Welcome to the archived messages from In The 00s. This archive stretches back to 1998 in some instances, and contains a nearly complete record of all the messages posted to inthe00s.com. You will also find an archive of the messages from inthe70s.com, inthe80s.com, inthe90s.com and amiright.com before they were combined to form the inthe00s.com messageboard.
If you are looking for the active messages, please click here. Otherwise, use the links below or on the right hand side of the page to navigate the archives.
Subject: when was Atari phased out?
I think It was 1988.That's when department stores sold Atari systems for cheap and games cost about 2 or 3 dollars.Then after that Gameboy came about in 1989.And I still have that after 9 years.Atari came out in 1977.I remember playing Pac-Man,Asteroids,Pitfall,Kaboom,ET,Pole Position,etc...
It's sad that Toys R'Us doesn't sell Atari from way,way back in the days(80's).I kinda miss 1983.Atari was a big hit.In fact,I was playing Atari at a friends house on New Year's Eve this year and I caught a big blister from moving the joystick around.later,I cut the pus.very painful to say the least. :( >:(
-howard-
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I cant remember seeing ATARI anywhere after 1982.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I think they disappeared after the Jaguar (their 64-bit comeback unit) bombed in the 1990's. The rival units were the 16-bit Sega Genesis and the 16-bit Super Nintendo. Why it didn't succeed, I don't know. They had ads with the tag line "do the math."
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I think i just saw an ad for Atari the other day... struck me as strange and I'd wondered if they'd always been around or came back or what...
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Depends on what you mean by Atari being phased out. Atari existed well into the 90's, bringing out the Atari Jaguar at one point. I remember seeing the system once, it looked phenomenal, better than anything Nintendo or Sega had out at the time. I believe it may have been the first 64-bit console system. Not sure on that one. But by that time, Atari had a certain "stigma" attached to it, and the system sold poorly.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I owned updated Atari Jaguar games as late as 1994. As for one of the games you mention, Pole Position was arguably one of the greatest ever. Featuring one single qualifying round and a strange points system of 50 points every three-quarter seconds (as far as I can remember), the aim was to qualify in the highest position possible (in as short a time as possible), and then complete 8 laps from your qualifying position. However many cars you passed became your bonus times 50, and however many seconds you had on the clock (the time changed by about one minute every lap finished), you got 200 points. This was one of the earliest games to appear in England as one of Channel 4 Teletext's best games of the last century.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Actually, Atari went out of business in the early '80s, after the E.T. game became the biggest video game bomb ever. E.T. was really boring and hard to play, since the programmer was only given six weeks to finish it (so it could be out by Christmas).
Atari made millions of copies, and almost none of them sold, so they soon went bankrupt. Atari actually crushed and buried millions of E.T. cartridges and game consoles in the desert!
Because of the death of Atari, the whole video game industry was wiped out, at least until Nintendo's NES came along a few years later. The Atari name was bought out by a foreign company, who released the Jaguar in the '90s.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Atari never phased out.. they did go out of business at one point in the early 90s (the Jaguar was their last console system)
Basically, Atari made a lot of bad investments and over produced cartridges in anticipation of demand which never materialized (the ET game was contracted out, and was a huge flop. Pac-Man cartridges were also over-produced, some 2 million more than there were systems ever made). The other problem was a lack of licensing requirements for developers. Anyone, and everyone made games for it, and a lot of them sucked. Consumers got sick of getting burned, and hence the bottom fell out of the market. It also happened to coincide with a down-turn in the arcade market as well, which certainly didn't help (no arcade hits, means no home adaptations to sell)
Atari then released the 5200 which had bad controller design, the buttons wore out way too quickly. The NES came out not too long afterwards, with better graphics and better support.
They tried to follow up with the 7800 which had built-in backwards compatibility with the 2600, and slightly better graphics. It was not a major improvement.
They then released the Lynx which was a hand held, with color if I'm not mistaken. It was no match for NES which had popular titles (which Atari had a hard time developing, most of their talent having long departed for Activision, they had no real games to speak of)..
