Sears Video Arcade II/Atari 2800 have 4 joystick ports?

[OldAtarian]

http://www.museo8bits.com/atari_2800.htm

 

Look at these pics. They clearly show this model has 4 joystick ports. Why? Do any games actually support more than 2 players?

[SoundGammon]

No,

The reason for 4 ports is that the controllers that came with the unit had was a joystick/paddle combination controller. So, if you wanted to play Warlords with 4 people you would have to have 4 of those controllers or just 2 sets of paddle controllers plugged into the first 2 ports.

[OldAtarian]

No,

The reason for 4 ports is that the controllers that came with the unit had was a joystick/paddle combination controller. So, if you wanted to play Warlords with 4 people you would have to have 4 of those controllers or just 2 sets of paddle controllers plugged into the first 2 ports.

 

Seems like a waste to add to the complexity and manufacturing cost to support a small number of games that allowed more than 2 players when you could just make people buy paddles if they wanted to play them.

Edited October 11, 2010 by OldAtarian