Atari's Fall From Mediocrity

I’d make out with an Atari 2600 if it gave me consent.
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Music used:
de Blob - The Factory
Mario Paint - Creative Exercise
Atari’s Greatest Hits - Frontend
Earthbound - Ness’ Bike
Global Gladiators - Duelin Dancin
Super Mario RPG - Hello, Happy Kingdom
Pac-Man World 2 - Pac Village
Duck Game - Arcade
WWF No Mercy - Diggity Dog
Spud’s Adventure - BGM 4
Sonic the Hedgehog - Labyrinth Zone
Blaster Master - Area 2
Mario Kart DS - SEQ_CIRCUIT2
Persona 4 - Kuma Kuma Circus
Eek! The Cat - Misereek
Sonic Advance 3 - Cyber Track (Map Version)
Crash Twinsanity - N. Gin
Pizza Tower - Tropical Crust
Silent Hill 3 - Sickness Unto Foolish Death
de Blob - Funky
Pac-Man World Rally - Subterranean Speedway
Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald - Oceanic Museum
Viewpoint - Un Caillou Ricochet
Crash Bash - Pogo padlock
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trial
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Pressing Pursuit ~ Cornered
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - Linebeck’s Theme
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - Kecleon Shop
Snatcher - Tear Stained Eyes
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 - Desert Highway
Trauma Center: Under The Knife 2 - Swelling Emotions
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Beedle’s Shop
Sam & Max Season 1 - The Office
Woody Woodpecker Racing - Race Karts
Sonic Mania - Oil Ocean Act 2
Super Smash Bros Melee - Trophy Lottery
Super Mario Kart - Rainbow Road
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - Sky High Zone (8-Bit)
Splatterhouse - Ending
Mario Paint - Data Robot
Wild Woody - Industrial Rage
Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball - Lava powerhouse
Luigi’s Mansion - Game Boy Horror
McDonald’s eCDP - A Night To Study
Sonic Generations - Vs. Metal Sonic
Mario Kart Double Dash!! - 4th-8th Place Results
Tempest 2000 - Mind’s Eye
Robopon 2: Ring & Cross Versions - Kappa Village - Lover’s Cliff
Plok! - Cavern
Pokemon HeartGold & SoulSilver - Cianwood City
mrSimon - The Fanciful Unicorn
Thank you, Petabyte Fox, for helping fix my computer. Please go follow him.
/ petabytefox_

[@MelodyNosurname]

Thanks again to Manscaped for sponsoring me! Use code NOSUR20 to save 20% when you checkout at Manscaped.com. I've been using them since before I started uploading and I promise they're good.

[@Jobroski47]

Manscaped: you dont need to be a man to shave your balls

[@HayabusaCrimsonShadow]

Womanscaped

[@travis_touchdown_urethra3000]

BALLS

[@Sillylilgrill]

Real

[@moxxiepeppino]

A real gamer video

[@DungeonDad]

Imagine blowing your chance to chance to work with both Nintendo & Sega only to be known as the company with all the ET cartridges that got dumped in a desert.

[@christiangomez2496]

And for selling the tooling to the outer casing of your last system to a maker of dentist equipment.

[@alexandrajones4518]

Holy crap it's Dungeon Dad!

[@asteroidrules]

Absolutely insane to think that all Atari had to do was say yes to Nintendo and they'd probably still be going today. Instead their name has been passed through a half dozen different holders the latest of which is just using it to push shovelware and crypto scams while Nintendo and Sega both had some of their biggest successes this year.

[@christiangomez2496]

@@asteroidrules Wait what?

[@Katzelle3]

That's still nothing compared to the history of Philips

[@Rexdrinkredbull]

"This company didn't peak in high school, it peaked in elementary school" is such a raw line jesus

[@jan_Eten]

frfr

[@SimplyStatistical]

someone i know described melody as "fagotthewoz"

[@TheBoydo89]

I remember as a 5 year old and my mom took me to get a game system at a local furniture/electronics store here. The sales man was trying sooooo hard to push the Jaguar. I remember he kept going oooon and oonn about how powerful it was and wanted to show me how it played on one of their displays (Super Burnout?) My mom just asked is Sonic available on it and he said no…so she got a sega genesis. (Mom was obsessed with that Sonic Pinball game)

[@VIDEOGAMEVIDEOGAMEVIDEOGAME]

Good taste, sonic spinball is fire

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

It wouldn't be until the 2010s until that salesman was proved right.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

@@retrocatalog Not sure, but hobbyists have had a field day pushing the console to its limits.

