How the Atari 2600 Had a MASSIVE Lifespan

[@ThatElectronicsFool]

Just a quick note: at 9:13 you mentioned about not being able to activate both flippers at the same time on Video Pinball, but you can by tilting up on the joystick. Tried it out just before commenting to be sure.

[@chrislaustin]

If I had to guess, I would say it was the perfect storm of all that happened that kept the 2600 going as long as it did. Once the market crashed, it was still probably the most sold system, and for those still in to gaming, you could buy tons of games on closeout. Then when Nintendo came along, you still had a HUGE market unsure of gaming in general, and "Atari" good or bad was still the biggest name in the industry. So as gaming got better, now the 2600 was the king of budget friendly offerings, and their name was still known to many for gaming. Some friends I had at the time, only ever bought a 2600 as it was such a big purchase, and once gaming came back, many of those families bought a computer, so the 2600 stayed the one console they owned. BTW, congrats on 30K Pojr, as your content is very solid and a fun watch each week, good luck on getting to 60K.

[@atariboy9084]

Gotten every VCS (2600) consoles that came out from 1977 till 1986. 1977 - Heavy Sixer 1978 -Light Sixer 1980 -Four Switch 1982 -Darth Vader 1986 -Smaller Jr

[@andymanaus1077]

I've got all of them except the Darth Vader variant, all in PAL configuration.

[@aytviewer2421]

I have a 2600 somewhere in a box. Haven't played it since the early 1990s. I have no idea which version of console it is, but definitely not the Jr. variety.

[@AFourEyedGeek]

I recently gave away my Darth Vader mode with a couple of games to a Brazilian guy who raved about how much he loved it as a kid. I hope he plays it.

[@BretMix]

While watching this, I realized I've never seen 2600 Track & Field, it barely looks like an Atari game. Thanks for including it!

[@btr3k]

There were a number of games about to be released when the "big crash" happened, I believe Track & Field was among them. It did finally make it, but obviously not well known. It even came with its own three-button controller!

[@The_Real_DCT]

​@@btr3ktwo button controller

[@btr3k]

@@The_Real_DCT All the 2600 Track & Field controller pictures I see have two white buttons for Run and a red Jump button... unless you're talking about something else?

[@robintst]

It's so well defined visually for a 2600 game that it almost looks like when you see modern stock footage of a fake retro game that doesn't quite look native to a specific platform.

[@pojr]

Indeed. I was honestly impressed with what I saw. It's too bad this will never be on Atari 50, since it's a Konami property.

[@FeralInferno]

I had Solaris growing up, it was amazing that they were able to get it working on the 2600.

[@pojr]

Indeed. It hardly looks like a 2600 game.

[@ZylonBane]

"Get it working" makes it sound like Solaris was ported to the 2600. It was written FOR the 2600, so it was designed specifically around the 2600's hardware capabilities.

[@ScrapKing73]

The 2600 wasn't "still" on the market during the NES years, it was on the market again. You noted how they started making new games again in 1986, but as far as I'm aware the hardware was off store shelves until then too. Hence "The fun is back."

[@reillywalker195]

@@ScrapKing73 Stores probably still had new old stock of Atari 2600s and consoles.

[@internautaanonimo]

The Atari 2600 also had a second life in places where technology came later than in other places. In my country, Brazil, the atari 2600 could survive until the 90s, because the newer consoles and computers at that time didn't come yet, specially the NES.

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

1:16-1:19 The first game console to use cartridges was the Fairchild Channel F, created by Gerry Lawson.

[@szr8]

There was also the RCA Studio II, which came out two months after the Channel F and about eight months before the Atari VCS.

[@IuriFiedoruk]

You can use both flippers in Video Pinball. It is up, if memory serves me.

[@Nononononononono-s3j]

I came here to say the same thing! Lol I swear I remember it that way. Been 40 years tho…

[@MatthewHolevinski]

Being able to press a button and play some dig dug without going somewhere was so awesome.

[@SmugMatty]

Discontinued in 92? Makes me wonder how many parents ended up buying their kids an 2600/7800 for Christmas in 1991 instead of an SNES

[@remnantoftheeye5580]

It would have a lot more games than a SNES and was a budget console to boot.

