Video Game Gazette

Atari 5200 Supersystem Archive

Atari 5200 3/4 view

The Atari 5200 was released in 1982. It is basically an Atari 400 without a keyboard. It was discontinued in 1985 in the shortlived great depression of videogames.

The 5200 is based on a 6502 processor running at 1.79 MHz. The system boasts 16 kilobytes of RAM. This is a hugh number considering that the cartridges were limited to 32 kilobytes. The heart of the system is its ANTIC and GTIA graphics chips. They support four sprites that are upto 8-bits wide and upto full screen height, and two sprites that are upto 2-bits wide and uptofull screen height. There is also hardware support for veritcal and horizontal scrolling. The system has 6 text modes and 12 graphics modes for background graphics. It has a 256 color pallette and with a maximum screen resolution of 320x200. The sound was processed by a special chip dubbed Pokey.

Atari 5200 SuperSystem front view
The 5200 was the first videogame system to have four joystick ports. Later models reduced the number of ports to two. The earlier models used the power cord to send the audio video signal to the television. The 5200 also has an expansion port that was never utilized.

Atari 5200 controller
One of the brightest points of the system is its controller. It has an analog joystick and a 12 button keypad. It is without a doubt the best controller for a home system prior to the Neo-Geo. The system was also designed so that the controllers could be stored inside the system. A trackball was also produced.

Some of the classic games for the system include
Q*bert
Atari 5200 Q*Bert box Atari 5200 Q*Bert back of box


Centipede
Atari 5200 Centipede box Atari 5200 Centipede back of box


Space Invaders
Atari 5200 Space Inavders box Atari 5200 Space Invaders back of box


Starwars


The following is a complete list of games for the system.


Atari 5200 SuperSystem box front view