The 2600 moniker was added later. There were more than 560 games officially released for the Atari 2600 and as many as 30 million systems were sold. When it came time for the systems replacement Atari had big plans.

They released the Atari 5200 in 1982 -- and it was terrible. It was too big, the controllers were fragile, it was completely incompatible with 2600 games, and the method for connecting it to your television was perplexing -- and perhaps a little dangerous. It was a monstrous failure. And then in 1983, the north American home console crash... Stores just didn't want to carry consoles anymore. That is, until Nintendo showed up.

The Nintendo Entertainment System was a smash hit and Atari was at the edge of a precipice. They had developed a new game system that sought to right all of the 5200's wrongs. Graphically it was comparable to the NES, and it was completely compatible with almost the entire 2600 library. It should have been a slam dunk. Unfortunately Atari was in the midst of a sale and the new owner, Jack Tramel, wasn't interested in video games. So, even though a few systems made it out into the wild in 1984, the remaining stock was sent to a warehouse, where they sat for 2 years. In that time, Nintendo became a juggernaut.

Finally, in 1986, the system was "re-released" -- but it was too late. Not only had Nintendo taken over as the de facto home console, Atari didn't understand the market anymore. Nearly the entire 7800 library consists of arcade ports -- really good arcade ports in most cases. It makes sense. The Atari 7800 had been designed to compete with the Colecovision, a console also known almost exclusively for its faithful arcade ports. The game buying public however, had moved on while the 7800 slumbered on a warehouse shelf. The games that had munched quarters in the arcades weren't enough anymore. Gamers were looking for more immersive gameplay. Gameplay delivered by the likes of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

Atari had missed the boat -- a boat they'd built themselves, almost single handedly. Atari's console division would never recover.