Atari's 7800 gaming console is often misunderstood, slightly flawed, and yet a lot of fun to collect for. I review the history of the 7800, show some gameplay footage and celebrate 8-bit gaming goodness!
The timing was terrible for the 7800, I remember getting the 5200 and the big deal they made was that you could pause the games on the joystick. The only problem was that the joysticks were terrible and eventually broke.
If it had been released at the right time, it probably would have sold very well. Granted, NINTENDO seemed unstoppable at the time. But ATARI did enjoy a brief resurrection with their 7800, their refurbished 2600, their LYNX, and their computers. I had the 7800 , and I really liked it.
@@eternalhalloween1 i had a 7800. got it on sale dirt cheap for the time. problem was there wasn't very many games made specifically for it. played a lot of 2600 games on it and they were just terrible compared to nintendo at the time. ended up getting an nes and the 7800 collected dust. ended up trading it for bike parts (bmx trick bikes being huge back then).
@@thorodin3631 Well, there were a few good games like "Ikari Warriors," "Double Dragon," "Crossbow," "Dark Chambers," and "Pole Position" II. I wasn't a big fan of the NES. But interestingly enough, I really loved the SNES. I can say that the SNES and the ATARI 7800 were the game systems I played the most.
@@eternalhalloween1 ya, the thing is, nes had WAY more games than the 7800. there was like a total of 60 games made for the 7800. nes i think had well over a 1000.
The console itself looks really nice physically considering its age. Considering how the Nintendo was literally a white (mostly cream today lol) box, the 7800 looks all modern and cool in comparison. Such a shame it was never able to catch on in it's day.
mattorama Actually the NES dodged the crash perfectly and thanks to good promotion and comunication with the dealers and some well put selling-strategies Nintendo cleared the road for videogames once again.. Putting them back in peoples livingroom. Also in Japan people where still playing arcade-games. They just didn't want to buy the games such as ATARI would release since they didnt bring anything new to the table. Nintendo convinced the Japanese audience and 2 years later they had enough meat on their bones to convince the dealers in the US and another year later in EU as well. The videogamecrisis was over and SEGA who wanted to be part of the game now more then just then in arcades joined in with the not so welcome Mastersystem. But the Genesis/MegaDrive would soon arrive.
You are right about that. It was The US-market mostly that was in crisis when it came to home-consoles. Nintendo was the company though that convinced The re-sellers over there to once again invest in home-consoles. Thanks to Atari and all their unlicended copy-paste trash-games home consoles almost died in The US. Arcades where doing ok in Japan though. But in The early 80s the Arcade games where poping up in the japanese homes more and more. Today Japan is basically The only nation with a seriouse arcade-industry it seams.
@@QuickZ_ One of the things they did was to bundle the R.O.B. robot toy with the console, to convince US retailers that this thing was a potential toy craze and not just another videogame console. R.O.B. didn't actually do much and he was soon forgotten, but he was a great marketing hook to get past that post-crash resistance.
Here in Brazil an electronics company called "Gradiente" released a video game called "Phantom System" in 1989 with 72 pins cartridges and was compatible with the NES system. It had the same black frame (carcass?) of that Atari7800, and the gamepad was much like the Sega Genesis (here known as Mega Drive). I won gift this console in the Christmas 1990 and I stayed with it for five years. I have fond memories of that time... Greetings from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Your videos are awesome! PS- I am 38 years old and never saw and felt real snow in my life. I felt a twinge of jealousy ... (sorry my english!) :-)
Man....I grew up here in Wisconsin USA. We get a ton of snow every year. I freaking hate it. I'd trade to live in a place warm all year in a heart beat. Kinda stuck in Wisconsin, all my family, friends, etc live here. I hate the freezing cold. So boring during the winter. Usually for the most part, stuck indoors half the dammed year
That's the work of George Opperman, one of their group of absolutely brilliant graphic artists. He also worked on some of their pinball machines (yes, Atari made pinball machines). Atari's legacy is mixed, but one thing they did amazingly well in their glory years was box and cabinet art. When the games were graphically primitive, firing the player's imagination was crucial, and they had the people to do it. One thing that changed in the Tramiel era was that that sort of fell by the wayside.
My dad got me a 7800 for Christmas in 1987, I was 5 and we lived in Tacoma. I didn't know what it was. I thought it was a cartoon that you can control. That's what got me into video games. I still have it, looking for a Double Dragon game for mine. Great video!
