Atari
Atari is a consumer electronics brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972, currently by Atari Interactive, a subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA (ASA). The original Atari, Inc. founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney was a pioneer in arcade games, home video game consoles, and home computers. The company's products, such as Pong and the Atari 2600, helped define the electronic entertainment industry from the 1970s to the mid-1980s.
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a home video game console released in September 1977 by Atari,
Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM
cartridges containing game code, a format first used with the Fairchild Channel F game
console. This format contrasts with the older model of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware, which could play only the few games which are physically built in to the unit.
Atari 5200
The Atari 5200 SuperSystem, commonly known as the Atari 5200, is a home video game console that was introduced in 1982 by Atari Inc. as a higher-end complementary console for the popular Atari 2600. The 5200 was created to compete with the Intellivision, but wound up more directly competing with the ColecoVision shortly after its release.
Atari 7800
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in January 1986. It had simple digital joysticks and was almost fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600, the first console to have backward compatibility without the use of additional modules. It was considered affordable at a price of US$140.
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic
3DO in processing power. Although launched one year earlier, it was eventually in competition with the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation, and other consoles that made up the fifth generation of video game consoles. The console was first released in New York City and San Francisco in 1993, and the rest of the US in early 1994. Although it was marketed as the first 64-bit gaming system, the Jaguar proved to be a commercial failure and prompted Atari to leave the home video game console market. Despite its commercial failure, the Jaguar has a dedicated fan base that produces homebrew games for it. It was the last console from an American company until the 2001 introduction of Microsoft's Xbox.