[@rainbo777]

Thanks mom 🥲

[@funfox1552]

Your mom was so real for that

[@Frogbiome]

When I was a kid my grandma let me play on her Atari 2600, until one day it froze, then started emitting smoke. So that was cool

[@Tavares0709]

You played it so hard, the VCS passed away due to natural causes.

[@twotruckslyrics]

played too good you were literally on fire

[@but_heres_the_homestuck]

true gamer focus

[@calzoneyyy]

your pure gamer energy was too much

[@not-so-obvious_autism777]

My dad has an Atari 2600 and some cartridges. Idk if it still works, the last time we booted it up was when I was like 6 or 7 and it’s been over 6 years since then

[@BearTheBearyBearestBear]

I know this will sound fake, but my grandfather has always been really into computers and my dad and uncles always loved videogames. So of course, that Christmas of 83 (82? My dad told me the story, whenever the game came out) my grampa bought my dad and his brothers all the new atari games. ET included. And you know, of course, my dad and his brother hated. But gramps? Apparently his favorite game. He went back and kept buying copies because they were so cheap and he thought it was HILARIOUS that such a "good game" was such a steal. He thought his sons were just childish and couldn't see the glory of it. My dad told me to ask him about it when I started getting into retro games, and I did, AND HE STILL STANDS BY IT AS A GOOD GAME! To this day, 2023, old gramps still loves ET for Atari!

[@krell.1415]

As someone who played it after reading the instruction manual? It's obtuse in it's design but far from the worst game I've ever played. It works as intended even if the design is insane. Which is more than I can say for some other shovelware.

[@BearTheBearyBearestBear]

@@krell.1415 I've still yet to play it myself! But I've watched him play a couple of times since and it definitely seems bad

[@PratzStrike]

@@krell.1415 I own a working Atari 2600 and a copy of E.T. that I used to play as a little kid back in the day, and it wasn't a horrible game. It's very arcade - you play to earn a high score and run through the pattern as many times as possible before running out of HP or getting bored, one, but it's not essentially bad. Just... very unpolished.

[@matthewneagley2136]

I owned a copy and played it a fair amount. It isn't nearly as bad as it gets made out to be. Not an amazing game by any stretch, but still, not awful. I've definitely played worse 2600 games.

[@LaneDenson]

yep. It’s not the worst game Atari released in 1983 based on a third party license, let alone “worst game ever”

[@DrUSB]

The Nintendo situation was even crazier than you described. A few years after the deal fell apart, Nintendo learned from a former Warner employee that Atari never intended to do the deal in the first place. They just planned on tying up Nintendo in negotiations while they studied the Famicom and released their own clone of with without Nintendo's approval.

[@oldman6688]

Is there a source for that? I'm not familiar with plans to clone the Famicom.

[@liamsgreatbitgaming]

anywhere I could read more about this?

[@valletas]

"The source is that i made it all up"

[@ugles1938]

the 7800 is a clone of the famicom?

[@DrUSB]

@ugles1938 no, this was back in 1983. The donkey kong fiasco talked about in the video tied into this, by the time it was all fixed up, the crash was in full effect and atari was not in a position to do the deal.

[@PhirePhlame]

The Atari Famicom thing is crazier than just "Atari rejected it". The deal was accepted, and was to be finalized and signed at Summer CES 1983, but then Atari saw Coleco demonstrating Donkey Kong on their Coleco Adam computer at that same event. It was then that Atari pulled out, believing their exclusivity deal with Nintendo had just been violated right out of the gate. In truth, the Coleco Adam computer was simply compatible with all existing ColecoVision console games - and, in fact, one of the ways you could get yourself an Adam was via an add-on for the Vision which simply contained the Adam's additional components! By the time that misunderstanding was cleared up, though, the great video game crash was already in full swing.

[@oldman6688]

They probably had no intention of distributing the Famicom unless the 3600/7800 they had GCC working on fell apart. They would have been competing with themselves otherwise and if they were banking on the Famicom deal they wouldn't have invested in a new console. They were more interested in sabotaging Nintendo's attempts to break out of their home market.

[@aaronbasham6554]

I own an Adam, and am so glad to have such a piece of accidentally important part of gaming history.

