Many legends surround an ancient power that once sought to dominate the world, only to face retribution for its arrogance and disappear. This power was not Atlantis – it was Atari.
Emerging from the success of the arcade hit Pong, the Atari 2600 played a vital role in the second generation of gaming consoles. Featuring replaceable cartridges and a programmable CPU, it aimed to replicate the arcade experience at home – and succeeded, becoming the first game console in millions of households.
The rise and fall of the Atari 2600 were both remarkable. Known as the “Atari shock” in Japan and the video game crash in the U.S., the console managed to survive and remain on the market until the 1990s, competing with Nintendo until newer players took over.
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TechSpot’s Legends of Tech Series
Discover the iconic tech gadgets that shaped our world. From groundbreaking gaming consoles to revolutionary mobile devices and music players, explore the legends of technology.
The Emergence of 1D Graphics
Atari embarked on Project Stella in 1975, creating a unique console with little to compare to at the time. The company faced challenges due to the high cost of RAM, with the Fairchild Channel F beating Atari to market with a 2KB VRAM that supported a 104 x 60 resolution and four colors across the screen.
Jay Miner was hired by Atari to develop the Television Interface Adaptor (TIA) for the console, allowing graphics to be rendered line by line with 160 pixels per line and up to 192 lines per frame. The limitations included four colors per line and five non-identical objects per line.
Games like Video Chess utilized clever techniques to avoid drawing multiple objects on the same line:
In contrast to modern dot-matrix displays, CRT televisions of that era drew pixels one by one. The TIA used 20 bits of register memory to display a blocky, two-color background on one side of the screen and mirrored it on the other side, unless modified during drawing.
The Atari 2600’s limitations required developers to draw the screen line by line in real time, known as “racing the beam,” to prevent display issues.
Warner Communications acquired Atari in 1976, accelerating development. In 1977, the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) was launched at $190 (equivalent to about $1,000 today). The console came with three controllers: one 8-direction joystick and two rotary paddles with a single action button.
Internally known as “Stella,” after an engineer’s bicycle, the Atari 2600 was the official name of the console. The console’s early sales were underwhelming due to a lack of compelling games to justify the price. Combat, based on the arcade hit Tank, was the pack-in game but did not fully utilize the console’s capabilities, using the same four colors for all lines. Even endorsements from Pelé, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Pete Rose failed to significantly boost initial sales.
Space Invaders, released in 1980, became the console’s first blockbuster game. With a black background and rows of identical enemies, it rivaled its arcade version remarkably well.
Space Invaders was the first licensed arcade port for a home console and led to a quadruple increase in Atari 2600 sales, setting a standard for leveraging popular arcade titles to drive console adoption.
Space Invaders on the Atari 2600 – the game that revolutionized home console gaming and ushered in a new era of interactive entertainment.
Atari’s rapid growth transformed the company from a $75 million entity to a $2 billion empire in a short span. However, amidst this success, Atari gained a reputation for brilliance mixed with unprofessionalism.
The company’s headquarters were famous for hot tubs, boozy meetings, impromptu parties, and even drug use. Founder Nolan Bushnell even installed a hot tub on-site, adding to the company’s eccentric charm.
The Birth of the “Easter Egg”
One of the most iconic tales from the Atari 2600 era revolves around the game Adventure, released in 1980. Frustrated by Atari’s lack of developer recognition, creator Warren Robinett hid a secret room displaying the message:
“Created by Warren Robinett”
While hidden features had appeared in earlier games, Adventure was the first to feature such a hidden message, leading to the term “Easter egg” coined by Steve Wright, Atari’s Director of Software Development.
The secret remained hidden for over a year, only being discovered by players post-release. Atari embraced the concept, leading to Easter eggs becoming a beloved tradition in the gaming world.
The First Third-Party Studio
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Four programmers at Atari, known as the “Fantastic Four,” were responsible for developing some of Atari’s most acclaimed games and the operating system for their upcoming home computers. Despite their contributions, they received no public credit or royalties from game sales.
After proposing a royalty system inspired by the music industry, the group was rejected by Atari’s CEO, leading them to found their own studio. Initially named “VSync” but later rebranded as Activision, the studio offered developers royalties and recognition in game manuals.
Activision’s best-selling title for the VCS was Pitfall!, an endless platformer that utilized pseudo-random number generation for level layouts.
A classic moment from Pitfall! on the Atari 2600 – players swing over crocodile-infested pits in one of gaming’s earliest and most iconic platformers.
Activision grew to become one of the world’s largest third-party publishers, boasting franchises like Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, and Crash Bandicoot. The company underwent transformations through the Activision Blizzard merger and later as a subsidiary of Microsoft’s gaming division.
Atari sued Activision in 1980, leading to a settlement where Activision agreed to pay royalties, setting a precedent for other companies to develop games for the VCS.
In the early days of gaming, developers were pioneers exploring new territory without formal training in game design. Despite this, they showcased creativity, technical ingenuity, and a willingness to innovate.
Before the internet, game reviews took weeks to reach the public, leaving consumers uncertain about a game’s quality. Atari benefited from this situation as long as they maintained consistent game quality.
However, things took a turn…
Hubris Leads to Decline
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In 1982, the popular arcade game Pac-Man was released for the VCS, replacing Combat as the pack-in game. Atari believed the entire game could fit on a standard 4KB ROM chip, but the final product had limitations such as constant ghost flickering and inferior sound effects compared to the arcade version.
The Atari 2600, with only 128 bytes of RAM and 4KB ROM cartridges, introduced a technique called “bank switching” to expand game size by swapping between 4KB banks of code, enabling more complex games like Pitfall! and River Raid.
Following Pac-Man, E.T. was developed in just five weeks to coincide with the movie’s success. While the game was functional, its critical flaws and gameplay logic issues made it unpopular among players.
Atari produced 5 million E.T. cartridges, but most remained unsold or were returned. Rumors of the cartridges being buried in a New Mexico landfill were confirmed in 2014, solidifying the game’s infamous status.
The VCS was rebranded as the Atari 2600 with the launch of the Atari 5200, coinciding with the release of E.T.
The Atari 5200, seen as a failed “Pro” version, lacked compatibility with previous Atari consoles
