Atari Jaguar Anyone??????????

[jgray3493]

Is there anyone out there that shares the same enthusiasm as me about the Atari Jaguar System and the CD add-on???????? Hello, it was after all the first 64 bit system ever made. Well it was said to be 64 bit but we all know now that it was really just 32 bit. Just the same as its rival, the 3DO.

[retroman]

I myself am a Jag fan. I have the Jag, and the Jag CD with 26 games total. I do like the 3DO better though. The Jag just cant compete with its graphics and the fact that it has a much better game selection than the Jag does. Not hating on the Jag I do like it. Just my opinion.

[WCP]

I bought the Jag on launch day, and I supported it pretty strongly until the arrival of the Playstation.

Truth be told, I don't think the Jaguar is one of the better gaming systems, but I will say that I think it's MUCH better than the 32X. So that's at least something.... right ?

There are only a handful of Jaguar games that are really special to me, but I still have some very positive vibes in relation to the Jag. The biggest problem with the Jag back in the day, was waiting for the games to finally come out. It was extremely painful as an early adopter to keep hearing about all these games, and to keep having the games delayed. Some of the games never ever got released, and some were huge duds when they finally did come out.

Still, I'll always remember my experience with Cybermorph at launch, and also when I got the Jag version of Doom. The Jag version of Doom was really my first, legit experience with Doom. Yes, it didn't have music, but I still feel like it blew the 32X version out of the water.

[Ze_ro]

The biggest problem with the Jag back in the day, was waiting for the games to finally come out. It was extremely painful as an early adopter to keep hearing about all these games, and to keep having the games delayed. Some of the games never ever got released, and some were huge duds when they finally did come out.

So many games were rushed to market far sooner than they should have been, resulting in buggy, unpolished, or flat-out unfinished games. Yes, the waiting was painful... but I really wish they'd put in the extra time to get music in more games... and put a battle mode into Atari Karts... and fix the controls in Checkered Flag... and put a few more levels into Missile Command 3D so it lasts more than 20 minutes. Some more third parties would have really helped here, as their releases would have given Atari a bit more time to finish things.

Battlemorph is fucking awesome though.

--Zero

[GhostDog]

There really wasn't any sensible reason to own a Jaguar when the Genesis and SNES were still in their prime with plenty of good games out and many more on the horizon. I just watched the following video and the Jaguar really seems like a big bust:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX9cCegEsDA

[davidbrit2]

The Jaguar is definitely my favorite console that looks like a toilet.

[Leo_A]

It can't be too worthless, we must average a thread like this every 3 or 4 months. Not bad for a system that had so little impact 20 years ago.

Tempest 2000 and Super Burnout keep the dust off mine.

[courtesi1]

I had one back in the day and sold it. Now that I'm buying videogames again I contemplate on getting another one but to be brutally honest I don't see myself doing it.

The controller is awful, and there are not many games I'm really interested in. All the homebrews coming out look like they could have been done on a SNES or Genesis.

If there is a single game that catches my attention it's Battlemorph. I really like the idea of total freedom and lots of secrets. Plus it has less of that annoying green bitch.

But is it worth reacquiring a system + CD drive for? That's the question...

[WCP]

There really wasn't any sensible reason to own a Jaguar when the Genesis and SNES were still in their prime with plenty of good games out and many more on the horizon.

Well, you have to understand that for somebody who was around in late 1993, and you heard about the Jaguar, this new 64-bit beast, it would be very hard not to be excited about it. Of course, you'd have no idea that the Jaguar isn't really a 64-bit beast at all, and that 90 percent of the software would come from UK development studios that nobody has ever heard of. You didn't know that games would trickle out ever so slowly. You didn't know that huge games like Aliens vs. Predator would continually get delayed.

All of that is "hindsight is 20/20" type stuff.

