Why was the 2600jr ever released?

[ARK1]

I have a question that's been on my mind for some time. Why did Atari release the 2600jr. Let's be honest; the 2600jr had almost no chance of going against Nintendo and Sega. If ataru wanted new 2600 games, why not just make them for the Atari 7800?

[Saikyo]

If you mean one of these

http://www.atariage.com/common/image.html?...Atari2600Jr.jpg

 

Then YES they were released, however all the models I ever had were the

revision B versions here!

http://www.atariage.com/2600/systems/sys_A...tari2600JrB.jpg

 

Hope this helped!

[Kuddy]

He didn't ask IF they were released, he asked WHY.

[Saikyo]

OOPS!

[Agent X]

I have a question that's been on my mind for some time. Why did Atari release the 2600jr. Let's be honest; the 2600jr had almost no chance of going against Nintendo and Sega. If ataru wanted new 2600 games, why not just make them for the Atari 7800?

 

The 2600 was still a very popular system, and Atari wanted to capitalize on that popularity. The system was very inexpensive to produce, and the "Jr." configuration was smaller than the earlier models, which saved Atari quite an amount of money.

 

Looking back, it might've made more sense if Atari released only the 7800 system in 1986, rather than producing both the 2600 and 7800 systems. The difference in price between the two systems wasn't that great (about $30), and they could've continued to produce 2600 games for people who still had the older systems and didn't want to get a 7800. But, by selling the 2600 and 7800 side-by-side, a lot of people opted to get the cheaper 2600, and never got around to getting the 7800. If only the 7800 was on the market at that time, people would've had to buy the 7800, which in turn would've exposed them to the more technically advanced games on that system.

 

Here's some alternate logic: Atari might not have cared which of the two systems (soon to become three with the introduction of the XE Game System) people bought, as long as they were buying something from Atari.

[Tempest]

Smaller, sleeker, and cheaper to make. Same reason Majeco made the Genesis 3.

 

Tempest

[Xot]

The 7800 retailed for only $80? Damn, I can't believe that didn't capture more people. Didn't the NES launch at $250?

[Mindfield]

Plus, "under fifty bucks" (Fifty Bucks?!) was a good selling point. The NES was considerably more at its initial release, so the Jr. was a good alternative for those who didn't want to shell out for the more expensive system. Plus, the existing stable of games, most of which were available cheaply, plus the newer games thet produced, made it even more attractive. The fact that it was cheap to produce also gave Atari a decent margin.

 

Also keep in mind that Nintendo first approached Atari to market their new game system in North America. Atari refused -- Jack citing the video game industry's demise and Atari's desire to focus on the home computer market -- so Nintendo went and marketed it themselves to incredible success, single-handedly reviving the industry. That was the second such blunder Atari made (the first being the Amiga Lorraine debacle). I think Atari wanted to try and save some face by re-entering the video game market and releasing the Jr. and the 7800 to prove that they, the father of the video game industry, could still compete. It would be unseemly, after all, if some upstart came along, took the nation by storm, and caused the Atari name to fade into the annals of home video game history.

 

They sort of did anyway, but that's beside the point. :-)

[Susuwatari]

NES was selling for under $50 near its end. SNES was selling for under $50 at the end of its life. Genesis 3 was sold for a lot less than $50.

 

Dreamcast was going out at $20 after Sega quit and left the hardware section. PSOne is still selling for $50.

 

Seems a trend that when the game's down to the last year or 2, the console usually sells for $50 or less with the exception of PSOne. How long has it been now- 3 years?

[WildBillTX]

I dont recalll Atari ever gaving the 2600 jr or the 7800 a strong promotional push. Nintendo was all over the TV and print media promoting the NES while Atari just stuck the consoles on the shelf.

 

I guess Atari thought people would come and buy them again on thier famous brand name alone. Great products - lousy promotion.

[Albert]

He didn't ask IF they were released, he asked WHY.

 

Heh, I first read it as "Was the Atari 2600jr ever released?" also. I still remember the television commercials quite clearly. "The Fun Is Back From A-TAR-I".

 

..Al

[Mindfield]

Tramiel's Atari was never noted for its promotional prowess. If anything, Jack, Gary, Leonard and Sam were noted for the amount of dust they allowed to accumulate on the piggy bank they used for their advertising budget. Many of the ads they did do were pretty lame; obviously, Chiat-Day didn't appeal to Atari's sense of frugality. I don't think it was so much that Atari simply felt that they could coast along on their name. I think it was more to do with simply having the firm belief that money is better spent on R&D than promotion. Hell, I think the most Atari ever spent on an ad campaign was with the Jaguar, when they dumped a whole $20m.

[Xot]

He didn't ask IF they were released, he asked WHY.

 

Heh, I first read it as "Was the Atari 2600jr ever released?" also. I still remember the television commercials quite clearly. "The Fun Is Back From A-TAR-I".

 

..Al

 

That's odd that you rememeber it so clearly, 'cause you remember it WRONG!

 

The fun is back, oh yes-sir-ee, it's the twenty-six-hundred from A-tar-ee.

[gdement]

I think Atari did promote those systems somewhat strongly on TV for a while, but they gave up pretty quickly. I definitely remember the 7800 commercials showing several games, including one that featured Kung-Fu Master. I remember thinking it looked pretty cool compared to the NES version. I also remember seeing the horrible 2600jr rap commercial... I downloaded it recently from a web site and it brings back memories. The stuff I remember seeing was probably on Nickelodeon. But by the time 1987 was over I don't think they advertised much anymore, at least not that I remember. I never saw a 7800 in a store, but maybe they were out there. We ordered ours from Sears, which probably should have told us something.

