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[Moofers]

I love this Jaguar interview. http://www.defunctgames.com/theysaidwhat/23/ataris-sam-tramiel-goes-freakin-crazy

It's hilarious how out of touch they were.

Man, I was a freshman in high school and had that very issue in my backpack. I was all hyped for Jaguar and thought Sam sounded like he knew what he was talking about. LOL

Good times. Man, I'd love to have those old issues of Next Generation again. I recycled them sometime around 1999. Oh well.

 

[Moofers]

I got my Jaguar back at launch. I've accumulated a sizable library of games for it--about 80% of the official cartridge games, and all of the CD games. While there weren't very many games produced for the system, it actually has a fair number of fun and enjoyable games.

The system often gets a bum rap, but I think a lot of that is due to the following:

1. The release schedule was plagued with empty promises, frequent delays, and cancellations. This was especially harsh in the system's first full year on the market, in which only 10 games were released. Yes, ten games spread out over one full year. That's not even one game per month. While there were some absolute gems among those ten games (Tempest 2000, Alien vs. Predator, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom), the waiting game was horrible. Sometimes two or three months would pass before the next game came out. Lots of people lost confidence in the system during that time.

2. When some of the long-delayed games finally did make it to shelves, they turned out to be very disappointing. Some good examples are Checkered Flag, Club Drive, and Kasumi Ninja. None of these were in the initial ten, but they came out shortly afterward, in time for the 1994 holiday shopping season. All were hyped up, all were delayed for many months, and all were great letdowns. This was a tough period for Jaguar fans when the 3DO on the other side of the aisle was getting games like Super Street Fighter II Turbo and The Need for Speed right about the same time.

3. Atari's persistent tendency on emphasizing "64-bit" in their advertising for way too long, particularly after the 32-bit Saturn and the 32-bit PlayStation were released. That marketing tactic might've been cool at the time the system launched, but from mid '95 onward, they could (and should) have ceded the "power" angle, and just focused on promoting some of their better games. Instead, they insisted on ads that heavily pushed "64-bit" over "32-bit", which invited people to make comparisons with the Saturn and PlayStation.

If you're willing to look beyond these blunders, you might find that there's still some fun times to be had in the Jaguar game library. While some of its most prominent hits are available in better versions elsewhere (especially true now, more than two decades later), there are also some great games for which the Jaguar version is the best or only version available.

Yup. I agree with all of this because its pretty much how I remember it going down. Point #2 about Club Drive, Checkered Flag and Kasumi Ninja is especially on point. I remembered seeing preview footage of Kasumi Ninja on a VHS at my local game store. The clerk was pointing out how there were more layers scrolling in the background than any other fighting game. That actually sounded impressive back then. LOL. My Dad bought it when it came out because he knew I was a huge Mortal Kombat fan and this was the closest the system was going to get to that. Boy, what a disappointment. The announcer was terrible, the characters were mostly lame, and the MUSIC! UGH! God almighty was that soundtrack terrible. Just listen to this shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-H30CSvsCU#t=8m38s

Beyond awful.

Anyway, I loved the Jaguar while I had it but once the PlayStation came around I never looked back. Well, until some 20 years later when I found myself buying a Jaguar off eBay for nostalgia. I still have that and enjoy going back to those games from time to time. I plan on doing a video of Brutal Sports Football on my YouTube Channel soon.

 

[Version 3.0]

If you look at Another World released for the Jag in 2013 that's quite an impressive port, whether or not it would be able to handle a MGS1 maybe...with some graphical trickery possible and check out Robinson's Requiem released in 2011 to see what some people are getting out of the Jaguar..or even Iron Solider 2!

I have a hard time believing the Jag could do anything approaching Saturn/Playstation level polygonal stuff. The things I've seen that supposedly compare favorably, frankly do not. Not at all.

I have, and love, Iron Soldier 2, and it looks impressive...until the moment you see Iron Soldier 3 on the Playstation. It's an amazing sequel, and absolutely blows the Jaguar games out of the water from a technical standpoint.