Still, don't underestimate the power of a game like Cybermorph in November 1993. I was thoroughly blown away by that game when I first got my hands on it. Tons of people will talk shit about Cybermorph nowadays, but I think the vast majority of people that talk shit didn't play that game in 1993 or 1994. People that did, know how amazing that game really was at that particular time. I think a lot of the smack talking about Cybermorph, is that people were expecting it to be like Starfox, and that it would be this space shooter where you're battling aliens on hostile worlds.

Truth is, the game is more of a puzzle game than anything else. It's not trying to be a Starfox game at all. But that was the general expectation. Starfox, but on steroids. When people finally tried the game, and quickly realized that it wasn't Starfox on crack, they immediately cried foul and said the game sucked. It's too bad they didn't judge the game for what it really was. One of the first ever, open world type games, where your ship could basically go anywhere on the surface of these uniquely designed planets.

There are like 50 different levels of that game, to hunt down all the pods that are scattered on the various planets, and it's just basically a puzzle game in the grand scheme of things, but a very good puzzle game, that was pretty groundbreaking at the time.

[GhostDog]

Well, you have to understand that for somebody who was around in late 1993, and you heard about the Jaguar, this new 64-bit beast, it would be very hard not to be excited about it. Of course, you'd have no idea that the Jaguar isn't really a 64-bit beast at all, and that 90 percent of the software would come from UK development studios that nobody has ever heard of. You didn't know that games would trickle out ever so slowly. You didn't know that huge games like Aliens vs. Predator would continually get delayed.

All of that is "hindsight is 20/20" type stuff.

Still, don't underestimate the power of a game like Cybermorph in November 1993. I was thoroughly blown away by that game when I first got my hands on it. Tons of people will talk shit about Cybermorph nowadays, but I think the vast majority of people that talk shit didn't play that game in 1993 or 1994. People that did, know how amazing that game really was at that particular time. I think a lot of the smack talking about Cybermorph, is that people were expecting it to be like Starfox, and that it would be this space shooter where you're battling aliens on hostile worlds.

Truth is, the game is more of a puzzle game than anything else. It's not trying to be a Starfox game at all. But that was the general expectation. Starfox, but on steroids. When people finally tried the game, and quickly realized that it wasn't Starfox on crack, they immediately cried foul and said the game sucked. It's too bad they didn't judge the game for what it really was. One of the first ever, open world type games, where your ship could basically go anywhere on the surface of these uniquely designed planets.

There are like 50 different levels of that game, to hunt down all the pods that are scattered on the various planets, and it's just basically a puzzle game in the grand scheme of things, but a very good puzzle game, that was pretty groundbreaking at the time.

Yeah, looks like Atari really screwed over gamers back then. I have to admit that the advertising and marketing was great. I mean, who doesn't think a Jaguar is cool and that they advertised the system as being some kind of powerful beast? The only problem is that controller because it looks super ugly and the best developers weren't on board so the system didn't get used to its full potential. Still, the Genesis and SNES were still great consoles but gamers wanted more too soon and got screwed over with things like SEGA CD, Jaguar, 3DO and 32X.

[courtesi1]

In the 1MB of Cybermorph is the green woman completely removed?

[vintagegamecrazy]

I'll always have a soft spot for the system. It was the first obscure console I got when I first started collecting in 1998. I have the boxed console and a boxed CD for it too. It doesn't have a lot of games but there are a few that really count.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I would get one to play Zool 2 or Rayman. Zoop's a fun game also. I also like the early FPS's. Still, most games look like they easily coulda been done on the 16 bit consoles. I'm wondering if this is simply bc developers didn't know how to use the tech to its full potential? This happens with consoles, and this was 1993 when it came out, and games like Mario 64 was still 3 years away, which really showed what u can do with 64 bits.

I'm wondering also if the CD add-on was even necessary, if the games were even that big that they'd need to be in disc format.