[@deltasyn7434]

I feel like it couldn't have been much. Being an older millennial, I have some early memories of Atari, but once kids saw the NES, it was pretty much over. No kid wanted to touch an Atari after that. I remember kids saying they'd rather play outside than play Atari. I was one of them lol.

[@reillywalker195]

​@@deltasyn7434 My mother stuck with her Atari 2600 through the 1980s, and my brother and I added to her collection of games for it in early 2004.

[@andymanaus1077]

Apart from the naive grandma market, which has always been a thing, a lot of people at the end of the run were also buying Ataris for themselves. Bear in mind that 15 year olds in 1977 were 30 years old and working in 1992. Nostalgia was a big motivator, even back then. Towards the end of the run Atari cleverly released Atari 2600 Jnr consoles with packed-in games. People with older Atari VCS consoles would buy the new consoles just to get access to games they had wanted but could not afford as a kid. I have two Juniors in my collection of about five or six Atari 2600 consoles. One Junior has 64 packed-in games and the other has 128. They both also accept standard Atari cartridges.

[@VirutaFaiter]

I'm from western Europe and had a friend who received a 7800 for Christmas in January 92 but SNES wasn't selling here until May 92. Atari 2600Jr./ 7800 cartridges and consoles were way affordable for parents then.

[@MattMcIrvin]

The 2600 went from a really expensive premium product in 1977 (with relatively crude games, but they were great for a home console at the time), to filling a budget niche (at which point it had a gigantic quantity of cheap games, some of which were amazingly good and slick--though of course there was also a lot of garbage out there). One edge it always had was that the peculiar way it worked meant that while its graphics might look crude and flickery, the movement of objects was usually glass-smooth. On consoles that worked with a real frame buffer this was often not the case. The 5200 was really a stripped-down Atari 8-bit home computer with no keyboard and analog controllers. So many of the games were just lightly modified versions of Atari's 8-bit computer games, but since it wasn't directly compatible with computer cartridges, and couldn't play 2600 games either, it didn't come in with a large library. Later on, they tried this idea again with the XE Game System, which had an optional keyboard and *was* compatible with all the computer software, but that was too little too late. The 7800 *was* backward compatible with the 2600, but its new games still concentrated on arcade-style gaming in a world that was moving on, and I think people didn't see the point of that in a new console. (Also, its sound hardware was just the 2600's, which was a move backward from the 5200 unless vendors chose to put an auxiliary sound chip in the cartridge).

[@reillywalker195]

@@MattMcIrvin The 7800 reportedly sold decently well in poorer parts of Europe, as did the 2600 in the second half of its life. Here in North America, the 7800 also managed to outsell the Master System but of course was a distant 2nd place from the NES.

[@MrMegaManFan]

As someone who lived through the entire lifespan of Atari VCS/2600 (I still remember seeing and playing the Sears variant as a child IN SEARS back when they were still in business) I can tell you exactly how -- the simplicity of the hardware and the cleverness of the coders. As it got cheaper and cheaper to manufacture they had plenty of incentive to offer a "budget" console cheaper than NES, SMS and even SNES that was compatible with a huge back library of games, plus new titles that looked and played better than them.

[@BlueMSX.]

Those later 2600 games are absolutely insane, great video Pojr!

[@pojr]

Thank you!

[@Dazlidorne]

5:10 We were still interested in video games, but playing them on computers instead of consoles. The Commodore 64 was not only an amazing computer, but a great game system.

[@reillywalker195]

@@Dazlidorne The Atari 8-bit home computers were also a fairly big deal, as were the Commodore VIC-20, the Apple II, and others. Japan also had the MSX and various computers from Sharp, NEC, and other manufacturers, and the United Kingdom had the BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum.

[@tractorman287]

It’s a myth that Tramiel only had interest in the 2600, once the NES was released. He did have a larger interest in the computer division at Atari. That is undeniable. However, there is proof that Tramiel had intent to release the Jr and 7800 as early as 1984. The gap in releases of official Atari products from mid 84-86 was due in part to the new Atari corp settling debts to contractors and manufacturers Atari inc had left unsettled. It wasn’t until 1986 that everything was cleared, and business on the console end could go back to normal. Atari corp in the between period, did sell old games and consoles acquired from the old Atari inc until everything was cleared in 86. this really helped the newly formed Atari corp buy more into the concept of seriously continuing the 2600 as well. Seeing that sales were still fairly solid.