What makes your question even more valid and interesting is that one of the reasons the ATARI 5200 didn't do so well was that it was NOT backwards compatible. (And people still loved ATARI 2600 games.) And supposedly the reason SONY stopped making the PS 3 backwards compatible was that people were till buying PS 2 games.
Back then there was no Internet, so no way to have an online marketplace to sell “classic games”. Sony and Microsoft could easily make their consoles backwardly compatible, but they are not going to miss out on that revenue stream.
The PS3 uses a power pc cpu, and the PS4 uses an AMD x86. Previously playstation would build literally the PS3 and PS1 system INTO the PS3. It wasn't emulating, it duplicated the old hardware. It's not cost effective now.
I'm going to release a Atari 5200 next week actually, to round out my love for all things Atari... well... until I get a Lynx someday. :) Thanks for the comment!
@Harmon1ca - It took three takes of the intro before I was done. My teeth were starting to chatter while standing out there like a dumbass in a thin t-shirt and shorts! I'm sure my neighbors were wondering what the hell is wrong with me. :)
I remember when Electronic Games Magazine printed a preview of the 7800. They had "screenshots" that sort of looked real, but which turned out to be artist's mockups. They weren't too far off from the real thing, but there were some differences. The bright colors and detailed graphics instantly made me want one, even though I already had a C64. It just looked cool. Of course then the crash happened and I didn't hear anything more about the 7800 until it turned up in my local toy store (Child World) for more than I was willing to pay at the time. I eventually got an Amiga and got access to the net, which lead me to a newsgroup posting where someone had a 7800 for sale for like $20. Even though I had the Amiga, I still wanted to own a 7800. I can be weird like that; Once I want something, the desire to own it pretty much never goes away. Anyway I bought it, then bought some cartridges from other people. Unfortunately, I sucked at playing most of the games, like Xevious and F18 Hornet. In fact I think I spent more time trying to fly into the little tunnel that you can see when taking off than I did playing the game the way it's meant to be played. :) I also got pretty lucky as mine came with the original power supply and it works with the Supercharger and games like Robot Tank.
MJR, I would love to see more of these type of retro gaming reviews from you in the future. I know most of it has been covered in the past but I would still like to see more. Thanks!
I appreciate you actually admitting to using an emulator and not pretending to hold the joystick and play. I don't know why, but my biggest pet peeve is when reviewers use emulation. I understand the need for it here, and you did it well.
Yea especially when the emulation doesnt look the part. 7800 emulation is still lacking, not even the boot up logo looks right since it cant color blend like an actual 7800. Games can be full of lines and incorrect colors, instead of proper shading.
I liked your video on the 7800 i just picked one up today with 6 games and its a much welcomed addition to my collection and i love coming to your channel to see game recommendations for pretty much all systems , from old videos to new you make awesome content and you are super underrated MJR much love
My Aunt Had a had a 7800 me and my cousin use to game on it when i was a kid when I stayed over his house we both had Nes consoles but we still had a lot of fun playing on it there the games are still fun even today graphics are not everything gameplay and fun are!
I found the best way to play my Atari 7880 is to hook it up to a VCR and then take the audio/video out from the VCR to the TV. Should work well for video capture.
@IntellivisionDude - The funny thing about Impossible Mission on the 7800 is... that's it's truly IMPOSSIBLE! The US version shipped with a bug that won't let you finish the game. Classic!
You are absolutely right! The 7800 was "old and crusty" when it came out, focusing heavily on those old arcade games.. BUT, like you said, it does give it a certain charm today, over 25 years later. Many of those arcade ports are still some of the best versions, ironically, so it's great revisiting them. And the fact that it's cheap doesn't hurt, either! ;)
Hey Metal Jesus, do you know the name of the 7800 game where you fly as an eagle and hnave boss fightgs with a Sphinx structure? It was also available lon the nes. What was the name lof that game?
Awesome video! I've owned, and been collecting for my Atari 7800 for some months now, and I love it. Also the Atari 7800 has a pretty active homebrew scene these days so great new games are still forthcoming.
I had a 7800 for a short time growing up, your so right about the sound sucking. I pretty much thought it was a updated shape for the 2600 because that's all the games I would play or had around. Kind of wish I knew you needed the 7800 games to get the most of it.
I inherited the 7800 and a shitload of games from my friend and neighbor. The RF connection came loose in 95' and my 12yr old soldering skills left it dead. I miss you 7800.
Darn you Jesus! I've contemplated buying one before but now you influence me all the more! I just need to know one thing... did the cartridges have region lock outs? As it looks as though I'd have to import most games from what I'm observing in an eBay search.
