Atari 7800
The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it one of the first consoles with backward compatibility. It shipped with a different joystick than the 2600-standard CX40 and included Pole Position II as the pack-in game. The European model has a gamepad instead of a joystick. Most of the early releases for the system are ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games. The final wave of 7800 cartridges are closer in style to what was available on other late 1980s consoles, such as Scrapyard Dog and Midnight Mutants.
Designed by General Computer Corporation, the 7800 has graphics hardware similar to early 1980s arcade video games and is a significant improvement over Atari’s previous consoles. It uses same Television Interface Adaptor chip that launched with the 2600 in 1977 to generate two-channel audio. In an effort to prevent the flood of poor quality games that contributed to the video game crash of 1983, cartridges had to be digitally signed by Atari.
The Atari 7800 was first announced by Atari, Inc. on May 21, 1984, but a general release was shelved until May 1986 due to the sale of the company. Atari Corporation dropped support for the 7800, along with the 2600 and the Atari 8-bit computers, on January 1, 1992.
Reference:
