Video Game Gazette
The Atari 7800 was widely released in 1986. It could play both 7800 and 2600 games, and was the first system to be backwardly compatible. It was also one of the last home systems for quite some time to come with joysticks. It was kept on life support until the mid-1990s!
The system has a custom 6502 CPU running at 1.79 MHz. The speed drops to 1.19MHz when the TIA or RIOT chips are accessed. The graphics are handeled by MARIA, a custom graphics controller. Like the 5200, it has a resolution of 320x200 with 256 colors. The sound is handeled by TIA, the same chip that is used in the 2600.
The bios is stored on a 4 kilobyte ROM chip. The system only has 4 kilobytes of RAM. The cartridges have a maximum of 32 kilobytes of space without bankswitching.
The joystick and console switch IO are handled by the 6532, RIOT, and TIA. Like the second version of the 5200, the system supported two joystick ports, a cartridge port, and an expansion connector.
Over the course of its lifetime more than 45 games were produced. Some of the classics include
Ace of Aces
Kung Fu Master
Rampage
Pole Position II
