I got an Atari 5200 Cheap on eBay! But Does it Work?

[@ataribowlingcgc4465]

The 5200 is my wife's favorite system. We own every game and homebrew and many prototypes. We also own every peripheral with the exception of a kiosk and the hotel unit. I prefer the Starcon controller. She loves the stock controller and we have 4 best electronics rebuilds. I also have 4 modded controllers for paddles and several trakballs and a closet full of systems. Several are modded.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Well I think I would call you and your wife atari 5200 superfans. If I need any information I'm coming to you ok

[@adm712]

Owning an Atari 5200 is like being in a relationship with a great person who has issues. If you can deal with the issues, the relationship is well worth it. LOL!!😂

[@TheAtariNetwork]

That's a brilliant way of describing it!

[@GTV-Japan]

That’s like a bumper sticker I saw once “no matter how hot she looks, someone somewhere is sick of her $#!+”

[@billyg8614]

Had this system back in the day. Loved it. Games on the 5200 had much better graphics than the 2600. Enjoyed Pole Position, Missle Command, Star Wars, Ms. Pacman, Dreadnaught Factor & Qix.

[@glenn4110]

I still have mine in the box from my childhood. Looking forward to this series and getting it running again.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Oh wow that's awesome. I think it's cool to see the old boxes and stuff!

[@b.o.4492]

Bought a rebuilt controller using that gold kit. Works great so far.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

That's awesome I feel good about getting it now. The difference was night and day with that rebuild kit. A lot of people were praising that kit and Atarirepairparts dot com over on AtariAge too.

[@jsttv]

My co-worker just sold me his working 2 port Atari 5200, w/(4) 5200 controllers, 5200 trackball, 2600 adapter, 2 Atari 2600 joysticks, (18) 5200 games & (1) 2600 game for $200. I got a great deal.

[@johneygd]

I bought my atari 5200 2 port model the previous year with games such as pcman,mariobros,popeye,moon patrol and more and i am very happy with it.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Great games! I'm really happy with my purchase but it could've easily turned bad. I order another set of games the other day, Vanguard Mario Bros, and Kangaroo. Overall I'm surprised how affordable most of the library is!

[@makaveli4205]

The angry video game nersd. Did this 5200 review many years ago. Funny just watching him hook it up.

[@delfmeek5481]

I bought a 5200 in the late 90s at a flea market for $25. Those days are long gone! But once you get a rebuilt controller, and get used to the controller, its a fun system. It took me over 30 years to get a complete game collection. But i always recall wanting one as a kid. All becauae the version of Pac Man on that system had "rpund dots" instead of wafers on the 2600. Not exactly a selling point to my parents back then. As far as those games that only work on the 4 port like Pitfall, and Krazy Shootout, you can get a 4 port BIOS from Console Five and swap it out to nadd that compatibility.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

That's a good point about the bios I'll have to look into that. Thank you

[@pinebarrenpatriot8289]

The 5200 ports like Kangaroo, Centipede, and Moon Patrol were near arcade quality for the time. Even having decent luck with retro gaming on eBay those damn faulty controllers scare me from buying a 5200. Ironic because my original 40 year old Atari 2600 works first try everytime with any game.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I have to say I think the 23-30 dollar repair kit from Atarirepairparts website or eBay store is a solid solution. Again, I'll keep everybody updated but if it lasts then the days of being scared away by faulty and expensive controllers may be over with.

[@Nummer6]

Congrats on your purchase! I own a 2-port system and I bought Pitfall along with a few other games when I purchased it way back in 1984. At the time I wasn't aware of any problems. But it works!!! Not sure why, but it seems that Activision released a fixed version for the 2-port model. At least that's what I read somewhere...

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Thank you. I'll have to look into this fixed version! If that's true then that's great news for me!

[@johnketo2150]

The two port Atari 5200 has the advantage that it works with the VCS cartridge adapter, if you want the same nice backwards compatibility that the Atari 7800 has.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I didn't know that the two port was compatible with the VCS adapter. So it's the 4 port that doesn't work with it?

[@johnketo2150]

Well my VCS adapter box says that it is not compatible with stock 4 port models. The box says that Atari service centers can modify the 4 port to work with the adapter. Those service centers are undoubtably unavailable now, but with some electronics skills and some internet knowledge it may be possible to do this modification yourself.

[@audrisampson]

You got lucky. I bought a 4 port but could never get the start button going.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Yeah it was a gamble I probably shouldn't of taken. I've been burnt before doing that but I guess I didn't learn my lesson. I hope maybe you can get the start button dealt with eventually if you still have it

[@Monhamd1000]

I think modding an Atari 5200 shouldn't be too hard, and you can buy a 4 port BIOS and you get to play the 3 games.

