Atari 7800
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different model of joystick from the 2600-standard CX40 and Pole Position II as the pack-in game. Most of the announced titles at launch were ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games.
Top: North American 7800 Bottom: European 7800 | |
| Developer | General Computer Corporation |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Atari, Inc. Atari Corporation |
| Type | Home video game console |
| Generation | Third |
| Release date | US:
May 1986 PAL: 1987 |
| Introductory price | US$140 (equivalent to $389 in 2023) |
| Discontinued | January 1, 1992 |
| Media | ROM cartridge |
| CPU | Atari SALLY @ 1.19-1.79 MHz |
| Memory | 4 KB RAM 4 KB BIOS ROM 48 KB cartridge ROM space |
| Display | 160×240, 320×240 (288 vertical for PAL), 25 colors out of 256 |
| Graphics | MARIA custom chip @ 7.16 MHz |
| Backward compatibility | Atari 2600 |
| Predecessor | Atari 5200 |
| Successor | Atari XEGS |
Designed by General Computer Corporation, the 7800 has significantly improved graphics hardware over Atari's previous consoles, but the same Television Interface Adaptor chip that launched with the 2600 in 1977 is used to generate audio. In an effort to prevent the flood of poor quality games that contributed to the video game crash of 1983, cartridges had to be digitally signed by Atari.
The Atari 7800 was first announced by Atari, Inc. on May 21, 1984, but a general release was shelved until May 1986 due to the sale of the company. Atari Corporation dropped support for the 7800, along with the 2600 and the Atari 8-bit family, on January 1, 1992.