10 Things You Didn't Know About The Atari VCS (2600)

[PART 1] I recently discovered "Stella at 20" -- a series of videos recorded at a gathering of Atari alumni 20 years after the Atari VCS (2600) was released in 1977. It was so great to see all these people reliving the early years of Atari that I decided to make a top 10 list of things that the general public probably isn't aware of. Thanks to PCBWay for supporting this episode. pcbway.com
Here is part 2: • Supporters - Atari VCS...
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
03:05 - What's In A Name
04:38 - The First Cartridge Game Console?
05:43 - Atari Wasn't Making Money Before Warner
06:56 - Stella!
08:52 - 128 Bytes Of RAM
10:15 - PCBWay Ad
11:11 - Making It Hard For Competitors
13:42 - It Could Have Been Better For $1.25
15:42 - Only A Few Games Were Planned
17:30 - Atari Had The First Screensaver
18:40 - The Magnavox Lawsuit
20:25 - Texas Instruments Misdirection
22:00 - The Chess Lawsuit
24:07 - The Amiga Connection
25:52 - Wrap Up
Link to Atari playlist: • Playlist
History of the Atari 7800: • The History Of The Ata...
Nolan Bushnell interview: • 30 Minute Nolan Bushne...
Music used by permission:
"Rise And Shine" and “Fakebit World” by Malmen
/ malmen
"Pathfinder" by Kubbi
/ kubbi
Other music from the KZbin Audio Library
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Website - retrohackshack.com
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Tools I Use - retrohackshack.com/tools/
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Ebay Store - www.ebay.com/str/retrohackshack
#Retro #Computers #atari

[@jdmcs]

I would very much enjoy a "10 Technical Things You Didn't Know (or might have forgotten)" episode on the Atari 2600!

[@Sinn0100]

Same as the first guy.

[@stevensgoodallsg]

Likewise. Please do it.

[@wizdude]

Yes please :-). I love technical deep dives :-)

[@Psythik]

I thought that's what this video was going to be about and I'm disappointed that it wasn't! So yes, please make this episode.

[@AnimationByDylan]

Perhaps the most interesting technical detail is that a TIA bug (of sorts) allowed sprite replication by the strobing of the RESxx registers. If the TIA had been unable to do this, Stella would certainly not have enjoyed the long-term success that she had.

[@gordonclass1]

My mother-in-law was the west coast manager at Atari so I got to go play all the stand up games in their gameroom. That was really cool back in the day.

[@RetroHackShack]

So cool

[@richardmountz3865]

Pinball was a hoot. The last level was so beautiful. I still have my system...

[@bardo0007]

We met Jack Tramiel in 1988 (he bought Atari Corp in 84) , and we had dinner in a fancy restaurant. Order anything you like he said, and I did order the most expensive wine on the menu. Still remember it, when Jack picked up the bill and had a surprised smile on his face. 🙂

[@synthoelectro]

It was such a great thing to grow up in 83 playing the 2600.

[@RetroHackShack]

Agreed

[@AloanMoreira1]

indeed it was! I was 11 when I first saw a 2600 game on the tv screen, but already been used to street arcade games, I wondered how different the graphics were. Even though, now I just love them for whet they were and it is the only system that have graphics like that (in a sort of a 2x1 fashion) because of the 160 color clocks!

[@richierich398]

The 2600 will always have a place in my heart. I also happen to love the 5200.

[@johneygd]

Yeah me too,i first didn’t care about the atari 2600 for decades,because i considered it as a primitive piece of shit,BUT once i learned about the specs of the 2600 and how it can be expanded with extra ram,how game developers did got around many of the limitations of the system,how some games did use enhancement chips and when sega and nintendo games were also on that system,i felt in love with the atari 2600 so since then i bought myself an atari 2600 jr along with the harmony cart and many nintendo and sega games for it among other ones,i also do love the atari 5200 because of it’s builtin pokey soundchip and the fact that there were also many nintendo & sega games on it as well,i was alway’s a big nintendo fan,but since then i am also a huge atari fan🙁😁

[@thaywizgwar8238]

The tempo you maintain through this whole video is perfect. That's hard to do. Love your content.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks for noticing. It's harder than some might think.