[@mrmojorisin8752]

Your analysis leaves out the fact that Tramiel laid off virtually the entire home video game division as soon as he bought the company in July, 1984. He had no interest in video games until Nintendo proved there was still a market for them.

[@puffpuffin1]

@@mrmojorisin8752 Yeah, "virtually". Many of the programmers who worked on the new Atari ST computer line also knew how to program on the 8-bits and 2600. It wasn't a huge programming division, but it was there. Tramiel also contracted out the game programming to other companies and hired Michael Katz in 1984 to manage the home console division to fix the chaos and get it running again.

[@mrmojorisin8752]

@@tractorman287 “Jack bought Atari and his sole goal and objective were to do with Atari what he had done with Commodore and that was to create at the time the world’s best, most popular, home computer.” -Interview with Michael Katz. Tramiel did realize that by dumping old videogame stock he could raise some money, but home videogames were nothing but a minor means to an end until, again, the NES proved there was a market there.

[@mrmojorisin8752]

@@puffpuffin1 Not according to Katz himself, who was hired later in 85, not in 84, when Jack had few ambitions beyond dumping old console stock.

[@tractorman287]

@@mrmojorisin8752 The scope of the comment was just a summary. He did lay off a good number of people in the division.

[@gravitywaves2796]

You deserve so many more subscribers than you have. Your content is awesome. Keep it up, and I'm sure you will go far. Your huge back catalog of videos will pay off huge.

[@pojr]

I really appreciate that!

[@Clancydaenlightened]

Technically the nes had a longer one Famicom console and disk systems were repaired and serviced from 1983-2003 only in Japan however Because Nintendo (of Japan) had a 20 year service lifetime....

[@pojr]

This is true, the NES had a longer lifespan because Japan continued to maintain them until 2003.

[@battra92]

I feel like the PS4 is going to beat the 2600 on this. If you count the TecToy variants, I guess the Sega Master System holds the crown.

[@AmyStrikesBack]

Oye they're still producing the master system MKIII, last time i Checked their site

[@RareSun]

Yeah. Maybe the Switch too but I don't know. . .

[@MoonSarito]

The last Master System game was in 2002 and it was descontinued in Brazil in 2022, so yeah.

[@andrewdriver3318]

People keep saying that but it's not true. Saying the Master System is still going in Brazil is like looking at those plug and play Ataris they come out with every few years here and going "Hey, the Americans are ALL still playing Atari, Atari still going strong!" All those "master systems" you keep hearing about them still selling, they have all been cheap plug and play systems for decades. Just like the AT@ames Gensis, NES, SNES, and Atari crap they come out with every year here.

[@AmyStrikesBack]

@@andrewdriver3318 not as bad as the at@ames ones tho, the hardware is somewhere close to the original and as Far as my experience goes It felt okay to good to play, like, they Just got their allready existing master system MKIII and removed the cartrige Port and added some more roms in the internal system (with "some more" i mean 132 games, their site have the list and there is a LOT of good games, including a few Brazilian exclusive), tldr, its good enough™, Very few people actually owns one but its a decent alternative to buying a original MKI or MKII If you want the master system games but don't want to pay a fortune

[@djstarkidmashups8536]

The Nintendo Famicom lasted from 1983 until it was disconinuted in Japan in 2003. So, the Famicom pretty much surpassed the Atari 2600 in a 20-year gap.

[@Wobuffet3]

they stopped making games for it in 95 though

[@djstarkidmashups8536]

@@Wobuffet3 Then idk why it said it was discontinued in 2003

[@willholland8124]

Master system and megadrive have never gone out of production. Megadrive 35 years and still going

[@djstarkidmashups8536]

@@willholland8124 JESUS!

[@kj_the_something]

@@djstarkidmashups8536 the Famicom was discontinued in 2003 because they simply ran out of parts to service existing consoles. The last games - including Nintendo's own Wario's Woods and Hudson Soft's Adventure Island IV - came out in 1994, and the international NES was discontinued not long after iirc - and I don't know how long they kept the AV Famicom in *active* production, but I doubt it was until 2003.