The 7800 was pretty successful in its time. It never came close to reaching the NES, but it did outsell the Sega Master System. I think its older hardware design, especially the use of the 2600 sound chip and joystick, held it back from its potential. Add in a proper joypad and make POKEY standard on the audio and you’ll have a better machine. The software library is pretty good, but where 7800 really shines is the indie homebrew scene. Kudos to Atari Age for publishing all these new retro games. Oh, and definitely get a composite or s-video mod for the 7800.
I always saw the 7800 as just wasted potential. While I love mine, for sure, Atari was just too mired in the past to make anything of this console. While the NES was giving us beautiful games like Super Mario Bros., Metroid, and Zelda, what did Atari give us? The same ol' same ol'. Asteroids. Pac-Man. Joust. The same stuff we'd been playing for YEARS on multiple Atari consoles. What a shame that Atari could never replicate the success of the 2600. Oh, well, I still have hundreds of classic titles to play on their systems.
***** Yeah, unfortunately the 7800 was a near-sighted business decision. It was hardware designed years earlier taken off the shelf to get back into the race quickly before the NES got too big. The Atari of this era wasn't as programmer centered as the original company. They tried to recapture Atari's success by copying what worked in the past instead of innovating like Nintendo and Sega. Still it's a nice little console with a small but fairly solid library. Second generation gaming fans would find a lot to like about it.
I hated the controllers , made a lot of the games unenjoyable. They had a D pad controller in the euro version which I don't know why they didn't release then in north america. And how silly it was to have the catridge artwork facing backwards away from the gamer, then the artwork would always get punctured with the 2 small holes up on the corners of the cart. Always a pet peeve of mine.
Mike Hawk The controllers not coming to the US was likely Tramiel's bullshit decision. That guy was a wrecking ball of awful. Sure, he had huge success at Commodore, but he just seemed to hate everything, his customers, his staff, everybody. He only had to look at the HUGE success of Activision in those days to see how to run a damn video game company.
***** Yeah, Tramiel only bought Atari for the computer brand. He didn't really want anything to do with games and it showed. When the crash subsided though he smelled money and had 7800's sitting on the shelf ready to go.
+Dorelaxen actually I think Bernie Stoller did i spell that right still has that title first the 32X fiasco then releasing the saturn without warning the retailers and then when the console doesn't meet expectations he says the sega saturn is not our future shiting on the loyal sega fans who bought both is it any wonder that the failed sega fans lost all faith that sega would support it and they where right I know it wasnt entirely his fault the management at sega both in japan and us was ass but a good enuff was to make him the bigger asshole!
Awesome review, Metal Jesus! I just picked up a 7800 off Craigslist for only $25. It's in very good shape and came with all the cables, 3 controllers, and two games! I'm glad you had some of the games in the review so now I know what to start looking for. Who knew collecting could be so fun?
love your reviews, probably one off the fairest reviewers ive seen on youtube, just watched your jaguar one. will be looking out for more of your video posts
My friend had a 7800 and I thought it was fun. I loved games like Joust, Food Fight, Centipede, Choplifter, Larry Bird vs Dr. J. I remember I was going to get a Nintendo, never playing one before, but while at the store my mom talked me into buying a 7800 because the console was cheaper and so were the games. My friend who owned the 7800 was all excited, calling me to see if I got my Nintendo. I had to tell him no, the console and games were cheaper. He was just like, "Oh... and hung up." lol But later in my youth I went to a tomboy friend of mine and her b-day. She had a nintendo and I for the life of me, COULD NOT STOP PLAYING "SUPER MARIO BROS." People kept popping their head in and saying, "Are you STILL playing that!?" But I knew I had to get a Nintendo and couldn't stop thinking about it, posted my Atari 7800 in the newspaper for $100 and sold it. I got my Nintendo with the power pad (didn't see that one coming) with the gun and controllers, 3 games in one that came with it, and Pro Wrestling my uncle bought me. I was in heaven that christmas! And so that concludes my story. uh, the end. :D
Curious...the video's icon indicates that the box you own is from the 7800's original 1984 release. Does your 7800 have the expansion interface on the left side?
If I play 2600 games on the 7800, will the Genesis controller work for them? I heard it doesn't work for 7800 games, but I don't know about the 2600 games on the 7800. I want a console to mostly use for 2600 games and it seems like the 7800 would be the best option.
It should -- I was able to use a Sega Master System Control Stick on the 7800 (it advertises the cross-compatibility on the box, along with Commodore computers and other platforms), and I'd imagine the Genesis control pad wouldn't present too many obstacles, being the same pin-configuration.
