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What Atari console is rarest?


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Did the Falcon ever reach the retail stage? That would definitely be the most rare. After that, I agree that the 7800 is the least common, which probably has something to do with the fact that its power supply is non-standardized. First, the atrocious jokes that were the 5200 controllers, and then the 7800 "unique" power plug...what was Atari THINKING half the time??

 

CF

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In terms of actual units produced, on the console side it would have to be the Jaguar. I believe there were less than 500,000 Jaguars manufactured in total and even that is a rather high.

 

I'm not very knowledgeable about the Atari computer side, but my intution tells me that it would have been the Falcon that's the rarest of those. They are hard to find and still command a rather high price.

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On the computer side, if you only include the ones that went into production (ie at least thousands made), it would probably be the TT030 or the STacy portable computers. These two machines were stuck with a FCC Class A certification for the longest time, meaning they can only be sold to businesses and not to home users. To this day, there is still debate as to whether they ever received FCC Class B certification. (Atari kept saying these machines got Class B certified, but when people went to buy them, they were still stickered as Class A machines!) :o So these could not be really ramped up in production as they were pretty much restricted to US business users (not many) and to Canada and Europe. And even in Canada and Europe, these machines were very expensive limiting their sales potential again (but they were very powerful machines too...so :roll: ).

 

The Falcon was released in a much wider scope, but they command about the same price as a TT030 or STacy probably due to the fact that the Falcon was the last and most powerful Atari computer made.

 

They also VERY rarely ever show up on EBay unlike all the consoles and 8-bit computers.

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On the console side, I'd have to say the XEGS. Doing a search for it on Ebay hardly ever brings up one in working condition, much less a brand new one.

 

On the computer side, I'd have to say the STBook.

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I don't think the Atari Jaguar is all that rare. I know someone who was selling 2 boxed never opened Jaguars sets at a computer show for $35. I did not buy it at the time as I had not started collecting Atari items at the time. Would that have been a good deal?

 

As for the rarest console, I would have to think that it would have to be either the 7800 or the Lynx because they did not gain the popularity that some of the other systems enjoyed. The Lynx was superior in every way to the original Nintendo gameboy except for what counted most at Christmas time in 1989. What counted most was nationwide availability and a lot of cool games. That did not happen and then everyone bought a monochrome gameboy and no one wanted to know about anything else even if it was something better.

 

The 7800 could have been a hit if it was released in 1984 but when the Tramiels bought Atari in 1984, all they were interested was creating a new computer company and wanted Atari for its name recognition. By the time that they realized that game systems were popular again (I HATE NINTENDO!), it was too late. They released the 7800 in 1986 and by then, the games that came with it were old and not as enjoyable. 2600 compatiability was nice but it was not going to help turn the tide against a system like the NES (DIE NINTENDO DIE!).

 

I am glad that Nintendo is getting beat by the PS2. If not for the Gameboy advance and Pokemon licensing, I don't think Nintendo would be doing as well as it is currently and they are not doing well in comparision to Sony.

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in ontario canada,

 

the 5200 seems to be the rarest ive not seen a single 5200 thing

 

2600 duh yes

7800 first atari stuff i bought

Jag rare but ive seen some and ive seen tons in a warehouse

lynx an occasional find here and there, 3x in my entire life though

 

on the computer side

very little indeed

but the STacy isn't THAT rare here it seems...

the XEGS i didn't know existed untill a long time

but i have one thanks to a generous trade

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The 5200 was never officially released in Canada (although some specialty stores did import units & games from the States), so that's why you never see it up here. I've only seen 1 unit and about 8 games in the last 5 years in Canada. In that time I've probably seen 500 2600 consoles and bought half of them. :)

 

That's why Coleco stuff seems to be a lot easier to find in Canada.. since it wasn't competing with the 5200, it was able to grab a larger market share.

 

KA

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I don't think the Atari Jaguar is all that rare. I know someone who was selling 2 boxed never opened Jaguars sets at a computer show for $35. I did not buy it at the time as I had not started collecting Atari items at the time. Would that have been a good deal?

 

As for the rarest console, I would have to think that it would have to be either the 7800 or the Lynx because they did not gain the popularity that some of the other systems enjoyed. The Lynx was superior in every way to the original Nintendo gameboy except for what counted most at Christmas time in 1989. What counted most was nationwide availability and a lot of cool games. That did not happen and then everyone bought a monochrome gameboy and no one wanted to know about anything else even if it was something better.

 

The 7800 could have been a hit if it was released in 1984 but when the Tramiels bought Atari in 1984, all they were interested was creating a new computer company and wanted Atari for its name recognition. By the time that they realized that game systems were popular again (I HATE NINTENDO!), it was too late. They released the 7800 in 1986 and by then, the games that came with it were old and not as enjoyable. 2600 compatiability was nice but it was not going to help turn the tide against a system like the NES (DIE NINTENDO DIE!).

 

I am glad that Nintendo is getting beat by the PS2. If not for the Gameboy advance and Pokemon licensing, I don't think Nintendo would be doing as well as it is currently and they are not doing well in comparision to Sony.

 

 

Yes! Die Nintendo Die! Its nice to see them feel the pain Atari went thru because of them!

 

I guess if you're going to talk rare, you defintely have to break the catagory into two: prototypes and production/released

 

Lynx and 7800 do seem rare, but that can be driven by what area of the world you live in. Perception is all based on what you can find near you. I've moved around a lot being in the military and I've noticed some places to have an abundance of Atari stuff at thrift stores/flea markets. And some places your extremely lucky if you can find a 2600 Combat cartridge.

 

On the ST computer side, I think the Stacy and Sparrow (pre-Falcon with a darker shade casing). The TT can also be pretty rare due to the problem mention about the FCC coding. Oh and lets not forget the Transputer workstations on the prototype side.

 

8bit computer, the 1400XL would have to be the rarist for production line produced since it was released and then immeadiately pulled back. And getting one with its label intact is even rarier. 1450XLD (TONG)is the rariest for prototypes.

 

Console: prototypes - Jaguar 2 is defintely one. Some of the other ideas that Atari was working on for 2600 (can't remember their numbering, but they are detailed at Atari History web site)

 

Production: I think the 7800 is more rare than the Lynx, especially the ones that have the expansion connector intact. XEGS has the problem that it's not just a console but more of a computer.

 

Stand alone: I think stunt cycle is the rariest.

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

And....Die Nintendo Die!!!

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