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Atari 2600

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Atari 2600

Deeper dive into origins

The Atari 2600's development under codename Stella marked a shift from dedicated Pong consoles to programmable systems, leveraging affordable MOS 6502 variants to make home arcade ports viable despite initial financial hurdles at Atari.

Space Invaders' 1980 port exemplified killer apps, transforming modest sales into dominance and proving swappable cartridges' appeal over single-game hardware prevalent in mid-1970s.

"Bank switching enabled larger games."

Strengths

  • Pioneered swappable cartridges
  • Sold 30 million units
  • Long 15-year lifespan
  • Arcade ports like Space Invaders

Considerations

  • Only 128 bytes RAM
  • 4 KB memory limit
  • No framebuffer graphics
  • Poor Pac-Man port

Key Terms

Bank switching
Technique to expand cartridge ROM beyond 4 KB by swapping memory banks, first used in Asteroids to enable larger games on Atari 2600.
Television Interface Adaptor
Custom TIA chip handling Atari 2600 graphics, audio, and RF TV output with sprites, background playfield, and scanline synchronization.
Racing the beam
Programming method syncing code to CRT electron gun for real-time graphics updates without framebuffer, optimizing limited Atari 2600 hardware.
ROM cartridge
Swappable storage media holding games, pioneered post-Fairchild Channel F, allowing multiple titles on Atari 2600 unlike dedicated Pong consoles.