[@Mrshoujo]

Atari made a 2600 Adaptor for the 5200. But the 5200 was basically an Atari 8-bit computer in console form.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

Another thing to add is the reliance on the programmer to do all of the video manipulation. While this made game development extremely tricky (because of its very sensitive timing requirements), it also allowed the system to be VERY flexible. Have a look at some of the homebrew games for this system to see what is possible in the right hands. For example, - Mappy: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rV6bqYF7lLChrposi=q3FXBKcq8kykj225 - Donkey Kong VCS: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lYqZp5uCebNmmqssi=O61O_bairiS4FpGo - Pac-Man 8K: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHKWnnyNr9ylkM0si=wNktCvDIAJbIh74h&t=25

[@ramadjones]

Mappy uses special hardware to achieve its graphics. Not saying that the game isn't an achievement on the 2600, only that it wasn't just because of programming wizardry. Kind of like Starfox or Yoshi's Island on the SNES.

[@pojr]

Someday I will check out these. These are some impressive homebrew games.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@ramadjones Didn't know that about Mappy, but the others (AFAIK) are done entirely on original VCS hardware and are quite impressive. I'm impressed by anyone who can get the VCS to do anything, considering how difficult the hardware is to program.

[@robintst]

Having been born 1984, the Atari 2600 wasn't quite on my radar at those early ages. When I was 3 or 4 the first console put in front of me was a ColecoVision that my older brothers already had and at about that same time we got the NES in 1988 for Christmas. I started collecting in the early-2000s and had a beat up 4 switch Atari 2600 and small shoebox of games fall into my lap for a measly $15 and I was hooked. There's such a uniqueness to how that machine operates because of the hard limitations of what it can display, the people behind so many of the games on it were complete sorcerers.

[@DCandtheInsectobytez]

Congratulations on your 30K Sub count, Paul Orndorff Junior.

[@Asterra2]

What makes it unbeatable in the history of home consoles is that this was a time when advances in the tech were extremely rapid and the difference in capability from one gen to the next was completely incontrovertible, even to the most casual observer. Compare that to today, when your typical non-gamer would have a tough time telling the difference between a PS5 game and a PS4 game. Sales, too-no other console will ever boast the market dominance the 2600 enjoyed, seeing as how it is the console that effectively created the entire market.

[@robcall4551]

Keep it up man. You're kicking ass. Been gaming since the 2600 to now and till I die.

[@pojr]

I appreciate that!

[@SweetStevieAaron]

I loved my Atari 2600 throughout the 80’s so I look forward to this video. What’s cool is I got mine in the early 80’s… had only three games for years… got more as time went on and discovered third parties and new Atari games after the mid 80’s, there was a huge push for the 2600 Jr and more games sprung up and my cousin got one in the late 80’s. More games came for a while. Great lifespan.

[@tarstarkusz]

2:30 You are wrong, at least with a 2600. The 2600 is uniquely suitable for better games including better graphics and sound with better cartridges. Many, many 2600 games had additional RAM on the cartridges and Pitfall II had the DPC+ chip. Modern 2600 games have an ARM chip in them enabling games and graphics never before possible. The 2600 is unique in that it is a real time computer. There is no bios. There is no frame buffer. A "kernel" has to exist in every cartridge which draws the screen and contains any alphanumeric characters you want to include on the screen. The 2600 doesn't even have a fixed resolution like Intellivision, NES or Colecovision. The resolution of the screen is up to the kernel included on the cartridge and written by the programmer.

[@metronome8471]

It's hardware is still unique. A timeless mix of analog and digital.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@metronome8471 Other than the TV out, it's all digital.

[@alexxbaudwhyn7572]

Post 86 in the USA, the 2600 was basically the "starter console" for kids under 10, like 3-8 year olds. And those who just wanted a replacement for a broke, lost or 2600 they gave away or sold off several years prior, for nostalgia or to use carts they still had, or just liked the system

[@FaTBoYs_GaMInG_N_NoNsEnSe]

Let's Go Awesome Video POJR keep up the great work congratulations on the 30k brother

[@SoulforSale]

My Dad: "why would you need a PS5 you already have an Atari?" Rest in peace, dad

[@Riz2336]

I thank Atari for being the first guys to make a bunch mistakes that other companies learned from after them

[@maroon9273]

Except xbox, sega and 3do.

[@tarstarkusz]

2:18 Where are you coming up with this? The Colecovision could handle 32k ROMs.

