40 years of the Atari 2600 (1977-2017)

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CONTENTS ATARI:

A BRIEF HISTORY

THE GODFATHER

OF VIDEO GAMES CONSOLES

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS GAMES:

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

JOYSTICKS:

THE ATARI 2600'S CONTROLLERS

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

ATARI A BRIEF HISTORY

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

Atari began as Syzygy Engineering in the late 1960s, with Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. By 1972, Bushnell had seen a tennis-themed game played on a home console called the Magnavox Odyssey, and decided that it would be a good idea to create an arcade version of this game, which would soon become known as Pong.

The company decided to have a name change, as Bushnell discovered that there was already a Syzygy company in California that made candles. The company became known as Atari, after a phrase that is shouted out during the Japanese game of Go that Bushnell and Dabney were playing at the time; the word Atari meaning something similar to ‘checkmate’.

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

Now owning full licenses to Pong, the team at Atari, Inc. began creating an arcade version of the game. After creating the cabinet, they placed a Black and White television inside, along with a coin mechanism found from a Laundromat, and had a milk carton on the inside to catch the dropped coins.

They placed it in a pub in Sunnyvale, to test if it would work.

The following day they heard that the machine was broken, and upon arriving to fix it, they were greeted with a crowd of people all waiting to use the machine. The problem with the machine was nothing to do with the programming of the game, but rather that the coin slot had become jammed with the amount of quarters that the players had been forcing into the slot.

They had a hit. Atari Inc was now officially established as a coin-op design and production agency.

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

Now hiring more people, including members from ex-rival companies, the Atari team continued to make and distribute arcade games across North America in 1973, they also purchased a company called Cyan Engineering who were Atari’s think tank and researchers into next-generation video game systems, and work began on a prototype ‘Stella’, after one of the employees bicycle.

In 1976, Atari gained access to the MOS Technology 6502 (sixty five oh two), a 8-bit microprocessor, which was considered the least expensive, full featured processor on the market. For the first time the team had a CPU that they could use to their advantage, on the prototype Stella. The unit was now the first console to feature its own CPU, along with a combined RAM and I/O chip and MOS Technology 6532 (known as the 6532 RAM-I/O Timer or the RIOT) as well as a Television Interface Adaptor (TIA) for sound and display.

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

However, the company did not have enough money to start producing Stella, so Bushnell sold the company to Warner Communications in 1976 for US$28 on the promise that the console would be completed as soon as possible. By the time the unit was debugged and ready for shipping, it had cost the company US$100 million.

The unit was renamed the Video computer System or the VCS for short, and was sold with two joysticks and a Combat Cartridge. Eight additional games were also available to buy on its release.

Designs for a successor began after the VCS had shipped, the company turned its focus upon designing home computers such as the Atari 800 and its smaller cousin the Atari 400. The units were considered less-attractive than its rival the Apple II, but it became widely spread and gained popularity. During this time with Warner, Atari achieved its greatest success, selling millions of VCS’s, Computers and, at the time, was the fastest growing company in the history of the United States.

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

It wasn’t however, always going to be this way, as in 1980, Mattel released its Intellivion, which boasted its superior graphics within its advertisements. However, it lacked the variety of games that Atari had accumulated, and thus Atari was still the more popular unit.

On the release of the famous 1980s movie, ET. The Extra Terrestrial, Atari Inc, thought it would be a good idea to cash on the films success by creating a video game to go alongside it that people could play. After months of anticipation and hype, the game was released in the December, and along with Pacman, were soon to become two of the VCS’s biggest selling games. However, the game failed to impress the public, and sales quickly decreased, resulting in millions of unsold copies.

After spending nearly $30 million on rights for the use of the ET franchise, the company had ran into serious problems, and wasn’t creating enough revenue to fill the gap that the cost of the license had left.

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

To try and gain sales, the company released a new console that was meant to succeed the VCS, but turned into a flop, and was eventually outlived by the VCS. All of this, along with the flooded market of different game consoles caused the great Video Games Crash in 1983. Through the recent struggles the company had, Atari Inc was sold off from Warner Communications, to Jack Tramiel, the founder, and recently resigned member of Commodore International, one of Atari’s largest rivals. He managed to keep the ‘Atari Corporation’ afloat whilst the company developed the 16 bit computer, the Atari ST and in the following year released their follow up to the 8-bit computer line, the XE series.

