The enigmatic Atari Mirai console
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With only a single prototype available in the entire world, and whose manufacture is speculated to have been in the late eighties or early nineties, the Atari Mirai console is one of the great mysteries of the video game industry.
As reviewed by our friend Kieren Hawken on WhatCulture.com, there are two versions regarding its origin. The first suggests that it was intended to be a home version of SNK's Neo Geo, to be distributed to the masses under the Atari brand. "It is documented that Atari and SNK were neighbors in Sunnyvale (California) and collaborated for a short period of time in the eighties to share some technology," recalls Hawken. An example of this "commercial sympathy" was the license of Ikari Warriors for the Atari 7800 console.
For its part, the blog The Neighbor's BlogHe recalls that when Nintendo wanted to enter the American market with the NES, there were talks with Atari to distribute the Japanese 8-bit console in that country. "However, the negotiations never came to fruition, and it was Nintendo itself that distributed its console in America."
The hypothesis about the alleged alliance with the Japanese company is reinforced by the fact that the prototype exhibits a huge slot - like for Neo Geo cartridges. In addition, the word "Mirai" - which appears engraved on the console - translated means "future"; part of SNK's motto: "The future is now
The second version is that the Mirai is actually a "console" version of the 16-bit Atari ST computer. Hawken points out that the design is very similar to the Atari XEGS system from 1987. Perhaps a desperate move by Atari to face competition from SEGA and Nintendo consoles?
It should be noted that the only known prototype was discovered when the Atari Corporation closed its doors in 1996. The fact that it was nothing more than a shell with no hardware inside does nothing to solve the mystery.
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