Any Iron Soldier fan should do themselves a favor and pick it up. I didn't even realize it existed until a couple of years ago. It only cost me 12 bucks off eBay, and it's awesome.

That aisde 32x >>>> Jag >>>>>>>>>> 3D0. Come at me.

I've never seen anyone back the 32X out of these flops before. Well, not since back then, I should say. You do you, man.

 

[commish]

Man, I was a freshman in high school and had that very issue in my backpack. I was all hyped for Jaguar and thought Sam sounded like he knew what he was talking about. LOL

Good times. Man, I'd love to have those old issues of Next Generation again. I recycled them sometime around 1999. Oh well.

I actually still have those old issues of next gen (and gamefan). The are fun to read through. Next Gen still had the best covers.

 

[Moofers]

I actually still have those old issues of next gen (and gamefan). The are fun to read through. Next Gen still had the best covers.

The only old gaming mags I have are the first 4 years or so of PSM and then a handful of special EGM issues (100th issue for example). I used to read every gaming mag that came out and collected a ton of them. I agree, Next Gen was always on another level. Those matte covers were amazing. I think I'm going to try to track some of those down again.

I don't remember seeing much in the way of Jaguar coverage back in those days. I think Next Gen, EGM, and GameFan were about it. I guess GamePro probably should have as well, but I can't remember it really. That was always my least favorite mag anyway.

Do you (or anyone) remember specific issues of magazines that reviewed Jaguar games?

 

[Moondrop]

My friend owned one back in the day. The best game was Alien vs. Predator. The controller was mind-boggling.

 

[Adam Tyner]

I never had one, but my best friend bought a Jaguar at launch...which is surprising since he felt kinda burned after buying a Lynx shortly after launch. (I was convinced that everyone the world over would be Comlynx'ing together, so I bought one too with my winnings off a Nickelodeon game show you've never heard of. I dug the Lynx, but there was no way I'd buy another piece of Atari hardware after that.)

I remember being in some terrible mall while visiting family in Arizona, and my cousins spotted Jaguars on close-out at KB Toys for $20. They couldn't resist! Part of me wishes I'd gotten one too.

 

[Version 3.0]

The only old gaming mags I have are the first 4 years or so of PSM and then a handful of special EGM issues (100th issue for example). I used to read every gaming mag that came out and collected a ton of them. I agree, Next Gen was always on another level. Those matte covers were amazing. I think I'm going to try to track some of those down again.

I don't remember seeing much in the way of Jaguar coverage back in those days. I think Next Gen, EGM, and GameFan were about it. I guess GamePro probably should have as well, but I can't remember it really. That was always my least favorite mag anyway.

Do you (or anyone) remember specific issues of magazines that reviewed Jaguar games?

I used to buy all the magazines, too. They're all gone now, except that I still have a complete collection of Next Generation. I love still having them. However, before you bother tracking them down, there's a complete archive online here:

http://retrocdn.net/Category:Shared_magazine_scans

And I think you're right about which magazines covered the Jaguar. That's my recollection as well: Next Gen, EGM and Gamefan. Gamefan was a hype machine. Anything they covered sounded like the best thing ever.

 

[Freshmaker]

I've never seen anyone back the 32X out of these flops before. Well, not since back then, I should say. You do you, man.

It had VF.

 

[Freezasaurus]

My friend owned one back in the day. The best game was Alien vs. Predator. The controller was mind-boggling.

I had one. Not my best gaming decision, but I was a kid. I had AvP, Doom, Kasumi Ninja, Cannon Fodder and probably a few others. It was nuts how some games came with these little plastic overlays with tabs that fit over the keypad on the controller so you'd have little pictures or whatever of what each button did.

 

[commish]

And I think you're right about which magazines covered the Jaguar. That's my recollection as well: Next Gen, EGM and Gamefan. Gamefan was a hype machine. Anything they covered sounded like the best thing ever.

Yes, Gamefan was the best/worst at hyping things to high heaven. I loved them for it though because I just saw them as passionate folks. I spent many a dollar based off of their insane reviews/comments/whatever, and 0 regrets. I think their review of Cybermorph made it sound like the best game ever created.