[@dad7275]

Again congratulations!! I bought my 5200 a few years back at a great price on Ebay and like yours it was 'as is' but when i brought it home it worked like a charm. It was in great cosmetic condition too. Also mine is a 2 port. I use a little custom made numerical box that has a Sega Genesis control pad input so thats my controller choice now. The box also has 2 dial knobs to zero in d pad input.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Oh that sounds awesome I'd love to get something like that!

[@dad7275]

@@TheAtariNetwork the little box was expensive but works beautifully.

[@CardiacCat]

I had a 5200 when I was younger. I picked it up second hand from the thrift store for just a couple of bucks. It worked great. You could find the games there two or three to a bag for one price (low, like 1.99). Those were the days when everyone wanted nothing but Nintendo. I built quite the library but gave the system to my mom because she loved to play the old arcade games. Someone got into her house and stole it all. I bought her a Nintendo system after that but I don't think she ever liked it like the old 5200.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I love hearing about the deal you got and the prices for the games. It's a shame that somebody would steal it from her I hate hearing that. But you sound like you loved your mom a lot and it was nice of you to get her all that! Prices still don't seem to be too bad for today but man some games do cost a lot.

[@kevinstrade2752]

I still have my 4 port 5200 from 82' that I got for Christmas as a kid...it works fine except the controller of course. I have an analog third party someone was making a few years ago. Works great except Missle command and centipede..I use trak ball for those.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I love that you still have your original console. That's awesome. I plan on looking at some other controllers as well but thank you for the information as a new owner it all helps

[@thedude5295]

I got one with two working controllers. My brother bought it years ago and his wife made him get rid of a bunch of stuff. It's even got the box in pretty sweet condition. We grew up with the 5200 and played it until the controllers broke. He even managed to get Miner 2049er which was our favorite game. Weird story here though... My mom bought a game for the system one day from a gas station we always went to and she knew the people who worked there. In my mind, at the time I imagined she bought it off the shelf and thought it was weird that a gas station was selling Atari games, but looking back I'm sure she bought it off of one of the people she knew there. It was a gray cartridge, which we thought was the coolest thing since the only other cart we had that was a different color was Miner 2049er. We couldn't wait to get it home and try it out. We fired it up, and that was the day that our last controller broke. The Start Button wouldn't work anymore and we couldn't start the game. I wish I remembered the name of the game. All my brothers and I remember is that it had a marquee made up of robots rotating either clockwise or counter-clockwise around the game title. I haven't been to Atari-Age in eons, but I couldn't find it there. I even made a post there maybe 15 to 18 years back asking around if anybody knew what it was, but nobody knew what I was talking about. Fast forward years later before my folks moved out of state and I tore that place up and down to try to find the old box with all the games and the system with the broken controllers to find that cartridge. It was all gone. My youngest brother won't admit it, but I'm sure he sold it like he sold all of our other consoles after me and my other brother had moved out. I've always wondered if my mom had gotten her hands on some sort of prototype or something that would be worth a small fortune today and my brother sold it to Game Stop for a few pennies.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

If I come across a game like that I'll come back to this comment and let you know. A gray cartridge for the 5200 seems like it wouldn't be hard to track down considering the limited releases but like you said maybe it was some sort of proto. Sorry to hear that your little brother sold off your old stuff. Enough time has passed that it's not a big deal we all do stuff as kids, but he might not honestly remember either. Regardless a great story! I'll keep my eyes out, thanks for sharing it!

[@thedude5295]

@@TheAtariNetwork Yeah. It's for sure not an official release, and I just checked on Atari Age last night after writing that comment and they still haven't found any prototype that matches it. I know more about video game/console releases between Atari 2600 and the PS1/N64 generation than most sane people with lives to live would. I don't want to say exactly why in a KZbin comment section, but back in the day I was a pretty big deal in the emulation/preservation scene. Maybe we could talk more about it elsewhere someday. Love your channel. Atari 7800 and 5200 never got the love they deserved.

[@OrionsAngel]

I'd love an Atari 5200 Mini. That's an under appreciated console. There are some amazing arcade ports on the 5200. Centipede, Moon Patrol, Berzerk & Robotron 2084 to name a few. It would also give Atari a chance to redeem themselves by actually making the controller work well.