[@mezmerizer0266]

And it's not monotone, it has nice, soft inflection. It makes him very easy to listen to. Just subscribed.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@angrydove4067]

Atari men were big on facial hair. Great episode, I vote for a part two.

[@RetroHackShack]

Ha. That's for sure. It's odd to see the early pics of the founders where Nolan is clean shaven.

[@imaxjunior6531]

One of the best info vidoes on Atari 2600 that i have seen. Really great work here.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks!

[@creakycracker]

My favorite game was called Star Raiders (or something similar). It came with 2 extra game specific controllers and you got to chase and destroy Ships across a vast universe. I remember it cost nearly 40 bucks with those controllers but I enjoyed it immensely.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. Star Raiders was awesome. It was the killer app for the Atari 800 and them ported to the 2600.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I could never win on the hard mode and found it difficult to shoot ships. They had knock-offs from Imagic, Activision and even M-Network. I was asking myself if I ever got a game I should have returned to the store. Canyon Bomber was the least favorite game I had (not counting Combat 👎 blah, which you couldn't return) prior to Star Raiders.

[@saltytexasranger6301]

I remember buying Star Raiders at Kay Bee Toys for $8 in a discount bin. It was a lot of fun.

[@RCAvhstape]

I remember also Activision had a similar 2600 game called Starmaster, which used the console switches instead of a separate keypad. I liked them both. Also, there was a game made for the Starpath Supercharger that came on a cassette which was also a souped-up Star Raiders type of game.

[@steverae68]

Yes. Completely agree, the Atari VCS started my journey into computers and now earn a good living in the I.T. Industry

[@RetroHackShack]

Awesome

[@baconfister]

Great video. My older sister and I were photographed for the 2600 box art by my dad’s friend Tom Tracy, whose photography studio was in San Francisco. My sister made the cut (the girl with the plaid shirt sneering with the joystick in her hands) but I did not since the photography session was my sister and I playing Air Sea Battle and I was kicking her butt, so she started punching me (I was seven years old), and no one wants to see a crying boy with a bowl cut on video game packaging. We were also in a photoshoot for Antic Magazine’s “Antic Anthology” in 1985 or 1986, and we’re on the left side of the ad. Our friends Brad Jaciow and Dave Souza are on the right hand side. Thank you big sister, for killing my modeling career. 😂

[@RetroHackShack]

Wow. How awesome is that! Thanks for sharing.

[@slowlymakingsmoke]

Brilliant video. Loved the format and I think about half was completely new to me. Would love more in this format.

[@adirondacker007]

Locking up chip manufacturers story reminds me of a sneaky thing I did in college. I was taking Physics 105, a sort of introductory, hands-on course that had several design contests in its curriculum. We were given specs one day, for a rubber band powered boat contest. Before the day was out, I went to the only hobby shop in town and bought every bit of competition grade rubber band they had in stock. I was a regular customer there, and was friends with the owner. He assured me that it would take a few weeks to restock. I was evil.

[@RetroHackShack]

Ha ha. That was mean, but funny.

[@BrainSlugs83]

... Did you win? 😉

[@adirondacker007]

@@BrainSlugs83 long story... The original spec sheet had a maximum prop torque of .10 Newton-Meters. To generate that torque, I had a pontoon design made of foam pinkboard with 8 rubber loops diverging at the bow and converging at the prop shaft. A rat could waterski behind the thing. So... the Friday before the Monday of the contest, the professor says he had a typo on the spec sheet. It was supposed to be .01 Newton-Meters. Now I had a Formula 1 car with a Briggs and Stratton engine. Early on, the prof had advised us that all the fast boats have a screw in the water for efficient energy transfer. I didn't have time to do a scaled-down version of the original design, so I went against conventional design and went with a narrow flat bottomed hull and an air prop with a trimable rudder made of aluminum flashing. The thing cranked, but liked to roll over if released too soon due to prop torque. The contest came down to another student and I. My boar rolled on the first heat from letting go too soon, smoked the other boat on the second heat, and rolled again on the third. The beautiful part was the last heat... my boat rolled, then paddled itself half onto the opposition boat, which had to drag mine with it. So, I got second. The takeaway for me was that scale and full-size objects don't always behave alike. I'm also good at dealing with last-minute design changes. Live well!

