The Story Of Atari's 1983 Nintendo Console - Featuring Guru Larry 

2:55 miss those days of Toys R Us during the 90's...large selection of games and the consoles on display in their own plastic shell.

In 1985 my father told me, “You already have an Atari, you’re not getting an Intendo”.

*Have a small correction on the video.* I accidentally used the NES NY trial run for the full launch date. I meant to use the full launch date for both the NES & 7800. The NES full launch only beat the 7800 to market by a few months, which if anything it makes the sales number comparison more jarring in favor of Nintendo. This video is a bit different that others I've done in the past. Instead of covering a console, accessory, game etc. this one is looking at an event that is rarely spoken about or reported on. I had to get creative with the editing (hence the use of original art and animation) to be able to cover everything that happened. Hopefully you guys don't mind the change for this video. Also, I think it's obvious but I should mention that the 4 Atari-NES titles shown are some mock ups I made and not actual titles.

Atari Nintendo Entertainment System. Wow. Would've been cool to own an ANES. Imagine putting cartridges in your ANES and also playing with your ANES or even someone else's ANES.

I'm just envisioning the alternate reality where "Atari" remains the main household name for video games and is the mainstream video game company and I'm getting chills. They were so close

Holy crap, I think we all have heard about the nintendo playstation, but I had never heard of this. Great video!

Another tantalizing trip through early console gaming. Keep this amazing journey going, we're all here for the long haul.

The bit about Satoru Iwata's port of Joust is probably the most fascinating part of this for me. Even if the deal never went through, Nintendo did get something valuable out of it.

Seems that once I think I know almost everything about VG history, something like this pops up and surprises me. I never knew there was suppose to be a deal like this between Atari and Nintendo. Very interesting history.

Dude I swear Guru Larry pops up everywhere I go.

The odd thing about the video game crash is....my friends and i never saw it. We never stopped going to the arcade, we still played atari and intellivision and then i moved on to the sega master system. There was no crash for the kids in my neighborhood. We also played outside too. All we know is that suddenly nintendo and sega appeared.

I’d have to say that the deal to put Nintendo games on Atari hardware was a 5 year deal as it started with Mario Bros on 2600 in 1983 and the 3 7800 games that came out in 1988. Also interesting that the week Atari showed off the 2800 in Japan they were at N-HQ to negotiate this! Great video. Wish I’d done it!!

Goes without saying, an amazing video! Very interesting to see what all it could indeed have been with Atari and Nintendo. Worth the wait to see this video!

Reminds me of how Blockbuster handled Netflix. It's crazy how a whole industry can do this to themselves again and again.

The editing on this video was extremely well done! Really enjoyed watching it, and learned a lot - i had no idea there ever was a deal of that type between Nintendo & Atari

Awesome video. I'm glad the Nintendo/Atari deal didn't go through or the video game landscape would have been soo much different and boring! Again great video, you always put so much effort into your videos and it shows in the awesome quality of them, I hope you never stop !

I never realized how much Howard Lincoln sounds like me :D

Incredibly well produced and edited. Alexis' artwork was amazing.

This is the video I've been waiting for! I remember reading about the possible collaboration between Atari and Nintendo and you did a good job filling in the specific details of the story. Thank you!

awesome docu! Excellent content. Bravo from France!

This whole video is very well done. The graphics, narration and editing are top notch. If I saw this on the Science or Discovery channel in between How It's Made and Mythbusters it wouldn't seem out of place.

A few corrections: The Atari 7800 was briefly test-marketed in New York and southern California in 1984 before Jack Tramiel came in and shelved it. Also the NES wasn't released nationwide in the USA until September 1986 -- the same time as the Sega Master System -- whereas the Atari 7800 was released nationwide in May 1986. The much-ballyhooed North American release of the NES in October 1985 was actually just test-marketing of 100,000 units in New York.

This is really refreshing man. I subbed months ago and watching your channel grow has been a pleasure. Tbh, I'd rather wait weeks for an upload than get filler like the bigger channels. Thank you.

I was hyped for this, and you delivered. Excellent video!

Super impressed with this topic and the detail in which you covered it in. Very good video. You've got a Sub and looking forward to watching more of your videos.

I think if the NES was released earlier, under the Atari name. It wouldn't have been as big a success.

Wow I can't believe how much better the production of your videos have gotten since the first one. Keep it up!

Wow, didn't know about this! It's cool to imagine what might have been. Great video as always!

another great documentary! I just have one complaint. When is the next video coming? lol! Keep up the good work!

Great job! I loved the ending line too. '1983 is also the year Atari almost had it all'

Been going through each of your videos, love the information, the history and the facts. Keep it up man, looking forward to tons more.

This is the first time I've come across this channel. I found this in my recommendations. I've gotta say, this is terrific quality. I admit, I probably wouldn't have clicked it if it didn't have Guru Larry, but that's because there are just sooo many channels about video games and video game history, it's hard to tell at a glance which ones are good, so I just ignore them, mostly. Having said that, you earned my sub before the intro was finished. Thanks for taking the time and effort to make such great content. Cheers.