[@madmax2069]

2:46 yeah, the 5200 TV switchbox, had a 5200 years ago, i just left it connected after the joysticks failed ( i was hoping to find replacements joysticks and continue using it) a while later when i came home i smelled something burning, looked around and just by luck when looking at the wall outlet behind the TV i seen a somewhat charred and partially melted switchbox (just lucky there was no curtains in the vicinity of the switchbox). Another thing to note is that the joystick on the 5200 is analog, a lot of the replacement controllers dont offter the analog functionality (the directions are on or off only), and there's a few games that dont play well with a on off style of input, so it's best to usually rebuild the original 5200 joystick, and some replacement joysticks are analog, but they use a modern style of thumbstick mechanism which returns to center instead of staying where you place the joystick which also makes some games difficult to play.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Oh that's scary about the switch box! I guess the horror stories I read were true! And that's a good point about the joy sticks but I find the rebuilt stock to work pretty well overall. Well so far that is...

[@madmax2069]

@@TheAtariNetwork the rebuilt original joystick is the best method, it's the cheapest, as well as allowing you to play the game as it was intended to be played on that system. There's a few games that just play best with an analog stick that doesn't return to center on the 5200 (centipede, breakout, and missile command just to name a few, Dpad style input would be like controlling a paddle style game with an Atari 2600 joystick, and the modern return to center thumbstick style you would be fighting with the thumbstick from returning to center all the time).

[@DTM-Books]

Yeah, I just bought an Atari 5200 online, which is super weird. I was actually looking forward to the new 400 Mini, but there are a number of issues with that device that need to be resolved, and I found myself interested in the 5200’s arcade titles instead, as well as that trak-ball controller. So chalk it up to a weird desire to create my own home video arcade from 1983. I can’t afford sports cars, so this is the best outlet for my midlife crisis I could afford. Thankfully, we now have options for working 5200 joysticks, from the “gold” mod to luxury joysticks. Add in the digital controller adapter, as well as that trak-ball, and you’re set. I found a nearby retro games store that sold 5200 carts for as little as $1.99, which means you have to buy them just on principle. There is always the multi cart for collecting the more expensive titles, as well as indie-homebrew games. Thanks for the video, it’s much appreciated.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Thanks for sharing your story. I don't often go back to older videos and read comments but I'm glad I read this one. It's always interesting to hear why somebody picked something up and following their journey with it. I need to do an update on my own 5200 I think...

[@DTM-Books]

@@TheAtariNetwork Sometimes, life just takes you in new directions. At least, that’s how all the interesting discoveries are made. In my case, I found myself deeply fascinated by the idea that the Atari 5200 had superior versions of several arcade classics, but more importantly, had games that actually used analog controls as we understand it today. I just discovered that fact this month, 40 years later. And I’ve always been an Atarian, hah! From a Musi CC perspective, it’s like discovering the unique quadraphonic mixes to many of your favorite albums, like Dark Side of the Moon. They have become highly obscure, known only to a select few, which makes them deeply cherished and valued. The idea of having analog control on classic videogames like Star Raiders, Pole Position, Galaxian, Space Invaders and River Raid is actually quite exciting. And that trackball controller just adds a degree of magic to Centipede, Missile Command, Tempest, even Super Breakout. Even the 5290’s failings have a certain charm that mark the era. It’s a towering monument to Atari’s Gatsby moment, their sheer hubris that would completely disintegrate into dust. Heck, this weekend, I saw the original box the system came packaged in. It’s bigger than a car! Commercial suicide, yes, but you have to admire that level of chutzpah, as though Atari’s strategy for success was to shout louder than anyone in the room. And we must remember that the “rules” of the videogame industry were almost completely unknown in 1982. Most people never expected such an industry to even exist, saw TV Games as a silly fad, and were frankly relieved when they all disappeared by 1985. Nintendo slowly rebuilt everything from rubble, learning countless lessons on what not to do. But there was no way Atari could have avoided that fate. They were doomed. And so there is a genuine heartfelt quality to that period of 1982-84, the peak and bursting of the bubble, the computer age’s version of 1929. Anyway, just some thoughts. Thanks again for the video.

[@Shwiggieman]

The 5200 was my first system. My favorite game I had for it was Ms. Pac-Man (the arcade version is still my all-time favorite), but there are a lot of good games for the system. Centipede with the Trak-ball is a must if you can swing it!

[@wiredupretro]

Nice job on the controller flex circuit replacement. It's good to have a really nice working 5200 joystick for sure!

[@GTV-Japan]

If only those people knew their commercials would be fuel for a strange industry of commentary in the future.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I never thought of it like that but you have a good point!

