Retro Gaming Banter is finally back. It’s been a bit of a crazy several months with various real life stuff getting in the way, but we are back!

I am giving an Atari 400 the retro restore treatment in this video. I originally purchased it earlier this year and started work on it in late April. Then a whole bunch of stuff happened one after another and got in the way. Hopefully now I can get back to more regular videos!

We disassemble the Atari 400 and clean everything up. We then retrobright the case and fix any issues found. We then test the Atari 400 with the SDrive MAX cassette tape and disk emulator.

Atari 400 Retro Restore Video

Gear used in this video

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Atari 400 History

The Atari 400 was released in 1979 as Atari’s entry-level computer. It was designed for younger children with its clean simple design and more importantly its tactile membrane keyboard to prevent damage from food and small objects. The Atari 400 during its design conception originally was to have only 4K of memory which is how its number designation was determined: 400 (Also it was nicknamed Candy). When it began to ship it then came with 8K, finally Atari offered it with a base memory of 16K which allowed it to run almost all cartridge and cassette based software.

Atari 400 Technical Specifications

The Atari 400 has a pressure-sensitive, spill-proof membrane keyboard and initially shipped with 8 KB of RAM. The Atari 800 was packaged as a high-end model, and the 400 more affordable. The Atari 800 has a conventional keyboard, a second (rarely used) cartridge slot, and hidden slots that allow easy RAM upgrades to 48K. The console was FCC approved with built-in RF modulator and connects to any TV (USA). It has a CPU of 6502B Microprocessor with a cycle of 0.56 microseconds and a color of 16 colors each with 8 intensities.

Popular Atari 400 Games

Here are five popular games for the Atari 400:

Star Raiders: This game is a space combat simulator that was released in 1979. It was one of the first games to use a first-person perspective and was very popular at the time. In this game, you play as a pilot of a spaceship and your goal is to protect your galaxy from enemy ships.

Donkey Kong: This game was released in 1983 and is a classic platformer where you play as Mario trying to save Pauline from Donkey Kong. In this game, you have to climb ladders and jump over barrels to reach the top of the level.

Pac-Man: This game was released in 1982 and is an arcade classic where you play as Pac-Man trying to eat all the pellets while avoiding ghosts. The game has multiple levels and gets progressively harder as you advance.

Centipede: This game was released in 1982 and is a classic arcade shooter where you play as a shooter trying to destroy all the centipedes. The game has multiple levels and gets progressively harder as you advance.

Defender: This game was released in 1982 and is a classic arcade shooter where you play as a spaceship trying to defend humans from aliens. The game has multiple levels and gets progressively harder as you advance.