[@robsku1]

@@adirondacker007 Love your story :) I'd love to see how it would have looked as I'm having trouble picturing it in my mind :)

[@wazza-au]

Thank you for an excellent video. You have dug up some brilliant stories!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@lchambers56]

This was great. It was awesome seeing Nolan, Al, and the other guys from Atari together in the same room. I could watch that stuff for hours. Thanks for this vid, and if possible, keep em coming.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@pandnh4]

What a fun little series you have here, thank you for throwing this together

[@RetroHackShack]

You are most welcome 😁

[@wackyworldofwindios3476]

Hold down the reset button and turn on Space Invaders and you can fire two shots at once and blow them away .

[@tstahlfsu]

Ah great vid! Cool to see and hear from the folks that were there doing the work!

[@RetroHackShack]

For sure!

[@winstonsmith478]

From that Atari Inc. legends VCS 20th anniversary reunion video, a perfect description of why I much prefer retro gaming: Nolan Bushnell's Law - A video game should be easy to learn, but difficult to master.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yep. All the best follow this principle.

[@blacbraun]

That was also Trip Hawkins' law in the early days of Electronic Arts.

[@Geert365]

And no more recent games are this way? And why should anything be any particular way, seems like a matter of taste to me. And as we say in Holland: Over smaak valt niet te twisten (there can't really be arguing, when it comes to taste/preferences). .........Hah i win.

[@jonniefast]

lol atari is still insulting their fanbase to this day 20th anniversary collection? NOT on the vcs (recent computer system, ryzen) despite being announced no updates 😂🎉 things would have been different if they could keep a lid on activision

[@dojendyk]

Great video! All new info for me - fascinating!

[@IuriFiedoruk]

Great video, thank you. And I am already waiting for the sequel.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@supralapsarian]

Fantastic video, man. I really enjoyed this!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks!

[@InfectiousGroovePodcast]

I really enjoy the list and I like that you kept giving so much credit to the sources. Having said that, YES, I'd love to see a follow up video!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

Yes, I would love to see the tech. side of this! Happy Christmas!

[@bnjmnwst]

Yes, please. 10 more things. Technical or otherwise.

[@atariboy9084]

Even if my first home video game system was the Atari Super Pong in 1976 my life of gaming really started the next year in 1977 months after my mother took me to see Star Wars in the theater that same year I got the Atari VCS for my birthday and all nine games that was first launch with the system. To this day I still own it and it still works.

[@RetroHackShack]

That's awesome. I sold mine in a garage sale when I was a kid. Doh! 😣

[@atariboy9084]

@@RetroHackShack Your not alone as I saw many of my friends also sold and trade there old consoles for the new one that came out like the Nintendo and Sega units.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I read more money was spent on Pac-Man than Star Wars tickets. (Probably not including the merch though.)

[@ridiculous_gaming]

I am a massive retro Atari disciple, so I knew most of these. Nevertheless, it's still nice to see these guys all together.

[@retrotv1tech]

Really enjoyed this! Interesting facts, and definitely some I hadn’t heard before.

[@RetroHackShack]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@ArcadeDude44]

Thanks so much for this informative video. I love learning the history behind the beloved consoles and games from my childhood!:)

[@RetroHackShack]

Me too

[@dad2-d244]

Truly enjoyed your video and learning more of the history of Atari....first video I've watched of yours. New subscriber. Keep up the great work.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@everythingbobbywolfe]

Loved the video. Thanks!!

[@jeffreyhickman3871]

Your KZbin channel takes me (and all of us watching it) down memory lane!! Even the little LED handheld electronic basketball 🏀, baseball ⚾️, and football 🏈 games by Mattel Electronics!! They were so 1970’s!! Atari, Sega, whatever games were around then, they were GREAT 😊!! Thanks 😊 for having the channel!! Just subbed!! Your friend, Jeff!!

