Atari 7800

Overview

The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console released by Atari Corporation in May 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it the first console with backward compatibility. It shipped with a two button controller, instead of the 2600-standard Atari CX40 joystick, and with Pole Position II as the pack-in game. The European model has a gamepad instead of a joystick. Most of the early releases for the system are ports of 1981–1983 arcade video games. The final wave of 7800 cartridges is closer in style to what was available on other late 1980s consoles, such as Scrapyard Dog and Midnight Mutants.

Designed by General Computer Corporation, the 7800 has custom graphics hardware similar to early 1980s arcade video games and is a significant improvement over Atari's previous consoles. The same Television Interface Adaptor chip that launched with the Atari VCS in 1977, included for compatibility with cartridges for that system, is used to generate two-channel audio for 7800 games. In an effort to prevent the flood of poor quality games that contributed to the video game crash of 1983, cartridges had to be digitally signed by Atari.

The Atari 7800 and an initial batch of games were first announced by Atari, Inc. on May 21, 1984, but general release was shelved after the purchase of Atari by Jack Tramiel who re-established the company as Atari Corporation. Support for the 7800, along with the 2600 and Atari 8-bit computers, was dropped in 1992.

Specifications

Manufacturer

Atari, Inc.; Atari Corporation

Developer

General Computer Corporation

Type

Home video game console

Generation

Third

Released

NA May 1986; PAL 1987

Discontinued

1992

Launch price

US$140

Media

ROM cartridge

Processor

Atari SALLY @ 1.19-1.79 MHz

Graphics

MARIA custom chip @ 7.16 MHz

Memory

4 KB RAM on board; 4 KB BIOS ROM (NTSC), 16 KB BIOS + Game ROM (PAL); 48 KB General Purpose Space (ROM, RAM, etc.) accessible at once

Video output

160×240, 320×240 (288 vertical for PAL); 7, 9, or 25 colors out of 256 (Depending on the mode)

Backward compatibility

Atari 2600

Predecessor

Atari 5200

Successor

Atari Panther (canceled); Atari XEGS

Best-selling game

Pole Position II (pack-in)

Models

• Initial version

Model names as listed by IGDB.

More from Atari

• Atari 2600 1977
• Atari 5200 1982
• Atari Lynx 1989
• Atari Jaguar 1993
• Atari Jaguar CD 1995

Sources

• Wikipedia overview and specifications
• IGDB model names
• Atari-7800-Console-Set.jpg
• Atari 7800 with Cartridge.jpg Matthew Paul Argall CC0
• Atari-CX78-7800-Controller-FL-wThumbStick.jpg Evan-Amos Public domain

The overview is adapted from Wikipedia and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.

Checked October 2026.