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7800 GAME HISTORY
THE GAMES, THE PROTOTYPES, THE HISTORY THAT COULD HAVE BEEN

The History of the Atari 7800 ProSystem Line of Home Gaming Software

The Atari 7800 library of software ultimately began development in response to Atari's new competition stemming from Mattel, Coleco, Nintendo and Tyco, all of which were breathing down Atari's corporate neck. The original concept to replace the 2600 was a new home gaming system which would offer crisp new graphics, sound and gameplay, but would remain 100% backwards compatible with all pre-existing 2600 software and peripherals. Atari scraped this idea however, opting to take a shortcut by slimming down the existing 400/800 Atari Computer technology to fit into a game system. This computer-based game system ultimately became the Atari 5200, released in 1982.

A year and a half later, after the public's lukewarm response to the 5200, Atari went back to the drawing boards. They took a look once again at the original concept for the 5200, which called for"out-of-the-box" reverse compatibility with the 2600, inspiring graphics and sound, and simple responsive game control. The public's main complaints about the 5200 stemmed from the confusion between the 5200 and 2600 software, as they were incompatible with each other, as well as from the complicated and cumbersome joysticks packaged with the 5200. The public was frustrated, confused, and downright fed up with the video game industry. Atari had to right the ship before it sank.

Atari began development on model 3600, the project which would eventually evolve into the Atari 7800 ProSystem. Atari started work on this project from a "Square One" approach, letting go the fat of the land and focusing on the essentials. If the 2600 was the "Model T" of video game systems, the 5200 would have been the "57 Cadillac" with the huge fins and all the flamboyant gaudy works. Atari was out to make this new system a sleek and slender exotic sports car. As stated before, one of the main design criteria was that the new system remain fully compatible with all existing 2600 technology. This was not a negotiable issue with the powers that be, and the engineering division would have to build a completely new system around the soul of the original 2600 VCS. This meant that the new game system would have to utilize software which was housed in cartridges, identical to those of the 2600, which was now nearly eight years old.

Atari's solution was rather genius. The 7800's cartridge bay would be nearly identical to that of the 2600, with the exception of two extra notches on each side of the cartridge input slot inside the cartridge bay. If you were to insert a 2600 cartridge, the primary contacts in the center of the cartridge would slide into place, and the system would recognize the game as a 2600 series cartridge, and allow the game to be played in 2600 mode. Should a game cartridge be inserted that was designed specifically for the 7800 system, the machine would kick into high-gear with the newly designed Maria graphics chip, and play the game in 7800 mode. 7800 cartridges had four extra contacts on the game boards, two on each side which were located on two small notches which were off to the side of the original 2600 contacts. With the system operating in 7800 mode, graphics were much sharper, animation was much more advanced, and sound was state-of-the-art.

The first games to be written for the new system were the true arcade staples of the past, which would be translated to a home system which, for the first time, could allow these games to be played with true-to-arcade graphics and sound in someone's home living room. These first titles, affectionately known as "The Fabulous Eleven" were developed inside of Atari, and consisted of Centipede (CX7801), Asteroids (CX7802), Dig Dug (CX7803), Food Fight (CX7804), Galaga (CX7805), Joust (CX7806), Ms. Pac-Man (CX7807), Pole Position II (CX7808), Robotron: 2084 (CX7809), Xevious (CX7810), and Desert Falcon (CX7811). In addition to these titles, Lucasfilm Games was developing two more titles for the 7800, Ballblazer (CX7815) and the never released Rescue on Fractalus (CX7816). These games were to be ready for the 7800's release in 1984.

One month after Atari released the 7800 to the public, Warner Communications sold off the controlling interest in Atari to a gentleman by the name of Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore. Tramiel wanted to turn Atari into a computer company and had no interest what-so-ever in selling video games... at least not at that time. A mere 45 days after the 7800 saw the light of day, support was dropped and all software development and production was shelved until 1986, when Tramiel saw the potential to compete against Sega and Nintendo, who had revived the sluggish home gaming industry. Even after Tramiel decided to revive the 7800 project, many developments remained candled, regardless of their progress. Of these scrapped developments were the developing titles which had not been completed by the summer of 1984 including Lucasfilm Game's Rescue on Fractalus, Electronic Arts' Sky Fox, and Atari in house developments such as the Atari 7800 High Score Cartridge (released in 2000 by RetroEngineering) the Atari 7800 Keyboard Computer and all related computer software, and the Atari 7800 LaserDisc system which was being discussed in 1984 at the time of the buyout.

The life of the 7800 was just beginning however, and there were many great titles on the way. Many of the titles to be released during the primary portion of the 7800's life span were those titles which were not available on Nintendo or Sega, titles which were most likely to be arcade hits or good titles on home computer systems. Games such as One-on-One Basketball featuring Larry Bird and Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Winter Games, Summer Games, Impossible Mission, Choplifter! and Karateka were released in 1986 and 1987 and became very popular titles on the 7800 among fans. This highlights the 7800's emphasis in a mixed library of both smash hit arcade classics, and well-known computer platform titles.