[@mattwrlh1905]

Another great video! I would also suggest another reason for the longevity of the Atari 2600 was that millions were sold during the early years so a lot of households already had machines that could play all the later games that came out, not to mention all those cheap ones dumped in clearance bins at the KB Toys store.

[@johndoe-vx3kf]

the atari 2600 scene is still active and more games are being made for it. It's never died!!

[@905JimRaynor]

from the perspective of a guy who lived through the Atari 2600 era this documentary is not 100% accurate.. but it is very close. There are very few documentaries covering Atari 2600 that are as accurate as this one. 10/10. David Crane's memories he published on twitter of the 1983 state of bank switching are incorrect. I can expound further if you wish. Mr. Crane is 100% correct that there were different ways to pull of bank switching and different techniques evolved from 1979 onwards. David Crane is a legend.

[@alexxbaudwhyn7572]

A testament to the videochip design of the 2600. Jay Miner was way ahead of his time when he designed it.

[@ScrapKing73]

The Sega Master System, still manufactured to this day in Brazil, beats them all!

[@ZylonBane]

6:29 No, those are not "DIP switches". They're just switches. DIP switches are the rows of tiny switches combined into a microchip-style dual inline package.

[@DavidWonn]

9:15 To activate both flippers, you simply moved the stick upward. I played this game tons back in the day.

[@danielespeziari5545]

The 2600 was never supposed to last this long. Nolan Bushnell wanted to replace it with more advanced hardware just two years after its release, but Warner refused and insisted on supporting the already ageing hardware. Then, as you said, it managed to stay relevant mainly because its successors failed to replace it.

[@MobiBit645]

Pojr has grown so dramatically I remember when you were like 400 and I thought you deserved so much more

[@pojr]

I appreciate that!

[@stephens4175]

this video was awesome as I'm in my early 50's and grew up with this system, thank you for this.

[@97channel]

In its later years, the limitations of the 2600 were probably its biggest strength, weirdly enough. The NES was a new era of video games, moving forward from the more basic style of early arcade titles. And whilst a kid in the very late 80's / early 90's would likely look at the Atari 2600 as being obsolete against the powerhouse new 8-bits and 16-bits, their parents were the generation who grew up with the first era of gaming. The 2600 still appealed to them, it was their era of gaming. And the fact that it was still available to buy in stores, at a relatively low price point, it was actually a strong product with the very people whose money would determine which system little Johnny got for Christmas. It would surely also have appealed to retrogamers of the time, if you could use that term for a gamer of the 80's or 90's. When you think about it, the Atari 2600 has never truly died. If you take something like the Atari Jaguar, it's fair to say that it is very much a dead console. That system has no retail potential in 2024. But the Atari 2600 has maintained a presence to this day, in things such as officially licenced plug and play consoles. It defines the first era of video games, and for that I believe that it will never totally disappear into total obscurity. Its long lifespan in its originally form is not all that surprising, for what it represented. The 2600 was the mother of home video games.

[@metronome8471]

Atari is the origin of fun.

[@ZEKESPILLEDINKMUSIC]

The Neo Geo AES lasted from 1990 to 2004.

[@dougawesomecities]

Another great video! Being 49 they're loaded with nostalgia for me

[@chrisnelson5131]

Midnight Magic was my jam back in the day.

[@remley8877]

I remember buying these at yard sales with extra controllers and 40 games for $10 in 1988.

[@HeyItIsMichal]

Keep it coming! Your videos are awesome!

[@pojr]

Will do. Thank you!

[@The2ndflood]

The Sega Master System also had menu screens. It wasn't just Nintendo.

[@reillywalker195]

The Sega Master System wasn't nearly as popular as the NES or Famicom, though, except in Europe where it was at least initially more popular.

[@CSanykdotCom]

