Atari 7800
Atari's backward-compatible answer to the NES
- 1986Released
- 3rdGeneration
- AtariDeveloper
Atari 7800 Specifications
- Processor
- Atari SALLY 6502
- Processor Speed
- 1.79 MHz (Drops to 1.119 when TIA or RIOT chips are accessed)
- RAM
- 4 KB
- GPU
- MARIA custom graphics controller
- GPU Speed
- 7.16 MHz
- Resolution
- 160 x 240 (NTSC) | 160 x 288 (PAL) | 320 x 240(NTSC) | 320 x 288 (PAL)
- Maximum Colors
- 256
Overview
The Atari 7800 ProSystem is a console released by Atari in 1986.
Its 1986 release is often considered a re-release, because the console was first announced on 21 May 1984 as a replacement for the ageing Atari 5200. It was shelved when Warner Communications sold Atari’s consumer division to Jack Tramiel later that year.
The delay gave the NES time to establish itself, and by the time the 7800 reached shops Nintendo dominated the market, which made it a very hard sell.
Thirteen games were announced for the console’s launch, including Centipede, Dig Dug and Ms. Pac-Man. After criticism that the 5200 could not play older games, Atari made sure the 7800 could play almost every Atari 2600 game.
At a time when many people saw a home computer as a better investment than a console, the 7800 was also designed to be expanded into a computer, with a keyboard and support for peripherals such as disk drives and printers. The keyboard was never released.
The 7800 sold far fewer units than the NES, but it was still profitable for Atari, selling around 3.8 million units worldwide. Atari ended production on 1 January 1992, with about 12% of the market against Nintendo’s 80%.
Key Features
Backward Compatible
Plays almost every Atari 2600 game on the same console.
MARIA Graphics
A custom MARIA graphics chip runs at 7.16 MHz.
Computer Ambitions
Designed to expand into a computer with a keyboard and drives.
256 Colours
Offers up to 256 colours at resolutions up to 320 x 288.
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Atari 7800 Emulators
Which one to pick
Known forA fork of MAME's 7800 driver with more accurate timing and sound, many controllers and cartridge formats, and an optional BIOS.
Known forBuilt on .NET, it runs the vast majority of 7800 games and also emulates the Atari 2600.
Known forEmulates both NTSC and PAL consoles, and its code is the basis of the ProSystem core for RetroArch.
In short
A7800 builds on MAME’s 7800 driver with many accuracy improvements and a wide range of controllers, for Windows, macOS and Linux. EMU7800 runs the vast majority of 7800 games on Windows and Android, and also plays Atari 2600 games. ProSystem Emulator ended in 2008 and is kept here as an archive.
