How does the 5200 compare to the NES?

[phonedork]

The Topic is how does the Atari 5200 compare to the NES. After reading some of my post and looking at certain games to compare, I realize that the Atari 5200 has some certain qualities that are better then NES. Such as Ballblazer and anything of that kind. Even space harrier on the Atari 8bit runs smoother then the SMS version although not as detailed. But if you compare the Atari 5200 to platform games, then the NES wins hands down. Thats my point! Its like I give the system the benefit of a doubt and say one thing that I know for sure is better and again I am being a troll for saying that? Its like you can not take one bad thing said about the system vs the NES. This is not a forum baised on which system you prefer or which one you had more memories with. Its a system comparison forum. Am I not right?

[Student Driver]

electronic boutique did not sell the 2600 and 5200. they (eb) jumped on the video game scene (after the crash) around the late 80's time. i was around that time and their stores kept computer/phone/gadgets stuff....nor did i ever see the 8bit. atari's mainstream into the market was primarily dept stores like sears and kmart and toy stores.

 

e.b. did sell nintendo and later atari lynx and jaguar stuff.

 

Good grief-- I dread getting into the middle of this, but I had to respond to this:

 

EB did, in fact, sell 2600 and 5200 titles. Intellivision and ColecoVision, too. Perhaps not all locations, but some locations did, including the one my stepfather managed from the early 80s to early 90s. They were more a sideline at the time-- C64, PC, and even Atari 8-bit occupied far more shelf space in the early 80s-- but they were available.

Edited January 13, 2008 by Student Driver

[Bill Loguidice]

electronic boutique did not sell the 2600 and 5200. they (eb) jumped on the video game scene (after the crash) around the late 80's time. i was around that time and their stores kept computer/phone/gadgets stuff....nor did i ever see the 8bit. atari's mainstream into the market was primarily dept stores like sears and kmart and toy stores.

 

e.b. did sell nintendo and later atari lynx and jaguar stuff.

 

Good grief-- I dread getting into the middle of this, but I had to respond to this:

 

EB did, in fact, sell 2600 and 5200 titles. Intellivision and ColecoVision, too. Perhaps not all locations, but some locations did, including the one my stepfather managed from the early 80s to early 90s. They were more a sideline at the time-- C64, PC, and even Atari 8-bit occupied far more shelf space in the early 80s-- but they were available.

 

I can confirm that too. I remember very clearly close-out ColecoVision cartridges (I recall Illusions in particular) in the early- to mid-80's at the Electronics Boutique in Woodbridge, NJ. But yeah, back then, they were definitely more into Apple II, the C-64 and other popular computers.

[Curt Vendel]

EB in the Woodbridge, NJ mall also had Atari titles, mostly 8bit stuff, but they did have a small and sparse selection of 2600 & 5200 titles on a behind the counter shelf.

 

 

Curt

 

electronic boutique did not sell the 2600 and 5200. they (eb) jumped on the video game scene (after the crash) around the late 80's time. i was around that time and their stores kept computer/phone/gadgets stuff....nor did i ever see the 8bit. atari's mainstream into the market was primarily dept stores like sears and kmart and toy stores.

 

e.b. did sell nintendo and later atari lynx and jaguar stuff.

 

Good grief-- I dread getting into the middle of this, but I had to respond to this:

 

EB did, in fact, sell 2600 and 5200 titles. Intellivision and ColecoVision, too. Perhaps not all locations, but some locations did, including the one my stepfather managed from the early 80s to early 90s. They were more a sideline at the time-- C64, PC, and even Atari 8-bit occupied far more shelf space in the early 80s-- but they were available.

[Student Driver]

Heh-- two cites from the same location! Wonder if you guys crossed paths at the Woodbridge, NJ mall back in the day.

 

I guess I should cite my location: Electronics Boutique at Greenwood Park Mall, Greenwood, IN. I recall other EBs in Indianapolis also having 2600, 5200, etc. games, but I can't cite specific malls or locations-- I wanna say Washington Square Mall, but my memory's not good enough to be 100% sure.

 

Just out of curiosity, did anyone have a local EB pre-1984? I'd love to know what they sold circa 1981-1983, or even late 70s if they were around.

[Tempest]

Robotron uses software sprites (the enemies are background graphics, not sprites) so it can pull off tons of on-screen motion, yet you lose a bit of fluidity doing it that way.

 

That explains why Robotron moves so jerky. Nice to know.

 

Tempest

[phuzaxeman]

...But if you compare the Atari 5200 to platform games, then the NES wins hands down. Thats my point! Its like I give the system the benefit of a doubt and say one thing that I know for sure is better and again I am being a troll for saying that? Its like you can not take one bad thing said about the system vs the NES. This is not a forum baised on which system you prefer or which one you had more memories with. Its a system comparison forum. Am I not right?

 

wow...brilliant analysis. the nes wins. go figure, an nes that started around '85 in the U.S. until the 90's would be better in graphics, sound, and have more games? how'd that happen? gosh phonedork, i guess you pinned the 5200 and won bro. great assessment. i never thought a released 1982 5200 would have lost in the battle against the 60 million sold, a ton of 3rd party developers, and over decade long lasting nes :-( wth where we all thinkin?

 

you are completely right p.d.

Edited January 13, 2008 by phuzaxeman

[phuzaxeman]

e.b. did sell nintendo and later atari lynx and jaguar stuff.

 

Good grief-- I dread getting into the middle of this, but I had to respond to this:

 

EB did, in fact, sell 2600 and 5200 titles. Intellivision and ColecoVision, too. Perhaps not all locations, but some locations did, including the one my stepfather managed from the early 80s to early 90s. They were more a sideline at the time-- C64, PC, and even Atari 8-bit occupied far more shelf space in the early 80s-- but they were available.

 

i lived in both cleveland, oh and then houston area and both cities didn't sell atari carts for the game systems. matter of fact, i even requested them. so if they did, then it was at different cities.

[slampam]

Here's what supermario looks like on the 5200. No fool'n! If you load the mario.bin at the link into your EMU you can hear just how good the pokey chip does the Mario Theme: "Da Da...Ta Da..Dooop."

 

http://calamari.reverse-dns.net:980/old/co...s/examples.html

 

At 32k the mario example does nothing more. So PAM needs a Super Cart like the NES has to even make a fair comparison. So here's a 512k bank-switching one right here:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...rt=#entry855877

[phonedork]

Here's what supermario looks like on the 5200. No fool'n! If you load the mario.bin at the link into your EMU you can hear just how good the pokey chip does the Mario Theme: "Da Da...Ta Da..Dooop."

 

http://calamari.reverse-dns.net:980/old/co...s/examples.html

 

At 32k the mario example does nothing more. So PAM needs a Super Cart like the NES has to even make a fair comparison. So here's a 512k bank-switching one right here:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...rt=#entry855877

 

Damn! The music is NES quality. The pokey chip does good music. However the graphics need to be running to really compare. Not a still image. Also they chose a stage where the back ground is all black. Need to have a stage with a colored background. Also mario is blocky, but it is still good. Now if this guy can actually get the game running. I think wants everything is running and in motion, the graphics will flicker like adventure 2 when too many things are on the screen. They will actually have to downgrade the graphics more to make it playable on the Atari 5200.

[ninermaniac]

I think that the 5200 is very underated. Despite the controller issues, I believe they are very comparable. However, I'll kick myself, I do believe has their stuff well together and the NES I think does win hands down.