The 2600 was on the market from 1977-1992. But it was an also-ran shortly after the NES had its North American release. The console was borderline obsolete when it was launched, the engineers designed it to be a minimum spec system to play Pong and Tank. Everything after that was ingenuity of the programmers and cramming extra chips into the cartridges. They had phenomenal success due to having excellent ports of Asteroids, Space Invaders, and Pac Man. These games helped Atari to sell tens of millions of consoles by 1981-2, giving them a massive install base to which they could market games that would sell in quantities that justified their development. That in turn fueled a gold rush to third party developers who unfortunately in a lot of cases were releasing shovelware that ultimately resulted in a market glut that crashed the market in 1983, and after that only the biggest players in the industry were left standing, Atari among them. Atari was then stuck in the uncomfortable position of trying to compete against its own success. They knew that a next gen console was badly needed by then in order to enable further innovations and to keep up with the current arcade games that home gamers wanted. Torn between supporting their cash cow legacy install base and rendering it obsolete, they charted a middle path, and blew it. The 5200 had technical issues and the 7800 was delayed due to Jack Tramiel playing hardball with GCC and refusing to pay them for their work. This left the 2600 as the default flagship product, but it was by this point in no way up to the task. But they soldiered on, cost cutting manufacturing to create a budget Jr. edition of the console, and it was cheap enough to still sell acceptably even when it was clear that the future was in the NES. Atari continued to try to sell the 2600jr for a few more years until they petered out, but the console was still making money in foreign markets such as Brazil, where a cheap system had appeal to customers who could afford nothing better. So although it was produced from 1977-1992, really it was only relevant from 1977-1983, or at best 84. By the time the NES arrived, it was just hanging on and by 87 no one in North America was still excited about the 2600, we were all NES fanatics and looking to the future. I still loved the old system and kept it but it was clearly firmly in the nostalgia niche as early as 86.

[@retrojoe85]

I grew up with Solaris and Midnight Magic, I still play them because my 2600 is still working. Other impressive games can be Defender II (the repackaged version of Stargate of 1987 in red label variant and specular front cover art), Radar Lock and Dark Chambers. Klax, the very last official game for the 2600, was really nice too. From Activision, games like Rampage, Commando and Kung Fu Master were freaking amazing too. I can't resist to mention other third party games like Title Match Pro Wrestling, Skate Boardin', California Games and BMX Air Master.

[@luispieri640]

Nothing like a pojr new video, another pojr smile...

[@CH32mix]

Congrats on 30k

[@danaeckel5523]

Wow, I didn't realize the 2600 was leaving the shelves while the SNES was filling the shelves. Unlike other people I still played my 2600, but I wasn't investing in the platform at the time.

[@X_Bus-Bus_X]

You could argue that since Atari themselves released the plug and plays and the 2600+ that the console is still alive and kicking

[@fabricatedego]

Nostalgia man. I loved my 7800 and would go thrifting and get 2600 games back in the day

[@Domarius64]

This is an amazing time - I'm learning about things from when I was a kid, from someone half my age.

[@cabbitkisser2620]

i got the Atari 2600 back in 1980 for Christmas. i was 8 at the time. i had a lot of good memories playing the Atari 2600. back then if you had the Atari. you were one of the cool kid's. it was the same with the nes. i quit playing the Atari after i got the nes.

[@coppermutant]

The Atari VCS/2600 was released in 1977, the Nintendo NES in 1983 (in the US in 1985). That's 6 years of technological advancement - roughly the difference between the NES and SNES, in the US market. Conversely the 2800 was released in Japan FIVE YEARS after its US launch. For context, it would be like Nintendo releasing the NES in the US at the same time as the Sega Genesis. The NES would have been roundly dismissed, and rightly so, if they had waited as long as Atari had to enter another (US/Japan) market.

[@ryanyoder7573]

I got an Atari in 83 and knew it was retro. Bought a Coleco in 84 and was playing next gen for a whole year. Good times. Got a Nintendo in 87 along with a Tandy 1000. Shit moved fast.

[@tron3entertainment]

I have said this before-hand. Had the Atari 2600 had 4K or 8K on board all the games would be better from the start and increase the already impressive lifespan.

[@johnbeckman3515]

You look like the geico caveman keep making content man

[@Paul29Esx]

Don't forget they added Ram into the carts too

[@MrDazzlerdarren]

Had Decathlon, didn't know about track and field ....joystick killers at their finest!

[@pojr]

I want to check out Decathlon now that I've played Track and Field.

[@Alex_Valentine]

Hit up on the controller to make both flippers go up on Video Pinball.

[@RobotacularRoBob]

As someone who played mostly NES years ago, when I fist saw Atari I thought “What the heck is this crap?” But the fact that kids still had them in the 90s is impressive.

[@coryengel]

Respect from this 54 year old to the youngster pojr for referring to the VCS as “the Atari.”

