Atari 5200

The Atari 5200 SuperSystem was a second generation video game console introduced by Atari in 1982. It was intended to replace the successful Atari 2600 and compete with the Mattel Intellivision; however, it its major competitor turned out to be the Colecovision, which was released a few months after the 5200. Although the unit was more cost efficient and technologically superior to any other console on the market at that time, it had a number of design flaws that had a serious impact on usability, and the 5200 is generally considered to have been a failure.

The unit was essentially an Atari 400 computer without a keyboard, but with four controller ports (all other systems of that time had only two ports). There was also a controller with a numeric keypad, analogue joystick, two fire buttons on both sides of the controller and game function keys for Reset, Start and Pause. However, the unusual design of the joystick proved to be unreliable and awkward, disenchanting many users of the system. Having said that, the pause button, which was a novelty feature at the time, soon become standard on almost all future game systems.

The console used a revolutionary TV switchbox that automatically switched from TV viewing to the game system signal when the system was activated. This was in comparison to previous systems where a switch had to be operated by hand. The unit used a single cable from the console to the switch box for both electricity and the television signal, a design only ever seen previously in the RCA Studio II, and after the 5200, was never seen again.

In 1983, Atari released a scaled-down version of the Atari 5200, with two (instead of four) controller ports, along with a more conventional separate power supply and standard (non autoswitching) RF switch. It also released an adapter that enabled it to play all Atari 2600 games, using the more reliable controllers native to that system.

However, its numerous design flaws and the game market crash of 1983 led to its demise and production ended abruptly that same year.