David H. Ahl of "Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games" said in 1983 that the "Atari 5200 is, dare I say it, Atari's answer to Intellivision, Colecovision, and the Astrocade", describing the console as a "true mass market" version of the Atari 8-bit computers despite the software incompatibility. He criticized the joystick's imprecise control but said that "it is at least as good as many other controllers", and wondered why "Super Breakout" was the pack-in game when it did not use the 5200's improved graphics.