[@qwadpj5093]

I got that for Christmas from toys r Us when I was a kid. What fun

[@Jolt7800]

No Spoiler comment: cool story of acquiring the 5200.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Thank you!

[@pierregareau6590]

I think you did good so far

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Thank you

[@AbeStephan]

Best Electronics on the Internet for ATARI parts .

[@tasedather]

I have an Atari 5200 that I want to get working again, so here I am.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Hopefully it will be easy to get going for you. I've been having a ton of fun with the 5200 and need to do an update on my experiences with it to this point!

[@TrilithiumBanditKelsey]

Nice video, especially the controller-repair part. You did fine going the route you did with your 5200 purchase. The reason is, even in excellent condition, there's a very high chance it won't work properly anyway, especially the controllers which were broken at production. Age is the biggest enemy of the 5200, it actually just falls apart sitting there; the plastics become old and brittle... it wasn't good plastic to begin with; capacitors bleed-out; the controller logic-chips on the board often fail and need to be replaced... so on, so forth. Buying an excellent condition 5200 is a complete waste of money, these things were utter garbage from the get-go. I mean, compare with the early production releases of the 2600 which was built like a tank, and excellent solid-state components... I think the RF shield on the board weighs almost a pound. The 5200 games however are straight-up excellent. So yeah, you made a smart purchase. Best Electronics was a pain to do business with; back in the 90s early 2000s it was okay, but the past 10 years, I dunno, not very reliable with orders. And, the dude who runs it... he thinks he's king of his Atari-parts hill. He's probably trying to still sell his parts catalogue lol. So, you found a better alternative.

[@christinehughes6360]

I still have my original 4 port Atari 5200 from 1982. And its not for sale! :)

[@joshuaharper4439]

Hi there yeah I just got well. I should say it’s on the way a Atari 5202 port system had no idea that some games wouldn’t work with it. Do you know why these games do not work with a two port unit the one I am getting has the plastic still on the silver labels and also the plastic still aren’t both joysticks although I did pay 260 for this unit but still not sure what the conditions really is until I get it I just got a 7800. Also recently that had the plastic over the metal silver metal dealer plate on the top and of course under that plastic that was protecting the silver plate. It had a small dent that you couldn’t see with the plastic still on it and also I am need to find me a bottom case for the 7800 because where the grill is there’s a couple pieces broke out where the grill is underneath the Consul and another thing that you might not know which I’ll let you know is that they made a expansion unit to plug into the 5200 that will allow you to play 2600 games and that unit from what I understand only works on the two port unit I may have to look into seeing if I can find it for per unit as well and thanks for the video hope to see more

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I believe it has something to do with the bios. Somebody was telling me you can install a 4 port bios chip to a 2 port console and the games become immediately compatible. Somebody else was also telling me that there are releases of pitfall that do work but I haven't researched any of this yet.

[@mattschehr163]

atari logo is not copyright of their respective owners

[@kevinstrade2752]

Aren't there Multi-carts still available?

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Probably. I'll end up getting one eventually but I also like collecting the original carts. As a fan of Atari it's fun and most are proving affordable...

[@type4647]

Space Dungeon for the 5200 is in the Mt. Rushmore of all time games. And I say that having owned systems in all 9 generation of video game consoles at the time of their initial releases. It really sux that you need two good controllers to play the game though. Modern Atari keeps repackaging the 7800 and 2600 systems over and over and over again, to the point of who gives a sh*t anymore. Modern Atari should instead show luv to the 5200 instead.

[@mr.serious2618]

Wait I’m behind. It’s 2024?!??

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I'll answer in about a month and a half

[@OGHUGO]

👍

[@legendsflashback]

It's 2023

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Yes it is. But in less than 2 months it'll be 2024 and the video will still be relevant! 4-D chess

[@FunkmasterV]

I love this weak azz shiz

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Eh it is what it is

[@FunkmasterV]

it is what it aint! @@TheAtariNetwork

[@TheAtariNetwork]

But if it is what it ain't how can it be what it is? Unless this isn't it but then what is it?

[@jasfrt6384]

The 5200 is a solid system with some legitimately good ports. But, I don't care what any 5200 fanboy says... That controller is the worst. Rebuilt, refurbished, new membrane... Still absolutely awful.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Yeah it's hard to go back to but I like it well enough. I'm glad to have one that works really well but I'll be looking into other solutions as well

[@hodeyfu7617]

My buddy gave me one about 20 years ago. It was in his shed for years. I took it apart, cleaned the mobo and ran the case through the dishwasher. Runs great today