[@terran0797]

The title screen for this video has the SNES lasting for 13 years and the 2600 lasting for 15. I know that’s accurate to when the consoles were discontinued. I just wanted to say that the Atari 2600 had a final game produced in 1992 whereas the Super Nintendo had a final game in 2000. For me a console is done when no one is making games for it anymore even if the hardware is still supported or not discontinued, not counting home brew of course lol. With that in mind, the only console off the top of my head which had a longer life span would be the PS3 having games produced for it from 2006 to 2022. That’s 16 years and quite impressive.

[@AloanMoreira1]

I came to love the LEGO like graphics of the Atari 2600 so I am attracted to the bigger pixels such as the playfield and the quad stretched out sprites! I also love the fact it can output way more colors than the NES and its palette is great at least in my eyes! it also has its graphical charm such as no 2 different colors on the same scanline for a given element out of the 7 which made the visuals: 1- Background 2-Playfield 3-Player0 4-Player1 5-Missile0 6-Missile1 7-Ball

[@turbomario]

The 2600 is an incredible console and in my opinion, a lot of people - mostly ignorant people don’t give it the credit it deserves nowadays. Thanks pojr. Great video!

[@Asterra2]

Although the Intellivision technically had superior hardware, for all intents and purposes the gamers of the time only saw this in screenshots. For various reasons, there wasn't a single Intellivision game released contemporaneously which ran at 60fps, and you could even argue that none of them ran at the more humble 30fps. It's difficult not to compare this to the 2600, whose library was 99.9% 60fps due to the nature of the architecture. It made a huge difference in how games looked and felt when played, even if users at the time weren't necessarily equipped to understand why.

[@andrewdriver3318]

Being from this era let me highlight that the concept of video game 'generations' wasn't really a thing until the fifth as it was a major part of the marketing for that generation and companies from then on tried to discontinue consoles sooner after release of the successor so as not to cannibalize sales like they had in earlier generations. During this era the second generation, third generation, and fourth generation consoles were all still being sold new. The third, fourth, and fifth generations also all basically happened simultaneously and the fifth had started only the next year after the second had ended. So, while uncommon, there were still stores selling dead stock brand new Ataris next to brand new launch day Playstations. For perspective that would like having the Dreamcast still being sold alongside the PS5 when it came out.

[@Nediablo]

*laughs in Master System* Great video! Crazy that the 2600 was around that long!

[@megamix5403]

Seriously, the Atari 2600 is underrated. I wish the flashback gave attention to these games.

[@carlo1132]

Solaris is one of my favs easily.

[@mchenrynick]

I hated the Midnight Magic pinball game. It was far too easy to lose your ball. I could never keep the ball going for long. Although the original Video Pinball was more primitive, it was much more fun to play!

[@Nianfur]

I was still buying new Atari 2600 games in the early 90's.

[@AtariYMas_008]

You can actualy move both flippers at the same time in video pinball, just turn difficulty to B and push Up on the stick

[@Hamdad]

7800 deserved better than it got.

[@pinebarrenpatriot8289]

Joust, Millipede, Enduro, River Raid, JR Pacman, ect. Even in 2024 the Atari 2600 has fun playable games.

[@alexxbaudwhyn7572]

The 7800 is what the 5200 SHOULD have been at launch. Even better, the 5200 should have been the xegs at launch, on time Fall 1982 to compete with the CV That is, a repackaged Atari 8 bit computer, fully compatible with all 8 bit computer software, peripherals. Yes, we all know the 5200 WAS Atari 400/800 hardware, purposely borked to make it incompatible with A8 software and hardware. So, cost wasn't an issue in making the 5200 an Atari 8bit games console, upgradable to full computer with a keyboard, tape drive, floppy, printer later. Had Atari done this, plus include a 2600 cart port for full 2600 compatibility, it would have been a knockout fall 82, early 83

[@BenHughes81]

Just a random observation. At 09:08, "pinball" is half-muted. Just hear "ball". It's also occurred a couple of times in your last video, but I figured it was a freak occurrence on that one. 🤔

[@hughmongus6191]

What about downloading more RAM? (It's a joke.)

[@therealnotanerd_account2]

The reason is the 2600 design is awesome.

[@lvl90dru1d]

and it was dead only officially in 1992, in terms of clones (something like Rambo 2600) and early plug and plays (Super TV Boy) - it was somewhat alive until the end of the 90s (outliving even the Jaguar)

[@parrata]

I didn't know 2600 Jr Pacman existed!

