What made you want to start collecting 5200?

[socrates63]

@The Strangest I strongly suggest reaching out to @ikonsgr and ordering one or two 5200 9 pin adapters from him. While the analog stick on the native 5200 controller works well enough for most games (in my opinion), a digital controller will feel more comfortable. The adapter is very affordable and opens up the ability to use a Genesis controller with the 5200. And you can save wear and tear on the 5200 controller joystick.

[ClausB]

On 8/20/2020 at 10:04 PM, The Strangest said:

I do want to collect for Atari 8-bit computers also, but I’m a bit turned away by the prospect of finding the discs, a drive, and loading them.

There are multi-carts and modern SIO devices for the 8-bits, so you don't have to mess around with disks.

[kiwilove]

9 hours ago, ClausB said:

There are multi-carts and modern SIO devices for the 8-bits, so you don't have to mess around with disks.

It may seem to be a bit of a hassle to get to know how to load and run various programs, etc - which is really not that complicated to do - but a whole world of other stuff is there to see or hear besides more games.  Below is just a sample of still graphic images able to view and enjoy.

 

Harvey

[leech]

On 8/20/2020 at 8:42 PM, sramirez2008 said:

For me it was seeing and playing Tempest on a 5200 (w/Trak-Ball controller) at the 2015 Classic Game Festival in Austin.@Albert had an awesome AtariAge setup at the festival.

 

*Note* Rescue on Fractalus is great!

I got mine because of Adventure II. 

I need to find time to play Rescue on Fractulus more!  I couldn't tell, does this one use the Analog stick as an analog input?

[TwoShedsWilson]

It was my first console. I have very vivd memories of Ms Pac-Man and Popeye as well as my dad trying to fix the controllers and the look on his face when he realized he was far out of his depth.

 

It was then boxed up after the replacement controllers also broke and wasn't seen again. Flash forward to last year when I was given a 2-port that my wife played when she was young and almost immediately after I picked up a 4-port both in amazing condition with four (currently) working controllers.

 

I love the thing.

[ave1]

Back in the mid-90s I found one at a thrift store for about $2.50.  I decided to go all in, and now I've got 68 out of 69 games. Love the system! 

Edited September 8, 2020 by ave1

[Henry Lee]

5 hours ago, ave1 said:

Back in the mid-90s I found one at a thrift store for about $2.50.  I decided to go all in, and now I've got 68 out of 69 games. Love the system! 

 

Let me guess which game is missing ?

[BassGuitari]

On 9/7/2020 at 11:05 PM, leech said:

I need to find time to play Rescue on Fractulus more!  I couldn't tell, does this one use the Analog stick as an analog input?

 

Yes.

[ave1]

On 9/8/2020 at 8:17 PM, Henry Lee said:

 

Let me guess which game is missing ?

Yes- You know the one...

[Rogerpoco]

Similar to several others here, my best pal had one-I/we were a tad young to have been "good" at the 2600, tho they were around, but we were solid pre-teens by the time the 5200 came out. I mostly play 2600 now, and love it, but I'd say the 5200 was the first system I "tried to do well" on(he had a C64 as well).

I kinda completely forgot about "old games" for about 30 years, lol(sorry...), but started going for high scores on pretty much any system I could get my hands on, wasn't really "making a list", was just getting whatever was "available"(...cheap), and trying to score on it.

Was a fan of the 2600 by then, and I *believe* I had my 7800 already(great arcade ports, but tbh, the "least interesting" of the first three, IMO, tho I'd never say anything Atari made was "bad").

Saw an ad for one locally(ish), and picked it up, again, the main intention being, tbh, high scores.

Well, haha, the Guy I got it from was retired military, the 5200 had been pretty much the "base toy", they would keep track of high scores, people coming in and out of the base would play and stuff, and he insisted that it had mostly been used "competitively", to a degree.

Got a few crazy deals here on some CIB's and loose carts, my 5200 "collection" is relatively weak, but existant(I have the Atarimax, as well. I love the PC conversions).

Love the games, truly like the controller, but I don't disagree with people that wish it was a smidge better-I know there are other play options, and I'm not exactly a purist, but I do prefer to use the "real controller" usually.

Mostly, I guess-when the question comes up, "Have you played Atari today", I wanted to solidly be able to ask "Which one?".

[eightbit]

For me it was initially the fact that I never owned one as a kid. I recall seeing commercials, but it was a flash in the pan and then gone. I was always curious about this elusive (to me) system. Years passed and I never forgot about it and eventually I owned an Atari XE system and someone told me that it was based off of the 5200 (or as I later found out that it was based off of the 8-bit line of computers and the 5200 was based off of that) so I was even more intrigued.

 

When I finally did get one my initial experience was crap of course because of the dead controllers. But I was determined and as soon as I was able to get some good controller alternatives to actually PLAY the games I found it (and still find it) to be a fantastic console. I love this console, I really do.

 

Put the work in and get a better controller and It is worth it. This console is one of my cherished things next to the Vectrex and Jaguar.