Atari’s motto was “Power without the Price.” It should have read “Power at a Price.”
When Atari took their low-end computer, the Atari 400, gave her a facelift, a model number twice the value of the 2600 and called her their “Super System,” they also gave her an enormous pricetag – $299.95 (I guess it also had to cost twice as much as the 2600). Atari promised she would be worth every penny and of the millions of promises Atari made, this was probably one of the few they kept to their loyal supporters.
The 5200 was Atari’s answer to the Colecovision. From the moment you picked it up you knew you had (as Atari put it) a “Super System” in your hands. It came packaged in a huge box. When you opened the box and picked up the system, you could feel the power in your hands. Size? This system was BIG – twice the size of the 2600. She had a sleek, black design with a silver strip running across the middle of her, four controller ports (the later models were made with two) and a storage place at the top of the system where you would store your controllers, hidden from sight,when they weren’t in use. If you put the 5200 next to the old style
Sega Genesis and asked someone which one looked “State of the Art”, chances are they would choose the
Atari. – Read the rest of the article here from Classic Gamer Magazine (courtesy of Old School Gamer)!
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