Genesis Controllers do work for them, and a lot use them for it. Personally, the best controller you'll find is the European release only Joypad or the Tac-2.
Yup -- _Deluxe Asteroids_ was one of the very first games my brother and I got with our 7800 on Christmas Eve 1987 (_Pole Position II_ and the 2600 _Air-Sea Battle_ cartridge being the other two titles). Very cool game, and boasted some very creepy, eerie sound-effects which really helped with the immersion-factor.
Best Asteroids ever, was initially going to be called Asteroids 3D since it improved on the arcades graphics with actual spinning asteroids. This game is great, especially with an Autofire pad. You can machine gun em down as it has more bullets on screen at once vs the 2600.
To myself, I always sorta theorized/interpreted the "silver"-colored labels on Atari 7800 cartridges as being more of a "premium" packaging-statement, compared to the "mundane" 2600 library -- for me, it was like, your parents just paid more money for the 7800 as opposed to getting you a relaunched Atari 2600 (which sold for
@steveelmy - The Video Game Crash of 1983 primarily occurred in North America. Basically low quality games, and over saturation caused most retail stores to stop carrying games and consoles. And it appeared to happen over night. Several big game developers went bankrupt and closed and it looked like the video game "fad" was over. Thankfully, home computers and eventually Nintendo & Sega kept it alive!
One thing I've noticed about your videos, is the the great background music. Do you record it yourself? I really like it! Great review of this console. I loved the intro & outro clips as well :)
I just played this for the fist time today. My friend got one for free from his wife's dad. Very fun console, especially when you have two controllers so you can play with a friend. Pole Position 2 was the best game he had, we played that for about two hours. Overall, it was a nice blast from the past, and I am very happy to have experienced it. But I do agree about the controller, it kept slipping from my hand and my hand was cramping during Joust. I can see why the NES ultimately beat it, but keeping an open mind, we had a ton of fun with it.
Hey Metal Jesus- your videos are great! I usually don't leave comments on RU-vid, and I've been out of the video game loop for many years (the last console that I purchased was the Gamecube), but lately I've felt nostalgic for older retro console games and arcade games. These video clips are so much fun! If I may, a short story: Back in the day, as a little kid my mom usually let me pick out a few toys from the Sears catalog for Christmas. We never really had a lot of money, so it was a big deal- I could only pick out one or two things. The year that 7800 came out, if I remember correctly, the Nintendo console was also out as well. I picked out the Nintendo, but the price turned my mom off, and I already had a slew of Atari 2600 games... which as you pointed out, were compatible with the 7800. Alas, I was pretty bummed when my mom put her foot down and said, "You're getting the 7800." Ha ha! Most of my friends had already moved on to the Nintendo, so that took a lot of the joy out of it... I couldn't trade or share games with them. In hindsight, I should probably thank my mom, because I really enjoyed the 7800 (and later on I ended up saving enough money to purchase a Nintendo anyway, so I didn't miss out on the NES craze). Dark Chambers was my absolute favorite game for 7800, followed closely by Xevious. I played Xevious so much, that at one point, that crazily designed 7800 controller made a blister on my hand, *laughing. I didn't even know that there was an alternate controller for the 7800 that looked more like the Nintendo controller. I don't have my 7800 system anymore, but I still have all of my games for it, and my 2600 games, so maybe I'll look around on e-bay and see if I can find a 7800 for a decent price. Ms. Pac-Man was another great one for 7800. Lastly, sorry for the long RU-vid reply- as a writer/artist, I tend to be wordy! Again, your videos are great- you really communicate well and back up your facts with sources, etc... Rock on Metal Jesus :)!
Picked myself up a 7800 a couple months ago. I had been looking for one for a decent price for a while now (they're hard to come by around here). It's fun, I'm glad to have it, but I haven't played it too much yet unfortunately. Nice review.
@IzLoveMoneyz - I'm a big fan of Going Commando & Up Your Arsenal on the PS2. I just think those two games were near perfection! The PS3 games are decent, but more of the same...so I couldn't really get into them.
Totally agree, I was a C-64 fanatic by that time too. Excellent review as always, clean, intelligent and fair. I'm a 2600 owner but if I can get one on the cheap, I'd like to pick one up.
Home Computers were some of my most memorable moments in gaming. Between 1981 and 1987 that is what I was doing with friends. I still enjoy playing C64 games. Even some of the really poor ones.
