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What Is The Greatest Pre-Crash System?


nosweargamer

What Is The Greatest Pre-Crash System  

3 members have voted

  1. 1. What Is The Greatest Pre-Crash System

    • Atari 2600
      3
    • Atari 5200
      0
    • Colecovision
      0
    • Magnavox Odyssey 2
      0
    • Mattel Intellivision
      0
    • Vectrex
      0
    • Other (Put In Comments)
      1


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I've been asking poll questions over at my YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg/community 

I've decided to bring some of them here as long term threads to help encourage discussion. It's also nice that in some questions, I can add more poll options here. So let's start with deciding which pre-crash system is the best. This can be based on whatever criteria you decide, included your personal enjoyment with the system, it's impact on gaming or it's overall library.

FYI - Even though the Atari 7800 got test-marketed before/during the crash & the Famicom came out before the crash over in Japan, I do not consider them pre-crash systems since their US nation-wide releases came out after. Also, this question is for home consoles and not computers like the C64 or A400. (that might come later 😉)

Feel free to vote in the poll and explain your choice in the thread.

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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My opinion:

  • That Atari 2600 is the greatest pre-crash system.  It sold the most consoles by far.  It broke so much ground.  It essentially defined an industry.
  • The Colecovision gets my special attention for "Technically best" pre-crash system.  I believe the CV had the most potential to be the Atari killer.  That system was capable of so much, all of it unrealized due to the crash.  Heck, the NES architecture is essentially a souped-up CV.  It is my belief that the CV could do anything the NES could.  The greatest "what-if" of the pre-crash era is:  what if Coleco had never green-lighted the idea of the Adam computer?  All their resources were depleted by Adam.  Would they have survived the crash?  With a few killer games for CV, I think yes. 

 

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1 hour ago, RickR said:

The greatest "what-if" of the pre-crash era is:  what if Coleco had never green-lighted the idea of the Adam computer?  All their resources were depleted by Adam.  Would they have survived the crash?  With a few killer games for CV, I think yes. 

You bring up a great point. I'm sure a lot of companies were hampered by R & D into products that did not sell well or never came out.

  • Atari with the 5200 & Cosmos (Got sold shortly after)
  • Mattel with the intellivision computer add-ons and to a degree, the Intellivoice (Stopped Intellivision during the crash)
  • Sega with the 32X & Saturn (Stopped making systems after the Dreamcast)
  • TG-16 with the early, expensive CD drive (Did not survive to the next generation in the US)
  • 3DO with the M2 
  • Sony with the Vita (which got them out of the portable game)

Both Microsoft & Sony focused on their main console's and where ready to lose money on systems.

This is where you have to give Nintendo a hand. They made solid, profitable systems and were smart enough with their money that they could overcome stuff like the Virtual Boy and Wii-U.

The No Swear Gamer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChtJuo040EOCTVziObIgVcg

Host of The Atari 7800 Game by Game Podcast on iTunes, Stitcher and YouTube

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1 hour ago, nosweargamer said:

This is where you have to give Nintendo a hand. They made solid, profitable systems and were smart enough with their money that they could overcome stuff like the Virtual Boy and Wii-U.

Eh, eh, eh.  Don't be praising them too soon.  Their dabbling in a CD accessory for the SNES resulted in Sony creating the PlayStation. 

But you're on point for sure.  Think of poor Sega trying to support Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, Game Gear, AND Saturn all at once. 

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For me, while not a dedicated gaming console, it is the Atari 400/800 systems and their derivatives. 

I may be biased as that was my first gaming system and first computer.  I had the 1200XL version and was lucky that my close friend's dad worked at Atari.  I played nearly 100 or so games most of which were great and had the best graphics for Atari games.   Plus it was a computer so used word processing, paint programs, learned programming, and even arranged basic music.

Between the C64's cost, marketing, and mass adoption it lost the computer/computer gaming space and the NES/remaining dedicated Atari consoles dominated the plug and play gaming space, the Atari computer line really was a niche product.

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