Unlike the Atari 2600, the 5200 has a much smaller library of games, making it
one of the easiest systems to build a complete library for. The 5200 has a high
ratio of enjoyable games compared to many systems, making it a pleasure to collect
for. Most of the games for this system were produced by Atari,
as the system didn't have a long enough life for many third party companies to
join on. As such, when you do find 5200 carts in the wild they're almost always
from Atari (and if you're lucky, Activision
or Parker
Brothers)
The rarest games for the 5200 are those produced by third parties. These include
Meteorites
(Electra
Concepts), Zenji
(Activision),
Frogger
II (Parker
Brothers) and Bounty
Bob Strikes Back (Big
Five Software). The rarest Atari
produced cartridge is Gremlins.
If you plan on purchasing a 5200 system to play games on, be sure to get the
2-port version as this one uses a standard RF box.
The rarity scale is a general indicator of easy or difficult it is to come
across a game. The scale starts at 1 (very easy to find) and finishes at 10
(nearly impossible to locate). Thanks to auction sites such as eBay,
even extremely rare games come up for auction frequently enough, but these often
command a fairly high price depending on the rarity.