[@etheraelespeon1986]

this is the first time ive seen manscaped target transfemmes hell yeah

[@etheraelespeon1986]

also while im on trans things OMG YOUR VOICE IS SO PRETTY :0 Big hecking gender envy

[@FunkyStudios]

The Atari Jaguar blew up my entire house. Powerful stuff.

[@RevelationsPrimo]

With the cd add-on, I've been calling it the Atari Toilet by default

[@jennahveer]

I love the recurring bit of Mel collecting Pac Man carts like a squirrel preparing for winter lol

[@cookimaus1]

The fact that my first exposure to atari’s two biggest games (Asteroids and Pong) as a kid was through a cd-rom included in a taco bell kids meal speaks miles about how far they fell

[@spicyspearmint]

The 5200 controller feels like something you'd issue a speeding ticket with

[@Austin-gj7zj]

Fuck me this is so funny

[@thomasawl]

It looks like it’s about to tell the officer i’m over the drink drive limit.

[@stuff31]

That was... a lot more depressing of a tale than was aware of originally. Atari really couldn't stop fucking up every single chance they got to redeem their brand, did they? Oh well. Great video! I liked it very much.

[@sertianaputra3569]

They barely did anything significant after the crash, they had big ego but not enough fundings and talents to sustain it.

[@TheMahayanist]

They never made anything GOOD for a long time.

[@asteroidrules]

​@@TheMahayanistIt's not talked about much here but Atari's home computers were actually quite good machines for the time and were basically what kept the company alive after the video game crash.

[@pauseiscool6232]

Atari calling the jaguar a 64-bit system is like Nintendo calling pikmin a relaxing game

[@asteroidrules]

Fun fact: it was Nintendo's marketing department that came up with the rumor that the Jaguar wasn't a 64 bit system, they were a bit obsessed with the idea of spreading vicious rumors about the competition.

[@thatitalianlameguy2235]

​@@asteroidrulesit's not 64 bit tho

[@BrinIoca]

@@asteroidrulesthe jag isn’t truly 64 bit.

[@flamingscar5263]

​@@asteroidrulesthey weren't lying tho? The jaguar wasn't 64 bit compatible, I'm pretty sure it was technically more capable then a 32 bit chip, but not fully 64 bit, was in a weird limbo in between

[@asteroidrules]

@@flamingscar5263 Sorta yeah, it's two 32-bit chips, one of which was capable of some 64-bit functions, running in parallel on a 64-bit bus. If you manage the two properly it more or less functions like a 64-bit system, but it's not exactly a true 64-bit chip.

[@cartilagehead6326]

To be fair to Coleco and their lawyers, at the time of the Atari suit you really could go to a place like Radio Shack and probably buy most or all of the components to put together an expansion dongle or an adaptor by hand, and people did. Steves Wozniak + Jobs famously started out designing Atari games which at the time meant literally designing how many chips were going to go into a cartridge and whatnot. The original Apple computer was similarly built by hand using entirely off-the-shelf components. Nowadays that argument would probably fail in court for the reasons one would expect. Complexity has gone up exponentially and components are much more IP-dependent (ie good luck doing graphics without going through some kind of vendor, etc)

[@nyanpasu64]

Would the TIA be a custom chip, and one that you couldn't purchase yourself?

[@asteroidrules]

The original IBM PC was entirely off-the-shelf parts too, a trend which has continued into modern PCs to this day. Ironically the ease with which the PC could be cloned is what made it a standard that outlived the earlier home computers which relied heavily on proprietary hardware. On the flipside the success Coleco had at cloning the 2600 was a part of why other console manufacturers started using more and more proprietary parts. The home console and home computer industries basically reacted exactly opposite to the same thing.

[@EvilStevilTheKenevilPEN15]

Yep. Just as one example, the Atari 2600, Nintendo Famicom/NES, Commodore 64, and many _many_ other 80s home computers all used some derivative/clone of the MOS 6502 for their CPU. You actually _really_ could just go out, buy some components, and _build_ a computer.

[@flamingscar5263]

Nowadays that argument would fall flat as the only thing stopping a PS5 game running on an Xbox or PC is entirely software related Hardware wise the Xbox and Playstation are architecturally the same, both use ryzen based CPUs and RDNA2 graphics, hardware wise they are near identical, the only difference is now software mainly, different OS's with the Xbox being based on the windows kernel and the Playstation based on BSD, different graphics APIs The hardware has become the same tho, so there wouldn't be any arguments based on any company cloning the hardware, technically speaking building a PC means cloaning the PS5s hardware because they are that similar

[@aaronbasham6554]

Actually, the argument today is emulators on consoles, with Nintendo and Sony both independently loosing their fights to shut down major ones.