[@Diskoboy1974]

I love how it was planned for a 3 years (tops) lifespan when the VCS really didn't take off until 1980 and the release of Space Invaders

[@sandal_thong8631]

Was wondering how long they expected it to last in order to be a success. Those Pong systems that preceded it only lasted a few years, too. If Mattel had licensed Space Invaders, then that would have been the console to get and Atari would have been forced to launch a new console, I think. Instead because they dominated the market, they kept it going too long, selling 10 million by end of 1981 and an additional 2-5 million more consoles due to Pac-Man fever in 1982. I think if they wanted to, they could have launched a new system for Christmas 1981 with Pac-Man making it a sure-seller. After 1983, Atari's name became "mud."

[@cascadesouthernmodeltrains7547]

When I was a kid I loved playing Yar’s Revenge. As a young adult serving in the US Navy as an aviation electronics technician, I used to buy old Atari 2600’s and original NES systems and repair them.

[@RetroHackShack]

Nice

[@cascadesouthernmodeltrains7547]

@@darrellcopejr5 You are very welcome. And thank you for the acknowledgment.

[@ziopinoo71]

Hi Retro Hack thank you for this video. Is really fantastic and interessino and for those as me that grew with that incredible VCS 2600 can't be better that knowing those hidden and unknown things. Please do one more videos (almost) to reveal other super interesting unknown aspects of vcs 2600 world! Es. why some sprites flickering durino the game (es. MS Pacman one of my best ever games) and why in some games appears some blavk lines in the side of the screen. Thanks again for all your work!

[@capoman1]

Great video and great coverage. Your channel deserves more subs.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks!

[@RetroDawn]

This is a nice compilation of some of the best moments from Stella at 20. I figured I'd know all 10. Glad to find that there were instead 13 that I knew. ;) Of course, a few of those I learned from watching Stella at 20 some time back. But most I knew before that video.

[@davidlandry3487]

Joe Decuir was my EE lab instructor! Having grown up playing the 2600 (both the wood panel design and the later gray-box release), and with video gaming being the catalyst that got me interested in technology and programming, I remember feeling like I was being mentored by a childhood hero. Awesome nostalgic video.

[@RetroHackShack]

Wow awesome.

[@jkasiron2275]

I'm interested in lesser known technical aspects of the Atari 2600. Great video, thanks!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@joefell5311]

Warner buying Atari was the beginning of the end for Atari in some ways. Fun video!

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. Classic case of an acquiring company that thought they knew better than the people they acquired.

[@rustymixer2886]

But without it the vcs would be vaporware

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@RetroHackShack But they did know better in 1979. One guy shelved his version of Space Invaders for months because people at Atari were ignoring the success of Space Invaders and didn't believe in licensing. A Warner exec said, "License Space Invaders" to the head of Atari and he did. Atari sales quadrupled in 1980, with it being the number 2 most-selling Atari game at 6 million. Mattel's Intellivision was D.O.A. when it debuted, only selling 3 million including the Intellivision II, with its most successful game MLB Baseball selling 900,000 copies.

[@joefell5311]

@@sandal_thong8631 That was great they did but Warner was short sighted and Nolan Bushnell told them that the VCS was already old hardware and they should stop placing all their eggs in one basket and design a new console. Warner didn't want to and kept trying to ride the VCS as long as they could without really doing much to develop new hardware. The 5200 never panned out and by 1984 Jack Tramiel bought Atari and focused more on home computers.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@joefell5311 Beginning of their success, and ending of their success then.

[@fleecyproduct2497]

Yes, would love to learn more about Atari! Another list, please!

[@CarsandCats]

Great video! Learned a lot here.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@michaelcox436]

Jay Miner was a friend of mine. He ran my Amiga Skyline BBS software for a couple of years. Crusty old guy and I'm glad I had the chance to know him.

[@RetroHackShack]

I wish I had the chance

[@bondgabebond4907]

I think I had more fun with the Atari 2600 than any other gaming machine except for my PC and Call of Duty 4. What it brought out was the brainiacs who made that machine do things it was unable to do, much like the Atari 800. Even my wife loved both the 2600 and 800 and spent hours and hours playing. It was a good time. I like their principle, make game simple but hard to master.