By 1985, The VCS now referred to as the Atari 2600 had fierce competition from over seas. Nintendo had developed the Nintendo Entertainment System (The NES) that was starting to revitalize the games industry with an assortment of new games to play, such as Donkey Kong, a Port from the Japanese arcade game. To go against this new console, the Atari Corporation brought out the Atari 2600 jr, a smaller sleeker console that was still able to play the 2600 game cartridges. Along with this, the company allowed third party companies, such as Activision and Imagic to produce games such as Pitfall! And Demon Attack for the unit. The company then brought out a more 80s-esq looking unit called the 7800, which looked like a larger 2600 jr, and played the same games, but still did not sell as well as the 2600.

The company brought out hand-held consoles to compete with the 1989 GameBoy from Nintendo, but again could not complete with the new Japanese unit.

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

In 1993, Atari released its last video games console, the Atari Jaguar, to compete with the Sega Genesis and the Super NES, both of which were now 5th generation consoles. Sony also released the first generation of PlayStation in the following year. Though the Jaguars technology was superior to that of the SNES and the Sega Genesis, and cheaper, the console was again a flop and was discontinued in 1996.

Atari became officially defunct in 1996.

Though not selling consoles today, Atari does still today exist. Now known as Atari SA, this company houses Atari Interactive which produces retro styled games for Apps for smart phones as well as modern versions for new Games consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The infamous Atari A logo, as well as the joystick shape, have become what of a brand name, which can be seen on t-shirts, stationary, bags and even headphones. The company even produces the Atari Flashback range, currently on flashback 4, a range of units that resemble the VCS and which features 40 in-built classic Atari games, as well as two controllers.

ATARI - A BRIEF HISTORY

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

THE ATARI 2600 IS CONSIDERED THE GODFATHER OF VIDEO GAME CONSOLES, AND WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SELLING UNIT IN ITS TIME, AS WELL AS HAVING THE LONGEST COMMERCIAL LIFE TIME OF ANY GAMES CONSOLE EVER.

THE GODFATHER OF VIDEO GAME CONSOLES

A

tari began working on the system in 1976, under the name of ‘Stella’. Needing more money to complete the console, Atari sold its unit to Warner Communications for $28 million dollars in late 1976, and the company wanted the Atari system to dominate the console world. The Stella system soon turned into the VCS , the Video Computer system, and what was unique about it was that unlike consoles before the VCS had a Central Processing Unit (a CPU) , like a brain which can send signals to other parts of the machine, which previous console lacked. It also enabled different games to be played by inserting different cartridges that stored the games on their ROMS, rather than the single game in the consoles unit. This way different cartridges could have different games on them, letting the user play experience different game types.

Atari managed to boost its sales by using large American departmental store Sears & Roebuck to distribute consoles, in arrangement, Sears were allowed to also distribute their own version of the console which was called the ‘Sears Video Arcade’ which played 2600 cartridges, which were renamed tele-games for their own console. By doing this Atari gained massive popularity as their unit became widely available for many to play. it was finally released in the October of 1977, with 9 different games to play for a price of $200 dollars, it was released a year later in the United Kingdom in 1978 and appeared in stores such as Woolworth’s.

Due to there being such a large market of older, now obsolete consoles which could play only Pong, there was a Video Game Crash which resulted in dampening profits for Video games consoles such as the VCS and its main competitor the Magnavox. However, in 1978, the Japanese firm ‘Taito’ released an arcade game called Space Invaders, which Atari soon had licenses for and were able to port (convert) onto the cartridges of the VCS. The released of this game brought about a second renaissance of video games and also helped boosts Atari’s profits and subsequently bringing them out of the worst of the crash.

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

In 1980, Activision was formed, a game developing company, which began to produce its own games for the Atari. Many of its members originally worked for Atari, on games such as pitfall and Combat, but felt they weren’t getting enough credit for their games. Though not happy with the idea of the company breaking up a little, Activision was known to have developed some of the best games for the VCS, and brought about more developers such as ‘Apollo’ and ‘Spectravision’ bringing about more games to the shelves. Atari also ported more Arcade games in 1982, such as Missile Command and Asteroids.

