Megalextoria

The Atari 5200 SuperSystem

http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/158089337864/nymphonomicon-atari-5200-sounds-more-like-the

In the above Atari 5200 commercial you can see the original four port Atari 5200 as well as the trackball (advertised as coming soon). It gives you some idea of how big the trackball unit actually is as you can see someone using it.

Problems with getting affordable, reliable joysticks make the Atari 5200 undesirable to me despite my positive view of the system as a whole. It just seems like you are much better off getting an Atari 8-bit computer instead. Plentiful joysticks, pretty much all the same games, plus it’s a computer too.

Since the Atari 5200 is more or less an Atari 400 computer internally, you can get an 800, 800XL, 130XE or 65XE and be better off capability wise. Or you can even get an XEGS but that may be harder to find (i.e. more expensive). Though I’ll admit, the oversize Atari 5200 cartridges are much cooler.

The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a home video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc.

http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/158073236078/nostalgianation-the-atari-5200-supersystem

The Atari 5200 was the successor to the Atari 2600 (or Atari VCS as it was originally called) and was released in 1982.

Some key technical specs:

• CPU: 6502 @ 1.78 MHz
• RAM: 16 Kb
• Sound: POKEY custom sound chip
• Graphics: ANTIC and GTIA custom graphics chips

It is often said that the Atari 5200 is based on Atari’s 8-bit computer line. It’s really the other way around. The Atari 8-bit computer line was originally designed as an advaned video game system. However, Atari saw the home computer market starting to take off with others selling lesser hardware at greater profit margins and decided to create a computer with their design instead. Later, the video game system was finally released as the Atari 5200. The Atari 5200 is essentially the same as the Atari 400 computer.