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Will there ever be a 5200+?


shane857

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On 9/6/2024 at 5:08 PM, Fred_M said:

Back in the day we (a lot of Dutch and German Atari 8-bit users) hated this design. It looked way too much as my first Sony stuff. No, the best Atari 8-bit home computer design is in my opinion the 800XL.

 

rm800xl-perspective.thumb.jpeg.f530a813f1e0e1346e19547e8295e37a.jpeg

 

I still don't understand why Retro Games Limited chose the 400 for their mini release. 😟

While I was never an Atari guy (TI and Commodore,) it was the look and design of the XL-series which got me interested: in junior high, we had a computer lab full of 1200XLs.  I picked up an 800XL at a garage sale when I was in high school.  I used it for a week with a borrowed 1050, put it away, and 10 years later when I got it out it no longer worked.

 

I imagine the 400 design was chosen because it was what started it all, and I know a lot of people during the XL era who despised the XLs and stubbornly stayed with their original 400s or 800s.

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3 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

I imagine the 400 design was chosen because it was what started it all, and I know a lot of people during the XL era who despised the XLs and stubbornly stayed with their original 400s or 800s.

I guess it depends a lot on where you live. In Europe the 600XL and 800XL were the most popular models and even for several countries the situation was different. For example here in The Netherlands the 400 and 800 were never offically released. In Eastern Europe the XE models (especially the 800XE) were very popular, because in the late eighties Tramiel "dumped" over a million XE's in Poland, the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries.

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1 hour ago, Fred_M said:

I guess it depends a lot on where you live. In Europe the 600XL and 800XL were the most popular models and even for several countries the situation was different. For example here in The Netherlands the 400 and 800 were never offically released. In Eastern Europe the XE models (especially the 800XE) were very popular, because in the late eighties Tramiel "dumped" over a million XE's in Poland, the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries.

Indeed.  For curiosity's sake, I would be interested in seeing numbers on sales of the model areas by area: original, XL, and XEs.  Over here, I recall the XEs being fairly popular, but the XLs were by far the most common that I encountered.  (I never knew the 800XE was a thing until now; just a repackaged 65XE?)  I suppose the XE line would be far more recognized as it had the longest life of the three series.  (Knowing that the 1200XL's life was so short, I am amazed we had a lab full of them in 1987.)  It was during those XE years I ran into the original system hold-outs (1990-1992, still using 400s and 800s, the latter most frequently.)  All very interesting, and now I wish I could talk to some of them to see how long they stayed committed and why.

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5 minutes ago, OLD CS1 said:

(I never knew the 800XE was a thing until now; just a repackaged 65XE?

We are off-topic 😉 The 800XE was manufactured with left over stock. They actually have an 130XE mainboard inside, but with only 64K of ram. Most of them had a bad GTIA-chip inside....

 

Hop over to the Atari 8-bits forums and you can find a lot more information 😊

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Just now, Fred_M said:

Hop over to the Atari 8-bits forums and you can find a lot more information 😊

It is scary over there.

 

Back on topic, I would sign up for a 5200-compatible Atari+ unit, irrespective of its form.  A pipe dream, I understand.  An XEGS+ would be appealing to me, because I actually wanted one of those at the time.  How many games used the light gun?  I know there are some new guns which are compatible with LCD output, but I have no idea how well they work.

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7 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

While I was never an Atari guy (TI and Commodore,) it was the look and design of the XL-series which got me interested: in junior high, we had a computer lab full of 1200XLs.  I picked up an 800XL at a garage sale when I was in high school.  I used it for a week with a borrowed 1050, put it away, and 10 years later when I got it out it no longer worked.

 

I imagine the 400 design was chosen because it was what started it all, and I know a lot of people during the XL era who despised the XLs and stubbornly stayed with their original 400s or 800s.

The 400 & 800 were upgradable, the later systems weren't, going by memories of what atarihistorymuseum used to say.