It was the release of the port of the popular arcade game Pac Man which first caused problems for Atari. It is said that Atari believed that the game would sell well down to Pac-Mans popularity whilst as an arcade game, and time spend on developing the game seemed limited, resulting in a fairly unfaithful port, which damaged Atari’s reputation after it was promoted so heavily. Atari then released their infamous game based off the hit Steven Spielberg film of the 1980s, ET. The Extra Terrestrial, often being referred to as the culprit for the massive video games crash in 1983. After spending nearly $21 million Dollars to get he game licensed, the game was seen as being aggravating and of poor design. Atari were left with over 5 million unsold ET cartridges in the warehouse, not coming anywhere close to making up for the amount that they spend on the licensing for the film.

At about this time, new-generation consoles were begging to emerge, such as the ColecoVision. Against this, Atari brought out a new unit, the Atari 5200 SuperSystem, after its part number.

Following its trend the VCS was rebranded as the Atari 2600 and featured a new logo on the units casing. The new 5200 system was a flop though due to its badly designed controllers and its lack of backwards compatibility. The 2600 continued to sell well, even in the next-gen environment, and even the next-gen units such as the Coleco, brought out add on modules, so that Atari games could be used on its own unit.

As so many consoles were using cheap and poorly designed software by 1984, video games had truly lost their popularity, though Atari had already been feeling this a few year previously, and kept trying to promote the unit by lowering the price as well as trying add-on modules to make the system more like a computer,

THE GODFATHER OF VIDEO GAMES CONSOLES

but the design flopped, and the “my First Computer” add on was never released.

By September 1986, Nintendo’s NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) had reached America and revitalised the north American Video games market. Realising this Atari released a new machine, the Atari 7800 as well as the Atari Jr, both of which could play previous 2600 games.

Though the games were now selling as cheap as $10 dollars, Atari was still gaining licenses from companies to produce games such as Q•Bert and Donkey Kong. Again Third party companies were also releasing games for the system, though by now Atari was getting quite clearly left behind by the New Superior units from Japan. The unit was now selling for under $50 Dollars and by 1989 manufacturing of 2600 games ended.

The unit itself was finally discontinued in 1992.

Though the Atari suffered major issues with the development of their games in the early 80s, the 2600 is probably one of the most iconic examples of classic video games consoles ever produced. It sold over 25 million units and increased the popularity in video games to the height of which they are today. It is still a highly recognisable unit through its retro design, with the iconic woodgrain effect, as well as its controllers, which, along side the companies logo, can be seen being used on merchandise such as mugs and T-shirts.

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1977

1978 FOUR SWITCH

THE VCS CX2600 A

THE LIGHT SIXER

THE VCS CX2600

THE HEAVY SIXER

THE VCS CX2600

40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

VARIATIONS

1980

2

1984 3

1

1 SHORT RAINBOW 2 LONG RAINBOW 3 IRISH ALL-BLACK

ATARI 2600 JR.

‘DARTH VADER’

THE ATARI 2600

THE GODFATHER OF VIDEO GAMES CONSOLES

1986

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

The motherboard is comprised of a PC board containing a microprocessor chip, a combination of RAM and Input/ output chip and TIA Chip. In the original sixer models, the CPU was covered by Heavy radio Frequency shielding (Aluminium) Switchboard and motherboard connected by a 12 pin ribbon cable in the sixer models.

SOUND 2 channel mono sound (1 square wave – 1 white noise)

OUTPUT B/W or Colour TV, sound connector through RCA Connector (phono) red, yellow, white.

TIA (television INPUT Interface Adapter) two D9 Controller ‘Stella’ – the Ports for ‘heart’ and ‘guts’ joysticks etc. of the 2600’s graphics and DISPLAY sound.

Between 256- 320 px per line & 192 RIOT – RAM– 240 lines per I/O-timer, MOS screen.

Tech 6532.

