While the adapter was only made to work on the two-port version, modifications can be made to the four-port to make it line-compatible. It also has changes in the cartridge port address lines to allow for the Atari 2600 adapter released that year. The 1983 revision of the Atari 5200 has two controller ports instead of four, and a change back to the more conventional separate power supply and standard non-autoswitching RF switch.
A single cable coming out of the 5200 plugged into the switch box and carried both electricity and the television signal. The RF box was also where the power supply connected in a unique dual power/television signal setup similar to the RCA Studio II's. Previous RF adapters required the user to slide a switch on the adapter by hand.
Atari 5200 romset tv#
The 5200 also featured the innovation of the first automatic TV switchbox, allowing it to automatically switch from regular TV viewing to the game system signal when the system was activated. The 5200 also featured a new style of controller with an analog joystick, numeric keypad, two fire buttons on each side of the controller and game function keys for Start, Pause, and Reset. The initial 1982 release of the system featured four controller ports, where nearly all other systems of the day had only one or two ports. Actual working Atari Video System X machines, whose hardware is 100% identical to the Atari 5200 do exist, but are extremely rare. It is also rumored that PAM actually stood for "Personal Arcade Machine", as the majority of games for the system ended up being arcade conversions. In its prototype stage, the Atari 5200 was originally called the "Atari Video System X – Advanced Video Computer System", and was codenamed "Pam" after a female employee at Atari, Inc. The chipset used in these machines was created with the mindset that the 2600 would likely be obsolete by the 1980 time frame.Ītari later decided to re-enter the games market with a design that closely matched their original 1978 specifications. Atari's management decided to enter this market, and the technology was repackaged into the Atari 400 and 800. These machines had less advanced hardware than the new Atari technology, but sold for much higher prices with associated higher profit margins. However, as the system was reaching completion, the personal computer revolution was starting with the release of machines like the Commodore PET, TRS-80 and Apple II. Much of the technology in the Atari 8-bit family of home computer systems was originally developed as a second-generation games console intended to replace the 2600. ( February 2014) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification. Total sales of the 5200 were reportedly in excess of 1 million units, far short of its predecessor's sales of over 30 million. On May 21, 1984, during a press conference at which the Atari 7800 was introduced, company executives revealed that the 5200 had been discontinued after just two years on the market. The 360-degree non-centering joystick was touted as offering more control than the eight-way Atari CX40 joystick of the 2600, but was a focal point for criticism. The 5200's controllers have an analog joystick and a numeric keypad along with start, pause, and reset buttons.
Atari 5200 romset software#
The CPU and the graphics and sound hardware are almost identical to that of the Atari 8-bit computers, although software is not directly compatible between the two systems. While the Coleco system shipped with the first home version of Nintendo's Donkey Kong, the 5200 included the 1978 arcade game Super Breakout which had already appeared on the Atari 8-bit family and Atari VCS in 19 respectively. Created to compete with Intellivision, the 5200 wound up a direct competitor of ColecoVision shortly after its release. The VCS was renamed to the Atari 2600 at the time of the 5200's launch.
as a higher-end complement for the popular Atari Video Computer System. The Atari 5200 SuperSystem or simply Atari 5200 is a home video game console introduced in 1982 by Atari, Inc.