Atari 7800tm
Timeclock: 1983. Even after Atari just released the 5200, they already had the Atari 7800 on the board and being developed. Atari was going to make this the system with everything that gamers wanted. They had planned to make a keyboard and a high score cart. It also had a new custom designed graphics chip called MARIE. This chip was designed to produce unlimited sprites, more color, more video modes than Atari's previous systems. One of the best things about the 7800 is that in addition to it's own hot new titles, it could play all(actually, there are 4 or 5 that don't work with it) Atari 2600 games. And it was also designed with real sleek controllers, one's that got rid of the headache accompanied the the 5200's joysticks. Atari wanted this to be the best system on the market, something that would bring them back to number 1.
But as fate would have it, the Tramiels entered the picture.
The 7800 was shelved, completely ready to go. This was 1984. In the meantime, the NES entered the market(actually, Nintendo approached Atari with the NES, but Atari declined)and took it by storm. When the Tramiels realized what was going on, it was too late. The 7800 was released in 1986, along with the Atari 2600jr.
If it had been released in '84, Atari very well maybe be in business today. Thanks for screwing us again Jack...
Atari 7800 Specs N' Stats
Updates in gold(Special thanks to Mark Rathwell for providing new info.)
Cart count: 58
Joystick ports: 2
CPU: custom 6502C
RAM: 4k
ROM: 144k max.
CPU clock: 1.79 mHz
Graphics clock: 7.16 mHz
Video modes: 16
Color: 256
Sprite capabilites: unlimited?
Also plays most 2600 games, and can use 2600 joysticks.