Atari 7800

3rd Generation Competitors
Sega Master System	Famicom / NES	Amstrad GX4000	Commodore 64 Game System

Region	Release Date	Discontinued	Lifetime Sales
Japan	NA	NA	NA
North America	May 1986	1st January 1992	3M
Europe	July 1987	1992	500K

Atari were hit hard in the video game crash and were eventually sold off a couple of time.  They mostly concentrated on the computer market but still attempted to regain the glory they’d felt with the 2600.  The 7800 followed the largely failed 5200.

The 7800 was basically an expanded 2600.  It featured the same audio chip but a vastly improved graphics system.  It was the first console developed outside of Atari, instead designed by General Computer Corporation.

The 7800 was an improvement over the 2600 and 5200, but not enough to compete with the incoming Japanese consoles.

The 7800 is compatible with the 5200 and 2600 range of games.

Specs
Processor	Atari Sally (modified MOS 6502) @ 1.79MHz
RAM	4K
ROM	4K
Custom Chips	Atari Maria @ 7.16MHz
Video	25 Colours on screen from a Palette of 256
Audio	2 × 1-bit mono channels
Removable storage	None