[@wolodimirkoval9445]

What’s the outro theme?

[@pojr]

It's from Pac-Man arrangement. The first level.

[@andymanaus1077]

Track and Field quickly became notorious as a joystick destroyer due to the need to rapidly thrash it from left to right. Many joysticks met their end playing Track and Field. The VCS could not do horozontal screen scrolling. They usually faked it by moving sprites rapidly to the left or right. "Paralax" was faked simply by moving the "foreground" sprites more quickly than the "background" sprites. Track and Field, Kung Fu Master and Stargate used this technique to make it look like the screen was moving horizontally. A couple of games attempted horizontal scrolling using playfield pixels but memory restrictions meant that only a small vertical part of the screen could be scrolled this way. This method always resulted in very jerky movement. One of the games that attempted background scrolling was Defender, with poor results. Its sequel, Stargate used sprite manipulation to much better effect.

[@BrawlinEntertaintment2K]

"Many joysticks met their end playing Track and Field" Solution: Use a Genesis/Mega Drive controller.

[@iana6713]

Now that was fascinating!

[@pojr]

thanks!

[@iana6713]

@@pojr No worries! Wish I'd lived during the heyday of the 2600 - I would've loved looking out for the latest new game to come out. Amazing what they did with the hardware.

[@reillywalker195]

The Atari 7800 wasn't nearly as successful as the NES, but it was reasonably successful. It outsold the Sega Master System in North America and reportedly sold well in Europe-which I presume in both cases was because of its lower price than its competitors and its backward-compatibility with Atari 2600 games. When it comes to limit-pushing Atari 2600 games, _Tunnel Runner_ and _Pitfall II_ deserve a mention: the former for its 3D environments and intense first-person gameplay, and the latter for its huge and interesting 2D world. _Sprint Master_ is also worth a mention as one of the console's better 2-player racing games.

[@mchenrynick]

btw in the original Video Pinball, you CAN make both flippers go up by pressing "up" on the joystick. Take the time to read the manuals before posting your videos =) Solaris looks similar to Phaser Patrol from the Supercharger cassette games.

[@MCastleberry1980]

Its interesting that it was still getting releases so late, but it was definitely a zombie console. There are some interesting things late in life, and other "Why did they even try this?" releases like the Double Dragon port.

[@piotrr8706]

Whoa... Some of the games you've shown look like they belonged to other consoles, but still! EDIT: I liked NES a bit more, maybe because of the menus and more convenient starting the games, but this lifespan of Atari 2600 is still impressive! Wonder if Nintendo Switch will have a similiarly long lifespan? Or maybe even longer?! Even with the gossip about Switch 2, it looks like Nintendo likes their current console too much, and so do the game developers and publishers, and consumers. But the future will tell... Great video! Keep on going!

[@LatitudeSky]

The 2600 was cheap, well, at least the later hardware versions. Being cheap and having lots of games gave them staying power. It was also among the first consoles emulated on PCs in the 90s which likely spurred the the reissued consoles with included games.

[@riversarcadereview385]

actually Video Pinball could activate both flippers by pressing up on the joystick

[@richfutrell753]

No mention of Secret Quest? Atari marketed that as their answer to Zelda (well, Zelda's dungeons anyway) and it even had a password system.

[@metronome8471]

Secret quest has depth.

[@AmyStrikesBack]

Something somewhat similar happend to the master system, yes the mega drive was more powerfull and better but the master system still sold very well in countries like Brazil for being way cheaper, leaving it to still be supported thought the 16 bit era and somewhat to this day, since tectoy (the sega distributor here) STILL make master system consoles to this day

[@AmyStrikesBack]

Like, you can Just Go to their site and buy one

[@tarstarkusz]

That's largely because the market doesn't really matter.

[@AmyStrikesBack]

@@tarstarkusz ?

[@tarstarkusz]

@@AmyStrikesBack The market in Brazil doesn't really matter.

[@AmyStrikesBack]

@@tarstarkusz thats a eurocentric world view

[@arinbeargaming190]

hey pojr!

[@aleksazunjic9672]

It must be said that later games barely used Atari hardware, i.e. almost everything was on the cartridge. Price of memory and other chips dropped, so this was possible. Also, games were still in $20-30 price range, although console itself was cheap.