Atari 5200

The Atari 5200 was released in 1982.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The controllers can be somewhat fixed, but still it takes a long time.
 * 2) It was the world's first console with 4-controller ports.
 * 3) Only 69 games were made for the Atari 5200.
 * 4) It was the first console to introduce a pause feature on the controller.
 * 5) There's a big space in the system where you can store your games and the proprietary switchbox and controller.
 * 6) For the television commercial, Atari 5200 always competing with the ColecoVision by saying that the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man was on ColecoVision rather than Atari 2600.
 * 7) Many of the games are nearly arcade-perfect ports.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The original model was very large in size, making it hard to store.
 * 2) The main controller was faulty and unreliable, as the analog stick used a weak rubber rather than springs.
 * 3) It was not backwards compatible with the Atari 2600 unless you used a VCS cartridge adapter.
 * 4) Unlike the Atari 2600, the Atari 5200's game cartridges didn't have end labels, making it difficult to find a specific game.
 * 5) The AC adapter was too heavy. The original version of the console also used a bizarre connection set-up that required the AC adapter to be plugged into the RF switchbox rather than the console itself, meaning that if the switchbox broke, the console would be rendered inoperable. Later versions reverted to a more conventional set-up that didn't require the proprietary switchbox.
 * 6) The Trackball controller is slightly bigger than the original NES console! It is also faulty, like the main controller.