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The Video Game Console Library - Atari Jaguar

Atari Jaguar logo Atari Jaguar Atari Jaguar logo

  DW FACTS by Dark Watcher
Page content, development and design by Marriott_Guy
Developer Manufacturer Release Date Country(s) Initial Price Model Number Game Releases Overall Rating
Atari Corporation IBM 18-Nov-93 North America $249 USD J8001 55 NA
Ratings Reviews Pictures\Video Specs Games\Emulation Models Clones Links
Atari Jaguar
Ratings
Consoles are rated based upon the available technology at the time of its release.  Ratings based upon a 10 point scale (10 being excellent\very rare).
Console Design (appearance, functionality) N\A
Console Durability (sturdy or frail and fragile) N\A
Controllers (design, response, feel, use) N\A
Graphics (graphical capability and presentation) N\A
Audio (sound, music, speech, effects) N\A
Media (game media format, design, durability) N\A
Packaging (appeal, durability of packaging) N\A
Game Library (quality, quantity of game library) N\A
Innovations (technological industrial strides) N\A
Gamer Value (good investment for the gamer?) N\A
Collector Value (good collector investment?) N\A
Games Rarity (general availability of games) N\A
Console Rarity (general availability of a system) N\A
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Reviews

Atari Jaguar

Atari Jaguar Advertisement

DW FACTS
  - by Dark Watcher

With Sega and Nintendo battling neck and neck with their 16-bit platforms, Atari seized the opportunity to return to the console market after 7 years. A small company calling themselves 'Flare 1' were on the verge of developing a multiprocessor console. Needing the funding to develop it further, they approached Atari Corp. Atari was trying to develop their own console code named 'Panther' at the time. They jumped on the offer, and development for the 'Flare 2' continued alongside the 'Panther'. Eventually plans for the 32-bit Panther were scrapped for the renamed 64-bit Jaguar.

The Atari Jaguar was released in the United States in December of 1993. The console was manufactured by IBM. Atari boasted the system as being the first 64-bit console. They also boasted about a host of developers and a hundreds of games being created for the system. The system had amazing technical specs for its time. The console contained 5 processors mounted on 3 chips. One was a traditional Motorola 68000, and the other two were nicknamed 'Tom' and 'Jerry'.

The use of the Motorola 68000 was a reason that the Jaguar's validity as a 64-bit was put to question. You see... the Motorola 68000 is a 16-bit processor, and 2 others were 32-bit. Only 2 processors were actually 64-bit, but all the registers and buses were in fact 64-bit. Regardless the machine had a ton of potential.

So what exactly happened? Even with so many developers announced (158 developers) many of the game titles never saw the light of day. Many never got further than the planning stage. It was not just game titles that failed to arrive, neither did some of the consoles peripherals (an overly hyped virtual reality headset for example). The Jaguar's cartridge game media had limited storage space and failed to tap the abilities of the Jaguar. Out of 55 total carts made for Jaguar only 22 were created by outside developers. Developers were simply not ready to handle a console with multiple processors. This became obvious with many of the game released. Some games were simply ports of 16-bit titles with improved color. Others were enhanced ports of older Atari classics (though this was not a bad thing with some of them - Tempest 2000 was a best seller for the system). Others still seemed to be rushed afterthoughts in an effort to cash in. 3rd Party developer support was pretty much nonexistent.

The Jaguar could have been an amazing console if software took better advantage of its 5 processor capability. One game however appeared toward the end of Jaguars life cycle and showed what the console could do. The graphics in 'Aliens vs Predator' were amazing for their time and could have possibly inspired a Jaguar purchase. If only it arrived sooner.

FACT: Atari's main advertisement campaign was under the slogan "Do the Math!" Their point being 'Why would I buy a 32-bit system for $300 when I can get a 64-bit Jaguar system for $149?'

The Atari Jaguar featured many ports. Among them was a COM I/O port capable of networking up to 26 Jaguar consoles for multiplayer play, or linking to the Atari Lynx as a specialized controller. Both features were never utilized, but eventually would be features found in future videogame consoles.