This chip reads ‘Players’ the ports and or ‘sprites’ control switches. controlled by Interoperates data player. Sprites from controllers. 8x192 pxls.

CPU – 1.19 mhz MOS Technology 6507 processor. Can access 8kmemory natively.

R/F Modulator – The image from the TIA is passed through the R/F Modulator for display of the VHF Channel 3 (Very High frequency) some have different channel versions for 3 and 4.

RAM -128 bytes

Playfieldbackground.

(Racing beam would be fired up the TIA and draw the background) resolution 40x 192 pixels (NTSC) COLOUR PALETTE NTSC (America) 128, PAL (UK) 104, SECAM (France, Russia) 8.

ROM cartridges 4kb max capability.

(23kb with Bank switching)

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

GAMES

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES 24

40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

PAC-MAN Publishers: Atari, Inc. Released: 1982 Sold: 7 million Using the joystick, navigate the munching PacMan around the playfield, eating up as many wafers throughout the maze and avoid getting eaten by the four ghosts. Occasionally, larger wafers will appear, and when eaten will give PacMan a temporary invulnerability to the ghosts, which he can also eat in at this time for extra points. To gain access to the next level, PacMan must eat all the wafers in the maze, and survive the ghost attacks.

PacMan for the Atari was a port from the original 1980 Arcade game by Japanese company namco. It hit North America in the same year, and found its way onto the Atari CX2600 in 1982, after requiring the rights to publish Namco games in the late 70s.

PacMan became an icon of the 1980s, as well as one of the best selling games of all time. PacMan (or Pakkuman) was designed by Toru Iwatani after the shape of the Japanese character for ‘mouth’ (口) , turned on its side. The name PacMan originated also from the Japanese onomatopoeic phrase for chomping food ‘paku paku’. Also, due to the characters resemblance with a hockey puck, he got the name of ‘Puck Man’, which was changed in North America by its buyer Midway to ‘PacMan’ due to fears that its name could get vandalised.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

PITFALL! Publishers: Activision Released: 1982 Sold: 4 million The Player must manoeuvre Pitfall Harry through a jungle, avoiding dangerous animals such as scorpions, snakes and crocodiles, whilst searching for 32 treasures within 20 minutes. To get past obstacles, Harry must swing from branches; tunnel underground and cross rivers to reach the treasures.

Activision was founded in 1979 and began producing games cartridges for the CX2600 in the 80s, when Atari finally agreed to have third-party game developers for their console.

Pitfall! Was the Atari’s second largest selling game, and one of the most memorable for the 2600. After its initial release, the game remained No1 on the Video Game Billboard for 64 weeks in a row.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

ASTEROIDS Publishers: Atari, Inc Released: 1981 Sold: 3.8 million The objective of the game is to destroy as many asteroids and flying saucers, gaining more points by doing so, whilst also trying to avoid them crashing into the players triangular shaped spaceship. The spaceship can rotate in all directions and fires bullets, which help break down and destroy the asteroids.

Asteroids was developed as a multi-directional arcade shooter in 1979, selling over 70,000 arcade cabinets of the game. In 1981 it was released as a port for the VCS, and was the best selling Atari Video game prior to PacMan. Along with PacMan and Space Invaders, Asteroids is probably one of the most famous, traditional video games ever released.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

MISSILE COMMAND Publishers: Atari, Inc. Released: 1980 Sold: 2.5 million Planes deploying missiles are attacking the players 6 cities. The objective it to shoot down the missiles to help keep the cities safe.

Like a lot of Atari’s other games, Missile Command originated as a cabinet Arcade Game, and was realised as a port for the VCS later on. It is said that the six cities were meant to represent California, Eureka, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and San Diego and caused an interest within the fascination of the manifestation of the cold War and its effects on Popular Culture, paralleling the threat of nuclear war. The Programmer of the Game David Theurer is said to have had frequent nightmares about the six cities being destroyed whilst working on the game.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

SPACE INVADERS Publishers: Atari Inc. Released: 1980 Sold: 2 million The objective of the game is to control the laser cannon at the bottom of the playfield and fire at the descending aliens. The aim is to defeat the 5 rows of aliens before progressing onto the next level.