[@ImInAgonyLOL]

So Atari was so incompetent that they made Sega look like geniuses?

[@TheMahayanist]

Pretty much. Atari is ridiculously incompetent and talentless, they also had no idea how business worked. They were just the first to the golden goose, so they pigged out. And Sega, for all of their faults, in a lot of ways saved video games. If Sega didn't challenge Nintendo with the Genesis, the SNES might not have happened, and Sony might not have came along a few years later. Sega being competitive with Nintendo was important. There's no way Atari would've pushed the limits on gaming like Sega and Sony did.

[@therealdeal680]

Great work as always melody, absolutely loved learning of your lamenting over Atari's metaphorical fall down a flight of stairs.

[@Ms_Semi]

They were warned about the stairs 😔

[@vergil61]

I once saw a store selling a sealed E.T game for thousands of pesos before the whole "they were in the desert!" thing and then it turned out it was true and went sometime later to find the same E.T. item had lost more than half it's value. I thought it was funny.

[@thezjk2796]

I haven't even started the video but I just wanted to say that i'm extremely impressed how you get these quality and length of videos. In the current YT landscape where organic growth is so hard to get, I'm glad you're one of those whose effort and wit is getting recognized to the scale it is nowadays. I'm a chilean rando that got into your stuff through the 31 Minutos video, but the fact that I'm still watching your stuff (and getting through your past catalog) tells me that, at least to me, you're a great content creator. I hope you get more sponsorships and grow your channel as much as you want. Also I hope somebody sent you a Bodoque plushie.

[@MelodyNosurname]

no bodoque yet, but i hope soon

[@TASyt1]

Atari's only sucess post 2600 pre infogames was the ST, more so in Europe. It was especially used by music studios due to it having midi ports.

[@twentysixbit]

and then the amiga 500 had its prices slashed in half then ST got smashed into the ground lol

[@TASyt1]

@@twentysixbitwell Atari can't have too much success, it's against the law.

[@johnps1670]

Atari 8 bit home computers sold millions too.

[@TasteOfVictory]

I'm only 20 minutes in but this video is really cool. Old retro youtubers would only ever talk about the same 3 big Atari talking points over and over again so I've never seen their failed handheld stuff like the cosmos. That's very interesting.

[@dynamitewraith16]

this is so nutty, atari never broke out of the first gen mindset and obviously paid for being so indecisive. thx for the entertaining vid melody!

[@TheMahayanist]

Exactly. They never changed, STILL haven't changed. Even a couple decades ago they were still putting out crappy products. Atari was always bad. I understand the nostalgia for it, because they were the first to make video games and people grew up with them, but nostalgia doesn't mean good.

[@LaneDenson]

It was also a new industry. It’s easy to point out mistakes with 40 years of hindsight.

[@VissyTrashy]

WE MAKIN IT OUT OF SCOTT THE WOZ'S BASEMENT WITH THIS ONE 🔥🔥🔥

[@toriofthestarpalace]

Game design: $200. Licensing fees: $150. Office rent: $800. Scrapped consoles & peripherals: $500,000,000,000. Utility: $150. Someone who is good at the economy, please help me budget this. My company is dying.

[@Roundabout-xy7rx]

spend less on scrapped consoles & peripherals

[@DADVICETV]

Excellent video and production! Brought back so many memories - including all the fun I had playing Pigs in Space when it came out.

[@inkticious5787]

I love this silly little deer

[@UFereSanyo]

Ah, Atari, the company responsible for giving us the first recognizable game controller, the first recognizable videogame, almost the killer of the entire industry and the ugliest xbox design.

[@JustMe-cn5bp]

It's kinda insane how many consoles Atari either released or planned to release. One of the big things that caused the videogame crash was an overabundance of consoles, and it quickly became all too clear that people don't have infinite money

[@ChrisFreeman_4Bit]

I would argue you got it right the first time. Atari getting such a glut of 3rd party games in 82 and 83 was Nintendos biggest lesson from them. As such being on their console required access to one of their special chips and the Nintendo approved label. They kept a tight hold on who could release a game and how many a year they could release.