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On 9/6/2024 at 2:08 PM, Fred_M said:

Back in the day we (a lot of Dutch and German Atari 8-bit users) hated this design. It looked way too much as my first Sony stuff. No, the best Atari 8-bit home computer design is in my opinion the 800XL.

 

rm800xl-perspective.thumb.jpeg.f530a813f1e0e1346e19547e8295e37a.jpeg

 

I still don't understand why Retro Games Limited chose the 400 for their mini release. 😟

Looked like a Commodore 64, the best selling computer of the time.

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2 minutes ago, Zonie said:

Looked like a Commodore 64, the best selling computer of the time.

😂 Wrong 😉 The Commodore 64 looks like the Atari 8-bit home computers series.

 

Released in 1979, the Atari 400 and 800 with the function keys at the right side:

 

atari800.jpg.8ad1b82b07231552d9e4901c63d2c3b0.jpg

 (The Atari 8-bit home computer family started in 1979 with the 400 and 800. Later the 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 800XE and the XE Games system were released. All computers were based on the same specifications and are 98% compatible with each other)

 

The Vic-20 was released in 1981 and the Commodore 64 was released in 1982 😉

 

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6 minutes ago, Fred_M said:

😂 Wrong 😉 The Commodore 64 looks like the Atari 8-bit home computers series.

 

Released in 1979, the Atari 400 and 800 with the function keys at the right side:

 

atari800.jpg.8ad1b82b07231552d9e4901c63d2c3b0.jpg

 (The Atari 8-bit home computer family started in 1979 with the 400 and 800. Later the 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 800XE and the XE Games system were released. All computers were based on the same specifications and are 98% compatible with each other)

 

The Vic-20 was released in 1981 and the Commodore 64 was released in 1982 😉

 

Being in the UK I never experienced the Atari computers. It looks way better than the breadbin 64.

Looks like a nice heat vent at the top, where it should be. Are those 4 joystick ports at the front?

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1 hour ago, shane857 said:

Being in the UK I never experienced the Atari computers. It looks way better than the breadbin 64.

Looks like a nice heat vent at the top, where it should be. Are those 4 joystick ports at the front?

In the mid to late 80s UK publishers were one of the largest supporters of software for the Atari 8-bit computers. Mastertronic, Firebird, Zeppelin Games, Players, Alternative, Thorn EMI, US Gold, Databyte, Atlantis, Codemasters and many others released dozens of titles for the Atari ;-) Also the longest running Atari 8-bit magazine, Page 6 New Atari User, was published by a British company.

 

That top is not specifically a heat vent. You can open it to add memory (in the 400/800 they were memory modules) or change the OS. Like JOD-I states, 4 joystick ports in the 400/800 only.

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In the retro game space, I like how Analogue Pocket has brought together all the old handhelds in one device.   Instead of purely a 5200-emulation machine, I wish Plaion would make a unified game console for all retro cartridge properties owned by Atari.   A system loosely based on 80s Atari style of new design with a universal slot that would accept various adaptors to take 2600, 5200,7800, Intellivison, Atari 400/800 games, etc….  i.e. Play all IP Atari owns or thinks they will own in the future on a cartridge format.    For input, have a both DB9, DB15 and wireless.  And, use FPGA to emulate the chips from the various old consoles.    

I think this is inline with Atari’s vision form themselves.  Atari CEO Wade Rosen says the company is done being a 'fast follower' (gamedeveloper.com) But, they need I think the unifying HW platform.  My two cents.

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On 9/12/2024 at 12:12 PM, Fred_M said:

😂 Wrong 😉 The Commodore 64 looks like the Atari 8-bit home computers series.

