The Atari 2600 launched in late 1977 in North America, 1978 in Europe, 1982 in France, September 1983 in Brazil, and October 1983 in Japan as the Atari 2800. Production continued until 1992.

It uses an 8-bit MOS Technology 6507 microprocessor running at 1.19 MHz, a cost-reduced version of the 6502 with fewer address pins, limiting addressable memory to 4 KB without bank switching.

The console has 128 bytes of RAM for game state, stack, and scratch space, requiring programmers to optimize heavily due to the extreme limitation compared to modern systems.

Bank switching allowed later Atari 2600 games like Asteroids to exceed the 4 KB memory limit by swapping ROM segments, enabling larger 8 KB or more cartridges for advanced visuals.

The 1983 crash resulted from poor games like Pac-Man and E.T. ports, third-party shovelware glut, market oversaturation, and Atari's mismanagement, leading to industry collapse until Nintendo's recovery.

Initial bundles included two joystick controllers, a pair of paddle controllers, and Combat cartridge; later models standardized on CX40 joysticks, with options like Trak-Ball and keypads.