> Put another way, from 1977 to 1979 (when the Atari 8-bit appeared), the Apple II was the world's best video game machine.

I suppose if you restrict this to personal computers with keyboards, that's true. But the Atari VCS (2600) came out in 1977 and had better sound, and in some ways better graphics, than the Apple II.

▲

TMWNN 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

2600's sprites and better-than-beeper sound aren't enough to make up for the Apple II's other advantages. Consider this homebrew version of Pac-Man for 2600 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPttWAND5ok>. Would you rather play that, or the Atarisoft version from 1983? <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYML_8zOBXk>

	▲	badc0ffee 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I do like the detail of the Apple II version better, but like I said the Atari 2600 did have some advantages, like a 128-colour palette that gives you a yellow Pacman. One of my favourites from the era with a nice arctic sky (and great gameplay): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl1jGOu5No0

▲

TMWNN 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> better sound

Amazingly, the Atari 7800 has worse sound hardware than the 2600/5200! That's got to be up high on the list of Tramiel skinflinting.

▲

badc0ffee 2 days ago | parent [-]

Is the sound just worse on 7800 games, or does it affect 2600 compatibility?

	▲	TMWNN 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I misspoke. The 7800's sound hardware is worse than the 5200's (which is the same as the Atari 8-bit), but is the same as the 2600. Still, having audio hardware (or, really, anything else) decrease in quality from the previous generation is not a virtue for the console or Atari.