Atari Game Brain
| Developer | Atari |
|---|---|
| Type | dedicated video game console |
| Release date | unreleased (1978)[1][2][3][4] |
The Atari Game Brain(Model C-700) was an unreleased dedicated video game console by Atari.[2] Intended to be released in June 1978, it would only have played 10 different games. All of the planned games would have been ports of games from all of Atari's previously released dedicated consoles, such as Pong, Stunt Cycle, & Video Pinball. Its controllers were built onto the system, and included 4 directional buttons, a paddle, and a fire button.[2] Games would be inserted in the top of the system by opening a door, and the door had a small instructions booklet on top of it.
The system was never supposed to be a huge seller for Atari. Instead, the system was just their way of clearing out their CPUs from their unsold dedicated consoles.[2] Unfortunately by the time the Game Brain was finished, dedicated consoles were becoming obsolete against consoles with programmable ROMs, such as the already released Fairchild Channel F, the RCA Studio 2, and Atari's own 2600. Noting this, Atari cancelled the Game Brain around 1978. Today, only 3 Game Brain consoles are known to exist, as well as 5 prototype cartridges.
Games
- Pong
- Stunt Cycle
- Super Pong
- Super Pong ProAm
- Super Pong ProAm 10
- Super Pong 10
- Ultra Pong
- Ultra Pong Doubles
- Video Music
- Video Pinball
References
- ^ Music Backdrop For Vegas CES, By Stephen Traiman, Page 81, 14 Jan 1978, Billboard, Listings from $19.95 to $59.95, additional carts were shown by...Atari(Warner Communications) for its new Game Brain,..
- ^ a b c d Intermission: Innovative Oddities, Page 497, By Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel, Atari Inc: Business is Fun, Another interesting console blip that appears on the radar briefly appeared at the 1978 Summer CES. Called the 'Game Brain' Model C-700, it's a cartridge based console system, but it's not microprocessor based like the VCS.
- ^ Page xiii, Weekly Television Digest with Consumer Electronics, Volume 18, Part 1, Editorial & Business Headquarters, 1978, NEW ATARI MPU GAME:Atari is moving into lower end of programmable market with new "moderately prices" Game Brain scheduled for introduction at CES this week. At same time Atari ...will be..., delivered in June along with Game Brain.
- ^ A History of WCI Games / Atari / Atari Games / Atari Holdings, 1978 June 11-14: At the Summer CES in Chicago Atari introduced the Game Brain (C-700; $115; never shipped), along with four new VCS titles: Basketball (previously announced in April), Capture the Flag (would ship as Flag Capture), The Maze (would eventually ship as Maze Craze), Wizard (never shipped)