The more aliens killed, the faster the game play becomes and the harder the harder the aliens become to destroy. As they decent, the bottom row of aliens will fire back towards the players cannon and destroy the defensive bunkers around the cannon.

Space Invaders was created by Tomohiro Nishikado, and was manufactured and sold in Japan by Taito in 1978. It was licensed for production in the US by Midway, like PacMan. When it was released on the VCS in 1980 it became known as the first ‘killer app’, by quadrupling the systems sales. The pixilated alien invader has become what of a pop culture icon and is often a representation of video gaming.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

DEMON ATTACK Publishers: Atari Inc. Released: 1980 Sold: 2 million The objective of the game is to control the laser cannon at the bottom of the playfield and fire at the descending aliens. The aim is to defeat the 5 rows of aliens before progressing onto the next level.

The more aliens killed, the faster the game play becomes and the harder the harder the aliens become to destroy. As they decent, the bottom row of aliens will fire back towards the players cannon and destroy the defensive bunkers around the cannon.

Space Invaders was created by Tomohiro Nishikado, and was manufactured and sold in Japan by Taito in 1978. It was licensed for production in the US by Midway, like PacMan. When it was released on the VCS in 1980 it became known as the first ‘killer app’, by quadrupling the systems sales. The pixilated alien invader has become what of a pop culture icon and is often a representation of video gaming.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL Publishers: Atari, Inc Released: 1982 Sold: 1.5 million The aim of the game is, playing as ET, collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone, which can be found in various pits around the playfield. The player has an on screen energy bar which can be topped up by collecting and eating ‘Reese’s Pieces’ which are used to restore energy. ET can levitate by stretching up his neck, which is required to escape from pits. When all three pieces of the phone, the player must guide ET to an area of the playing field where ET can make a phone call to his planet. He then has to reach the spaceship before the time runs out, and has to start searching for the phones pieces again.

ET. The Game is one of the most infamous of Atari games, and major benefactor to the demise of the Atari Company. After spending $20-25 million on rights for the game, the game began an lengthy advertisement campaign which lead it into being the most sought after Christmas present that December, and retailers ordered a multitude of the cartridges. However, after a few weeks of its release, Atari stopped receiving orders for the game, as new competitors that Atari hadn’t anticipated, entered the market. The game has been described as “primitive” and “dull” as well as hosting a “disappointing story” unlike some of Atari’s previous games.

Though it remains Atari’s seventh best selling game of all time, selling around 1.5 units, the company was said to have had between 2.5 and 35. Million cartridges in its warehouses. It is said that during 1983, under cover of nightfall, Atari had its remaining cartridges crushed and dumped in landfill in New Mexico, though no evidence has been found for or against. The game is believed to be one of the causes of the Video games crash in 1983, as well as causing Atari a reported a loss of $536 million, and eventually lead to the company being divided and sold in 1984.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

ADVENTURE Publishers: Atari Inc. Released: 1979 Sold: 1 million The player’s task is to find the enchanted chalice and return to the golden castle. The player’s character is represented by a square, and he must work his way through the castle, avoiding the three dragons, Yorgle, Grundle and Rhindle. The player can pick up specific swords, which can kill the dragons, and use keys to unlock different parts of the castle.

Adventure was the first action-adventure game on a video console, and the first to allow the character to store items away. It is also known to be the first video game to feature an ‘Easter egg’, like an intentional joke or hidden message. Players in difficulty level 2 and 3 were able to get their character to ‘bounce’ over a 1px object known as the ‘grey dot’. When on the other side of the dot they were able to locate a separate chamber, which contained the message “ Created

by Warren Robinett”.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

ATLANTIS Publishers: Imagic Released: 1982 Sold: 1 million The aim of the game is to defend the city of Atlantis from the Gorgon Invaders. The city has seven settlements that are targeted by the Gorgons, three of which support guns, which the player can use to take down the enemies before they drop bombs on the settlements.

When the game is over, a small ship emerges from the depths of the sea and carried the inhabitants away.

Atlantis is similar to games such as Missile Command and Space Invaders, as it requires the player to destroy airborne enemies.

