Maybe a few dumb questions..

[Mendon]

While dealing with CPUWiz to buy a 5200 for a friend (Thanks again, CPU!!) I got to thinking about the 5200.

 

It's probably my least used system of all, basically because I never really liked the controllers and always felt that I could play the very same games on my XL/XE. Because I never played the system much I don't really know a lot of the history behind it. I'm going to go and do some reading on it today but thought I would also ask here for your input and opinions on it:

 

A) Was the trackball or the 2600 adapter the first accessory release?

B) Why did they change the number of ports from 4 to 2?

C) Were there any true 4port games for it?

D) I've always heard that the 5200 is nothing more than an 800XL without a keyboard; True or False?

E) Was the 5200 a direct response to the release of the Colecovision or were there other reasons?

F) Anyone remember the MSRP when it was released?

G) Wasn't Super Breakout the pack-in game for the 4port and Pac-Man for the 2port?

H) Were sales of it pretty good, even considering that the "crash" was beginning to start up?

I) If you bought one new at the time of release, was it because you thought it was the best system available or were you supporting Atari?

 

Thanks in advance for any comments/posts.

 

Mendon

[sku_u]

A) Was the trackball or the 2600 adapter the first accessory release?

 

Not sure

 

B) Why did they change the number of ports from 4 to 2?

 

No games utilized all four ports. Atari was also planning a 2 port PAL version of the system when the market crashed.

 

C) Were there any true 4port games for it?

 

Off the top of my head, the only game that uses 4 ports is John S's Combat II Homebrew, but I've never officially checked every game to see if there is a 4 player possibility.

D) I've always heard that the 5200 is nothing more than an 800XL without a keyboard; True or False?

 

More or less

E) Was the 5200 a direct response to the release of the Colecovision or were there other reasons?

 

The 5200 had been planned for quite a while before it was actually released. There is a great article about it at AGH

 

F) Anyone remember the MSRP when it was released?

 

I Think it was $299.99 but my mind's a bit foggy.

 

G) Wasn't Super Breakout the pack-in game for the 4port and Pac-Man for the 2port?

 

Yes

H) Were sales of it pretty good, even considering that the "crash" was beginning to start up?

 

At first, sales were pretty good. They would have been much better had they concentrated on promoting the 5200 rather than touting the 2600 long after the 5200's release.

 

I) If you bought one new at the time of release, was it because you thought it was the best system available or were you supporting Atari?

 

I'll ask my wife when I get home

 

I Hope some of those answers are somewhat helpful.

[+Mitch]

I don't know the answers to all of these but I'll answer the ones I do know.

 

A. I believe the trackball was earlier but I could be wrong.

 

B. Few games utilized ports 3 and 4. Dropping them saved Atari a few bucks per console.

 

C. Super Breakout, RS Tennis, and the unreleased Asteroids.

 

D. The Atari 400 not 800XL.

 

E. It was Atari's response to the Intellivision. The Colecovision only came out shortly before the 5200.

 

F. ??

 

G. Yes

 

H. ??

 

I. ??

 

Mitch

[+-^CrossBow^-]

A) Was the trackball or the 2600 adapter the first accessory release?

 

Not sure on this one either. I thought they came out about the same time and in fact I thought the 5200 trackball came out ahead of the 2600 one?

 

B) Why did they change the number of ports from 4 to 2?

 

Lack of game support and cost mainly. They could further reduce the cost of the console to make it by stripping off what wasn't needed. Those extra 2 ports only had 1 released game at the time that supported it so they were the first to go.

 

C) Were there any true 4port games for it?

 

Yes, Super Breakout supports all 4 ports and then there was also Asteroids which had a 4 player option. Of course asteroids wasn't released but the protos of it floating around do support the 4 players.

 

D) I've always heard that the 5200 is nothing more than an 800XL without a keyboard; True or False?

 

As I understand it the 5200 is actually close to the 400 than the 800 but yes, basically the 5200 is just an Atari 8bit computer crammed into a special case and reworked to use joysticks instead of a keyboard. Course the cart slots were changed as well to make it so that only 5200 games would actually fit into the 5200.

 

E) Was the 5200 a direct response to the release of the Colecovision or were there other reasons?

