The Atari 800 home computer is part of the Atari 8-bit family series introduced by Atari, and was released by late 1979. These home computers offered an 8k RAM which was expandable to 48k. The Atari 800 was based on the MOS Technology 6502CPU running at 1.79 MHz, a sprites and collision-detection built into its hardware, and they were likewise the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips, making it an excellent machine. The built of the Atari 800 enabled graphics (monochrome and coloured display) and sound capabilities that were more advanced than other contemporary machines at the time of its release. Gaming on the platform was a major draw, thus making the Atari 800 pretty popular among users for a long time, before other competitors such as the Commodore 64 came along.
With its friendly typewriter design, the Atari 800 came with an expandable system and two easily accessible cartridge ports under a front cover, and a removable top with four expansion slots inside. The cartridges were very handy and easy to use, all you needed to do was, plug in and you’re good to go.
The Atari 800 was certainly a type of console/PC hybrid that played host to some of the most important and influential video/computer games of all time, though the Atari 800 is no longer being manufactured, these great games can still be played till date on your modern devices such as your PC, Tablet or Smartphone. So hurray, our beloved Atari 800 games have been preserved all thanks to the ROM technology which enables Atari 800 game cartridges to be converted into Atari 800 ROMs. The Ready Only Memory, more popularly known as ROM(s) basically, is a file format that houses a copy of your games ripped from the original game cartridge or gotten from an online download. You can now simply get your Atari 800 bios downloaded from trusted game platforms online to enable you play games on your device or play freely online if you don’t want to download.
Best Atari 800 ROMs
Due to its long lifespan, thousands of incredible games were released on the Atari 800 platform and there was definitely no shortage of diversity of on the Atari gaming catalogue. Some of these great games include; Mario Bros 1983, a classic arcade action game that introduced the brothers Mario and Luigi to the world. You get to join the duo as they work against each other to knock out turtles and other enemies to get the most points. Gateway to Apshai is another highly entertaining treasure adventure games with multi-level dungeon filled with traps and monsters, navigate through each level in time and you get teleported to the next level which is deeper and harder than the previous level. For some action packed adventure you can defuse as many Super Bombs as possible and score the most points along the way in the Atari Spiderman game. Enjoy other great multiplayer sport, puzzle, and board games like Pornopoly, an adult version styled monopoly. There are a ton of other great game ROMs from Atari 800 such as, Spiderman III, Donkey Kong, Star Raider, and Pong ROMs you can easily download online and start play right away.
Atari 800 emulator
Though Atari 800 was discontinued a long time ago, this doesn’t mean gamers can’t enjoy playing their favourite games anymore. Just like every other vintage computer/video game, there are a few Atari 800 emulators that allow you to relive the experience of playing these games on your PC, Tablet and Smartphone. Most of these emulators also are compatible with the Atari game series.
Once an Atari 800 game has been downloaded and saved in a ROM file, you would also need to download an emulator to enable you play the downloaded game. An emulator is a software that can mimic play of any file format on your device. These emulators listed below should work just fine with your Windows, Android, Linux or Mac device;
Altirra
The Altirra emulator is most compatible with Windows platform and is designed with amazing emulation quality in mind when it comes to speed and polish. Other great features include; an accurate emulation of multiple disk drive types with options for accelerated disk loads, realistic disk timing, and drive sounds, a flexible display with aspect ratio options, easy resizing, and artifacting support. This emulator is designed as a system emulator and debugger instead of a games machine, so there is some setup involved before you can start playing your ROMs.
AtariMacX
This emulator works great with Mac and supports synchronized Sound and accuracy, a graphical Debugger, VAPI and PRO images, Copy and Paste from the emulator, Configuration files, and a new Hard Disk emulation scheme.
Colleen
Colleen is an emulator of the Atari 8bit home computer series and it works great with Android OS, it comes with great features such as; full hardware keyboard support, multi disk drive management, saving and loading of game states, an Open SL ES native sound that allows perfect sound playback.
Other Atari 800 emulator you can try out are:
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Atari ++
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Pantheon
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MAME
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Rainbow
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WACKE
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Atari800Win PLus
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Atari800
Note that before you download any of these emulators you can also check the compatibility list on each emulator download site to know which games can be played using the emulator, so you know which emulator suites your gaming needs best, before you go on to download.
Platforms That Support Atari 800 ROMs
Just as it is import to note the compatibility of games and emulators, it is also very important to note which emulators are compatible on your device such as Windows, iOS, Linux, Web or Android. And I’ll be listing the emulators that are just suitable for all of your devices and Operating Systems.
Atari 800 Games emulator Windows
One great thing about Windows is that it supports almost all the emulators out there. Most often these emulators are supported on a wide range of Windows OS, so you are easily able to play all you Atari 800 ROMs on your PC. The most compatible emulators for Windows include:
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MAME
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Atari ++
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Pantheon
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Atari800Win PLus
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Atari800
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Altirra
Atari 800 emulator Android
Most emulators that enable you to play Atari 800 ROMs on your Android can easily be found on Google Play Store for download. So most often when you do not see the emulator on the app store then it is most likely that your version of Android does not support the emulator. Sometimes you could also check on the emulator site for downloads if you don’t find any on the app store. The most compatible emulators for Android include:
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Atari800
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Colleen
Atari 800 ISOs emulator Mac
If you want to get the best out of the emulators listed below and enable them function properly on your Mac, iPad or iPhone while you play your Atari 800 Gear ROMs, then it is best you have the iOS X version or higher. Compatible emulators include:
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MAME
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Atari800
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Atari++
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AtariMacX
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Rainbow
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WACKE
Atari 800 Games emulator Linux
With these emulators listed below you are sure to get the best game play either by playing online or downloading the Atari 800 ROMs to play all on you Linux devices. Compatible emulators for Linux include:
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MAME
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Atari800
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Atari++