With material from
http://www.atariage.com/2600/
http://www.io.com/~nickb/atari/doc/stella.txt
http://www.atarihq.com/danb/a2600.html
It was the first really big hit in the home console market of the late 70s that could play different games, and I think its a good example of the technology of the late 70s that programmers and users were dealing with , and there are a bunch of emulators for it so you can still play the games ... and also because I still have one :)
Before coming to class you should read the following article:
http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/design_case.html?SystemID=2600
Design case history: the Atari Video Computer System: By omitting lots of hardware, designers added flexibility and gave video-game programmers room to be creative
By Tekla E. Perry and Paul Wallich
Associate Editors, IEEE Spectrum
IEEE Spectrum, March 1983, pp. 45-51
The console itself (this is the version that Sears sold, which is the one that I have; there are other variations in button location and styling of the console but all are compatible with each other) ... note the classy 70s 'wood' look.
The front of the console - power, TV type (colour / b&w), player 1 skill level, the cartridge, player 2 skill level, game select, and reset
The back of the console: line to the RF modulator, player 2 controller, power, player 1 controller
The 1 button, 8 position joystick, regular paddles, and racing paddle (could keep spinning):
Probably the most amazing thing about this console is how rugged it was. Everything was incredibly solid and still works today.
The games that I have for the 2600 (OK, my father wanted the 'golf' game)
Space Invaders Box and Cartridge:
So, what's with this '112 video games' ... thats where the 'game select' switch comes in. Each game came with any number of small variants (1 player, 2 player, fast, slow, different coloured background, different obstacles, etc, etc) so you used the game select switch on the console to cycle throught these.
lets look back at the specs:
1.19 Mhz CPU 6507 (very similar to a 6502) 8 bit
128 bytes of RAM
320 x 200 screen with 16 colours / 8 levels of brightness each
4K ROM catridges
25 million sold, plus a bunch of colecovision 2600 emulators
somewhere between 450 and 700 games produced