Atari 7800 vs. NES

The NES was ultimately better because it was a lot more successful than the 7800. How good a console was/is is usually measured in how successful it is or was.

They both had similar processor speeds of around 1.79MHz. The 7800 had 2KB more RAM onboard than the NES (2KB for NES 4KB for 7800) but the NES had the option to add RAM on the cartridge. The graphics card in the 7800 ran slightly faster than the one in the NES but due to the amount of CPU time required for it most games ran at a lower resolution than the NES. The 7800 sound chip was almost the same as the VCS one so sound capabilities weren't the greatest in the world and certainly nowhere near the capabilities of the NES. One thing the 7800 did have is backward compatiblity with the 2600.

At the end of the day the 7800 was a system intended for release in late 1984 but Jack Tamiel delayed it's launch until 1986 and by that time the NES was very succesful. The very small marketing budget and the lack of tird party publishers didn't help either. If the 7800 had been released when it was supposed to be then maybe it would have been a different story.

7800 was the last nail in the coffin for Atari.tequilero

I'd say that the Jaguar was that.

[QUOTE="tequilero"]7800 was the last nail in the coffin for Atari.ItsEvolution

I'd say that the Jaguar was that.

yeah the jaguar definately finished them off as a hardware maker. but atari still makes so-so games now.

Screw the NES and 7800. Viva la Master System.Menalque2

Altered Beast FTW

Ok, I am seeing all opinions, but I am not seeing a real answer to the starting post. Ok, so yes, the NES had more games, and better games. However, the real issue was which one was "better" in the sense of power. I think the NES and the 7800 really were equal in a lot of ways. The issue again lies in the games. Programmers didn't invest a lot of time with the Atari 7800 due to 1)Nintendo forcing contracts for exclusive rights to games. 2) Atari was not a trusted name after Jack "ass" Tramiel took over and wanted to make Atari into a computer company (way to go moron).

On the issue of Software. With Nintendo getting 1 to 4 year rights for games on their system, no company wanted to bother putting out the game else where afterwards. Plus, Nintendo did infact have a larger market share, thanks to Ole Jack not wanting to produce a game console in 1984. If you really want to play time machine for a moment, Nintendo would have came into the race late and would have had to compete with Atari for market share. We would have honestly seen better games than what came out.

On the issue of Atari's name. Thanks to Jack Tramiel trashing the Atari name. It took YEARS before anyone looked at Atari as anything viable. The Atari Lynx was a much more powerful machine in comparison to everything on the market at the time. The Jaguar, if it had the software support, would have blown the SNES and Genesis out of the water, even with the CD and 32x support. However, thanks to a bad reputation from Jackie Boy, Atari wasn't able to shmooze the big 3rd party developers.

So which was the better of the two, NES or 7800? Technically speaking, both were fairly comparible in power and speeds. Which had better support? NES.

did the atari have gamesother than arcade ports of 2600 titles./arcades

no heck it didnt evwen have micromachines nes

Screw the NES and 7800. Viva la Master System.Menalque2

A beautiful piece of machinery :-)

I think people didnt trust atari because they played a part in the colapse