Difference between revisions of "Atari 7800"
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==Music & Sound== | ==Music & Sound== | ||
| − | Because of the expense of being backward-compatible with the 2600, the 7800 relied on the 2600's [[ | + | Because of the expense of being backward-compatible with the 2600, the 7800 relied on the 2600's [[Television Interface Adaptor]] chip for its on-board audio device. When the 7800 released, in 1986, the TIA was far out of date and incapable of meeting the quality of other third-generation consoles. To combat this problem, General Computer Corporation made it possible to include additional audio chips in the 7800 cartridges themselves (this was also possible on the NES), but this added to the cost of the cartridges. A cheap multimedia chip called GUMBY was planned, but never surfaced, but later games were released with the [[POKEY]] built into the cartridge for better audio capabilities. |
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800] - Wikipedia. | * [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800] - Wikipedia. | ||
* [http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/atari-7800/ mobygames.com/browse/games/atari-7800/] - Moby Games. | * [http://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/atari-7800/ mobygames.com/browse/games/atari-7800/] - Moby Games. | ||
Revision as of 14:03, 7 December 2015
[[Image:Platform - {{{Icon}}}.png|32x32px]] Atari 7800 |
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| Released: | 1986-01-?? |
| Discontinued: | 1992-01-01 |
| Developer: | Atari |
| Type: | Hardware |
The Atari 7800 is a third-generation home videogame console designed by General Computer Corporation and sold by Atari, Inc. It was originally meant to be released in 1984, but its launch was interrupted when Atari was sold. The 2-year delay of its release meant that it was out of date by the time it reached the market and it had to compete with the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Master System, both technically superior consoles. Had the 7800 been released on its intended 1984 schedule, it may have made a much bigger impact as it was quite impressive for the time and its backward-compatibly with the 2600 gave it a huge early game collection.
Games
Due to the Atari 7800's delayed release and poor uptake in the market, fewer than 70 games were released on the platform, however the system's backward compatibility with the 2600 did give it a base of several hundred older games.
Music & Sound
Because of the expense of being backward-compatible with the 2600, the 7800 relied on the 2600's Television Interface Adaptor chip for its on-board audio device. When the 7800 released, in 1986, the TIA was far out of date and incapable of meeting the quality of other third-generation consoles. To combat this problem, General Computer Corporation made it possible to include additional audio chips in the 7800 cartridges themselves (this was also possible on the NES), but this added to the cost of the cartridges. A cheap multimedia chip called GUMBY was planned, but never surfaced, but later games were released with the POKEY built into the cartridge for better audio capabilities.
Links
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_7800 - Wikipedia.
- mobygames.com/browse/games/atari-7800/ - Moby Games.