[@drewkremer2609]

Great video! Lets get that 2600 Technology Top 10 video!

[@KevBehindACamera]

Great video. Some of my earliest memories was watching my sister's boyfriend playing Activision Grand Prix. He actually memorized the pattern and was able to finish the game perfectly every time. The guy was a genius, he made a controller for asteroids out of doorbells and a cigar box. But anyway I enjoyed your video. Atari 2600 and intelevision we're both big parts of my early childhood.

[@sandal_thong8631]

I played Grand Prix as a kid and really liked it, but never bought it new because the Activision games, though pretty, felt like a gyp because they didn't have many game variations, and were almost all timed games that lasted a couple minutes max, that involved memorization of a course like Barnstorming, Skiing, etc. Pitfall! was one of three third-party games I bought new and after putting in hours, there was no reward screen for finally winning it. I did finally get Grand Prix on eBay two years ago, but got bored trying to memorize the third course.

[@saltytexasranger6301]

I knew about the Stella bicycle factoid. The Emulator for the 2600 is called STELLA and the programmer explained about the bicycle. Life was so good back in the Atari days...

[@johnhelt5475]

Yes, please. Looking forward to part 2. Maybe you can include info about heir BASIC programming cart and keyboard controllers. Those were fun.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

Nice seeing the Atari VCS from 1977 covered. I still own the original heavy sixer my grandparents purchased in October 1977. As a side note, I own the original VHS tapes for Stella at 20. It's a great historical piece of Atari history.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. Looks like it took all day to record those, but I am glad they did.

[@rondadams]

Nice! Not too many of those still around, and most pictures of the Atari only show the models with 4 switches.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

@@rondadams Thanks! I really need to do a video on my channel about it. I'm always frustrated in historical documentaries when they talk about the Atari and almost always show the 4 switch unit. Yep, I'm that old guy shaking his fist at clouds LOL!

[@wayland7150]

Grandparents! I never thought of it like that. My parents bought the 2600 in 1978 but I have children who are grown up. If they had had children they could have been playing on their great grandparents video game console. Yet everyone still thinks video games are a new thing.

[@geekwithsocialskills]

@@wayland7150 Exactly! My first experiece to video games was with Pong at home on a black and white TV. I should do a video about that too LOL.

[@Eric-lr5ur]

Well put together and entertaining. Well done man. I remember getting my darth vader vcs for Christmas as a kid and spending months trying to figure out swordquest at 5 years old .

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks!

[@tonystout1545]

If it is a book written by Marty Goldberg, no thanks. I distinctly remember the days he hung out as a bully at a certain prominent Atari forum site, and had carte blanch to talk trash to anyone he liked.

[@ahmad-murery]

Liked, Subscribed and now I'm looking forward to another ATARI video, Thanks

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@stevenkeeffe9137]

Very informative bit of video! I received my first 2600 system in 1983. Plenty of nostalgia from that "gift from Grandma". One item that the video provided that gave me the biggest smile, seeing that image of the Coleco Telstar Arcade. I finally have a name for it instead of just trying to explain its triangular shape and three sides consisting of "pong, racing, or cowboy shooting", lol. Our family got that one in '79 or '80.

[@RetroHackShack]

Awesome. I am looking for one to do a video on.

[@stevenkeeffe9137]

@@RetroHackShack I'd love to offer one up, but sadly hurricane Katrina happened.

[@bob-rogers]

Fun video. I still have the Sears branded 2600 console we had as kids. I keep thinking of setting it up.

[@RetroHackShack]

Cool

[@jasonwooler801]

Thanks for the vid. I love this type of thing.

[@RetroHackShack]

You bet!

[@rheiser]

The story about the name Stella is great. “Oh, they’re naming products after women!”

[@eskieguy9355]

I'm finding this much more interesting than I expected, so I think the follow up on technical things would be interesting too.

[@-RedAfro]

Enjoyed this very much, more like this please 😇

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@stevenA44]

I gave you a like because this video showed the very first video game system I had as a kid back in the 70s. The Coleco Telstar Arcade! I was trying to describe it to a friend just last week. Imagine my surprise when it popped up in this video!

