Why was the 2600jr ever released?

[gdement]

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.

...

 

I'm sure they sold lots of 2600 carts during those years, and as long as people were buying them it made sense to keep selling them, but they could have simultaneously improved their future outlook if they had made sure that all console sales were 7800s.

 

Its possible that, at the time, they didn't know if anything would ever replace the 2600. But still, given the downward compatibility, it seems the expense risk from going full 7800 was not as high as the risk from cannibalizing potential 7800 adopters, under the scenario that the 2600 was at risk of being replaced. The 7800 was designed to let Atari keep their 2600 customers while staying competitive with higher-tech competition. By selling the 2600jr, it seems they waffled on actually taking advantage of that.

 

If there were countries that for whatever reason weren't ready for the 7800, then it might have made sense to sell the 2600jr in those places, but not anywhere that the 7800 was being seriously marketed.

[gdement]

Doesn't Super Mario Bros. have a 1985 copyright date? That doesn't necessarily mean anything, but I certainly thought that game was the pack-in from the beginning. I think I agree that SMB used to be in the Control Deck in the earlier days, because I remember a friend of mine had SMB but didn't have any of the other stuff that would have been in the deluxe set. By the time I got my control deck it was game-free though.

 

I don't remember about the Player's Guide. I read a "Kid Icarus" article from a web site a while back that came from the PGuide, and I recognized it. But I think that article might have been printed in Nintendo Power so that might be why I recognized it.

[dykesr]

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.

 

I was actually one of these kids back in teh late 80's my parnets did not have enough money to buy us a NES way to much for the system and games so for us htey bought the Atari 2600 JR. and the best part is i still have it today with the little silver Box for it it is my baby i love that hting to death.

 

RD

[kisrael]

Heh, come to think about it a 7800jr woulda been kinda cool...

[Mr Egg]

atari was stil huge in the rest of the world and if the nintendo was expensive here imagine somewere else with lesser incomes and weaker currencies. in may parts of the world the term used for video game was "Atari"; the fame that atari had gained was not going to die overnigth,

[+Mitch]

I don't know that a 7800 jr would have been very doable. The original 2600 and 5200 both had a lot of empty space in them but the 7800 was fairly compact already.

 

Mitch

[tyranthraxus]

As far as I know there was a test launch in 1985 of the NES and then

full release in 1986. $250 for the set with ROB and no SMB. Then a few

months later the famed Action Set was released for $200 with Mario and

the rest is history...

 

The Jr release was just a continuation of the Warner thinking. Short term

profits over long term. When the 5200 was originally launched

even though they knew the 2600 was badly aged they just couldn't give

up the easy money. So they supported two machines and the 5200

suffered. Same mistake again, they saw the easy 2600 money and went

for it and the 7800 suffered.

 

I clearly remember the Jr launch, the 50 bucks song I clearly remember.

And I remember the Atari displays of the time. The 7800 I didn't notice,

I'm sure it was because of the long shadow of the 2600. Consequently

the image of Atari I had in the late 80s was one of being an 'old'

company. They sold an old console, with old games, and crude graphics.

Nintendo and Sega had splashy ads, nice graphics and music. If you

were 10 what would you choose?

[tyranthraxus]

Oh and I had a friend who got the control set for Xmas in 1989 or 90. His

parents didn't know any better and got the cheap system. So he got

the NES but had no games to play!