Atari did not go bankrupt because of ET (they did bury millions of unsold cartridges though, of a lot of different games, even Pac-Man, another disaster).. they went under after the Jaguar.. as to who owned it, I can't remember.
There is a company that owns the rights to everything they did, which is why you still see the logo on T-shirts and stuff. It is still a well known game brand, and currently they're re-issuing old games and even creating some new games. It's not really the same people though. The market for old games is just not as big as the market for new games.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Crap..I thought we were talking about the 2600.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
There is a Frogger 2 for Playstation, which is nothing like the original Frogger, but I guess they're hoping gamers are too young to remember the original.
My husband has an Atari with about 50 to 60 games, 3 joysticks, and two of those 'wheel' type controllers (hand held controller with button on the side and a knob to turn instead of a joystick). I wonder how much I could sell that for on E-bay? LOL J/K, he'd kill me.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Quoting:
Actually, Atari went out of business in the early '80s, after the E.T. game became the biggest video game bomb ever. E.T. was really boring and hard to play, since the programmer was only given six weeks to finish it (so it could be out by Christmas).
Atari made millions of copies, and almost none of them sold, so they soon went bankrupt. Atari actually crushed and buried millions of E.T. cartridges and game consoles in the desert!
Because of the death of Atari, the whole video game industry was wiped out, at least until Nintendo's NES came along a few years later. The Atari name was bought out by a foreign company, who released the Jaguar in the '90s.
End Quote
ET was the worst games I've ever played.ET always walked slow as molasses,you'd always be caught by that guy in the cloak,you'd always fall into a hole and couldn't get up.
Pac man wasn't that good either. too slow of a game.gave me huge blisters.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Quoting:
Atari never phased out.. they did go out of business at one point in the early 90s (the Jaguar was their last console system)
Basically, Atari made a lot of bad investments and over produced cartridges in anticipation of demand which never materialized (the ET game was contracted out, and was a huge flop. Pac-Man cartridges were also over-produced, some 2 million more than there were systems ever made). The other problem was a lack of licensing requirements for developers. Anyone, and everyone made games for it, and a lot of them sucked. Consumers got sick of getting burned, and hence the bottom fell out of the market. It also happened to coincide with a down-turn in the arcade market as well, which certainly didn't help (no arcade hits, means no home adaptations to sell)
Atari then released the 5200 which had bad controller design, the buttons wore out way too quickly. The NES came out not too long afterwards, with better graphics and better support.
They tried to follow up with the 7800 which had built-in backwards compatibility with the 2600, and slightly better graphics. It was not a major improvement.
They then released the Lynx which was a hand held, with color if I'm not mistaken. It was no match for NES which had popular titles (which Atari had a hard time developing, most of their talent having long departed for Activision, they had no real games to speak of)..
Atari did not go bankrupt because of ET (they did bury millions of unsold cartridges though, of a lot of different games, even Pac-Man, another disaster).. they went under after the Jaguar.. as to who owned it, I can't remember.
There is a company that owns the rights to everything they did, which is why you still see the logo on T-shirts and stuff. It is still a well known game brand, and currently they're re-issuing old games and even creating some new games. It's not really the same people though. The market for old games is just not as big as the market for new games.
End Quote
Hey chucky,I found where you can buy an Atari 2600.On e-bay.someone is selling it for about $150.00.some sell it for $125.00 or more.I kinda wish Toys R Us would still be selling it today.It's the 25th anniversary of Atari. :)
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Quoting:
There is a Frogger 2 for Playstation, which is nothing like the original Frogger, but I guess they're hoping gamers are too young to remember the original.
My husband has an Atari with about 50 to 60 games, 3 joysticks, and two of those 'wheel' type controllers (hand held controller with button on the side and a knob to turn instead of a joystick). I wonder how much I could sell that for on E-bay? LOL J/K, he'd kill me.