[@TyphinHoofbun]

Fun fact, a few of the larger companies actually spun off shell companies to be able to release more games! For instance, Konami had a company named "Ultra Games" they used to put out titles they didn't think would sell so well, so they could make some money while still making sure people associated the name Konami with the "best of the best". Some of these, they made the right call on, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (with that infamous dam level). And some of these, well... Metal Gear was released under the Ultra name. I personally find it incredibly amusing that Atari gets a black eye from Activision making unlicensed games, only to turn around and start making unlicensed NES games as Tengen. It's up there with Universal proving in court that King Kong was in the public domain in order to make the movie, and then suing Nintendo for copying King Kong for Donkey Kong. (The lawyer that won the case for Nintendo was John Kirby, and that's how Kirby got his name. Rather than being named after the vacuum cleaner line as I had assumed when I was a kid.) There's just so many crazy bits of history, it's incredible. ^_^

[@asteroidrules]

Nintendo of America's entire business model during the NES era was basically "do the opposite of what Atari is doing," and it led to them both reviving and dominating the market.

[@oldman6688]

This is what Atari always explained to shareholders and the story that stuck, but the fact is they were printing absolutely absurd numbers of 2600 cartridges, millions and millions more than could be sold with or without other companies eating into their market share (often this was due to the licensing costs for big IPs though I'm not sure how much that is to blame). They were selling back stock into the fucking 90s.

[@ChrisFreeman_4Bit]

@@oldman6688 the reason they couldn’t sell those numbers is because 3rd parties sold to stores and closed before the stores could ship them back. Stores stuck with a glut didn’t follow through on projected sales because people could buy 5 crap games for the price of 1 good one. I’ve heard this from people who worked at Atari, Activision and other places. Part of why ET carts were made at the levels they were is Warner Bros wanted to make money back on that license they bought to try and get Spielberg to join them. They stuck Atari with a bill they couldn’t recoup. There’s mistake after mistake by Atari at this time but Activision and others had to diversify because of the glut of crap as well.

[@galaxycamerata]

I adore the fact that you open up each console showcase by building up to its place as a solution to a given problem that Atari faces (usually made by themselves), show off the console itself, and then nine times out of ten you casually mention the console went unreleased. Its a running gag that gets funnier every time it happens.

[@rfmerrill]

I apologize if people already commented this, but: Tengen was a brand created by Atari *Games* (the part that stayed with Warner), not Atari Corporation (the part that J.T. bought). They created that brand specifically to avoid stepping on Atari corp's toes in the home market. The Tengen and Atari Games brands were phased out in favor of Time Warner Interactive around 1994.

[@CrashFu]

It's wild to think that an average person used to happily shell out the equiv of $1000 or more (plus whatever a TV cost then) just for the convenience of playing a few simple arcade games at home. And now, you can buy an unbelievably futuristic top-of-the-line virtual reality system with countless games AND non-gaming applications, for literally half that price... and people are like "ugh, that's too expensive" 🤷

[@genstarmkg5321]

Well, it's not like salaries have gotten better. People often forget that salaries have been stagnant for a few decades.

[@the-NightStar]

I mean..... their recent Atari 2600+ was absoutely phenominal, at least. I recently purchased one of those, because of fond memories of growing up with an Atari from when I was 4, and lately I could not be happier with it. So I feel like i'm happy enough with what Atari's been up to as of very recently at least.

[@cactus2260]

im sharing this vid so hard rn. love u mel!!

[@cactus2260]

Omg she noticed me😳😳

[@bonechovah]

"the one jenga block to collapse the tower" I KNOW YOU WERE PROUD OF THAT LINE AND IT FUCKING ROCKS

[@nicholasroberts7838]

Ur lil doodle is so expressive and has so many little variations, thank you for putting in so much effort on them, they really keep me engaged lmao.

[@ddawgmcdawg213]

2:58 So as a person who recently did an essay about the history of video games circa 2000. Microsoft worked with Sega on the Dreamcast which interested the company into making a console. 38:30 Coleco had the rights to publish Donkey Kong on consoles while Atari had the rights to publish Donkey Kong on home computers. At the Consumer Electronics Show, Donkey Kong was played on the Coleco Adam computer which ended the deal. By the way, I really enjoyed the video.

[@CherryColaWizard]

The Atari I remember was just rebranded Infogrames who published Dragonball Z games and the awful Driver 3.

[@bigmanshimsham]

27:12 Coleco backed by fucking Saul Goodman

[@Frog_Enigma]

"Hi my name is Atari" that line was so well delivered

[@amaworm]

This video didn’t feel like it was an hour long at all, It was very engaging the whole way through. I’m not very knowledgeable on video game history so it was fun to learn about some of it from someone who has a clear passion for it.