 

[Version 3.0]

It had VF.

Touché!

So did the Genesis, though...technically.

Spoiler

I kid.

 

[Version 3.0]

Yes, Gamefan was the best/worst at hyping things to high heaven. I loved them for it though because I just saw them as passionate folks. I spent many a dollar based off of their insane reviews/comments/whatever, and 0 regrets. I think their review of Cybermorph made it sound like the best game ever created.

I can't say I recall much about their coverage of Cybermorph. But their gushing previews of AvP were definitely front and center in my mind when I bought the Jaguar. I most definitely have no regrets. AvP, when it did finally arrive, was one of my favorite gaming experiences. But that genre was moving fast, and had I played it even a year or two later, I wonder if I would've had the patience to play and enjoy it like I did then. Like the Jaguar itself, it really only fits into that gap between the two generations.

 

[EmiPrime]

Yes, Gamefan was the best/worst at hyping things to high heaven. I loved them for it though because I just saw them as passionate folks. I spent many a dollar based off of their insane reviews/comments/whatever, and 0 regrets. I think their review of Cybermorph made it sound like the best game ever created.

That's because the reviewer dropped acid before he played it. Seriously.

 

[Sargon]

I own a Jaguar + Jaguar CD with CIB copies of every retail game, plus dozens of homebrew games that have been released. Short of a few really obscure homebrews, I have basically everything ever released for the Jaguar.

Yeah, most of the games suck, but there are a handful of good ones. As for why I have accumulated that collection, I'm not really sure. The Jaguar has the best version of NBA Jam TE on any home console and that is what initially led me to buy the system. From there I just kept picking up additional games here and there until I had them all.

 

[RayStorm]

I've never seen anyone back the 32X out of these flops before. Well, not since back then, I should say. You do you, man.

It had VF.

Also quite possibly the best home port of Virtua Racing and Star Wars Arcade.

 

[Version 3.0]

I own a Jaguar + Jaguar CD with CIB copies of every retail game, plus dozens of homebrew games that have been released. Short of a few really obscure homebrews, I have basically everything ever released for the Jaguar.

Yeah, most of the games suck, but there are a handful of good ones. As for why I have accumulated that collection, I'm not really sure. The Jaguar has the best version of NBA Jam TE on any home console and that is what initially led me to buy the system. From there I just kept picking up additional games here and there until I had them all.

I have all the Jaguar CD games. Why? Probably just because I could, there are so few. I'm not normally a 'completionist' type of collector. Maybe something similar for you?

Also, I've never heard that about NBA Jam TE; I have it on Saturn. Maybe I'll check out the Jaguar version. If I'd been asked, I'd have said the only Jaguar games that are the best version would be Wolfenstein and Flashback.

 

[Agent X]

The Jaguar has the best version of NBA Jam TE on any home console and that is what initially led me to buy the system. From there I just kept picking up additional games here and there until I had them all.

Also, I've never heard that about NBA Jam TE; I have it on Saturn. Maybe I'll check out the Jaguar version. If I'd been asked, I'd have said the only Jaguar games that are the best version would be Wolfenstein and Flashback.

The Jaguar version of NBA Jam T.E. is seriously good. The subject of "best version of NBA Jam T.E." came up in a thread here a few months ago, and I wrote this post with a fairly detailed comparison of the Jaguar and PlayStation versions of the game.

 

[Version 3.0]

The Jaguar version of NBA Jam T.E. is seriously good. The subject of "best version of NBA Jam T.E." came up in a thread here a few months ago, and I wrote this post with a fairly detailed comparison of the Jaguar and PlayStation versions of the game.

Thanks for the write-up. Sounds like the PS1 version needs a patch. Any idea if the Saturn version suffers from the same things? I have that, but I honestly barely played it. I only really bought it to get the Tournament Edition, but all my play time was on the original version on SNES.