Hi MJ. Thank you for the cool 7800 review. I just ordered a 7800 package off ebay so I'm excited. I had a VCS back in the day but it is buried in my mom's garage somewhere. Later I'll look for it, so in the meantime I got this: sort of a xmas/new year's/bday (in January) present to myself. Do you go to the pinball and arcade show in Seattle?
@DublinSeafoodInc - Honestly, I prefer playing the 2600 games, because there are probably 25 original games that are absolute classics! However, many of the arcade conversions on the 7800 are pretty damn good, like Ms. Pac-Man, Food Fight, Dig Dug, Centipede, Joust & Galaga.
Thank you for this video, there's a ton out there about the 2600 and the NES era, but there isn't a whole lot about the 7800 and 5200 (aside from the AVGN episode)
Same. The same VCS has been in my family since 79' and has never stopped working. My 5200 and 7800 have never had issues either. "Aside from the 5200 controllers" As where I'm on my 2nd Genesis, and my original XBOX and 360 have given me issues as well. Atari systems were really made to last.
It really is a great system to collect for, although lacking in sound the gameplay & visuals on the arcade ports are some of the best versions on any system. The RF out is an issue, but they can be modded to produce a composite output (the NTSC model easier than the PAL one). The titles pretty much do not work across regions though, & are not clearly labelled, so you need to make sure any titles you find are for your region. NB: Aus never got the 5200. Great review as always - thanks.
I've always found something charming about the Atari soundchip. Primitive as it may be, you always know an Atari game when you hear it, and that cannot be said for any of the newer systems of today.
I'd say the home computer market had a huge impact on the console market dying out. The over saturation of games was the main reason, but a lot of us older gamers moved on to the the Vic-20 and C64.
+Fedora Forest I have a 2600. I had one as a child. There's no nostalgia for me on the XE, 5200 or 7800. But you are right, the 2600 games are not very good for the most part. The controller causes hand cramps after a short time. Mine just sits most of the time.
Nice vid, just recently started getting into your channel, now catching up on some of your older material here. Sweet shirt too....where can I obtain that ???😳
I have a slight problem with my 7800 collection , the thing is the handful of games I have for it (approx 15) are all still factory sealed & as such I have only played the 2600 titles, I'm not sure if they are rare at all sealed? or rare enough to leave them sealed? what would you all do? (ps the European 7800 joystick is much much nicer IMHO) As for capturing , well you could get one of the older PCI capture TV cards. they have an RF input with tuner so you can tune in your old RF consoles & easily capture the image..
7800 was a great system for it's day. I had one on release and was really waiting for it... but, I was always a big Atari guy, so along with the Atari PC, I had every Atari system back in the day....
Thank you very much for the very informative video. I was on the fence about purchasing a local 7800 package. Now I belive I will. It does seem a little steep, but it does come with many cib games and even some still sealed games. Keep up the fantastic videos. You put out some of the best video game content on youtube.
Another thing that's great about the 7800 also happens to be the homebrew scene. Some very talented hackers/coders have managed to put out some extremely good games for it. Even if many of them are of older arcade games, it makes one wonder how well the system could have done had Tramiel not been so stubborn about game consoles and put some funding into development.
I just got the Atari 50 collection, and it’s helped me to fall in love with this system (I think Dark Chambers is my current favorite game). Faults and all, I can tell this was a really well made system, with some fun titles. I think if this had been released in 82, instead of the 5200, Atari could have been able to weather the crash, and maybe stay more relevant on the scene.
I found a atari 7800 about 8 years ago in the back of closet at one of my mothers friends cabin. Had a good chunk of games but I'm still not sure if the console works. It was missing the ac adapter. It also doesn't have the original controller but it had some controller made by konix. One day I will pick up a ac adapter and see if it works.
great vid as usual man, i played 7800 centipede not that long ago for one of my vids i reckon its the closest to the arcade version you'll get,when atari do it right, thay do it right.
if you ask me the Atari 7800 not only because it was my first video game console but for me that was a very good era for video games too many consoles out there. in that late 80s and the begginig of the 90,s I buy another one only because I want to share with mt son to know what games his dad use when it was a kid. ! good memories
What if Metal Jesus was stark naked when the door opened? Also nice backyard, it's the Dead of winter here in Oklahoma and it's 18 degrees outside, yet it's completely dry, what I wouldn't give to have a great backyard and some snow right about now.
I like your site metal J but I checked with NOAA on the net and Seattle has more rainy days than DC but when it does rain in DC it rains more in inches.
if you collect the boxes, then the game number is on the side. All the games on the system are numbered in order from 1 and upwards. It's easy to know when you have a complete set, which is cool.
