Atari 5200 online emulator

Play your own Atari 5200 ROM files in the browser. Choose a cartridge image or drop it on the screen above, and the EmulatorJS player starts it with its built-in 5200 system software, so no BIOS file is needed. The file stays on your computer.

Load your own Atari 5200 ROM

or drop the file here · .a52 .bin

The file is read by your browser and is not uploaded anywhere.

  • ← ↑ ↓ → Joystick
  • Z / X Fire buttons
  • Enter Start
  • P Pause
  • K On-screen keypad
  • 0–8 Keypad digits
  • - Keypad *
  • = Keypad #
  • I J K L / N M Player 2

How to use the Atari 5200 online emulator

  1. Click Choose a ROM file above, or drag the file onto the black screen.
  2. The emulator downloads once and starts the cartridge.
  3. Most 5200 games wait on a title screen: press Enter (Start). Many use the keypad first, to choose the number of players or the skill level.
  4. To try another file, reload the page and choose again.

Supported files

Atari 5200 cartridge images usually end in .a52; plain .bin dumps work too. You do not need the 5200 BIOS: the emulator has a free replacement built in.

Controls and the keypad

The arrow keys act as the joystick, Z and X are the lower and upper fire buttons, Enter is Start and P is Pause. The 5200 controller had a 12-key keypad: press 0–8 for the digits, - for * and = for #, or press K to open an on-screen keypad and pick a key with the joystick. Player 2 uses I J K L with N and M. Full screen, restart and save states are in the toolbar that appears when you move the mouse over the screen.

If a ROM does not start

  • Check that it is an Atari 5200 file. 5200 games look like Atari 400/800 computer games, but computer disk and cartridge images (.atr, .xex, .car) are a different format.
  • Atari 2600 (.a26) and 7800 (.a78) cartridges need their own emulators: see the links on the right.
  • If a game ignores the keyboard, click on the screen once so it has the focus, then press Enter.

About the emulator

The player is EmulatorJS running the a5200 emulation core, compiled to WebAssembly. Everything happens in your browser: the cartridge file is read from your disk and not uploaded to our server. Please use only ROM files you have the right to use.

Prefer to play right away?

Our Atari 5200 games are ready to play without any file, including prototypes that were never sold.