Atari Jaguar

Infernum

Atari's last foray into the console market until recently. It's said to have been one of the most colossal flops in gaming history because of its chunky keypad controller and overwhelming lack of noteworthy games' failure to appeal to anybody in the age of the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive's dominance in the market.

Not to mention the fact that it was touted as the first 64-bit console, which was nothing more than advertising hogwash and was clearly evidenced by almost all of its games both looking and playing very similarly to other (and better) titles on the popular systems at the time, rather than them being as advanced as people expected.

Did anyone here buy it when it first came out, or own one today?
Is it worth collecting?
What were your favourite games for it?
Do you have any fond memories with it whatsoever?

o1s1n

It's only worth collecting for if you like playing crappy games

I really enjoy playing failed consoles, especially ones with early weird 3D games. There's a strange vibe to them where it feels like the devs either hadn't a clue what they were doing, or really thought they'd made something amazing and groundbreaking. (when in fact it was terrible)

Tempest 2000 is genuinely good mind you.

CiDeRmAn

Tempest 2000 is the only reason to own one, and an RGB cable as well.

Aliens V Predator is awful, as is much of it's catalogue.

I picked up a racing game for it, it was a Virtua Racing clone, and it was awful, no where near as good as the Megadrive game.

Doom is pretty good on it though afaik, I think Raiden is decent as well.

Infernum

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Aliens V Predator is awful, as is much of it's catalogue.

I didn't think AVP was that bad. Sure, the frame rate is sub-par but it's not entirely bad. At least not as long as you're playing as the marine.

Infernum

o1s1n wrote: »

I really enjoy playing failed consoles, especially ones with early weird 3D games. There's a strange vibe to them where it feels like the devs either hadn't a clue what they were doing, or really thought they'd made something amazing and groundbreaking. (when in fact it was terrible)

It is interesting, because you're seeing the evolution of early development of 3D games. There was no set standard in how they were meant to play, look and feel at the time, so it was a very experimental era. Lots of trial and error was involved, then Super Mario 64 dropped and the rest is history.

o1s1n

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I think Raiden is decent as well.

I always found it to be a really weird release, given the gaming landscape at the time. Just seems totally out of place.

Interesting fact, it's the only Japanese game on the system I believe. (well, it's a port, but it has it's roots in Japan! )

Infernum wrote: »

It is interesting, because you're seeing the evolution of early development of 3D games. There was no set standard in how they were meant to play, look and feel at the time, so it was a very experimental era. Lots of trial and error was involved, then Super Mario 64 dropped and the rest is history.

That's exactly it, most of the 32X library is the same. Some really strange concepts going on.

Retr0gamer

There's very few reasons to own an Atari Jaguar. Tempest 2000 is the only genuine masterpiece on the machine. There's some fun to be had in a few other games like Defender 2000 and Attack of the Mutant Penguins. The version of Rayman on the system is also arguably the best. It's missing stages from later releases but the colour depth in the Jag version is unmatched and it looks stunning.

AvP on the other hand is kind of crappy. The design on the game is.... interesting... but it's just not a lot of fun. The game engine is barely above the likes of Wolfenstein as it's a very simple raycasting engine which does not allow for height maps and only 90 degree walls. Compare that to the fantastic port of Doom on the system and it's a very basic game. It's aged badly and isn't a lot of fun to play especially compared to the Doom port.

It's a system I don't really need to own as there's nothing there to tempt, whereas something like the Virtual Boy interests me far more. If I was to get an early 3D system I'd be more inclined to go with a 3DO. It's got very few games worth playing but it's also got a lot more than just Tempest 2000.

For early 3D you are kind of better served by playing old PC games from the time and the PS1, Saturn and N64 which are a much better showcase for the advancements of 3D games at the time.

Infernum

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's very few reasons to own an Atari Jaguar. Tempest 2000 is the only genuine masterpiece on the machine. There's some fun to be had in a few other games like Defender 2000 and Attack of the Mutant Penguins. The version of Rayman on the system is also arguably the best. It's missing stages from later releases but the colour depth in the Jag version is unmatched and it looks stunning.

