Atari Reduex

You can understand why Atari might rest on their laurels. From its introduction in 1977 as the Video Computer System (VCS),  their 2600 video game console and the plethora of games for the system have a lock on the top of the sales charts. It is under the threat of the graphically advanced ColecoVision being developed at Coleco that Atari finally introduces a new addition to their home video game line, during a reception held the night before the opening of the 1982 winter CES in Las Vegas.

The project to develop a successor to the 2600 goes through a number of different names. It is known as Pam while under development, a codename referring to the executive secretary for Atari’s president of consumer electronics, Michael J. Moone. Video System X, Advanced Video Entertainment System, Atari Super-Game, Supergame, Super Atari, 5200 Advanced Game System and System 5200 are all floated at various times by Atari as permanent names of the console to the gaming press during previews of the system. Officially hitting the shelves as the 5200 Supersystem (2600 x 2, get it?) in November of 1982, it initially sports a suggested retail price of a whopping $349.95.  This is more than double the current price of the 2600, and Atari eventually sees the error of its ways and lowers the MSRP by $100 before release. Still, the system doesn’t offer any radically new technology as it is for all practical purposes an 8-bit 16K Atari 400 computer in a slick new console case sporting Atari consumer products designer Regan Cheng’s “black wedge” look. The design of the case, along with the look of the new system’s controllers, was originally created for the wireless CX-2700 Remote Control VCS prototype, introduced at the 1981 Winter CES but never put into production. The sexy case design will be also put to use with Atari’s early 1983 400/800 computer replacement the 1200XL, and used again for the budget redesign of the 2600, unofficially dubbed 2600 Jr when released in 1986. There is a 1.78 MHz 6502C processor inside the 5200‘s sleek body, and the famous ANTIC graphics co-processor allows 256 colours with 16 colours onscreen. Cartridges for the machine contain 32K of ROM, while 16K of internal memory and four-channel sound driven by the POKEY chip round out the package.

Click button to play Pole Position on the 5200 SuperSystem. Hit Tab after loading to set controls

Limp Sticks

The system had been conceived way back in 1978 as a next-wave videogame unit but was subsequently converted into Atari’s 400/800 computer line. However, enough changes are made in the redesign for the 5200 that the games from Atari’s popular home computer systems are not compatible with the new game console. Also incompatible is the vast catalog of 2600 cartridges, as planned built-in support for that system is dropped from the final design of the new console.

More revolutionary to the new system is the control method, a direct response to the Intellivision controllers. The 5200‘s joysticks, or Universal Controllers as Atari dubs them, are analog and feature 360 degrees of movement, along with a 12-button keypad which follows its competitors by allowing the use of overlays for extra commands. The nature of the joysticks also gives them the ability to regulate the speed of on-screen characters, depending on the force applied by the player in moving the stick. Two fire buttons are mounted on opposite sides at the top of each joystick, and each has a keypad button to Reset or Select games, as well as a button for pausing the on-screen action. Moving these buttons onto the joysticks allows the designers to keep the face of the console smooth and buttonless, save for an On/Off switch. On the downside, the joysticks are not self-centreing, making for frustrating play in games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders that require precise north-south-east-west movement. They are also rather fragile; highly prone to break down, the 5200 joysticks experience a return rate with consumers of over 25%.

Click button to play Space Invaders on the 5200 SuperSystem. Hit Tab to configure controls

These shortcomings are addressed by third-party manufacturers such as Wico, who release the $34.95 MSRP Wico Command Control Analog Joystick for the Atari 5200. Along with two fire buttons, the joystick offers the users the best of both worlds. This marvel of engineering provides both a self-centreing AND free-positioning mode. Unfortunately, it also eschews the keypad from the original controllers, but Wico does helpfully provide another device for Atari’s new machine: the Wico Command Control Numeric Keypad for the Atari 5200, into which gamepad overlays can be inserted. The company is thoughtful enough to include an SKU with both, as an option. In 1983, Atari themselves announce improved joysticks for the 5200, featuring both analog and self-centering modes, but these never materialize. The first production run 5200 consoles feature four joystick ports on the lower front of the cabinet, which are streamlined down to two in a later remodeled version. The Supersystem also has a distinct RF switch box, used to switch between game playing and watching TV. It can automatically switch TV modes as required, and does double duty as a power supply. As an added bonus, the 5200 will black out the TV during cartridge changes, instead of disturbing everyone in the house with a burst of static.

Same Old, Same Old

The original pack-in cartridge is Super Breakout, not the most thrilling of introductions to the new system’s graphics capability, although its gameplay does highlight the ability of the new controllers to serve as analog paddles as well as joysticks. Execution of this idea is not quite up to snuff, however, with the precision offered by the 5200 joysticks lagging considerably behind the paddles available for the 2600 or roller-ball control methods. Soon after introduction, the bundled cartridge is changed to an improved version of Atari’s port of Pac-Man, but this only serves to highlight the aforementioned compass direction weaknesses of the controllers.

The thing that probably most hobbles the 5200 out of the gate is the anemic game library initially available for the system.  Even half a year after introduction, there are only eight titles available for purchase. Even when new titles do trickle out, they are translations of well-worn Atari game hits like Missile Command, Space Invaders, the Pitfall! games, and Pole Position, among others. Over time, however, new titles such as Robotron:2084 and Joust are added to the library. In all, around 125 games for the machine eventually reach the market, although most in quantities that make it hard for retailers to promote and sell many. Various hardware add-ons are also released, including a hard plastic carrying case and the 5200 Trak-Ball unit. With company head Ray Kassar feeling that voice synthesis chips available on other systems “aren’t good enough yet” for Atari’s system, a speech add-on isn’t immediately produced for the 5200.  A module called the Voice of Atari, and an adapter to play 2600 cartridges are promised by Atari “sometime in 1983”. The VCS Cartridge Adaptor does actually surface that year, although its clunky design of sitting straight up out of the cartridge slot of the 5200, waiting for a VCS cart to be slotted into it, leaves much to be desired from consumers.

Click button to play Robotron: 2084 on the 5200 SuperSystem. Hit Tab after loading to configure controls

JUMP: 1983 “Nobody’s Hotter Than Atari” TV spot, YouTube 

The system is adapted as the 5200 Arcade Unit for use in arcade cabinets in Latin countries, as well as the 5200 Spectravision Hotel Unit, installed in hotel rooms and switchable between games, television, and movies. Atari engineers also try to mitigate another of the problems with the 5200, its dauntingly large dimensions, by redesigning the system into a smaller case. By removing the controller storage bins at the rear of the unit, prototypes of this streamlined system remove a third of the size of the original.  Named the 5100, the shrunken console never leaves the prototype stage.

Click button to play Space Dungeon on the 5200 SuperSystem. Hit Tab after loading to configure controls

Initial sales of Atari’s 5200 Supersystem are respectable, but hamstrung by a combination of managerial incompetence, product line overextension, an initially weak game library that a distracted Atari is having a hard time manufacturing in quantity, the incredible success of Commodore’s C64 computer as a gaming platform (or the fact that one could buy an Atari 8-bit computer for the initial price of the 5200 and immediately enjoy the much larger game library for it) and the collapsing of the home video game market, the console never has a chance to prosper and even a series of drastic price cuts from Atari fail to greatly spur sales. Production of the 2600‘s successor ends abruptly in the spring of 1984, leaving the buyers of the 1 million consoles reported sold by the middle of that year out in the cold.