[@Meper]

Atari actually had an unreleased 1st gen console planned a little before the atari game brain called "Tank II", it was announced at the consumer electronics show at 1977, the controllers planned for the tank II later became the controllers atari used for the 2600 the console was going to be a dedicated console that could only play Tank II 😆

[@twistedpurple8650]

It would be cool if mans scaped let people choose if the packaging said trans scaped instead Edit: 69 likes, nice

[@LiliumOrientalis]

It's so funny to me that MANscaped sponsors trans women, even if we are a viable market

[@rainbo777]

Trans-scaped rules. It’s not too late for them to change 😂 It’s unfortunate that at present they have such gendered marketing because they do have a great product - which is why people who are not men also accept sponsorships and promote it.

[@twistedpurple8650]

@@rainbo777 truer words have never been said

[@ogpandamonium]

It felt so wierd when I saw the sponsor for manscaped. Uncomfy.

[@swr.nezumi]

this is pretty unrelated to the video but i just wanted to say that as a trans girl you and other creators on this platform are such an inspiration and i want to say thank you for doing what you do

[@pipkickflip]

i want to second this! these videos have been very comforting throughout my own transition! i’m very thankful :)

[@theblackgamer8103]

Hope you don't regret that decision. Ah who am I kidding you probably will.

[@patentpending7016]

@@theblackgamer8103transitioning is literally the medical procedure with the lowest regret rate in the world what are you on about

[@thatitalianlameguy2235]

​@@patentpending7016how would something with a 40% sewicide rate be the least regretted operation compared to ones that save lives instead of ruining them

[@BrinIoca]

@@theblackgamer8103it’s always the dudes with the anime pfps saying the dumbest shit.

[@_vh]

i love the atari vcs from 1977 and play it every day, i sure hope melody nosurname also enjoys this console and its bountiful library of games ^w^ (i genuinely havent watched the video yet i prommy)

[@felman87]

Praise the algorithm, a new youtuber for me to get addicted to. And it's talking about old video games, perfect. Something that makes me, an 80s baby, feel young again

[@diskoBonez]

I love learning about the history of early gaming. I had no idea Atari developed so many concepts that never panned out, it's crazy to think about all the things that could've been.

[@Maddiedoggie]

I like how one of Atari's final breaths was basically just a racing game sequel that had better jiggle physics than the cars themselves did.

[@regularflurfy8174]

Steve Jobs worked at Atari before co-founding Apple, with that job obviously giving him and Steve Wozniak a big push to found Apple in the first place. Fast forward to the late 90s, a little company called Bungie (known at the time for making Mac games like Marathon) was working on a new Mac exclusive game to help bolster Apple’s comeback after the return of Steve Jobs. Microsoft later bought Bungie and had them develop this game as a launch title for their upcoming Xbox as well as PC and Mac. That game was Halo. tl;dr, you were dead on the money again mel

[@giantpinkcat]

The one guy who drew the nude woman on the Atari 2200 concept art must be shaking in his grave knowing that it's presented in a KZbin video for everyone to see.

[@travis_touchdown_urethra3000]

i joined the premiere during the silent pong gameplay and thought it was gonna be an hour long pong meme

[@Dogtisum]

I literally just watched the entirety of this video in one sitting….WHYYYY

[@_puduposting]

Well this doesn't air yet but if it is what I think it is, I'm expecting a great retrospective edit: Ok it's great

[@frukola64]

Puduposting

[@WoofInationXP]

Puduposting

[@_puduposting]

@@frukola64 hiii

[@_puduposting]

@@WoofInationXP hellooooo

[@carkiplier3201]

Unfortunatly I couldnt watch the premiere, but this was a great video. Thank you Melody! (Wait I have member again how did that happen)

[@SokoTheIsopod]

was it gifted?

[@carkiplier3201]

​@@SokoTheIsopod It was gifted. Im guessing that it happend during the premiere, but I didnt know you could get it twice.

[@axelprino]

Atari peaked so early in video game history that it was literally before my time, and I'm in my mid thirties. All I got to experience was second hand nostalgia badly managed by Infogrames and a million versions of Pong that made me wonder what was the big deal about it when Breakout was clearly the better game.

[@eltees]

Seriously awesome dive into their craziness. Lots of cool stuff I didn't know/had never seen before with all those unreleased prototypes.

