Atari 7800

The Atari 7800 is a video game console released by Atari in 1984. The 7800 was designed as a successor to the Atari 5200, though released only two years after the 5200's release. The 7800 was also the first console to feature backward-compatibility — though the Atari 5200 could with peripheral help — being able to play classics from the Atari 2600 games. 
Unlike most of Atari's 1980s consoles, the Atari 7800 did not bomb, selling over 3.7 million units in North America alone, much more than most of Atari's work after the 7800. Less than 100 titles were specifically designed for it, and Atari cancelled several peripherals for the device, however. The 7800 eventually fell short to the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Sega Master System.
== Technical specifications ==
* CPU: Atari SALLY 6502 ("6502C")
** Speed: 1.79 MHz, drops to 1.19 MHz when the TIA Television Interface Adaptor or RIOT (6532 RAM-I/O-Timer) chips are accessed
** (note: Unlike a standard 6502, SALLY can be halted to allow other devices to control the bus)
* RAM: 4 KB (2 6116 2Kx8 RAM ICs)
* ROM: built in 4 KB BIOS ROM, 48 KB Cartridge ROM space without bankswitching
* Graphics: MARIA custom graphics controller
** 160×240 (160×288 PAL) resolution or 320×240/288 resolution
** 25 color palette out of 256 colors (16 hues * 16 luma), different graphics modes restricted the number of usable colors and the number of colors per sprite
** Direct Memory Access (DMA)
** Graphics clock: 7.16 MHz
* I/O: Joystick and console switch IO handled byte 6532 RIOT and TIA
* Ports: 2 joystick ports, 1 cartridge port, 1 expansion connector, power in, RF output
* Sound: TIA video and sound chip, same as the 2600. Only the sound is used in 7800 games. Both video and sound are used in 2600 games.
** Optional POKEY sound chip on cartridge for improved sounds.
Category:Consoles released by Atari