Every time I've spoke of another enticing episode , masterfully done. And you still deliver time again.well done applause all around.

I never would've guessed The Dong himself would be behind the loss of a historic deal. Great show!

I intentionally go out of my way to only watch your vids on my new big 4K TV! That’s how much I enjoy your videos. Only way to do your work service and fully enjoy it. Thanks so much for your vids!

Fascinating story! Would make a great movie.

Awesome video Man! Very interesting and informative :-)

Another great job man!. Your gaming documentaries are the best, so well made and professional-looking.

FANTSTIC!! More please!

Nice! Love obscure stuff like this!

fantastic video! i've watched a lot of youtube gaming info videos and this channel is so well done. plus, this is a topic that i actually hadn't heard of before, which is rare! keep it up!

Wow! I had no idea it played out like this. Awesome video man, Please keep making these documentaries!

Really great video! You always put in so much effort into your research and presentation. Thank you for what you do.

dude, you deserve more views, amazing video!

Great research and short-documentary as always! Keep up the great work!!!

Great video. Fantastic editing, good script, and a very interesting subject matter that I hadn't heard of despite watching way too many documentaries on video game history. And the collab with Larry? That just pushes it over into an instant subscribe. Crossing my fingers your channel grows!

Really nice job coving a topic no one else has discussed. Honestly, Atari was so awful this was the best possible outcome. It would have been nothing but bad news if Atari was able to close this deal or the one they were negotiating for Sega's Genesis. They would have screwed up these consoles like they screwed up everything making the memory we hold more like that of Atari's 7800 rather than the iconic systems they became.

You're so good at this. Keep them coming.

I like the touches of adding the sources cited as transitions. Great video as always! :D

this is why your channel matters. u cover stuff no one else has or even knows about! great great video man!

I love these videos! Thanks!

Was hoping to see something from you today. Yaaay. 💜

This is the best channel I've never seen! Incredible videos, extremely well done. Keep it up!

Your best work yet. Great story and the production value is awesome!

If only you guys making these history videos had more support. There is movie potential there. There is so much interesting stuff going on backstage! I mean, who at the CES would've thought that at the time?

I noticed a new thumbnail. very cool! I like the xtra large box style you got

Genuinely love your content. It's going to be great watching your channel blow up in 2018.

Bravo sir! Thank you for this piece of brilliance!

Great video as always! I didn't know any of this!

This is why it is good to contain one's emotions even under the shadiest of circumstances. Still, glad this deal never finalized.

your shows are truly the most ORIGNAL , best edit, nostalgia at its best !!!!!!!!!!!!! so much appreciate you doing this ..please don't ever stop !

Awesome video, thanks for digging up the info and putting this together.

So many of these potential partnerships between these companies that broke down before fruition, which could have helped certain ones immensely. Sega with a chance to work with Sony, then Nintendo with the Nintendo PlayStation, and even this, which couldve changed the gaming landscape one way , or the other.

It's kind of wild to think that if this deal had gone through we may not have gotten the super mario bros. series that we know and love today. Or any of the other Nintendo franchises that we know today. We just would have gotten japanese versions of old atari 2600 games. What a waste that would have been. History happened the way it needed to happen.

Saw you on game daves video checked out your videos and perfection! Subscribed!

I found your page tonight and binged all your videos. Your editing is spot on. Your intelligence and research are incredible. And the music you choose makes me smile. Please keep making these videos of information I couldn't find myself. P.S. fingers crossed for a Sega channel video.

I feel like the gaming industry dodged a bullet. The NES was a success not specifically due to its hardware being better - it was a success because it's software lineup was so consistently spectacular. Of course there are a lot of bad games on NES same as any system, it's best games stand so high above the competition that hardware stops being a factor. If Atari had licensed out the NES, I wonder if they would have thought to limit Japanese games and instead focusing on their own. If that had happened, I question if the NES would have ushered in the same glorious gaming days of the late 80s or if it would have crashed and burned like the 7800.

Picked up Game Over: press start to continue years ago. I like to call it the good book for Nintendo fans 😅 The couple chapters on Tetris where great reads

I'm really shocked that I had no idea about this. This is the first work of yours I have seen; great stuff. I definitely subscribed.

I love this channel. Your videos are constantly getting better and better and I always look forward to the next one.

I want to see the alternate universe where the Atari Switch exists.

I never knew that Atari was close to licensing the Famicom. This was interesting! 🤓

This was a well written story. Great job. You have one more subscriber.

I really love your videos. Your delivery is spot on and they are looking really slick.

Great video man. I love this kind of crazy gaming history. Nintendo might seem like kids stuff, but their business practices are definitely hard core. They loved screwing deals at E3, lol.

i think its like a breakup/freindzone kinda thing where right before they were about to secure the rights the video game crash happened but.. they still had worked with atari even after, they even put pong in smash bros as an assist trophy

Thanks for posting this video, I never knew that. I do remember when the Atari 7800 was out in retail big box stores and "Joust" was the main game that seemed to be the main demo.

Good work, dude. Always enjoy your presentation.

