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These computers were videogaming BEASTS!!!! Too bad they were too expensive for most of us kids. In my 2600 days, I DREAMED of a machine that could really & truly bring the arcade experience home. Little did I know it was right under my nose the whole time... only it SEEMED to be some kind of well kept secret. After all, video game displays always had an atari 2600 or Intellivision, so I thought that was as good as it got! I remember wandering into a computer store one day, and they had an Atari 400 set up at this table, running PAC MAN. I sat down and played, and I simply couldn't believe it: THIS WAS REALLY THE REAL ARCADE PAC MAN!!!!!!! After playing the 2600 version, this seemed like some kind of miracle. Oh sure, the Colecovision was great, but NOWHERE near as great as the 400/800. Just compare Donkey Kong on the two machines. HELL, THE 400/800 VERSION WAS BETTER THAN THE ARCADE GAME ITSELF. And I can make the same claim about Asteroids: BETTER than the actual arcade. Taking all things into consideration, an ATARI 400 computer would have been a MUCH wiser choice as a gaming machine than the colecovision when they clearenced it out and sold it at rock bottom (how much was the 400 toward the end? $149? Did it ever reach $49?). But we didn't know any better back then: We were bombarded with the Your vision is our vision ads in Electronic games, thus it seems to take all the glory in the minds of us who remember it so fondly... It is time for the Atari computer to at last RISE UP and take it's rightful place as the king of all gaming consoles..........................

It is time for the Atari computer to at last RISE UP and take it's rightful place as the king of all gaming consoles.<< Agreed!  When Atariage.com adds a data_base_ and people start programming new games for the 8-bit, then there will be more discussion. I still remember the total shock of seeing the Atari 800 in a tech magazine in late 1979/early 1980.  I thought My GOSH! .. my VCS 2600 is obsolete .. and this new Atari computer looks more cool than the Apple II .. I gotta get one! I waited until early 1981 for the price to come down.  Then I ordered the 16k Atari 800 for $764 + shipping! Carts were $40 each .. (Basketball, Missile Command) .. $20 for cassette games .. (Caverns of Mars, Eastern Front 1941). $80 for the cassette 410 recorder. Alot of dough .. but worth it. Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

(how much was the 400 toward the end? $149? Did it ever reach $49?) I don't remember it being very cheap- the 400/800 line was just replaced with the XL line, and it never reached such rock-bottom prices.  For fun, though, the prices listed in a 1980 book about home computers are $549.99 for the 400, $999.99 for the 800. As for the 400 rising up and claiming the _title_ of best old-school console, I'd have to take issue with your underpowered choice; the 800 was the more popular of the line, and a better representation of what could be accomplished with the Atari 8-bits.  (My personal choice would be the C64/128, too, but that's more _base_d on the huge game selection than actual specs.)

I still remember the total shock of seeing the Atari 800 in a tech magazine in late 1979/early 1980.  I thought My GOSH! .. my VCS 2600 is obsolete .. and this new Atari computer looks more cool than the Apple II .. I gotta get one! I waited until early 1981 for the price to come down.  Then I ordered the 16k Atari 800 for $764 + shipping! Carts were $40 each .. (Basketball, Missile Command) .. $20 for cassette games .. (Caverns of Mars, Eastern Front 1941). $80 for the cassette 410 recorder. Alot of dough .. but worth it. YES...... indeed it was worth it!! It wasn't cheap, but it sure delivered. No need to wait for the future when you could play the real arcade games, the Atari 400/800 was ahead of it's time, and the owners of this machine wanted for NOTHING! (I am still grateful for what I had though: a 2600 and a Colecovision, but looking back had I done the research properly, I would have opted to get a 400 computer). Hello, Mista George? This is yo CONSCIENCE, mothafuka!!

(My personal choice would be the C64/128, too, but that's more _base_d on the huge game selection than actual specs.) For the later years after the crash, the C64 is the clear winner. But pre-crash glory must go to the Atari 400/800. Hello, Mista George? This is yo CONSCIENCE, mothafuka!!