[@quetzal6293]

I found your channel through the robopon video, and i gotta say, i really REALLY enjoy the stuff you make. So much effort and care is put into your videos and it shows-good work!

[@O.2.]

I know it's not too related to the video, but I gotta say, I absolutely love you're editing style. All the sound effects and the puppets bring such a great vibe

[@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 at age 5. SO yes I grew up at an Atari kid.

[@Nikkidafox]

I actually owned a 7800 as a kid. It was... kinda fun actually!

[@bemulator4578]

Stumbled upon this channel by complete accident through recommended. Have started binging the videos now, love the chill vibes! Great stuff! :D

[@kipame]

these videos have such a high quality to it and i love watching them, i also absurdly appreciate you always having the background song on-screen while its playing because im often tired of not knowing the songs used, its a lifesaver

[@TAAAAANK]

Amazing video! I've just gotten into your vids and they're all wonderful to watch. Your vids even helped me through a migrane, as weird as that is your vids are just that entertaining lol. Can't wait to watch your next vid whenever it comes out, def gonna be worth the wait.

[@Nake_Take]

Hey mel just wanted to say this video has saved my computer class grades, been using this for this powerpoint about videogames and helps alot!

[@Beansquishy]

Banger video as per usual ty Melody for your consistent quality and entertaining videos :] cant wait for the next one

[@gingermusic4503]

First time seeing one of your videos and I absolutely love the sound effects and the whole aesthetic. Very eye and ear catching ^^

[@pokemario99]

56:09 dude WHAT?! i’m dying for more info on this,, why would the jaguar cd keep its online servers up 20 years later if a grand total of 15 people ever used it edit: using the absolute barest of research it appears that it was never sold to consumers, only 100 units were produced and it only worked with one game: ultra vortek. i’d assume it’s only still functional because it’s only been circulated internally

[@kaitlyn__L]

A lot of these things also required dialling your opponent directly rather than a central server, but I’m not sure if that’s the case here

[@WrenEX7777]

Thank you for all the work you put in to this video. It's my favorite KZbin video of all time now, especially because of how interesting this part of gaming history is to me. You did amazing :)

[@8-bitblue858]

19:50 The difficulty switches aren't removed. They are just shrunk down and moved to the back of the console.

[@Blazedragonlord]

I’m happy that KZbin recommended your account to me!

[@demontorch]

Props for using the Main menu music from Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1

[@ninjacat230]

Let's face it. The panther would not have been good enough to save atari

[@MelodyNosurname]

i can dream, man

[@ExtremeWreck]

I can imagine the Atari Panther having been much worse somehow.

[@kotelypiesely1268]

I wish video game consoles were real...

[@MsTerkup]

new subscriber! A few videos in, keep doing such a good job! Love all your little goofs and gags, and you're also very informative

[@Sanker1]

i love the way you edit and narrate videos too, it's pretty entretaining, i can't even say half a sentencie without stuttering XD, keep it up

[@dominicwillis3864]

This was a pretty cool video! Pretty much everything I knew about Atari came from those older AVGN episodes covering their less than stellar consoles, so this video really helped fill in those gaps of my knowledge and paint a full picture of this company’s fascinating history. Also, this is the first video I’ve seen from your channel, and I must say that as a fan of WarioWare DIY, I LOVE that you use the sound effects from the game throughout the video!

[@kortomor8003]

I do always wonder what modern day gaming would be like if Atari didn't crash the market/was still active in making consoles

[@TheMahayanist]

It would be MUCH less quality and progressive than it turned out. Atari couldn't proofread Dragonball Z Sagas right, or Dragonball Z Taiketsu. Nothing changed since 77' they still suck. Nintendo saved gaming, and Sega forced Nintendo to compete and evolve so we got Sony, and with Sony came 3D and then the Xbox and everything else spiraled from there. Atari failing was good for this industry. It's important also to remember Atari crashed the market TWICE, not just one time. Everyone talks about the '83 crash, but the '77 crash was the same stuff. Atari not caring about quality and flooding the market and overcharging and then crashing the market. If Atari ran video gaming, the gaming industry wouldn't even exist today because Atari doesn't know what they're doing. Never did.

[@TheCoyKoi]

This is the best early christmas present anyone could ever ask for.