AvP on the other hand is kind of crappy. The design on the game is.... interesting... but it's just not a lot of fun. The game engine is barely above the likes of Wolfenstein as it's a very simple raycasting engine which does not allow for height maps and only 90 degree walls. Compare that to the fantastic port of Doom on the system and it's a very basic game. It's aged badly and isn't a lot of fun to play especially compared to the Doom port.

It's a system I don't really need to own as there's nothing there to tempt, whereas something like the Virtual Boy interests me far more. If I was to get an early 3D system I'd be more inclined to go with a 3DO. It's got very few games worth playing but it's also got a lot more than just Tempest 2000.

For early 3D you are kind of better served by playing old PC games from the time and the PS1, Saturn and N64 which are a much better showcase for the advancements of 3D games at the time.

It is interesting because the Jaguar ports of Wolf3D and Doom ran absolutely perfectly. AvP just suffered from a bit of a sluggish frame rate. I don't think it's all that bad if you can look past its flaws and remember it was in an age where people weren't exactly sure how to make a first-person shooter run well on a console yet.

I do own a PS1 (I grew up with it) and a Sega Saturn, both of which have Alien Trilogy which is a much better Alien-themed FPS from a technological standpoint, and is a nice game to have in your collection.

CiDeRmAn

Alien Trilogy I never enjoyed, I had far more fun with Alien Resurrection also on the PS, with mouse support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTL1w7JdKv8

Retr0gamer

I played Alien Trilogy a few years back and it's not good. The enemy sprites are hideous but worse is the game engine which is a minor step up from the likes of Wolf 3D but with added height maps. It's aged very poorly, not as much as avp but it ain't great.

If you take the license out of those two games they don't hold up. At least we eventually got the pc avp games... before they ruined it last gen.

o1s1n

I bought Alien Resurrection on a whim when it came out as I fancied a new Aliens themed game. Was expecting something like Alien Trilogy - was absolutely blown away by the visuals.

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

I bought Alien Resurrection on a whim when it came out as I fancied a new Aliens themed game. Was expecting something like Alien Trilogy - was absolutely blown away by the visuals.

It captured the atmosphere really well, perhaps better than the movie it was a licence of!
It probably pushed the PS to the limit too.
Must haul it out, play it again.
I think I've a Playstation Mouse somewhere!

o1s1n

I didn't know it supported the mouse! I found my mouse PSX mouse recently while going through a load of gear, will give that a go as a matter of interest.

Can you remember how the WASD controls work? I guess with a controller and you freelook with the mouse?

CiDeRmAn

o1s1n wrote: »

Can you remember how the WASD controls work? I guess with a controller and you freelook with the mouse?

Afaik it does, well, it has to!

Sorry to the OP for derailing a thread on the Jaguar, but that console really has only one game worth talking about, and that game is enough for me!
It's why I still own a Jaguar and a RGB cable to get the most from it.

o1s1n

I still have to actually pick up AVP and Tempest for my Jag, I've about 7 or 8 boxed games but neither of them are included.

Actually tbh I can't quite remember the ones I do have apart from Raiden and Cybermorph!

Jack burton

Never owned a Jag but I agree with the whole "3D" conversion. So interesting to see how devs dealt with the added dimension.

I played AvP a while ago and thought it was pants! I picked up AvP2 in Game on a trip to Dublin back when I was a youngin. No avp game has ever come close to that for me. Pretty sure I bought half life generations on the same trip, I had some taste in games as a lad :P

alpahaeagle

I have a boxed jag with @ 10 games some boxed some loose...I also have the CD drive as well, and I am proud to say I like he Jag.


Then again I always go for the underdog...


Perfered the megadrive then the snes
Spectrum over the C64
Mastersystem over the Nes
Atari ST over the Amiga
Lynx over the Gameboy/Gamegear
Xbox over the playstation
Saturn over the Ps1


I found AVP to be not to bad of a game, Liked cybermorph, Loved Iron Soilder, Rayman and so on...


Yes it has some bad games, Lazy ass programmers using the 6800 instead of the two tom and jerry chips.


Also dont forget the first wave of games were ports from the Panther console that they cancelled.


Now if you dont mind I am going back to play cybermorph


What do you mean "where did you learn to fly"

Stoner

alpahaeagle wrote:

Now if you dont mind I am going back to play cybermorph

I've that game too as does everyone with a jag.
I just noticed the morph bit now.

For years I thought it was cybermoth