Even after failed deal with Nintendo, Atari still had other chances and opportunities. The 7800 had potential, but the new owner took back the 1984 release, locked them all away on shelves in warehouses for two years and waited a whole year after U.S NES release to put it out. The games that were finally released with the 7800 were outdated remakes of multi years old games that had already been made over and over and over again and worn out. Plus the marketing strategy for 7800 was corny and pathetic. Most people didnt even know it existed even while in the stores right in your face. Had they made more commercials and actually created newer more current games for it, the 7800would of faired much better. However there were a few excellant games that were better on the 7800 than on other consoles. For example, The best port of Commando was on the 7800, which also was one of like only two games that they used the pokey sound chip in. The other was Ball Blazer, another excellant game. Wish they would of used it more because it definatley enhanced game experience A few other good games that could that demonstrated graphic capabilities was Alien Brigaide, AKARI Warriors, Tower Topler, Motor Psycho. etc etc etc.. The best games for the 7800 didnt release until about 1989 and 1990 around the death of the 7800 productuon which were too late. Had they made more games like that upon its release, it would of had more success. Again, I'll say the 7800 had potential, and Commando on the 7800 is awsome. Between 1984 to 1990, the 7800 only released a library of like 48 games total. That in itself was suicide and some what hillarious. However, even after that, Atari still had more chances. Atari blew on a deal with Sega in the late 1980s to produce and sell the genesis in the Atari name, but destroyed that opportunity with themselves AGAIN. And even after that, Atari still had another opportunity to redeem itself and survive. In my opinion, The Atari Lynx and Jaguar had the potential to be the greatest handheld and greatest console ever made. Bad marketing and bad decisions, small library's of games and not pushing there full potential also ruined those ventures However, still to this day, I still feel like the Atari Lynx handheld was and still is my favorite handheld console to the day, especially with the McWill screen mod. The capabilities of the Atari Lynx was over a decade ahead of time. Even though the NES gameboy massively outsold the Atari Lynx, the Lynx was technically and capably far superior than the Gameboy, and even more advanced than the gamegear.Unfortunately, Atari didnt market and advertise the Lynx very well....,A good example of how advanced the Lynx capabilities, speed, and graphics were is shown in S.t.u.n R.u.n.n.e.r. By far the best port of the games. The Lynx was actually Created in 1987, two years before it was publicly finally Released in 1989, it was discontinued in late 1994..... Just imagine if it had been released in 87 or 88 instead of 1989. Would of been a huge success because nothing would of been competing, and gameboy wasnt invented yet. And early release of Lynx by a couple years would of gave it a head start making the gameboy look sad in 1989, lol. It wasnt until 2002s gameboy advance, that any handheld surpassed the lynx tech and power on it's own hardware. .....

In an alternate reality, Atari and Sega are like Sony and Microsoft. Meanwhile Apple is in the back dominating handhelds and derpy motion controls for old people.

I just found your channel the other day and I gotta say, you make great content, keep it up!

Excellent video! This story always fascinates me.

Always wondered why Atari didn't end up having the rights to the Famicom.

One of these days Atari and Sega will rise again.

Thanks for the video! I thoroughly enjoy your retrospectives! More please!

It's amazing how many stories from the annals of videogame and computer history keep popping up, you think you would have heard them all by now, ..... but hey, I'm not complaining, it's always great to get another new old story. Thank you :)

Hey, guys, just dropping by alternate universes while playing my Atari Switch.

As Andy Rooney once said “I like a woman’s hair, and I like butter, but I don’t like them together.” No Nintari for me.

Thanks for the video! I'd heard about the legendary showdown at CES, but none of the story behind it. As a 7800 owner, I agree that Atari would have bungled the US Famicom release--even if they had any actual intention of going through with it. 1983 at Atari would have played out the same, with Tramiel killing it just as he'd done with the 7800. However, they wouldn't have had the 7800 to release later. Their response to the eventual NES release would probably look something like their later XE computer "console" conversion. Nonetheless, competition from Nintendo and Sega, and the later PC market crash, sealed their fate all the same.

I had some vague idea on this, but this really filled me in. Good video.

I bet Atari is kickin themselves for that!

Well THANKFULLY Atari didn't sign that deal! Dodged a bullet there, Nintendo wouldn't have been what it is today if that would have happened.

Please don't stop making videos. I'll always watch them!!

Great video. This is the first time I've heard of the prototype chips and programming by Iwata

I think Nintendo might have overestimated the demand for the Famicom in the SECAM regions. Pretty much the only one of those where consumers were likely to buy video game consoles in the 1980s was France and even then, Europe wasn't doing too hot economically, making home computers with lower-priced cassette games more popular.

Put a strong independent female character, an 80's soundtrack, some spicy edgy sex scenes, a wildcard character, a villain, and you'll have a four season HBO or AMC tv show about this deal.

You have excellent diction and tone for voiceover work! Well produced and high-quality videos! *thumbs up*

Thanks for all the hard work you put into your uploads!!!

Nintendo: You had your chance at the cotillion you!

Just think, we would have ended up with the Atari Stagnation System (ASS) instead of the classic NES because after their early dominance Atari seemed capable of only shooting themselves in the foot.