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{{Emulation|[[emulation:Atari 2600 emulators|Atari 2600 emulators]]}}
{{Template:Infobox console
|Manufacturer = [[Atari]]
|Generation = [[:Category:Second_generation|Second generation]]
|Media type = ROM cartridge, tape
|Input controller = joystick, paddles, driving controller, track-ball, keypad
|Predecessor = [[Atari Pongconsoles]]
|Successor = [[Atari 5200]]
}}
The '''Atari 2600''' was is a video game console released in September 1977 by [[Atari|Atari Inc.]] It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and ROM cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in. The first game console to use this format was the [[Fairchild Channel F]]; however, the Atari 2600 receives credit for making the plug-in concept popular among the game-playing public.
It did make by far the biggest impact of any console released during the golden age. In fact, to much of the general public, it made the word “Atari” synonymous with the word “video game” (at least until Nintendo assumed the throne in the mid to late 1980s).
Imbued with a mere 128 bytes of RAM, the Atari 2600 was originally designed to play Pong variations, simplistic action games, crude racing simulations, rudimentary educational titles, and the like. However, with the release of Space Invaders in 1980, the system skyrocketed in sales and became a mainstay of arcade conversions.
In 1980, after a limited marketing test in 1979, Mattel released its [[Intellivision]] system nationwide, setting the stage for the first true console war. Bolstered by a scries of commercials starring spokesman George Plimpton, the lntellivision had superior graphics and sounds and more power under the hood. Nevertheless, the Atari 2600 maintained a dominant following, thanks to its plethora of popular arcade titles and its propensity for fast-action games that were easy to pick up and play. By 1983, however, due in part to competition from other systems (like the [[ColecoVision]] and the [[Atari 5200]]) and a multitude of inferior titles cranked out by certain third-party companies, the shine began to wear off the aging console. By 1984, the Atari 2600 was all but dead, a victim of the fabled Great Videogame Crashgreat video game crash.
==Technical specifications==
:''Main article: [[Atari 2600 Hardware]].''
== Gallery =====Power supply===
<gallery>
Atari 2600 power supply 01.jpg
Former Atari employees founded the earliest example of the third-party game publisher. Alan Miller, designer of early launch titles like ''Surround'' and ''Basketball'', left with fellow designers Bob Whitehead, Larry Kaplan, and David Crane to form Activision in 1979 with the help of music lawyer Jim Levy. Atari unsuccessfully pursued legal action for a while to keep Activision from publishing games on ther platform. Another publisher, Imagic, was founded by Atari and Mattel Electronics alumni the following year.
The Atari 2600, which never featured any kind of copy protection, was mobbed as publishers as diverse as Parker Brothers to CBS began making and publishing video games. The flood of games and lack of quality control from other companies left many customers dissatisfied, which eventually became another factor in the 1983 Video Game Crashvideo game crash.
[[Category:Console]]
[[Category:Second generation]]