[@beebo7071]

I’m watching a puppet bully a console older than the oil embargo

[@tanukiginnyfizz5700]

I love your editing style! I subscribed and liked less than 3 minutes into the video for that alone! And your little character is so cute!! And I love the sound of your voice, too! :D

[@Cazra-VaporwaveWitch]

To me the Atari is an interesting time capsule of what gaming was like back in the 70s and early 80s. Today, it's a fire hazard.

[@The_Davo_Domain]

Amazing work as always. Definitely fascinating to learn about a company who had such an interesting history.

[@leo_lolzz]

watching this as im going to sleep on christmas eve. happy holidays, melody!!

[@Stavv_]

That was a pretty good video about Atari. At first I known a little about the company and their consoles by watching Angry Video Game Nerd (AVGN), but damn, I didn't know that there were so many consoles, history and mistakes after watching your video. Great job!

[@kenji6492]

I usually skip manscaped ads but you miming their use on the puppet was funny enough to keep me from feeling awkward.

[@YolkieYolk]

Loved the video! been following you since the 31 minutos video and your content has been great so far! Keep them coming

[@a52productions]

I just discovered your channel! Your writing is great, your voice is clear and easy to listen to, and your little fursona animations are SO CUTE!!!

[@AbadabaBoy]

Just wanted to say KZbin didn't even give me a notification that this video came out, nothing in my video feed/main page or anything. Good thing I caught this on time cuz I rewatch your video daily. Hopefully KZbin actually does it job for once, and keep on making the most entertaining I seen in a while. Luv ya and will be buying that damn plush whenever it comes out.

[@officialvatican]

my dad was looking through his old emails awhile ago and found a chain mail petition he added his name to to save the jaguar from being discontinued

[@asteroidrules]

So a really funny bit about the Jaguar and how much it was and wasn't 64 bit: while yes it used two 32-bit custom chips, they were running in parallel on a shared 64-bit bus, meaning it could be a fully 64-bit system in the hands of a dedicated programmer, but in most programmers hands it actually ended up being a 16-bit system instead. See, in addition to the two custom chips (named Tom and Jerry for some reason) the Jaguar also had a Motorola 68000 16-bit microprocessor onboard which Atari intended would be used primarily for handling controller input, the official developer documentation for the system specifically says to not use it for anything else, but because the Tom and Jerry were proprietary chips that nobody had any experience with, the developer documentation Atari provided was infamously bad, and the 68000 was a fairly common 16-bit CPU used in many home computers (and the Sega Genesis) many developers decided to program using purely the 68000, ignoring basically everything that was supposed to make the Jaguar stand out and making it perform closer to the 16-bit systems it was supposed to be blowing out of the water. Atari just couldn't pass up a chance to make a bad decision.

[@NeonLabsss]

26:22 WHAT??? my name is literally sylvia my mind is blown

[@Tech1ty]

Great vid! Just sitting here trying to see how many things you show that I can name. My father built a shelf to hold a whole bunch of these old thangs.

[@infinitemausoleum721]

For some reason this reminds me of an old saying I heard. "You're either a vehicle accessories maker, or a buggy whip maker". It basically means that if you can see your product becoming obsolete, you either change it and maybe be part of a new and more stable market, or you ride your product into the ground and go bust with it. I don't know how they manage to both evolve their product and *still* remained soundly in the buggy whip category.

[@Sammytheflaaffyfan]

Haven't watched the entire video yet, but I gotta say, it's so crazy just how many opportunities Atari threw out that would've benefited them immensely in the long run. And I didn't even realize they had SO MANY scrapped consoles either. They really seemed to just, have an identity crisis throughout their lifespan, and it explains a lot as to why they fell off in the way they did. On another note, this is the first vid like this I've seen of yours (got recommended to me a few times and I finally decided to bite the bullet and give it a watch since I was bored) and I gotta say, loving the whole theme, presentation and vibe of your video style. I'm a sucker for pastels and silly creatures with faces that do face things, plus that puppet, while admittedly kinda goofy looking, is funny too. Keep up the great work miss!

[@grutsthefoodman3645]

It's good to see another in depth video game history video. I never knew ataru had that many secret vault consoles

[@Haihatu]

every couple minutes i get flashbacks like the old guy in ratatouille when i booted up mario kart 7 when i should’ve been sleeping

[@Cameroo]

Fun video! Can't wait to see more from ya! I grew up in the Atari era and yeah, it was amazing how much they squandered their brand and naming. They really squeezed that nostalgia for us gen-Xers in the early 2000s haha.

[@Nobody-hr4gt]

only thing on my youtube reccomended that isnt 30 seconds long its a blessing