Atari Is 50 years old today

[Kane99]

I heard today is Atari's 50th birthday. It's been a long history of ups and downs, but lately mostly downs. Atari isn't what they used to be, sadly they haven't been the same company since they were producing games and consoles. I don't even know who owns the company anymore, as its changed ownership so many times over. The new company that owns the name, released a new console that has been mostly forgotten since release. 

Even though they are no longer the same company, there is still some cool history there. I just wish Atari would stick to making games and not worry about devices. The current Atari is not the Atari we know, and I don't think they will ever be. 

What are your favorite memories about Atari?

[Shagger]

What I love about Atari is how ambitious they were, but usually more so than they really were capable. When you actually look into it, it's amazing how many things they did before anyone else, but so often ended up a failed and/or flawed experiment. Here are just some of the things Atari did first, often years before anyone else.

 

• The pause button
• Analogue stick control
• 4 controller ports on a console
• An integrated colour display on a handheld
• Wireless controllers
• 64 bit
• Backwards compatibility
• Interchangeable games (OK, they were not the first to do this, but they made idea popular and made it stick.)
• 3rd party and open source game development

 

Like I said, a lot of their experiments failed, but you have got to love them for trying. So thank you, Atari. It's impossible to imagine what our world would be like without you.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Shagger

[Kane99]

4 minutes ago, Shagger said:

What I love about Atari is how ambitious they were, but usually more so than they really were capable. When you actually look into it, it's amazing things they did before anyone else but so often ended up a failed and or flawed experiment. Here are just some of the things Atari did first, often years before anyone else.

 

• The pause button
• Analogue stick control
• 4 controller ports on a console
• An integrated colour display on a handheld
• Wireless controllers
• 64 bit
• Backwards compatibility
• Interchangeable games (OK, they were not the first to do this, but they made idea popular and made it stick.)
• 3rd party and open source game development

 

Like I said, a lot of their experiments failed, but you have got to love them for trying. So thank you, Atari. It's impossible to imagine what our world would be like without you.

True, they were history makers at one point. Just sucks that the people who own the name now, are just using it because of its history and nostalgia. The backwards compatibility was huge at the time. I wish most consoles today embraced that. Now days it's all about re-selling the same games over and over. 😞

[killamch89]

I feel so flipping old lol - seriously, I remember them talking about the 30th anniversary of Atari as a kid going into my teens - how time flies.

[Kane99]

5 hours ago, killamch89 said:

I feel so flipping old lol - seriously, I remember them talking about the 30th anniversary of Atari as a kid going into my teens - how time flies.

I know right? Time flies pretty damn fast, and it sucks. I am 32 and I already feel old. I've been through many console generations, and it's weird to think that the PS2 for example, is 20+ years old. Really puts things into perspective sometimes. 

[Justin11]

That's a well deserved jubilee anniversary for the the Atari gaming device.  It's been a long while, 50 years isn't 5 years. Even if I didn't get to play with this device, it's history is truly magnificent. I just wish the company continuity, and coming back to the original version of Atari and not deviating. 

[Empire]

I’ve always wanted to try Atari games but I never had the time to do so. I’ve thought about getting the Atari Flashback Classics game for the Switch. Good idea or no?

[Aniekwe]

How time flies. It's been an illustrious one for the Atari gaming system and with something good to take home from all of this is that some gamers still take their gaming on Atari seriously. 

 

[Reality vs Adventure]

I was real young playing Atari so I can't say I remember much about it. I remember some games I played of course. I must have been 4-5 years old playing Atari. 

[Withywarlock]

I confess I only really played some Atari games before they were 'Atari Only In Name' and even then that assessment is easily debatable. By this I mean most of what I've played were their 3D revivals on the Playstation One, like Centipede and Pong. I've never really been bothered about their other games, and while I appreciate the history (Shagger's list of innovations is far more useful to me than the hours of complaints AVGN had about the consoles, as amusing as they are), Atari systems will likely never be for me.

