Why wasn't the 5200 more popular than it was?

[Mind Master]

...it seems the 2600s huge market base just didn't make the transition to the 5200. Why is that?

[minorleagueguy]

Because Atari was still marketing the 2600 at the same time. They never gave a reason to buy the 5200, also, the 2600 was cheaper.

Just my 2 cents...

[jsoper]

I was in high school back then and remember at least two of my friends buying colecovisions because they were crazy about Donkey Kong.

[Nukey Shay]

I already had an Atari 800 computer.

[sku_u]

That's a good question. I can think of at least two reasons why the 5200 wasn't all that popular. The first reason was the economics of buying a new system. A lot of people were content with the 2600 and as already mentioned, Atari never really went out of their way to push the 5200. It usually takes a few years for a new system to catch on.

 

The second reason was timing. The 5200 was only out for two years when the great videogame crash ocurred. By this point, Atari was under new management and was pushing their line of computers. Had the crash never happened, the 5200 would have eventually caught on.

[t.skid]

Reading something on the 'net, before the decision to 'cut' the 5200, there was also some PAL-protos. Maybe, if great crash didn't happen, 5200 could had be sold worldwide, like 2600.

[+DamonicFury]

I think part of the problem was the game selection... if you had a 2600, then you already had good versions of many of the 5200's games... Missile Command, Galaxian, Berzerk, Space Invaders, etc. While on the other hand, buying a Colecovision allowed you to play games that you could only play in severely crippled form on the 2600, if at all... Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, Time Pilot, Looping, Cosmic Avenger.

 

Plus, it was clear to even a child at the time (and I can say this for certain as I was one) that the 5200 was basically a 400 without the keyboard. So why buy a 5200 that can only play games, when you can spend a few bucks more for a 400 that plays THE EXACT same games, plus you can program and word process on it?

 

Plus, those hideous, hideous controllers surely didn't help 5200 sales! :-)

[Mock]

my .02.... "Joysticks"

[t.skid]

Yeah, it's a shame that Joystick that looks so good* are so easy to break.

 

 

* I remember first time I saw 5200 Joy: it was Jan. or Feb. 1983, reading an article in the first videogames italian magazine. There was a review of the new Atari console, and it was soo beautiful to see I waited 18 years, but finally I got one

[oesii]

I don't know how common this was but I was one of the 11 year-old kids who went straight from a 2600 to an Atari 800 computer in 1981. I totally didn't follow the console scene until I got a NES in 1989 because everything I could ever want gaming wise was on my 8bit computer and my friend's C64's. I don't think I knew one thing about the 5200 or the 7800 until the mid 90's when I read some more about them, those Atari and Commie computers really steered me away

[Goochman]

Also,

 

Alot of people who bought the original 4 port 5200 with the funky TV connector/ps returned them since they thought the 'click' sound the 5200 made when starting was hurting their TV or something.

 

I dont remember the 5200 getting good press at all when it came out - I went from 2600 to 800 as well and never looked back - Im still playing it today

[Rob Mitchell]

I too went from 2600 to 800 .. I never saw or heard about the 5200. But if I did .. I would not have gone for it .. as I had alot of $$ in the 800.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Mr.gamer]

The 5200 would have been more popular if it played 2600 games out of

 

the box(no adapter). Don't forget the Joysticks either. It's not just the fact

 

that they didn't center, but the fact that they broke so easily.

[J.Max]

One word: Colecovision.

[oesii]

Oh, I need to add an addendum to my post above, the 5200 is currently my favorite console to play, so some of us needed 20 years to get into this system

 

The Multicart is too cool, equals the functionality of the sio2pc interface of the 8bits. Some of the arcade games just play smoother on the 5200, Centipede or Missle Command with the trakball are good examples. And some may have guessed that Ballblazer is my favorite classic game and it just plays faster and better on the 5200 than the Atari computers and the 7800. The AI also seems better/faster on the 5200 for BB, try levels 4 and 5 on the 5200 compared to the other ports, it just feels better to me.

[tyranthraxus]

I think the lack of 2600 compatibility hurt it the most. Especially when

the Coleco got an adapter before an actual Atari product! It was a different

market back then. Videogames were new and people weren't expecting to

upgrade systems regularly like we are conditioned to accept now.

