An interesting read about how I became (and remained) an Atarian

[BIGHMW]

Here is a bit that didn't make it onto my Q & A Page on BIGHMW.com, but still worth reading:

Q: In this day and age of video gaming systems that are offered by Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox, you still enjoy playing your vintage 1983 Atari 5200 SuperSystem. Why won’t you trade up to one of these new more powerful units in favor of playing on what many in these days consider obsolete?

A: Call it loyalty, call it “hick”, or “stone-age” if you want, but, I am not the only one who happens to shun the latest video gaming technology in favor of what we in this day and age call “old-school”. I have been a loyal Atarian since 1983, when I got my Atari 5200 for my 17th birthday (Serial No. 141101), and I even have a custom setup just for it. There are many more vintage gamers here in America, and there are companies and websites like AtariAge and AtariMax.com, who are ALWAYS ready to come out with all-new games specifically for OUR units, as well as provide technical support for them, as well as of course, eBay, whose sellers deal in the rare vintage cartridge-based games for them. Hey, like the old commercial used to ask back in the 1980s, “Have you played Atari today?”.

 

[bohoki]

sheesh i feel guilty i abandoned my 5200 for a commodore 64

[BIGHMW]

....that and also on my 17th Birthday I also got Missile Command and a 5200 Trak-Ball to go along with it, and the following week, I got both Pac-Man and Centipede, the rest is history, it saved my mother a TON of money that otherwise over the months would've gone towards credits on the coin-ops at the arcade, I convinced her of that, that was the main lobbying reason why she got it for me in the first place. Later on, I started to become a regular over at G.A.M.E.S. (which was a specialty store with everything videogaming enthusiasts like myself would drool over) over in Van Nuys, CA on Valjean Ave., every month for the next year I would get two more games over there, and also the WICO Command Control 5200 joysticks and keypads (touch-tone telephone-quality keypads at that too!!!). That and also Toys 'R' Us and also this little videogame shop right next door to Toys 'R' Us in Van Nuys (on the cormer of Sherman Way and Woodley Ave). was my next site (I still to this very day regret not buying Bounty Bob Strikes Back to go along with Miner 2049er back then when it was first out and in stock there!!!), as well as Adray's (in Van Nuys, CA) where I bought Meteorites, Gremlins, and also the brilliant Lucasfilm/Atari Ballblazer and Rescue On Fractulus!!!, as well as stocked up on some stock CX52 controllers (before there were places like Best Electronics it was the only way to make sure we could play our units for good)

 

Eventually, I learned to hone my gaming skills on the 5200 versions to the point of doing better at the arcade, I started using the 5200 as a cross-trainer for the coin-ops, and became a better overall player at the arcades because of my success on the 5200 versions.