Atari 2600 - Videogame History #16 - Retro Review
One of the most memorable companies for all time is undoubtedly the great Atari, since the creation of one of the most famous consoles of all time became a historical reference point in the world of video games, innovating in many aspects that for the time they were really shocking, in this case we will speak a little of what is considered the mother of the video consoles the great Atari Video Computer System later baptized as the Atari 2600.
Since its launch date in 1977 of American origin the 2600 gave the basis for a gaming revolution without measures, everyone wanted this fabulous desktop console in their homes, its excellent model with its wooden front was the mouthpiece for many players of the At that time, even the most experienced of Arcades classrooms enthusiastically wanted their 2600, but what was this console that was so successful?
For starters, the 2600 is within the second generation of consoles, so its main competitors were the Intellivision and the ColecoVision which went on the market in 1979 and 1982 respectively, and the motherboard had been first on the market with years of difference getting more confidence from the players, however, their competition was not bad at all, but already with this had some advantage in the market.
The catalog that was available in the 2600 for 1982 was impressive, games like Solaris, Ms. Pac-Man, Battlezone, Star Raiders, Asteroids and many more were available to the public through this console, reason enough not to see another In addition, thanks to the mother of the consoles, the first Third-party company was created in the brand, Activision, which implemented commercial successes such as Skiing, Tennis, Pitfall! Enduro, this reinforced the empire behind this wonderful console, giving much more entertainment to its users.
In addition to the aforementioned the 2600 had something that was totally innovative for its time, the ability to place and remove peripherals, this brought enough companies to manufacture controls for the console, giving a variety quite attractive to its consumers, it is worth noting that the model of his control is the most remembered for all time, the small but functional red button with his companion, the joystick, made the gameplay something totally simple and addictive, it really made you think you had a little Arcade in your house.
All these elements caused a massive sale of consoles, for that moment the videoconsoles were not famous, they were gaining the respect and passion of the people, which is impressive to see the great number of 30 million of 2600 sold all over the world, if we compare this with the Intellivision (3 million) and ColecoVision (6 million) it is very clear who was the queen during all that time, extending for 14 years (it was even sold in the third generation of consoles).
Unquestionably the Atari 2600 was a great example to follow in the world of video games, despite the major failures with respect to the quality supervision of its latest games manufacture gave us moments of great importance within this industry, revolutionized the use of controls and peripherals, a question that no company thought at that time, as a curious fact if you connect a control of the Sega Mega Drive to the Atari 2600 will serve you perfectly to play in the console, the inputs of these are identical so surprisingly this peculiar control is compatible, just thinking about the great hours that it administers to these games (especially Pitfall) gives a true nostalgia of yesteryear, but everything evolves in this world, giving us currently totally incredible games that will also be remembered in a future not very far.
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Great informarive post...and great picture ...i like your post thanks for shari g dear...
It is a pleasure to write to this great community!