It was initially released as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) in 1977 and rebranded as Atari 2600 in 1982 alongside the Atari 5200 launch.

The console launched in North America in late 1977, Europe in 1978, France in 1982, Brazil in 1983, and Japan as Atari 2800 in October 1983.

It uses an 8-bit MOS Technology 6507 processor running at 1.19 MHz, a cost-reduced version of the 6502 with fewer address pins limiting memory access.

The console has 128 bytes of RAM for game state, scratch space, and call stack, requiring creative programming to manage limited resources.

Bank switching allowed games like Asteroids from 1980 to exceed the 4 KB addressable memory limit by swapping ROM sections, enabling larger 8 KB cartridges.

The 1980 home conversion of Taito's Space Invaders became the first licensed arcade port, selling 1.25 million copies and doubling the install base to over 2 million.