End Quote
sell it for about $150.00.since it is a vintage console.25 years old.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Quoting:
Depends on what you mean by Atari being phased out. Atari existed well into the 90's, bringing out the Atari Jaguar at one point. I remember seeing the system once, it looked phenomenal, better than anything Nintendo or Sega had out at the time. I believe it may have been the first 64-bit console system. Not sure on that one. But by that time, Atari had a certain "stigma" attached to it, and the system sold poorly.
End Quote
I meant the Atari 2600 system console.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I can not even believe anyone gets more than $20 for a system with games.. I bought someone's old system, with original box, two controllers and about 30 games for about $20 at a flea market last year... just to supplement my cartridge collection with a bunch of titles I didn't have yet
if you really want to play one, hit a flea market or yard sale.. they're everywhere...
or better yet, download the games off the Internet, look for Atari emulation at yahoo.com.. it's not the same as playing with those controllers, but it's still pretty fun
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
You can also get collections of old games for other systems (I have a collection of about 20 intellivision games on one cd for my playstation). But yeah, flea markets are good, as are some places that buy/sell used software. I know there is a place in my town that carries quite a few 2600 games and tends to sell them in bulk.
Kryllith
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
Quoting:
I can not even believe anyone gets more than $20 for a system with games.. I bought someone's old system, with original box, two controllers and about 30 games for about $20 at a flea market last year... just to supplement my cartridge collection with a bunch of titles I didn't have yet
if you really want to play one, hit a flea market or yard sale.. they're everywhere...
or better yet, download the games off the Internet, look for Atari emulation at yahoo.com.. it's not the same as playing with those controllers, but it's still pretty fun
End Quote
A few months ago,I played Space Invaders,Asteroids and Pac man on www.shockwave.com.awesome stuff.I recommend people out there go there and try it.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
One of the best places I've found to play the old Atari games is www.arcadeathome.com
They've got emulators to play the games on you PC, and ROMs for every Atari game ever, from the 2600 to the 7800.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I remember kids started really laughing at Atari around 1986, or maybey 1987. There was a commercial around '86 that tried to bring back Atari. It was so stupid, it had this same jingle, "UNDER 50 BUCKS!! UNDER 50 BUCKS!!!". All the kids in my school were laughing our a$$es off at that commercial and Atari's little box men figures. The truth was, many of those games were only 2 or 3 years old, but to an 11 or 12 year old, that felt like an eternity. Nintendo and Sega were coming out with games that had characters that at least LOOKED human, instead of those lame box figures Atari had. So obviously people wanted either Nintendo, Sega or the Commodore 64.
It was too late for Atari by then, Nintendo and Sega were already around in '86 and going strong. Actually they both came out in 1985 I think, but they really took off the next year or so. Atari was associated with being old and inferior. Atari even came out with a color gameboy type system in 1988, it was superior to Nintendo's black and white Gameboy, but once again Atari was associated with being old and inferior. Atari suffered a fate similar to Beta VCRs.
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I remember playing the original Atari back in the early 80's; probably in 1981-1982. I then distinctly remember a move to CollecoVision or whatever it was called. It came with Donkey Kong. They also had that great game "Turbo" which had the foot pedal and steering wheel. This would have been in 1984. I then remember playing Atari 5200 in 1984-85. They had that great baseball game
Subject: Re: when was Atari phased out?
I first had a 2600 as a kid in the early '80s, but sold it later on at a garage sale! :(
I remember the NES coming out in the USA in about '84-'85, with the Gyromite robot and game, then Super Mario came in '85, and Zelda in '86, so the NES really took off.
Then, in 1987, Sega Genesis came out and bragged about being 16-bit, and said it on the console. I remember first seeing one at The Sharper Image, with the Michael Jackson Moonwalker game.
IMHO, the 1987 Genesis console was ugly and bulky, but the slimmed down '90s version looked OK.
I also got a Game Boy in 1989, I saved my allowance to pay for it!