• Tag Archives 5200

  • Atari 5200 VCS Converter

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Atari 5200 VCS Converter

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/158081107294/nostalgicgifs-atari-5200

    The VCS adapter for the Atari 5200 allowed you to play all your Atari 2600 / VCS games on your Atari 5200. The guts were essentially an entire Atari 2600 with the 5200 only being used for power and video and sound output. There were two controller ports on the unit to plug in Atari 2600 controllers and you could not use controllers connected directly to the 5200.

    This add-on came out relatively late in the Atari 5200’s short commercial life. It is only compatible with the later 2-port models though there is a way to modify the 4-port units to work with it. Interestingly, there was also a planned 7800 adapter for the 5200 that would have allowed you to play Atari 7800 games on your 5200. This one was never released. It seems like it would have made more sense to convert in the other direction…





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  • The Atari 5200 SuperSystem

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    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.





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  • Zaxxon (Atari 5200)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Atari 5200 Zaxxon (Sega 1984)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/158056194590/retrotari-atari-5200-zaxxon-sega-1984

    Zaxxon was originally released as an arcade game by Sega in 1982. It was an arcade shooter but featured a unique for the time isometric viewpoint. Zaxxon ultimately received a number of ports for home video game system and computers including the Atari 5200 (box art featured above), Atari 8-bit computers, Commodore 64, Colecovision, Intellivision, Atari 2600, Apple II, and the TRS-80 Color Computer among others.

    The Atari 8-bit and Atari 5200 versions are somewhat interesting in that there were a couple of different ones. Originally, Zaxxon was ported to run in 16 KB of memory on Atari 8-bit computers (via cartridge or cassette). The Atari 5200 version is essentially the same port. However, at some point an improved 32 KB version was produced that included more features from the arcade game. This version was only available on disk for Atari 8-bit computers. More recently, a homebrew version was produced for the Atari 5200 that is a port of the improved 32 KB version. Check out this thread for more info on that conversion: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/237758-zaxxon-conversion/





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