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11 months ago
The Atari 7800 ProSystem was my first video game console. My dad got one for our family sometime in the mid-to-late 80s so I was around the ages of four to seven when I played it. The Nintendo quickly took over so our time with the 7800 was short-lived. However, the 7800 will always hold a special place in my heart since it was the first. Also, it's the only console and games I no longer own because my mom gave them away (sore subject), so it only exists in my memory and feels elusive. The 7800 launched in North America in May 1986 at $140 (USD). In 2020 dollars, that's $329.53. Not cheap. The system was discontinued in 1992 and I think a big reason why is because Nintendo dominated the video game market. The 7800 was highly overshadowed by the NES and I believe it has gone down as one of Atari's least memorable consoles. Atari's best-known console is its first, the 2600/VCS (1977). The subsequent 5200 (1982), Lynx (1989) with its portable color screen, and Jaguar (1993) with 64 bits were also more popular. Sadly, the 7800 kind of faded into obscurity. Here's a list of the Atari 7800 games we had, to the best of my recollection. Most of these are classics. * Asteroids (1987) The graphics on this were pretty decent for the time. * Centipede (1987) Challenging. I found the box art to be fascinating and not at all what was portrayed on the television screen. * Choplifter! (1987) I loved this game. I thought it was funny you could squash hostages and I would trick my mom into killing them that way. * Dig Dug (1986) The concept of literally blowing up enemies to defeat them was strange and bizarre to me, even as a kid. * Food Fight (1987) Perhaps the most memorable 7800 game to me. I remember the piles of greens were quite puny and it was fun to eat the ice cream before it melted. * Ms. Pac-Man (1986) What I remember most about Ms. Pac-Man were the cutscenes that played in between stages, eventually showing a stork delivering a Pac-Man baby. * One-on-One: Dr. J vs. Larry Bird (1987) This game taught me what "one-on-one" and double dribble (and/or traveling) meant and introduced me to Dr. J and Larry Bird. I probably thought Dr. J was an actual medical doctor. * Pole Position II (1986) As a kid, I had no idea what "Pole Position II" meant other than it was an F1 racing game. My first racing game experience. * Xevious (1986) This was my first shooter game and I had to learn how to differentiate airborne enemies and ground enemies. It took a different weapon to destroy each one. The controller for the 7800 was interesting because it featured a joystick and two side buttons. I remember our joysticks wore out fast and accumulated a lot of white powder/shavings/residue of some sort from all the friction the stick made with the controller base. I wouldn't regularly play a home console with a joystick again until the release of the Nintendo 64 in 1996. It was then that sticks became regular on game controllers again. Overall, I thought the graphics and gameplay on the 7800 were decent, but the sound definitely left something to be desired. The 7800 was backwards-compatible with 2600 games. My friend brought over some of his 2600 games and we played them that way. I remember Combat (1977) and Frogger (1981) in particular. I also somehow got my hands on, I believe, a copy of Asteroids (1983) for the 5200 (perhaps from overseas), but it didn't work on the 7800. The game would come through all garbled. These days (2020), Atari is still alive and kicking and its biggest news most recently is the launch of Atari Hotels. Yes, hotels. Video game-themed hotels in eight American cities with the first one slated to break ground in mid-2020 in Phoenix, Arizona. Personally, I love the concept, but question its viability. Good luck, Atari! I'm rooting for you. read more
2 years ago
