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R4 3DS Affiliate Program

The R4 3DS Newsletter


Atari 5200 Emulator For The Nintendo 3DS

Today we want to introduce yet another emulator for the Nintendo 3DS / Nintendo 3DS XL and the R4 3DS Card.  This time for the Atari 5200 Super System.  We're huge fans of emulators and emulation in general.  And the Nintendo 3DS and 3DSatari 5200 emulatorXL seem like the perfect handheld systems for some really amazing classic gaming.

Back in the early 1980's, long before the Playstation And Xbox game systems were even an idea, Atari single-handedly owned the video game market.  With their popular Atari 2600 VCS game system that was in millions upon millions of living rooms.  Atari, some have said, created the home console craze way back then. 

As with any industry though, the competition was always close behind.  Mattel Electronics had the Intellivision, which often had games that were unique and fresh, and often with better graphics than the 2600.  The ColecoVision also came on the scene in 1982 and offered up near arcade quality graphics when compared to the arcades of those days.  But Atari had Pac Man, and of course the original Mario Bros.  Which helped it sell system after system.

It was this fierce and looming competition that drove Atari to release the Atari 5200.  Sadly, while they sold well, they're increasingly hard to find, because they didn't get manufactured past a certain point because of the big video game crash that soon followed.  

Atari 5200 fans though will remember games like Bounty Bob Strikes Back, Gremlins, Super Breakout, and many others.  Collecting for the Atari 5200 has been relatively easy as well.  Due in large part to the small number of games that were released before video game crash.  Being able to take your Atari games with you though, is even better.

The 5200 emulator for the Nintendo 3DS XL is called A5200DS, it's one of the most compatible and best emulators for the Nintendo DS, DSi and Nintendo 3DS XL.  In testing, it shows to be compatible with all of the current games, and even a lot of the homebrew games that have been released since then.  There are a lot of different freeware games as well, which are available.

Bounty Bob Strikes Back was easily one of the most popular games on the console too.  Miner 2049'er may remind you of this game, as that's the name it goes by as well.  Games like Frogger II, Mario Bros and countless other classics all got their start in old time arcades which were then ported over to the home consoles like the Atari 5200.  I'm sure a lot of people have some fantastic gaming memories going to the bargain bins in the box stores and picking out their Atari games and buying them for just a few dollars.  

Thanks to cards like the R4 3DS and the homebrew and dev scene, we're able to enjoy a lot of these old classics through emulation.  Forums go crazy with a lot of old-school game talk, and not many people realize that you don't actually have to sit in front of a PC in order to be able to play them.  You could take the games with you on the go.

Here's what you'll need to be able to play old classic Atari 5200 Games on your Nintendo 3DS: