The Atari 5200: A huge misstep

The SuperSystem wasn't so super

Atari has released many video game consoles over the years. Starting with the VCS/2600, there was the 5200, 7800, Lynx, XE Game System and Jaguar. Other than the 2600, few were all that successful. The Atari 5200 is the first of several consoles that Atari mishandled and I’d also say it’s the least well-known and the most misunderstood.

Introduced in November 1982, the 5200 (also known as the Atari SuperSystem) was intended to be the replacement for the Atari 2600 and a competitor to the newly released ColecoVision.

Specifications

The 5200’s specs were impressive:

• 6502 CPU

• 16K RAM

• ANTIC & GTIA video processors

• POKEY sound chip

• 256 colors

• Up to 5 sprites

• 320x200 maximum resolution, although most games would use a lower resolution

If these specs sound familiar, it’s because they are almost exactly the same as the Atari 8-bit computer line, particularly the Atari 400. In particular, the RAM size was enormous compared to the 2600 which came with 128 bytes. The ColecoVision also had 16K of RAM, although it was primarily video memory. The 5200’s RAM could be used for either video or by the games.

Design

The 5200 was also a very large console. Its size was primarily due to having large storage areas in the back for the controllers. Both the Intellivision and ColecoVision allowed you to store the controllers in the console, so Atari probably felt they had to as well.

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