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Atari 2600 Teardown
Atari 2600 Teardown
Step 1 -
Atari 2600, with AC adapter and iconic joystick
controller.
Does the 2600 have a hardwood finish? You are
correct sir!
Video game consoles these days may not have a
sense of home decor, but some computer
companies still believe in the aesthetics of wood
paneling.
At its release, the 2600 sold for $199. In today's coin,
that's $696. In comparison, the launch model of
PlayStation 3 cost only $599. Prices are coming down!
As soon as users figured out that the Atari 2600 could
play more games than just Pong, the 2600 became
massively successful. It went from selling 250,000
consoles in 1977 to 1 million units in 1979.
Step 2
From its release in 1977 until 1983, the Atari 2600 was
officially called the Video Computer System, in
response to Fairchild Semiconductor's Video
Entertainment System. The console was later renamed
after its model number, CX2600.
Instead of following the trend of building a limited
number of games into the system like the Magnavox
Odyssey 100, the Atari 2600 used removable cartridges
to store games like Space invaders, Pac-Man and
Pitfall!
Each player could select the difficulty of the game they
were playing by simply flipping a switch from "A" to "B".
Which one was harder is anyone's guess.