Atari Consoles – Which Ones are the Best?

The All Time Best Atari Consoles

Atari had their start in the early videogame industry with the classic Atari 2600 the most successful and iconic early Atari consoles out there.

It was the foundation of Atari’s success and led to the beginning of a gaming empire and multiple hardware releases that have remained in the public consciousness for decades.

Let’s look at some of their most fondly remembered Atari consoles and find out which are the best Atari consoles.

The Atari Lynx II

Released in 1989, the Atari Lynx was a handheld 16 bit console. It was released to be a direct competitor for the Nintendo Game Boy. It had an eye-catching design and impressive hardware statistics that really surprised critics and fans alike.

The real ace up its sleeve however was its LED colour display. The Game Boy had a monochrome display that looked positively archaic next to the Lynx, which was released only two months after the Game Boy.

Additional features of the console included the addition of an ambidextrous design. Both right and left-handed people could use the console, simply by flipping the console around. It was the Lynx II however, released in 1990 that really made the console into the device it was meant to be.

Atari improved the battery life; they included a backlit screen and significant hardware improvements that made the Lynx a powerhouse in the handheld market.

Unfortunately the Lynx also had competition in the form of the Sega Game Gear and the Turbo Express from NEC, both handheld video game consoles with colour displays. Nowadays handheld gaming devices are simply our mobile phones, and you can play at Canadian mobile casinos on your smartphone.

But for Atari, the decision as to where they focused their energy was less simple back in the day. The company had to decide where to dedicate its funds since at the time the company was also working on the Atari Jaguar which was to compete with Sega and Nintendo’s 16 bit home consoles.

The Lynx unfortunately received infrequent software releases and poor marketing leading to the console’s demise.

The Atari 7800 

Even though fans were initially disappointed by the 7800’s release, it has gone one to be a hit amongst modern day collectors. The 7800 was the third console release after the 2600’s booming success.

The 5200 which is the successor to the 2600 was quite a commercial failure due to the lack of developer support and the subpar hardware upgrades to the console. The 7800 in truth was another minimal upgrade but the fact remained that the device was smaller than the 5200, had a joystick that blew both the 2600 and the 5200 out of the water and best of all the 7800 is completely backwards compatible with all previous Atari games.

Today collectors value this as one of the best Atari consoles as it offers an authentic all in one solution for any prospective Atari collector.

The Atari 2600

What could possibly have taken the top spot for best Atari console? The Atari 2600 Console with its original wood grain finish is as eye catching today as it was in the 80’s. There is something hypnotic about the retro titles available for this system.

The white noise sound effects, unforgettable explosion animations and simple game designs are as much a part of the 1980’s as Madonna or corporate takeovers. 2600 games are still being re-released in compilation packages or remakes showing just how pervasive the Atari culture eventually became.