 

[kubev]

I think the Jaguar is an interesting system. It came out at a time when 3D graphics weren't anywhere close to being standardized, and the development tools could've been a lot better. It's a shame that so many developers seem to treat it like a souped-up Genesis, because I think it could've been capable of so much more. I just wish that the Jaguar community wasn't so divided. There seems to be so much selfishness with respect to sharing code and other information that really hurts the homebrew scene, and the community in general just doesn't seem to want to see new faces.

 

[Lionel Richie]

This thread is so awesome. I have a very soft spot for the Jaguar, the 3DO, the CD-i, that CD32 thing, the 32x, goddamn even the names sound AWESOME.

One day I really plan to have a good collection on all these consoles.

 

[Palmer_v1]

I played AvP a ton on one, plus some Mech game? Mostly just AvP.

 

[Man God]

Hope you also owned some good console at the time..

I bought all three of those for less than 50 bucks combined.

Hell I was given multiple 3D0s for free, including some of the best games.

I got the Jaguar for 20 and they threw in the CD! I don't even remember how I got the CD 32!

Back then I was mainly a PC and Gameboy gamer. I had SNES and N64 and eventually a PS1, Genny, 32x, and Saturn. I collected a bunch of consoles back then and even bought and reconditioned Game Boys and resold them as the Pokémon craze just started blowing up.

 

[MrCunningham]

It had VF.

It's also got Cosmic Carnage!

No, but really, the 32x had a few decent games...

Virtua Racing Deluxe, Virtua Fighter (It was better than the Saturn version in some ways), After Burner, Space Harrier (They were both great arcade ports), Shadow Squadron (it was OK), Kolibri, Blackthorne, Tempo (It is kinda weird), Knuckles' Chaotix (this one is also a strange game), Mortal Kombat II (It's better than the Genesis game) . Yeah, OK, it doesn't have that many good games, but it does have a few standouts. Personally I'd rate it below the 3DO.... maybe?

 

[JRW]

I had a Jaguar and several games, my favorites were Tempest 2000, Aliens vs Predator and Wolfenstein 3D..

Doom was a huge letdown to me but I had already been exposed to PC version prior so all of the (many) shortcumings with Jaguar version stuck out like a sore thumb.

Later after the system had died off I ended up selling it to an Atari collector for a good price.

About 2 years later the buyer emailed me and said he had tried and tried but couldn't beat my Tempest 2000 high score lol (I loved that game!)

I ended up buying Tempest again on Playstation under the name Tempest X3 which was very similar to 2000 with some added graphic effects etc but you could also unlock Tempest 2000 by entering a code which was cool.

 

[KnightimeX_Legacy]

A long time ago EB Games (gamestop) had a jag and 7 games bundle for only $35.
I still thought it was a bad idea.

You know something isn't right when a console and that many games are sold that cheap.

 

[Osiris397]

Have one, had Doom and AVP, but there was nothing else really for it that I wanted. Wanted Tempest, but never got it. I had so many loser systems after the Snes, Turbo Graphx 16/TurboCD (fortunately returned it), 3DO (fortunately returned it), Sega Saturn, Atari Jaguar, Sega Dreamcast...the Sega ones were the only ones I really enjoyed games for. All those L's kept me out of gaming until the late PS3 generation.

 

[Tarin02543]

Where is Atari now?

 

[Version 3.0]

Where is Atari now?

The home division that made the Jaguar was bought by Hasbro Interactive, which was bought by Infogrames. Infogrames changed its name to Atari.

So...they're Atari, sort of. Heh.

 

[RAIDEN1]

Atari are currently like Sega......a shadow of their former selves....

 

[Dog Problems]

Where is Atari now?

Bullying indie devs.

 

[Ogodei]

Which has the most interesting library today:

Jaguar v 3DO v Amiga CD32

Wasn't the 3DO's the original version of Road Rash?

 

[Havoc2049]

If you look at Another World released for the Jag in 2013 that's quite an impressive port, whether or not it would be able to handle a MGS1 maybe...with some graphical trickery possible and check out Robinson's Requiem released in 2011 to see what some people are getting out of the Jaguar..or even Iron Solider 2!

*Might I add that those games I mentioned there are footage I saw from that piece I posted on the Jag retrospective from Nostalgia Nerd!