 

given the timeline of when this stuff was released. I would say the 5200 was more put out to compete against the Intellivision. The CV came out just after the 5200 if I am not mistaken and so it just so happened that the CV and the 5200 became the comparison systems. Again, I am pretty sure that Atari actually came up with the 5200 to compete against the Intellivision more.

 

F) Anyone remember the MSRP when it was released?

 

I thought it ran for about $250. I know the 2600 was $299 when it first came out back in the late 70s.

 

G) Wasn't Super Breakout the pack-in game for the 4port and Pac-Man for the 2port?

 

Again as already answered....YES on both.

 

H) Were sales of it pretty good, even considering that the "crash" was beginning to start up?

 

I don't have an answer for this simply because I only knew one person in my neighborhood who had a 5200. He was the "rich" kid we all knew of and wanted to be...but never got to play with his stuff. So...far as I know and from my experience...i would say the 5200 didn't have very good sales. Again, my opinion based on my demographics at the time.

 

I) If you bought one new at the time of release, was it because you thought it was the best system available or were you supporting Atari?

 

Well, neither in this case. I didn't buy the system new. I just got mine about 3 years ago at the flea market for cheap. I got it because I do love Atari, and because I didn't have the mighty 5200 yet. In addition it was that one system that held a lot of mystique for me since I knew of only that one kid who had one...and he wouldn't let us touch it. Now I know why, he was afraid we would break the sticks or more likely, he had already broken them himself, and that was why he came over to play on our 2600 systems all the time...

[Nukey Shay]

Regarding D):

The 5200 was close to the Atari400 yes (since it only has 16k of Ram)...but the operating system also differs. So if you had the source code for a game made for the 400, one of the only areas that would need to be changed "by hand" would be the input routines for the controllers. The compiler could handle almost all of the rest of the conversion process by itself. When Atari needed a second-generation system fast (partially due to the legal issues surrounding the 7800), this was probably a big factor in designing the 5200 to being -almost- source code compatable with the 8-bit computer.

[NovaXpress]

A family member of mine worked in retail and reported that Colecovision was outselling the 5200 by at least 3-1 in 1982. In 1983, as the crash approached, the 5200 was gaining in sales (not so coincidentally the Coleco lineup started out strong and the declined while the 5200 started out weak then vastly improved).

 

I had both systems that first Xmas, I knew a few others with the Colecovision but no one else in 2 separate schools I attended had a 5200.

[Bryan]

A little more about D:

 

The 5200 uses the same custom IC's as the 400/800/XL/XE.

 

It's a simpler circuit, however, since not all of the computer's features are there.

 

The PIA is missing, so all input is handled by inputs on the other IC's. (Pokey's Paddle inputs became the Joystick inputs, for example)

 

The Memory map is different. Probably to intentionally make software incompatible, but also to reduce the amount of logic needed.

 

For a simplified design, the original 4-port motherboard is huge, however.

 

-Bry

[Room 34]

Here's a question concerning the cartridges:

 

I know the carts for the Atari 8-bit computers are pretty small (smaller than 2600 carts I think, although it's been ages since I've seen one in person), whereas the 5200 carts are monsters. But the actual PCBs in the 5200 carts are relatively small... so are they the same PCBs as the computers used? I mean, if you were to take them out of the cartridge casing, would they be interchangeable? (Of course I would not expect them to work due to the different BIOS... I'm just wondering how close they really are.)

[Bryan]

No, the connector is different (there are several more contacts in a 5200 cart).

 

-Bry

[Mendon]

THANKS to everyone for responding and posting. Very much appreciated and I've enjoyed reading them all. Learned alot also.

 

One question I forgot: anyone know approximately when the 2port unit took over in stores after the 4port was released?

 

I got to thinking about it, and perhaps the trackball controller was released before the 2600 adapter. Only reason I'm thinking this is because I'd bet that Missile Command and Centipede had to be early releases and it would make sense that Atari would release the trackball controller sometime around their release. And since the 2600 adapter doesn't work with 4port models, this means that it came about later in the 5200's life.

 

Maybe I'm way off base on my thinking..

 

Anyway, thanks again to all for your posts and thoughts!!

 

Mendon