[@Um...Yep.]

Really nice episode! Thanks for that. [Regarding the proposed follow-up (10 interesting/surprising/quirky technical facts): yes, please!]

[@Um...Yep.]

PS: Objectively, putting decades of emotive nostalgia aside, Syzygy* would've been a rad name! (*'Scissor-G' 🕹)

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@gsgatlin]

Jay Miner (2600 TIA, Amiga chips) wrote me back once long ago on his BBS. He was so kind.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Great video this! With so many channels mindlessly reciting Wikipedia these days it's so great to see real research from firsthand sources. 👍

[@RetroHackShack]

Hey. Thanks man! Hope you are doing well.

[@PatrickDunn13078]

A big like Aaron because I have the same T-Shirt! Played the 2600 a lot! Broke a million missle command - took about 5 hours.

[@RetroHackShack]

Wow. That's not easy. Seems like I did that on Pacman as well and my parents were mad because I had to play through dinner.

[@avavii]

Very nice and informative video. Love the lamp, still cherish mine as well. The beard completes you btw.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thank you kindly!

[@teslamadeit3068]

amazing retro mentals - another 10 things please

[@telemedic5142]

Great video. Please do a 10 technical things you didn’t know!

[@GamerDave2008]

A good addition to this would be how games such as Pitfall II contained a special chip to push the Atari 2600 beyond the limits it originally had. "Pitfall II was one of the last major releases for the console and one of the most technically impressive. The cartridge contained a custom "Display Processor Chip," designed by Crane, for improved visuals, and four-channel music instead of the two the system was normally capable of."

[@sandal_thong8631]

The idea that it lasted until 1992 is disingenuous. Things were pretty much over in 1984 when the company was broken up, and the release of only 5 games and none in 1985. There should have been synergies between making arcade games and translating successful ones to home console and computer, but the divisions didn't work well with each other and they outsourced for games for the 5200 in 1982-3 and the 2600 in 1983. Not a fun place to work.

[@RetroHackShack]

92 was when it was officially discontinued.

[@sandal_thong8631]

@@RetroHackShack So you said, as well as new games are being made today, which is technically true.

[@esenterre]

Awesome video!!! 😍

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@techdistractions]

Thanks for making this, much love for the 2600 and its mishmash of limits and tech genius. I also can relate to the “failure of imagination” with projects I’ve been on in the past 😂

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks. Agree.

[@alerey4363]

17:55 wow I always thought the cycling screens were sort of "demo" mode showcase but not a screensaver! Subscribed and thumbs up 👏

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@virgochild]

I sure miss going to CGEXPO in Vegas each summer and seeing all these great Pioneers and hearing their stories! Even went to the first one called "World of Atari".

[@ChrisKewl]

Yes, totally do a technology video on the VCS please!

[@thaywizgwar8238]

*Pretty* Please?

[@RetroHackShack]

I'll add it to the list.

[@horusfalcon]

At first, I saw the notification and almost didn't watch: I tend to find this general class of YT videos to be disappointing in one way or another. Then I saw it was Retro Hack Shack. The Shack merits some slack, so here I am. Not too shabby...

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@stevejordan7275]

@horusfalcon Indeed, as J.R. "Bob" Dobbs would say, "Let there be Hack Shack slack!"

[@timdanyo898]

Love the video. It took 3 minutes to get to the point which is a long time in the KZbin world.

[@lurkerrekrul]

Here's something about the 2600 that's not exactly a secret, but which many people may not know: Many people complain about the fact that Atari joysticks only had one button and that games had to be designed to accommodate this. However, the Atari 2600 could have easily had three buttons on the joystick. Two of the lines in the controller ports were meant for analog paddle input, but those two lines could have been used to add two additional buttons to a joystick. Unfortunately it was a catch-22 in that people wouldn't buy a special joystick if no games supported it, and companies weren't going to write games for a joystick that nobody had. CBS Electronics tried to add more buttons with their Booster Grip accessory, but it only worked with the stock Atari joysticks, since it was designed to physically fit onto the the joystick. Omega Race was the only game that ever supported it. Incidentally, since the Atari and Commodore computers used the same inputs (paddles worked on both), any three buttons joysticks would have been usable on those systems as well.