Remember that while the 2600 came out in 1978 it wasn't until about

1980-81 that it really took off, few people want to upgrade after 2 years.

I think if they had slowly dropped the 2600 from shelves when the

adapter came out they would have sold a lot better.

 

John

[GrizzLee]

One word: Colecovision.

 

I think that about sums it up. That and DONKEY KONG. Coleco had a great marketing campaign and Donkey Kong looked and played really well. I think people weere getting tired of the same ol stuff being re-hashed on the 5200. People had there fill of Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Missile Command. Coleco offered DK as a great pack-in as well as numerous arcade titles that looked very close to their counterparts. DK also offered something that Atari lacked in may ways. A killer platformer. Upt ot that point, Pitfall was the best Atari had to offer, and it wasn't even Atari's game. They also advertised and offered the Atari adpater before Atari.

 

-Lee

[Ron_Albanese_Again]

I think that since Atari had been so huge, it was just a little played out. People WERE ready for something new -- maybe not just Atari? The Colecovision seemed so fresh, and when DK was seen, forget it. The ol' 52 looked a little bulky old school, with mostly upgrades from the late '70s and early '80s.

 

I mean, I think the 5200 BURIES the CV, but it may have been a victim of of not making enough of unique splash ...

 

Ron!

[Gabriel]

As is being discussed in another thread, don't underestimate the craptacularness of the Atari 5200's pack in game. Making Super Breakout the pack in was like Atari shooting themselves in the head.

 

On the one hand you had the Colecovision with its graphics that looked comparable to the arcade Donkey Kong, and you had the Atari 5200 looking like only a minor improvement over Atari 2600 breakout style games. I knew several kids back then that dismissed the Atari 5200 because its pack in implied that it was incapable of anything more than limited 2600 games.

 

Of course, when Qix, Defender, Pac Man and the better titles for the 5200 made themselves known those kids drooled at the 5200. But instead of focusing on the 5200 and emphasizing that new wave of excellent titles, Atari kept on promoting the 2600.

 

Many people back then didn't see the 2600 adaptors as an advantage. They saw them as an admission that the console couldn't get by on its own. Since the 5200 got an adaptor pushed out the door and suffered from a dearth of games, it was almost like the only thing Atari was saying the 5200 was good for was playing the 2600 games.

[Big Player]

I didn't know anyone back then who bought a 5200. Everyone in my school who moved up from a 2600 to a new console in 1982-83 went with the Colecovision.

 

The Colecovision's early game library was all arcade ports--but they were of arcade games that had never been brought home before. That made the system stand out in my mind. Most of the 5200 ports had been done before, nothing really new, even if they were better ports.

 

Oh and I moved up to an 800XL myself.

[Nintendo Penguin]

I think the whole Donkey Kong and Coleco thing had alot to do with it!

[Brad2600]

I have a Colecovision as part of my collection but my 5200 collection is bigger and in my opinion, has better titles.

 

I'm not dissing the CV. I'm just saying that it has limited appeal in my eyes.

 

Atari should have dropped the 2600 shortly after releasing the adaptor for the 5200. I think they just wanted a bigger piece of the pie so they thought they could promote 2 systems at once. They did this with the 2600 and 7800 as well.

[A2600]

I never even had a 5200 untill 1999 because in my young days I had a 2600 and I did a decathlon jump to a Super Nintendo in 1991 then back to a NES in 94...

 

I hope you know I havent been able to ply my 5200 since I got it in 1999 beause the controls are fucked up and the switchbox crapped out in 2000

 

I did test the console many time before the switchbox crapped out

[A2600]

And to top it off it a 4-PORT!

[Video]

The biggest thing that killed the 5200 IMHO was the market crash from 83-84 and the 5200 just had the missfortune to launch right befor it.

 

The second thing, is the controllers. While analog was an amazing innovation for the time, and is used in every modern console this day, it lacked a common feature of new controllers. The auto centering feature. That makes it very hard, to impossible to effectively play some 'supposed to be easy' games such as Pac-Man. And top that off with the fact that the controlls were simply flimsy, and broke easily. I lost my last controller last year and am having to build a Digital to analog converter so I can play it again.