nkarafo
Member
I believe that there are a few games that if Atari handled better, they could really boost the sales and expand the base of the console, thus attracting more 3rd parties.
Rayman was originally released for the Jaguar. It was probably the most beautiful 2D game at the time and a pretty good game too. I wonder if Atari could make this an exclusive and, why not, make Rayman the mascot for the Jaguar. The N64 was years away, there was no next-gen Sonic on the Saturn and Crash was about a year away. So Rayman would be mostly alone in this. It had the attractive character, the graphics, the art direction and the gameplay. Everything that a mascot game needs. I mean Rayman was a much better candidate than Gex ever was anyway.
Doom was another major game. I don't know if it was the first console port, maybe it was actually. Initially, it was only this and the 32x version i think. What matters though is that it was the best port of the two. And it was the only way to play this game on a console, in a good shape and form, without needing a super expensive 486 PC. Especially if you didn't have a Genesis (so the 32X wasn't an option for you). Playing a decent DOOM port on a cheap console, in 1994, was a big deal IMO and Atari should have pushed this more.
AVP and Wolf 3D were also pretty great FPS games. Not as advanced as Doom but still pretty good. It helps that the Wolf 3D port was the best, along with the 3DO one. But the 3DO was a much more expensive console. Again, it was another PC classic that you could play on a dirt cheap "next-gen" console and it was a much better looking version too.
Sure, aside from those, there wasn't much else. But if these few games were pushed correctly, they could attract more people and expand the base, thus more 3rd parties, thus more good games. For instance, with the AVP/Wolf3D/Doom trio, they could go after the FPS crowd and that was the most popular, fastest growing genre back then. "The best console for FPS games", how about that?
And no, Tempest wasn't the right game to push the console to people. As great as it was, it was still a retro-looking game. People wanted to see awesome, colorful graphics and new tech, not a remake of an 80's vector arcade game. This should have been seen as a bonus in the Jaguar library, not a "killer app".
Thoughts?
Rayman was originally released for the Jaguar. It was probably the most beautiful 2D game at the time and a pretty good game too. I wonder if Atari could make this an exclusive and, why not, make Rayman the mascot for the Jaguar. The N64 was years away, there was no next-gen Sonic on the Saturn and Crash was about a year away. So Rayman would be mostly alone in this. It had the attractive character, the graphics, the art direction and the gameplay. Everything that a mascot game needs. I mean Rayman was a much better candidate than Gex ever was anyway.
Doom was another major game. I don't know if it was the first console port, maybe it was actually. Initially, it was only this and the 32x version i think. What matters though is that it was the best port of the two. And it was the only way to play this game on a console, in a good shape and form, without needing a super expensive 486 PC. Especially if you didn't have a Genesis (so the 32X wasn't an option for you). Playing a decent DOOM port on a cheap console, in 1994, was a big deal IMO and Atari should have pushed this more.
AVP and Wolf 3D were also pretty great FPS games. Not as advanced as Doom but still pretty good. It helps that the Wolf 3D port was the best, along with the 3DO one. But the 3DO was a much more expensive console. Again, it was another PC classic that you could play on a dirt cheap "next-gen" console and it was a much better looking version too.
Sure, aside from those, there wasn't much else. But if these few games were pushed correctly, they could attract more people and expand the base, thus more 3rd parties, thus more good games. For instance, with the AVP/Wolf3D/Doom trio, they could go after the FPS crowd and that was the most popular, fastest growing genre back then. "The best console for FPS games", how about that?
And no, Tempest wasn't the right game to push the console to people. As great as it was, it was still a retro-looking game. People wanted to see awesome, colorful graphics and new tech, not a remake of an 80's vector arcade game. This should have been seen as a bonus in the Jaguar library, not a "killer app".
Thoughts?