The world of spare Atari parts


Vice posted a look at the current world of Atari parts. Much of the column is devoted to the colorful Soup Nazi-like character who delivers scorn and sometimes bans if you annoy him. Whether you pester him too much for an order status, orders that are too small, or orders that have too many items. The article covers the glut of Atari parts that were unloaded as the company cycled down and now are in the hands of just a few care keepers.

Best Electronics was one of a handful of small businesses that discovered they could profit off of Atari's constant overproduction and market failure by buying up unsold products and parts in very large quantities, at large discounts, directly from Atari warehouses in the Sunnyvale area. They were essentially betting that there would continue to be a small but active market for product lines that Atari had abandoned â€" which, of course, turned out to be a good bet.

A pivotal moment for Koda and his contemporaries came as Atari was facing its final demise. The company's last Sunnyvale warehouse was choked with unwanted goods, and there were fewer willing buyers than ever before.


While ROM emulators and new hardware released as retro products are fun, it’s not quite the same as original consoles kept alive over the decades. I’ve given away a 5200 and two 2600s since my childhood. It’s hard to read about all this and not think about finding one and fixing it back up.