Many tales have been instructed about an historical 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 technology of gaming consoles. With replaceable cartridges and a programmable CPU as a substitute of hardwired transistors, it aimed to carry the arcade expertise into the house – and succeeded, turning into the primary recreation 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 Nineties, competing with Nintendo till newer gamers took its place.
The enduring tech devices that formed our world. From groundbreaking gaming consoles to revolutionary cell units and music gamers, uncover the legends of know-how.
The Rise of 1D Graphics
When Atari started engaged on Mission 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 the whole 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 traces 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 various objects on the very same line:
Not like right now’s dot-matrix shows, which may refresh a full body without delay, 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 aspect of the display, then mirrored or duplicated it on the opposite – except instructed in any other case whereas the road was being drawn.
The 2600 was so underpowered that it could not even maintain a full recreation 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 good 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 yr, the Atari Video Laptop System (VCS) launched at $190 (about $1,000 right now). 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 identify caught with the event crew lengthy earlier than the console was formally branded because the Atari VCS. “Stella” lives on right now because the identify of a well-liked 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 fee. The pack-in recreation was Fight, based mostly on the arcade hit Tank. That recreation did not absolutely make the most of the console’s capabilities, utilizing the identical 4 colours for all traces. 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 an identical enemies, it held up surprisingly nicely towards 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 – folks purchased the console simply to play that recreation. It set the usual for utilizing hit arcade titles to drive dwelling console adoption. Over time, it offered 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 only a few years. Throughout this explosive progress, the corporate developed a repute for being each good and wildly unprofessional.
Atari’s headquarters had been notorious for warm tubs, booze-fueled conferences, impromptu events, and even open drug use. At one level, founder Nolan Bushnell put in a sizzling 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 recreation 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 – relationship 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 Improvement, who likened the expertise to a conventional Easter egg hunt.
Robinett stored the key for over a yr, hiding it even from different Atari workers. The corporate solely found the hidden message after gamers uncovered it post-release. Slightly than take away it, Atari embraced the thought, and Easter eggs quickly turned a enjoyable and beloved custom within the gaming world.
4 programmers at Atari had been referred to as the “Incredible 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 dwelling computer systems. But, they obtained 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 recreation gross sales. Miller drafted a proposal impressed by commonplace practices within the music business (by which Warner, Atari’s guardian firm, was concerned), and the group introduced 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.
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 recreation guide. They initially referred to as themselves “VSync,” however realizing the time period wasn’t broadly understood by the general public, they modified the identify to Activision.
Activision’s best-selling title for the VCS was Pitfall! – an infinite platformer that used pseudo-random quantity technology 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 finally turned one of many largest third-party publishers on the planet, with franchises like Name of Responsibility, Tony Hawk, and Crash Bandicoot beneath its belt. The corporate underwent a number of transformations, first via the Activision Blizzard merger, and later by turning 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 growing video games for the VCS.
In gaming’s early days, skilled builders had been uncommon by definition – the business 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 recreation 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 recreation and its first evaluations in recreation magazines, which most individuals weren’t subscribed to anyway. When seeing a recreation on the shelf, most individuals had no approach to know whether or not it was any good. This example might truly profit Atari so long as the standard of its personal video games remained constant.
The brand new arcade sensation Pac-Man was launched for the VCS in 1982, changing Fight because the console’s pack-in recreation. Atari was assured that the whole recreation – together with a two-player mode – might match on a typical 4KB ROM chip.
To forestall the ghosts from showing on the identical scanline, they had been programmed to flicker continuously, making certain they by no means appeared in the identical body. The sport featured just one maze, and the sound results had been tremendously inferior to these of the arcade model. Ms. Pac-Man, launched the next yr on an 8KB cartridge, was tragic proof that it might have been achieved significantly better.
The Atari 2600 had solely 128 bytes of RAM, and cartridges had been initially restricted to 4KB of ROM. Builders quickly found a method 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 advanced video games like Pitfall! and River Raid.
Later in 1982, E.T. turned essentially 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 consequence? Not as unhealthy as you may count on. The sport was simplistic and flawed in a number of methods, but it surely was absolutely useful. Critiques on the time had been largely constructive. So why is it now thought of one of many worst video games ever made?
First, it was principally unplayable with out studying the guide first. The graphics typically 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 recreation 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 fable – till 2014, when a dig on the web site 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 examine in how to not design a “Professional” model: it was basically a house laptop, but it surely lacked compatibility with each Atari’s earlier consoles and its precise dwelling computer systems. Its analog joystick did not mechanically 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 harking back 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 yr. In 1984, the corporate’s dwelling division was offered 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 offered thousands and thousands of models of the FamiCom console in Japan, Nintendo launched it within the US in 1985 beneath the identify Nintendo Leisure System. Nintendo was cautious to keep away from utilizing the phrase “console” in its advertising, branding its cartridges as Recreation Paks.
Extra considerably, it launched a lock-out system to forestall third-party publishers from releasing video games with out Nintendo’s approval. Inside a yr, 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 might have been too late. For backward compatibility with the 2600, it retained the identical TIA chip. To cut back prices, it used that chip for audio as nicely – giving the system dated-sounding audio in comparison with its competitors.
Across the identical 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 dwelling 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 dwelling catalog. In its lifetime, the 2600 offered over 30 million models.
Retro variations of the console have been launched for the reason that early 2000s. The Atari VCS (2021) consists of 100 built-in video games, whereas the Atari 2600+ (2023) and 7800+ (2024) introduced again help for unique Atari 2600 and 7800 cartridges.
The Atari 1040ST was a strong 16-bit dwelling 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 may have occurred anyway years later due to dwelling computer systems. Atari’s extra enduring legacy was proving that devoted recreation consoles could possibly be compact, inexpensive, and simple to make use of. That legacy lasted for many years, with dwelling consoles solely including a tough disk within the early 2000s.
Previously 20 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 players fondly bear in mind the times of inserting a cartridge and enjoying immediately – no updates, no installs, simply enjoyable.