  HANDS ON REVIEW
 

Coming soon....
 

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Pictures & Video

Various picture\video media for this console.  Click pictures to enlarge.
Atari Jaguar - Promo Video
Video courtesy of Timecapsule2008. 		Atari Jaguar - Back \ Ports

 Atari Jaguar - Back \ Ports
 Atari Jaguar Preview from 1993
Video courtesy of BadinfluenceWebsite.
Atari Jaguar - Controller Demo
Video courtesy of deanpook. 		Atari Jaguar - Advertisement

 Atari Jaguar - Advertisment
 Atari Jaguar - Boot Screen
Video courtesy of deanpook.
Atari Jaguar - TV Commercial 1
Video courtesy of RetroGamerNet. 		Atari Jaguar Source Code Collection
Video courtesy of viMasterJag. 		Atari Jaguar - TV Commercial 2
Video courtesy of futureassassin.
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Specs

For the hardware enthusiasts out there - all the detail you\we love.
 Processor Type  Processor Speed  Other Processor Information RAM \ Video RAM
5 processors contained in 3 chips: "Tom", "Jerry", and Motorola 68000 "Tom" (26.6 MHz), "Jerry" (26.6 MHz) and a Motorola 68000 (13.3 MHz) See 'Other Details' below 2 MB of fast page mode DRAM
(4 chips x 512 KB)

Screen Resolution

Color Palette

Polygons \ Sprites

 Audio
800 x 576 16.8 million colors Rendering Speed 850 pixels/second CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo), two DAC's convert digital data to analog sound signals; full stereo capabilities, wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis

Media Format

Media Capacity

Games Released

Other Supported Formats
Cartridge Up to 84 MB 55 CD
(with optional Jaguar CD attachment)

Internal Storage

External \ Removable Storage

Game Controllers

Other Game \ Peripheral Devices
None (games saved to cart) None 3-button Joypad with Numeric Keypad Various controllers, CD, etc.
Controller Ports Network Ports

Other Ports

Audio \ Video
Two (2) Can be networked with up to 32 other Jaguar units via the DSP post Digital Signal Processor port
(includes high-speed synchronous
serial input/output)		 Composite, S-Video, RF

Power Supply

Other Outputs

 Other Details \ Notes
9 V DC, 1.2 A Support for ComLynx I/O
(via DSP port)		 The 5 processors were assigned to Object Processor, Graphics Processor, Blitter, and Digital Sound Processor and a general purpose CPU
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Games & Emulation

Game screen shots and\or videos released for this system.  Click pictures to enlarge.
Atari Jaguar Game Commercials
Video courtesy of Pzkfw5. 		Atari Jaguar - Controller

 Atari Jaguar - Controller
 50 Atari Jaguar Games Compiliation
Video courtesy of jvgsjeff.
Atari Jaguar - Tempest 2000 Game Footage
Video courtesy of viMasterJag. 		Atari Jaguar Tempest 2000 Box
 Atari Jaguar - Alien vs. Predator Game Footage
Video courtesy of viMasterJag.
Atari Jaguar - Zool 2 Game Footage
Video courtesy of viMasterJag. 		Atari Jaguar - Battlesphere Gold Game Footage
Video courtesy of viMasterJag. 		Atari Jaguar - Flashback Game Footage
Video courtesy of viMasterJag.
Third Party Emulators
Program Website Description

Project Tempest

http://pt.emuunlim.com/

 This emulator for Windows is capable of running a good amount of Jaguar carts. It requires Direct X 8.0 or higher. It is still in development, and should see more improvements in the future..
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Models

Additional authorized releases for this console.
No additional models were released for this system.
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Clones

Non-licensed releases (clones).
No clones were released for this system.
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Links

Highly recommended additional sites\resources for this system.
Name Website Description
AtariAge http://www.atariage.com/.../SystemID=JAGUAR  Best internet resource for everything Jaguar
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