brand new proprietor believed devoted consoles had been merely a short lived stopgap and canceled the launch of the Atari 7800, a real successor to the 2600.

Having bought thousands and thousands of models of the FamiCom console in Japan, Nintendo launched it within the US in 1985 below the title Nintendo Leisure System. Nintendo was cautious to keep away from utilizing the phrase "console" in its advertising and marketing, branding its cartridges as Sport Paks.

Extra considerably, it launched a lock-out system to stop third-party publishers from releasing video games with out Nintendo's approval. Inside a 12 months, devoted consoles turned fascinating once more.

A rainbow-striped Atari 2600 Jr. sits prepared with Dig Dug loaded.

The Atari 7800 was lastly launched in 1986, however it could have been too late. For backward compatibility with the 2600, it retained the identical TIA chip. To scale back prices, it used that chip for audio as effectively – giving the system dated-sounding audio in comparison with its competitors.

Across the similar time, a redesigned model of the 2600 – nicknamed the 2600 Jr. – was launched at a $50 worth level, accompanied by the slogan: "The enjoyable is again!"

The Atari 800XL, a part of Atari's 8-bit house laptop line, mixed gaming and productiveness within the early Eighties – that includes built-in BASIC, a full keyboard, and compatibility with Atari 2600 peripherals.

By 1991, the market has moved on to the Sega Genesis and Tremendous NES. The Atari 2600 was discontinued on the primary day of 1992, together with the remainder of Atari's 8-bit house catalog. In its lifetime, the 2600 bought over 30 million models.

Retro variations of the console have been launched because the early 2000s. The Atari VCS (2021) contains 100 built-in video games, whereas the Atari 2600+ (2023) and 7800+ (2024) introduced again help for authentic Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges.

The Atari 1040ST was a robust 16-bit house laptop from the mid-Eighties, recognized for its built-in MIDI ports, making it a favourite amongst musicians and a rival to early Macintosh and Amiga techniques.

The Atari 2600 introduced video gaming into thousands and thousands of houses, although arguably that might have occurred anyway years later due to house computer systems. Atari's extra enduring legacy was proving that devoted sport consoles might be compact, reasonably priced, and straightforward to make use of. That legacy lasted for many years, with house consoles solely including a tough disk within the early 2000s.

Previously twenty years, gaming consoles have grown more and more just like gaming PCs, providing extra options however on the expense of simplicity. Nonetheless, thousands and thousands of avid gamers fondly keep in mind the times of inserting a cartridge and enjoying immediately – no updates, no installs, simply enjoyable.