 

Released in 1979, the Atari 400 and 800 with the function keys at the right side:

 

atari800.jpg.8ad1b82b07231552d9e4901c63d2c3b0.jpg

 (The Atari 8-bit home computer family started in 1979 with the 400 and 800. Later the 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 800XE and the XE Games system were released. All computers were based on the same specifications and are 98% compatible with each other)

 

The Vic-20 was released in 1981 and the Commodore 64 was released in 1982 😉

 

Calm down.😄

Sure the four function keys do. That's not what I was referencing.

The overall shape still looks like a C64. The C64 did come out later and due to Commodore's ability to fab their own chips, undercut the 8-bit line. Some of the later XL models look more like a C64 than a 400 or 800.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is coming from someone with a 5200 and a decent selection of games. At this point I really don’t see much need for a 5200+. 
 

With some exceptions, many of the better 5200 titles are already available as decent 2600 or 7800 ports. I’d love to see a list of essential 5200 games that are still unique to the platform and prove me wrong, but I suspect that list is growing smaller all the time (especially with ports of Bezerk and Frenzy coming to the 7800).

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17 minutes ago, MikeM_ said:

This is coming from someone with a 5200 and a decent selection of games. At this point I really don’t see much need for a 5200+. 
 

With some exceptions, many of the better 5200 titles are already available as decent 2600 or 7800 ports. I’d love to see a list of essential 5200 games that are still unique to the platform and prove me wrong, but I suspect that list is growing smaller all the time (especially with ports of Bezerk and Frenzy coming to the 7800).

At this point, Space Dungeon may be the last one. When it comes to home consoles, its exclusive to the 5200.

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16 hours ago, John Stamos Mullet said:

*giggles in IBM PC.*

OK, "Entry level PC" or "home computer", AKA Atari, Apple II, Commodore, Spectrum, etc...Of which the IBM PC most certainly was not.

And, single model. The PC was hundreds of models if you count all the IBM variations and clones.

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2 minutes ago, Zonie said:

OK, "Entry level PC" or "home computer", AKA Atari, Apple II, Commodore, Spectrum, etc...Of which the IBM PC most certainly was not.

And, single model. The PC was hundreds of models if you count all the IBM variations and clones.

I mean, the Compaq Presario Desktop line from 1993-98 alone sold about 5 times as many PCs as Commodore.

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I think in order to determine what is the next most likely plus console from Atari going to be, you have to look at current levels of interest and current numbers of homebrews being made for each system. Not old sales figures.  The Jaguar has the 2nd highest number of threads for an Atari console (not including computers), in the forums on here. Higher even than the 7800.  Only the 2600 beats it. There's also 4 pages of homebrew games available from AtariAge for the Jaguar.  Twice as many pages as for the 5200. It therefore seems interest in the Jaguar is far higher than it is for the 5200 and therefore it seems, it would make far more commercial sense for Atari to make a Jaguar+ console. That's if they even bother doing a plus console outside of the core 2600/7800 ones.

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13 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said:

I think in order to determine what is the next most likely plus console from Atari going to be, you have to look at current levels of interest and current numbers of homebrews being made for each system. Not old sales figures.  The Jaguar has the 2nd highest number of threads for an Atari console (not including computers), in the forums on here. Higher even than the 7800.  Only the 2600 beats it. There's also 4 pages of homebrew games available from AtariAge for the Jaguar.  Twice as many pages as for the 5200. It therefore seems interest in the Jaguar is far higher than it is for the 5200 and therefore it seems, it would make far more commercial sense for Atari to make a Jaguar+ console. That's if they even bother doing a plus console outside of the core 2600/7800 ones.

After buying a second-hand Jag and struggling to get it to work properly with a SCART-HDMI adapter, I would probably be interested in one of these. Best version of the original Wolfenstein 3D from memory. Be nice if there was a way to release Jag CD software without the actual JagCD (though I was one of the lucky few who didn’t have a faulty unit in 1995 😜). Pipe dream I’m sure, but a standalone version of the light synth that was built-in with some kind of audio pass through to plug in an audio player would be something I’d pay real money for - it was a good one!

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