Do I need an XEGS?

I see them once in a while on ebay usually for more than I want to pay. One thing I've read is that there are many 400/800 games that never made it to 5200, especially Imagic titles. Mainly, I would love to have the XE light gun for 7800 and the lone 2600 light gun game, but they rarely come up for sale.

Am I missing out much on the 80's gaming scene by not having XEGS? I have INTV, VCS, and CV as well, so aren't most of the XE games already covered with systems I already have?

I have been trying to find a reasonable priced one also. For the same reason the light gun.

I think for me it is the prospect of playing 5200 games with the 2600 controller.
Games like Pitfall II and Donkey Kong with all four screens. Plus you can play Kaboom with the Atari paddles.

In school I had a teacher who had several Atari 800 computers setup in his class room. I played a lot of Boulder Dash, Eastern Front and Castle Wolfenstein.

Some were on disks or cassettes. So if you do not want to add the extras than you probably are not missing much.

You can order Donkey Kong XE translation for 5200 from Atari Age or Good Deal Games. I bought a copy and it has all four arcade levels. Great addition to my 5200 collection, for sure.

You also mention playing 5200 games with the CX40 stick. I bought a Masterplay clone and I can play most 5200 games fine with any DB-9 digital stick/gamepad.

I guess a question I have is, does XEGS have any exclusives I cannot play on any other home system? If those were interesting enough, I would strongly consider parting with some money.

I am unable to think of any at this time and most games were ported to the other computers at the time.

I have an Atari 400 Computer and I know there are a few of my 5200 games that did not make it to the computer line.

The 400 has four ports so when you play Breakout or Basketball you can play with four people.