Some of the most notable titles in the 7800's video game library came in the later days of the systems life, from 1989 through 1992. Many of the games released during this time period were quirky yet loveable to say the least. The most well known example of this "quirkiness" is the title Ninja Golf, a game in which a Ninja must battle nefarious enemies using Chineese stars and other Ninja weapons, while trying to hit a hole-in-one. This may sound like an odd concept, but it made for a very enjoyable and unique game to add to your collection. Other quickly games of this time period included Tower Toppler, Super Skateboardin', Crack 'ed, Scrapyard Dog, Fatal Run, Jinks, and Midnight Mutants, a very elaborate adventure style game in which you walk about a creepy old mansion, with Grampa from the hit 60's tv series "The Munsters" guiding you along your journey. Most of these games tend to be rarer finds when compared to the earlier 7800 titles of the mid 1980's as many gamers had "gone Nintendo" by the time these titles were released. Their rarity, combined with their quirkiness and loveability make these titles great collectibles and even better players for the 7800 system.

Midnight Mutants also happened to be the last game developed by Atari to be released in the United States for play on the 7800 ProSystem. A few other titles were still in development throughout the early 1990's, but very few ever saw the light of day, and even if so, that light was in Western Europe or a decade later when Atari vendors and homebrewers released these last titles. While the Atari 7800 may never have given us a plethora of game titles, and never have gained the popularity of the Nintendo or Sega systems, the Atari 7800 ProSystem library of video games is one of the most charming and enjoyable to collect for.

The Official Roster of Atari 7800 ProSystem Home Gaming Software

Vaporware on the Atari 7800 is as mysterious as they come, with many titles acting like mirages, hearing that they exist, yet never being able to get full confirmation. Over the years a few titles such as GATO, Plutos, Klax, and Missing In Action have surfaced through various sources including Digital Press at the Classic Gaming Expo.

So why is it that there are very few known prototypes for the 7800 as opposed to the other Atari systems? Why is so much vaporware just that... vapor? There are a few reasons actually. For one, the 7800 spent most of its life with Atari under Tramiel ownership, not Warner. The Tramiels did things much differently than Warner. Many 7800 titles were not developed in-house but sourced out to third parties, so there is no in-house salvage of these titles. Secondly, the Tramiels had a bad habit of trying to screw developers out of money after they had developed a title, refusing to pay for their contracted fee. Many times the developers would simply scrap their work completely once they came to the realization that they were not going to be paid. Basically, many developing titles were deleted for lack of payment. Titles such as Sky Fox fell to this fate.

A third reason which was commonly the cause for the demise is the dismissive attitude the Tramiels had towards new game concepts. It is reported that the reason Midnight Magic was never completed on the 7800 was that Gary Tramiel felt that the game was available on the 2600 already, thus it was playable on the 7800. It is also said that he considered Jinks to be "the pinball game" on the 7800. Other unreleased titles involving basketball, motorcycles, and other such otherwise-exciting concepts were ditched because the Tramiels saw these as games that had "already been done." Could you imagine if Nintendo had never made another Mario game after 1985?

To make matters worse, titles developed at Atari Coin-Op were released on the Nintendo Entertainment System under the Tengen label, as Tramiel saw that he could make more money in numbers selling cartridges on the Nintendo system than he could strengthening his own. Titles such as Tetris, Paperboy, Marble Madness, and Road Blasters quickly became staples in the Nintendo lineup, never seeing the light of day on the 7800, even though they were well known Atari titles in the arcades.

Listed below is a list of all titles which were slated for development for the 7800 series systems. Barely two-thirds of these titles ever made it to toy store shelves. To say that finding out what titles were actually released is easy is more than an understatement. However, this is certainly not the case when it comes to titles in development which never saw the light of day. As a long-time 7800 fanatic, I have spent countless years researching and attaining as much information as possible with regards to what was in development for the 7800, what was finished, and what didn't make it past the concept stages. All of the information listed in the databases below is as accurate as possible and historically grounded. All of the titles listed as "confirmed" or "likely titles" are posted as such based upon official Atari press releases, Atari in-house communiques, advertisements, packaging, posters, recently discovered artwork, and the reliable testimony of former Atari employees and vendors. There may be a few errors along the way, especially among the CX-78 designations, but vaporware information is sketchy at best at times, so piecing together the history from multiple sources can be a real tricky task.

ATARI CORPORATION

ACTIVISION / ABSOLUTE

FROGGO GAMES

TELEGAMES

ATARI 7800 COMPUTER KEYBOARD SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTS

UNCONFIRMED BUT LIKELY ATARI DEVELOPMENTS

DEBUNKED AS RUMORED SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENTS - NON EXISTANT

- NOTES -

* Previous working titles "Water Rage " & "White Water Madness" until Tengen license was attained.
2 Designation based off of 79XX roster order.
- Hoop Wars was the working title for Basketbrawl.
- Peasant King may very well have been the working title for Off The Wall.
- 3-D Asteroids was the original concept for Asteroids.
- Asteroids Deluxe was the working title for Asteroids.
- Crack 'ed was intended to be used with the Atari Light Gun.