[@davidliskey3553]

And you can use it on a sega genesis, but only button "B". I play Atari with a genesis 6 button all the time

[@danatmonst3594]

Most of us bought aftermarket controllers for our atari 2600 anyway, right? I had one that had auto/rapid fire and a comfy grip. Played Phoenix and Space Invaders like a boss "clocking it" again and again. Fun times.

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@danatmonst3594 Back when my family was playing the Atari 2600, we mostly used actual Atari joysticks. We did buy some other joysticks, but most of them weren't very good. We had a Quickshot joystick (button on top and on the left) that sucked. A Gemstick, which was OK for a while. Some no-name joysticks with hard plastic sticks that you could easily pull off the base, etc. I had a Wico joystick that someone gave me, but I never really liked the mushy feel of it. The little Amiga Powersticks seemed nice at first, but they didn't like to go diagonal. My favorite Atari compatible joystick was the Tac-2, but I didn't get it until long after the 2600 packed away. I used it with the C64 and Amiga. I once tried an Epyx 500XJ joystick at a friend's house. I liked the feel of it, but it also had a problem with diagonals, so I never wanted one for myself.

[@rbrtck]

True, and alternatively the 2600 (and Atari computers and the C64) could have supported analog joysticks with 5 buttons. The 2 paddle inputs could handle the joystick position, leaving the 4 digital direction lines available for 4 additional buttons (each port and joystick).

[@sandal_thong8631]

If so then they should have done a special release with Defender. Someone said Commodore could have allowed multi-button joysticks since it used the same port, but chose not to set it up with that capability. You could say the same thing about the trackball. They didn't make the games compatible with it, so it still only moved like a joystick rather than a mouse. However, that might have been a programming issue, since the Atari computer versions of Missile Command are said to work with it, even though it came out before the controller. I miss the opportunities for more steering controller games like Tempest, a successor to Indy 500, Wild Western and Tron which latter two used a combo joystick-steering controller for their games.

[@RobsRetroGaming]

Fun and interesting info!!!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@fairlyamused]

I'd love to see a part 2!

[@JohnHenrySheridan]

THank you Retro Hack Shack! That was fun. I think I only knew about how they got the Atari name.

[@RCAvhstape]

This all reminds me of the show Halt and Catch Fire, all that 80s tech history and wild west business practices. Great video.

[@RetroHackShack]

For sure. Great show. I've watched that first season 3 or 4 times.

[@Hologhoul]

Nolan Bushnell is such a cool and engaging person. There are interviews on the Atari 50 package and even age 79 he still has the humour, the laughter, the down-to-earth vibe. A legend!

[@RetroHackShack]

Agreed

[@Hologhoul]

@@RetroHackShack Great video by the way!

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks. I am working on the follow-up but it will be next month probably.

[@markmaisy4858]

Excellent work here, great to see the original people. Loved Atari back in the day, I had their computers too, which were quality, their R&D was second to none for computers and peripherals. It was a good time and experience to be a part of. I think the early 80's just became too saturated with everyone wanting a piece of the action, which led to shovelware and ultimately the crash.

[@dera6347]

I remember as a kid playing with the 2600 (VCS) that you could make some games glitch out by turning the system off and on very quickly. It depended on the game maker. It seemed to work on almost all Activision titles but did not work on the Atari titles. The glitch was even somewhat playable. The Carnival game was one that worked.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. I remember that.

[@tcamarro]

I also would enjoy a "10 Technical Things" segment. This one was great and I knew far fewer than I thought :)

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@GrimGalore]

My first console. I loved that thing!

[@taylerannsupergirl5587]

I loved my Atari. Then i got my superior Colecovision. But even today i still have very fond memories of both.

[@cowetascore8476]

The Colecovision adapter for Atari helped sell it to my parents because I told them I'd still play Atari games. lol.

[@boardsort]

Atari Inc. is by far the best Atari book out there and the competition is strong.. Highly recommended.