That said, one thing that astounds me to this day about Atari is the story of Swordquest. To this day there's nothing that begins to reach the level of hype that Swordquest must've generated. For those unfamiliar with this, it was essentially four games, each named after one of the four elements: Firequest, Waterquest and Earthquest. Airquest was never finished nor released because of the state of the industry at the time. What made this special was that there was a competition tied to each of the games, involving real rare stones like gold, diamonds, sapphire and rubies. The clues to beat the game were solved by reading comics that came with each of the games (tying story and gameplay, a very rare thing for the time), and sending off a photo of you beating the game with the hidden message. Furthermore, the winners would join for one final quest to gain the namesake sword... or were supposed to had the games industry not shit the bed.

You can't buy that sort of marketing, and I doubt anyone would do something like that these days to such a scale, but I'm glad it was done so early in the industry's life (and death, come to think of it).

[Kane99]

45 minutes ago, Withywarlock said:

I confess I only really played some Atari games before they were 'Atari Only In Name' and even then that assessment is easily debatable. By this I mean most of what I've played were their 3D revivals on the Playstation One, like Centipede and Pong. I've never really been bothered about their other games, and while I appreciate the history (Shagger's list of innovations is far more useful to me than the hours of complaints AVGN had about the consoles, as amusing as they are), Atari systems will likely never be for me.

That said, one thing that astounds me to this day about Atari is the story of Swordquest. To this day there's nothing that begins to reach the level of hype that Swordquest must've generated. For those unfamiliar with this, it was essentially four games, each named after one of the four elements: Firequest, Waterquest and Earthquest. Airquest was never finished nor released because of the state of the industry at the time. What made this special was that there was a competition tied to each of the games, involving real rare stones like gold, diamonds, sapphire and rubies. The clues to beat the game were solved by reading comics that came with each of the games (tying story and gameplay, a very rare thing for the time), and sending off a photo of you beating the game with the hidden message. Furthermore, the winners would join for one final quest to gain the namesake sword... or were supposed to had the games industry not shit the bed.

You can't buy that sort of marketing, and I doubt anyone would do something like that these days to such a scale, but I'm glad it was done so early in the industry's life (and death, come to think of it).

I haven't played much Atari games from back in their prime. I played some on PC through emulation, but I never owned an Atari, so I never had the chance to experience all of the games people love. 

Swordquest sounds pretty dope though, sucks that it never got to release their fourth game. And I gotta say, that's pretty impressive how they marketed it. 

[killamch89]

14 hours ago, Kane99 said:

I know right? Time flies pretty damn fast, and it sucks. I am 32 and I already feel old. I've been through many console generations, and it's weird to think that the PS2 for example, is 20+ years old. Really puts things into perspective sometimes. 

I'm 33 and I feel the same - Have I really been gaming for 30 years of my life?

[The Blackangel]

I remember Atari celebrating their first ten years. While not the first gaming device, it's the OG of gaming. The games are as enjoyable today as they were in 1977. It truly is a one of a kind system.

[Kane99]

I'd like to eventually start collecting Atari consoles and games. I have a few atari games, but it's like 5 of them, and some I think are PC cartridge's or something that don't even work on an Atari console. 

I heard that a lot of the atari games go for pretty cheap these days, and it would be a good collection to start building up. 

[The Blackangel]

13 hours ago, Kane99 said:

I'd like to eventually start collecting Atari consoles and games. I have a few atari games, but it's like 5 of them, and some I think are PC cartridge's or something that don't even work on an Atari console. 

I heard that a lot of the atari games go for pretty cheap these days, and it would be a good collection to start building up. 

You can get some Atari games for less than a dollar in the right places. I have 4 or 5 consoles at the moment, and absolutely love it. I have a hell of a lot of games on it and play it like a fiend. I love the 2 bit graphics. It's just a cherished moment for me when I play it. What I'm wanting to do however, is get my hands on another Colecovision. But they're nowhere near cheap, unfortunately.