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Why Atari 5200 was considerate a fail?


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2 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

True, but this can be said for even modern consoles.  Hardware designs are frozen (with the exception of small revisions) years in advance of production, which means that by the time it launches they're typically 3 years or so behind current hardware.  Sure, they might have a hot-shit graphics chipset or CPU type not widely-available in desktop machines, but even that stuff doesn't tend to be cutting edge except when first hitting the market.

 

Besides, in 1982 the Z80 and TMS9918 in the ColecoVision were still current technology.  On the cusp of being moved aside by upcoming 16-bit architectures, sure, but this was a world in which the Apple Lisa (never mind the Mac) didn't yet exist, and 8086s were expensive and exotic in comparison to 8088s.  Besides, the 6502 and Z80 would continue to be bread-and-butter 8-bit architectures for another decade before really being put out to pasture, at least until embedded computing came along.  Not bad for 1970s tech all around.

Then that leads even this hardcore 80s gamer to ask this.... based on the fact that both the Z80 in my ColecoVision and the 6502 in my 5200 are both considered "70s tech", I wondered what they WOULD'VE BEEN had they used updated tech (circa-1982) instead.

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4 hours ago, BIGHMW said:

Then that leads even this hardcore 80s gamer to ask this.... based on the fact that both the Z80 in my ColecoVision and the 6502 in my 5200 are both considered "70s tech", I wondered what they WOULD'VE BEEN had they used updated tech (circa-1982) instead.

 

To give an example, in 1982 a step forward was certainly the Commodore 64. Summarizing the strengths:

 

- 8 _hardware_ multicolour sprites (12×21) per scanline

- Smooth scrolling capabilities

- versatile high resolution mode, 320×200, 2 colors in each 8×8 pixel block

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Defender_2600 said:

To give an example, in 1982 a step forward was certainly the Commodore 64. Summarizing the strengths:

 

- 8 _hardware_ multicolour sprites (12×21) per scanline

- Smooth scrolling capabilities

- versatile high resolution mode, 320×200, 2 colors in each 8×8 pixel block

 

This touches on something that kept the Z80 and 6502 relevant for far longer than might have seemed likely: the ease with which they could access external chipsets that moved certain types of processing (typically audio and video) off of the main CPU and onto secondary CPUs and/or ASICs.

 

For the absolute apogee of what was accomplished with an 8-bit system at the time, I'd be willing to stick my neck out and say that the PC Engine was it.  Launched in 1987, it came in when the twilight of the 8-bit machines was well and truly established, but did manage to stay in the market until 1994 largely due to the additional hardware extending its 6502's capabilities.  Not bad for a system based around an 11-year-old CPU ;)

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53 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

This touches on something that kept the Z80 and 6502 relevant for far longer than might have seemed likely: the ease with which they could access external chipsets that moved certain types of processing (typically audio and video) off of the main CPU and onto secondary CPUs and/or ASICs.

 

For the absolute apogee of what was accomplished with an 8-bit system at the time, I'd be willing to stick my neck out and say that the PC Engine was it.  Launched in 1987, it came in when the twilight of the 8-bit machines was well and truly established, but did manage to stay in the market until 1994 largely due to the additional hardware extending its 6502's capabilities.  Not bad for a system based around an 11-year-old CPU ;)

 

And we could also remember the legendary Motorola 68000, the Sega Genesis, etc ... just don't forget that in the end it was the GPU / VDP that made the difference. The 68000 architecture, introduced in 1979, is still in use after 43 years in production. ;)

 

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