Imagic brought out Atlantis II, the follow up sequel and based the game ‘Cosmic Ark’ around the inhabitants that escaped in the boat at the end of the Atlantis. The Imagic company released its games for other consoles asides the VCS, including the Colecovision and the Intellivision, but was short lived due to the 1983 Video game crash, and became defunct in 1986.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

RIVER RAID Publishers: Activision Released: 1982 Sold: 1 million The aim of this game was for the player to fly a fighter jet down the ‘River of no return’, taking out enemy boats, helicopters and hot air balloons for points. The player has to take notice of the fuel gage which can eventually run empty, and needs to be topped up by flying over fueling stations which stand in the river. The player enters the next level by flying over, and destroying the bridges, whjich again give the player points.

River Raid is famous for being one of the first video games to be classified as not suitable for minors due to its violent content. It was made illegal to be sold to young children in West Germany in 1984, because it was believed to cause “anger and aggressiveness” in children through playing as a “uncompromising fighter and agent of annihilation’. Its age restriction was lifted in 2002 when Activision began releasing games for the PlayStation 2. The game was followed up by River Raid II in 1988.

10 MOST POPULAR VCS CARTRIDGES

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

JOYSTICK - THE ATARI 2600’S CONTROLLERS

JOYSTICK

THE ATARI 2600'S CONTROLLERS 46

40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

The Joystick The original, and simple designed VCS’s Joystick. Though not the greatest Joystick at the time, its iconic design is probably what most people think of first when they hear the term ‘Joystick’ . It is seen today on T-shirst and mechaindise. The VCS came with two of these joystciks, and two paddles. The controller was four-directional and featured one ‘shoot’ button in red. All the joysticks woukd connect via a DE-9 Controller port, which was also used on other games consoles such as the SEGA Mega Drive.

Atari jr Controller This was the redesigned controller for the Atari 2600 jr. Though it fits in with the sleeker design of the new unit, the joystick was quite flimsy and could break easily, so many just plugged in the original joystick, and used that instead.

JOYSTICK - THE ATARI 2600’S CONTROLLERS

The Paddle The paddle was first used in the Atari game Pong before the 2600, and followed the game over into the 2600 unit. It could also be used in a large array of other games. This paddle was potentiometer-based, meaning it didn’t turn through a full circle as the drive paddle did, that was added to the collection later. This was mainly due to expense as they would then require more sensitive analogue sensing, which was more expensive at the time.

Driving Paddle This Paddle was a later edition to the controller family. Unlike the other set of paddles, these ones could turn a full 360 degrees.

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

Space-Age Joystick The Atari Space Age Joystick was touted as an advanced controller, compatible with the Atari 2600. It featured a unique form factor with a pistol grip with a trigger button, and a joystick on top.

Remote-control Joystick These heavy joysticks were developed so players would not have to sit so close to the television set when playing, however, the joystick was very thick, and subsequently not very comfortable to hold. Plus the battery did not last very long.

JOYSTICK - THE ATARI 2600’S CONTROLLERS

The Keypad Controller Sold in pairs, the Keyboard Controller is a 12-function keyboard that could be used with any game made for use with this controller.

It was specifically handy for the game ‘Basic programming’

Video Keypad

Also known as the ‘Star Raiders’ controller, this joystick was functionally identical to the Kid’s Controller and Keypad Controller.

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40 YEARS OF THE ATARI 2600

The Atari XE light Gun

Though sold under the XE Line, this gun was compatible with the Atari 2600 and was comparable with games such as ‘Sentinel’ and Atari’s ‘Shooting Range’.

Track-n-Field Controller Originally sold with Atari’s ‘Track & Field’, it was also available separately for use on other systems, and works with other games.

JOYSTICK - THE ATARI 2600’S CONTROLLERS

The TrakBall

The Trakball, although originally designed for the Atari 2600, could also be used on the Atari 400/800, XL/XE computers and also the Atari 7800 PROsystem. Missile Command could be used with the TrakBall

The Atari Kids Controller The Atari Kids Controller is a variant of the Atari 2600 Keyboard Controller, consisting of a 12-function keyboard made for kids’ hands to use. The first prototypes were black to fit in more with the colour of the unit, but was later changed to a more child-friendly Blue.

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