 

It definitely seems idiotic to me that they sold the 2600jr. The strategy for the video game business is to sell systems at a loss, then make money on games. It's not very helpful to Atari if they sell some $49 2600s at a time when the system was obviously dead. Maybe they made a few bucks on them each, yippee. Meanwhile Nintendo is owning the future by selling a system that will give them a market for several years of cartridge sales. And the 7800 was designed to be 2600 compatible! There's no sense in not just selling the 7800 exclusively. Advertise "the fun is back" all you want but they get the fun back by buying a 7800, not yesterdays dead system.

 

 

Didn't the NES launch at $250?

I don't know what it launched at, but I don't think the NES would have been quite that expensive when the 7800 was still competitive. When my friends and I started wanting NES in early 1988, by that time you could get the "Control Deck" for about $100, which included 2 controllers but no game. The "Deluxe Set" was something like $180, but it had a lot of extra stuff. It was still hard to get a NES then, we called around store after store and they were always out of stock. Not sure what the NES cost in 1986 and 1987, but it was probably less than $250 at least for the bare system.

[Breakpack]

He didn't ask IF they were released, he asked WHY.

 

Heh, I first read it as "Was the Atari 2600jr ever released?" also. I still remember the television commercials quite clearly. "The Fun Is Back From A-TAR-I".

 

..Al

 

That's odd that you rememeber it so clearly, 'cause you remember it WRONG!

 

The fun is back, oh yes-sir-ee, it's the twenty-six-hundred from A-tar-ee.

 

It's the video-game with classics galore

From Space Invaders

To cars that roar

[Adrian M]

Didn't the NES launch at $250?

 

No it most certainly did not. The Deluxe Set (which included ROB, Zapper, Gyromite and Duck Hunt) was the most expensive bundle and that sold for only $149.99. I know because I got one around launch and I still have the box with price tag on it.

 

There was also a Control Set available around that time with just the system and Super Mario Bros and that retailed for $99.

[128bytes]

It was clearly (to me at the time) a reaction to the Nintendo craze going on, and, to my happiness, helped back up my claim to my college friends that Atari 2600 games were better than anything since (though playing Crystal Quest on the Mac Plus machines in the computer lab came close!)

 

 

*** I don't think the AtariAge scene would be half as active if the 2600 Jr. didn't return. ***

 

I'm glad all those cheap late-model cartridges entered the marketplace!

[Adrian M]

I(though playing Crystal Quest on the Mac Plus machines in the computer lab came close!)

 

I agree.

Crystal Quest was an incredibly addictive game. Still have my copy after all these years!

 

I believe there was a Gameboy version made at some point too.

[bcprs1]

I think a lot of people bought the 2600jr to replace their older, broken 2600s. A friend of mine had an NES, but still wanted to play his 2600 games. I also noticed a lot of younger kids (5 -7 yr olds) getting the 2600 jr. I guess their parents didn't want to shell out the $40-$50 a game that NES was charging at the time.

[Voch]

While I remember the Jr., I must have forgotten about it when my family's 2600 died. We replaced it with a 7800 but never invested in 7800-specific games...

 

I have a Jr. now and it's a nifty little console.

 

Voch

[WildBillTX]

I'm glad all those cheap late-model cartridges entered the marketplace!

 

Me too - epecially when stores blew them out in the late 80's and early 90's. I paid 30 dollars for a new 2600 jr and many carts were a buck each.

[mos6507]

It's not very helpful to Atari if they sell some $49 2600s at a time when the system was obviously dead.  

 

The platform was not dead, it was saturated.

 

Atari sold millions of 2600 carts in the post-crash era according to Phoenix, mostly between '86 and '88. This isn't exactly reflective of a dead platform. Not state of the art anymore, not fashionable, not "chic", not the hot new gizmo for the kids of the day, but a huge installed base nonetheless established during the boom years. Solaris alone sold quite well, I believe.

 

And the Atari scene was different enough from the NES scene that some of us out there just preferred to buy Atari games rather than jump on the Japanese console bandwagon. Atari games were just different, not just in a primitive way, but in genre and gameplay. Some people preferred that aesthetic. Even though I had an Atari home computer by that point I still picked up a 7800 and some post-crash games during that era. Atari didn't really have to bring in new consumers to make a modest profit. They just had to appeal to their remaining userbase which used to be so huge.

 

Given the market at the time, at least making _carts_ for the 2600 made sense financially to Atari up to the very late 80s, especially when you consider the international market which was about 5 years behind the tech curve.

[WildBillTX]

Given the market at the time, at least making _carts_ for the 2600 made sense financially to Atari up to the very late 80s, especially when you consider the international market which was about 5 years behind the tech curve.

 

I almost forgot that - wasnt the 2600 still very popular overseas back then?

[VidGameKing]

no, the 2600jr was NEVER released.

[Xot]

Didn't the NES launch at $250?

 

No it most certainly did not. The Deluxe Set (which included ROB, Zapper, Gyromite and Duck Hunt) was the most expensive bundle and that sold for only $149.99. I know because I got one around launch and I still have the box with price tag on it.

 

There was also a Control Set available around that time with just the system and Super Mario Bros and that retailed for $99.

 

The control set was NOT available at launch. My parents got me my first NES, within a month of launch, and I KNOW that the Control Set was not available for at least a year or two. In fact Super Mario Bros. wasn't out at launch.

 

And didn't the Control Set include the player's guide, and no game?