[@scottDchicago]

Great trip down memory lane!

[@thebunyip]

Yes - the technical wizardry would be fascinating to learn about

[@leeselectronicwidgets]

+1 for the tech trivia video, thanks

[@peterpayne2219]

Really great video! Nolan Bushnell was my first “business idol” back at the age of 12, and I yearned to make my own company just like he did one day. It all worked out (I made an anime store at the dawn of the Internet, and also created an anime visual novel game distribution business), and I feel I owe it all to Nolan Bushnell.

[@RetroHackShack]

Cool

[@activeaction8374]

You did an excellent job with this video. I know what some of these guys said would have resulted in lawsuits if known back then, but business was war back then as Jack would say.

[@RetroHackShack]

Thanks

[@SchardtCinematic]

So many memories playing my Atari VCS in the late 70's. I have the Stella emulator on my PC. But it's not the same. I really need to get the Retron 77 to play my actual cartridges again on my TV

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. Or just an actual VCS.

[@SchardtCinematic]

@@RetroHackShack I have 2 already. My original heavy sixer and a four switch model with difficulty switches moved to the back. But I don't play it often enough to set it up. I don't have space to keep it just hooked up all the time. The Retron has HDMI and would just make for alot quicker hook up for me. Why I don't hook up my original Odyssey my Dad bought in 1974 when I was barely old enough to know what it was.

[@fragalot]

18:40 that "screen saver" was also called "Attract Mode" since the changing colors would attract the attention of shoppers when passing near an Atari demo kiosk at stores. This function was also put into the Atari 400/800/XL/XE computers that would activate about 10 mins when there was no user input. I don't know if that was was implemented in the Amiga or Atari ST computers, not likely since people didn't use TV sets for the 16bit computers (some could) but they still used CRT monitors that could still suffer from burn-in, so it's possible, or by then they were using more common screensavers we know today.

[@RetroTechChris]

Awesome vid! I always thought Stella was a secretary at Atari 🤣

[@RetroHackShack]

Ha

[@JohnQPublic345]

I went from an atari 2600 in 1978, to a vectrex in '82. Then an NES in 85.

[@christopherwhitcomb6233]

Loved this video. It’s to bad we couldn’t see what those guys coulda done with the new chips and some of todays modern home brew stuff. I’ve always been curious how different there equipment was compared to the well setup modern home brewers. I was shocked when I tried Princess rescue on 2600. I like hardware mods but have way more experience with xbox360. I like the Atari more and I got a lot of development equipment some home made some just modifications and some bought like my Dragonfly cart. I’m particularly interested in old equipment or info for comparison and just the knowledge of there existence. Later after work gonna cheak out your channel closer. Thanks for the excellent video

[@RetroHackShack]

Their equipment was very different compared to today. If you watch the stella at 20 videos they describe it q bit. They were either dialing in to a PDP timeshare system or later they were using digital signal analyzers.

[@bmkretrogaming7634]

Nice video! There's actually a good bit here about the Atari VCS/2600 I did already know, but at least a few I didn't despite being a fair video game historian of sorts for this era myself. I tend to use Atari VCS/2600 to refer to the console as a type of compromise. Some grew up knowing it during it's original Video Computer System days while some grew up knowing it during the 2600 designation days. It can be a sore point for some while I didn't really get into it until my preteens in the mid 1990s. So having no real attachment to either name myself it seems like a fair way to avoid triggering any who my have an attachment to either name. I only had an idea of the limited plans originally envisioned for the system. Of course they may have stayed fairly limited had the Warner sale not happened with Warner, and later Mr. Jack Tramiel deciding to continue milking the system for all they could.

[@RetroHackShack]

Yeah. I should probably link my 7800 history video in the comments. Very interesting.

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

Being a fan of the 2600 is even better now than it was back in the 80's...there are games being released for the console that are light years better than a large percentage of it's 70's and 80's game library. Companies like Champ Games are doing things I never thought possible on the console.

[@mchenrynick]

There's a whole lot better programming that can be done when you have 8K of memory instead of only 2K.

[@lexluthermiester]

I didn't know any of these things. Very interesting!