The video by Nostalgia Nerd isn't actually correct. Games like Robinson's Requiem, Iron Soldier Soldier 2, Skyhammer, World Tour Racing and a few others were all developed by professional game developers back between 1993 and 1995 and were going to be released by Atari in 1996. Atari stopped supporting the Jag in early 1996 and over the years, the rights of complete or near complete games were acquired by companies like Telegames and Songbird, who then released the games. Those games represent the second wave of Atari Jaguar games and like within any console life cycle, developers are able to get more out of the hardware. The Jag was a tweener system, which was better than the Genesis and SNES hardware, but not as good as the Saturn and Playstation. The Jag doesn't have some hidden power that is just now being discovered by developers.

I've been a Jaguar owner since December of 1993 and was a hardcore Atarian back in the 80's and early 90's. I was an STE computer user, a Lynx gamer and was into Atari Games arcade games back when the Jag was announced, so I was in no matter what. I knew Atari already had one foot in the grave in 1993 and the chances of the Jaguar being a success was very slim. I love the Jag and all its flaws. I have a complete commercial collection and many of the homebrews. The homebrew scene for the Jag is fairly active and has been since late 90's, so there are always new games being released and some are really fun games, which is cool.

While the original Jag controller is lacking, the Jaguar Pro Controller is great and right up there with the Saturn controller as far as feel, function and quality goes. The ergonomics were improved, better d-pad, six face buttons for fighting games and shoulder buttons. For new Jaguar users though, they are hard to justify, as they go for around $150 on eBay these days.

 

[s_mirage]

Wasn't the 3DO's the original version of Road Rash?

It was the original version of the game that also got released on the PS1, Saturn, and PC, but there had already been two Mega Drive/Genesis Road Rash games.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

Found this little gem on youtube. Love things like this -- "Jammer CD -- Jaguar Pilot TV Show"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJmKwXXyE-s

 

[Osiris397]

It's all drama. I feel like they could make a TV movie about it as Atari was more than one company, because I think the family was at war or something. Those old game like Atari, Acclaim had some crazy shit going on like XXX bike racing.

 

[MrCunningham]

Found this little gem on youtube. Love things like this -- "Jammer CD -- Jaguar Pilot TV Show"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJmKwXXyE-s

This is pretty '90s, the male host has a rat tail and the female host looks like someone that they hired from a escort service. It is pretty funny. Nice letter from Jeff Minter.

Also,

"The Jukebox, a hardware add on that allows you to plug six games into your Jaguar"

So, the entire Jaguar Library?

 

[soxinthebox]

So how do Jaguar homebrew releases actually work? Are people literally making new carts and selling them or do people just play them through an emulator?

 

[TheContact]

The jag was the first console I believe so be so complicated to program for that the games looked like shit despite the fact that it was a "64" bit system (practically it was not)

Great piece of history though

 

[kitchenmotors]

Man, his channel is too adorable. What an awesome Dad and that's great to have videos like that to look back on.

 

[CartridgeBlower]

This is pretty '90s, the male host has a rat tail and the female host looks like someone that they hired from a escort service. It is pretty funny. Nice letter from Jeff Minter.

Also,

"The Jukebox, a hardware add on that allows you to plug six games into your Jaguar"

So, the entire Jaguar Library?

Yeah, I cracked up at the 'Jeff Minter' letter because at first I thought they were doing a self-referential gag or something, but then they read the letter like it was from an actual fan with an actual question? Made no sense.

But alas, neither did the Jaguar.

 

[Version 3.0]

So how do Jaguar homebrew releases actually work? Are people literally making new carts and selling them or do people just play them through an emulator?

It is my understanding that you need a special cart to bypass security, but then you burn the games to a CD and play them on the CD unit. Not sure where I read that; I've never actually done it.

That said, I know there have also been games produced on cartridge, and on "official" CDs that don't need a bypass cart.

 

[AmyS]

I love this thread.

Here are some articles, reports on the Atari Panther and Jaguar. From early rumor of a 16-bit console in 1989, to Panther's development, through to the Jaguar's release.