[courtesi1]

I would get one to play Zool 2 or Rayman. Zoop's a fun game also. I also like the early FPS's. Still, most games look like they easily coulda been done on the 16 bit consoles. I'm wondering if this is simply bc developers didn't know how to use the tech to its full potential? This happens with consoles, and this was 1993 when it came out, and games like Mario 64 was still 3 years away, which really showed what u can do with 64 bits.

I'm wondering also if the CD add-on was even necessary, if the games were even that big that they'd need to be in disc format.

A Jaguar developer can probably be more specific but from what I could tell from reading their forums is that there were/are a lot of undocumented hardware bugs in the Jag which probably caused them to shy away from using the RISC processors more. Also, I think if you develop a CD game you get less RAM for some reason. It's a difficult console to code for if you want the end product to look 64-bit.

[jgray3493]

Ok that's nice that some of you detest the Jaguar. I can actually agree for some part as far as the graphics on certain games. They are in fact pretty terrible, but there's something about this console that just won't die.

Anyways I have a few questions that I'm sure someone on this site can answer. As we know there are a handful of games for the Jaguar that are pretty damn rare. And I've been keeping up with a couple of companies that have reproduced about 10 or 20 copies of these rare games. Well the original games go for anywhere between $1-$200 or more and the reproductions are just a little under that. My question is, are the reproductions worth almost as much as the originals? Does this significantly change the cost and rarity of these games. Yes I know a game is a game but is there really a big difference between the originals and the reproductions?????

[tom]

I would get one to play Zool 2 or Rayman. Zoop's a fun game also. I also like the early FPS's. Still, most games look like they easily coulda been done on the 16 bit consoles. I'm wondering if this is simply bc developers didn't know how to use the tech to its full potential? This happens with consoles, and this was 1993 when it came out, and games like Mario 64 was still 3 years away, which really showed what u can do with 64 bits.

.

True, here's what Miyamoto said about SNES programming, they just weren't up to it

[8-Bit Archeology]

I have a jaguar with 3 games.
Cybermorph
Chekered Flag
And a soccer game I cant recall right now.

To be honest I got it for free as a non working console. I replaced the rf unit and bam. But I only played Cybemorph that once for like 5 minutes. I do want to hook it back up and start getting games for it. But having a large collection that grows about 8 games a month, keeps me from having intrest in shelved games. I work 7 days a week no days off and saldy the only games I am playing are either new or handheld. The games I really want to get for the Jaguar are
Tempest
Missile Command
Raiden
And Worms.

I will have to agree with most reviews about the controller though. Its more annoying and uncomfortable than all the controllers I have. Other than my secret hate for the standard N64 controller.

[Leo_A]

The only thing circled there from him is saying that they'll learn more about how to maximize the potential of the SuperNes as time goes on. That goes for any new game system so it's hardly an indictment of it or Super Mario World.

I very much doubt he ever considered Super Mario World a disappointment. It did precisely what it was supposed to do and has remained a beloved release since it originally launched. I think it would be high up or at the top of many a classic gaming fan's list for best launch titles ever and it's legitimately in contention for a good number of folks, including myself, as their favorite videogame of all even when looking past just launch releases.

[WCP]

shit... I rank Super Mario World No.1 overall, among all video games... EVER!

[TurboGenesis]

Yes, I like the Jaguar.. it's my favorite Atari console after the Atari 5200 (another misunderstood, under appreciated Atari console)... I had it at launch and I, too, was amazed with Cybermorph.. I guess I say this..... the Jaguar brings a different gaming experience. if one goes in expecting typical game fare as that found on contemporary consoles, there will likely be disappointment. it's common practice for everyone to slam and hate on the Jaguar.. but to appreciate, I guess you'd have to have been there in the early 1990s, AND have an open mind to 'different' game playing experience and expectations... and, the controller isn't horrible, for most applications... it's functional and comfortable to hold, only being awkward when needing to use the number pad in situation where the action is hectic in game....
but the mainstream masses will continue to slam and hate the Jaguar without ever understanding it, only because it is popular to do so... and then for such hate, WHY is it so expensive to get into Atari Jaguar today.....