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= Atari_Jaguar =
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Introduction
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The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari
Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. The Jaguar
has a Motorola 68000 CPU and two custom 32-bit coprocessors named Tom
and Jerry. Atari marketed it as the world's first 64-bit game system,
drawing controversy as some argued that this configuration did not
meet the definition of a 64-bit system. The Jaguar launched with
'Cybermorph' as the pack-in game. The system's library ultimately
comprises only 50 licensed games.
Development started in the early 1990s by Flare Technology, which
focused on the system after cancellation of the Panther console. The
Jaguar was an important system for Atari after discontinuing Atari ST
computers in favor of video games. However, game development was
complicated by the multi-chip architecture, hardware bugs, and poor
programming tools. Underwhelming sales further eroded third-party
support.
The Jaguar launched as part of the fifth generation of video game
consoles, but like other early fifth generation consoles, it struggled
to capture major market share from the dominant last generation
consoles, the Genesis and Super NES. Atari attempted to extend the
system's lifespan with the Jaguar CD add-on, with an additional 13
games, and emphasizing the Jaguar's price of over less than its
competitors. However, Jaguar could not compete against the Saturn and
PlayStation, both released in 1995. Atari had internally abandoned the
system by the end of that year, liquidating its inventory by 1996. The
commercial failure of the Jaguar prompted Atari to leave the console
market, and restructure itself as a third-party developer. After
Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation properties, it
released the Jaguar patents into the public domain in 1999, and
declared it an open platform. Since its discontinuation, hobbyists
have produced games for the system.
Development
=============
Atari Corporation's previous home video game console, the 7800, was
released in 1986. It was considered an "also-ran" and far behind rival
Nintendo. Around 1989, work began on a new console leveraging
technology from Atari ST computers. It was originally named the Super
XE, following the XE Game System, and eventually became the Panther
using either 16 or 32-bit architecture. A more advanced system
codenamed Jaguar also began work.
Both the Jaguar and Panther were developed by the members of Flare
Technology, a company formed by Martin Brennan and John Mathieson. The
team had claimed that they could not only make a console superior to
the Genesis or the Super NES, but they could also be cost-effective.
Atari was impressed by Flare's work on the Konix Multisystem, and
persuaded them to close Flare and form a new company called Flare II,
to be funded by Atari.
Work on the Jaguar design progressed faster than expected, so Atari
canceled the Panther project in 1991 to focus on the more promising
Jaguar. Rumors were already circulating of a 1992 launch and its
32-bit or even 64-bit architecture. By this time the Atari ST had long
been surpassed in popularity by the Amiga, while both Atari and
Commodore became victims of Wintel, which became the dominant computer
platform. Atari's support for legacy 8-bit products was canceled to
fully focus on developing Jaguar, and ST computers were canceled
during the Jaguar's release in 1993.
The Jaguar was unveiled in August 1993 at the Chicago Consumer
Entertainment Show.
Launch
========
The Jaguar was launched on November 23, 1993, at , under a
manufacturing deal with IBM. The system was initially available only
in the test markets of New York City and San Francisco, with the
slogan "Get bit by Jaguar", claiming superiority over competing 16-bit
and 32-bit systems. During this test launch, Atari sold all units
hoping it would rally support for the system. A nationwide release
followed six months later, in early 1994. The Jaguar struggled to
attain a substantial user base. Atari reported shipping 17,000 units
as part of the test market in 1993. By the end of 1994, it reported
that it had sold approximately 100,000 units.
'Computer Gaming World' wrote in January 1994 that the Jaguar was "a
great machine in search of a developer/customer base", as Atari had to
"overcome the stigma of its name (lack of marketing and customer
support, as well as poor developer relations in the past)". Atari had
"ventured late into third-party software support" for the Jaguar, but
competing console 3DO's "18 month public relations blitz" resulted in
"an avalanche of software support". The small size and poor quality of
the Jaguar's game library became the most commonly cited reason for
tepid adoption, because early releases like 'Trevor McFur in the
Crescent Galaxy', 'Raiden', and 'Evolution: Dino Dudes' also received
poor reviews, the latter two for failing to take full advantage of the
Jaguar's hardware. Jaguar did eventually earn praise with games such
as 'Tempest 2000', 'Doom', and 'Wolfenstein 3D'. The most successful
game during the Jaguar's first year was 'Alien vs. Predator'. However,
these occasional successes were seen as insufficient while the
Jaguar's competitors were receiving a continual stream of critically
acclaimed software; 'GamePro' concluded its rave review of 'Alien vs.
Predator' by remarking "If Atari can turn out a dozen more games like
'AvP', Jaguar owners could truly rest easy and enjoy their purchase."
'Next Generation' commented that "thus far, Atari has spectacularly
failed to deliver on the software side, leaving many to question the
actual quality and capability of the hardware. With only one or two
exceptions - 'Tempest 2000' is cited most frequently - there have just
been no truly great games for the Jaguar up to now." It further noted
that though Atari is well known by older gamers, the company had much
less overall brand recognition than Sega, Sony, Nintendo, or even The
3DO Company. However, they argued that with its low price point, the
Jaguar might still compete if Atari could improve the software
situation.
Bit count controversy
=======================
Atari tried to downplay competing consoles by proclaiming the Jaguar
was the only "64-bit" system; in its marketing in the American market
the company used the tagline "'Do the math!"', in reference to the 64
number. This claim is questioned by some, because the Motorola 68000
CPU and the Tom and Jerry coprocessors execute 32-bit instruction
sets. Atari's reasoning that the 32-bit Tom and Jerry chips work in
tandem to add up to a 64-bit system was ridiculed in a mini-editorial
by 'Electronic Gaming Monthly', which commented that "If Sega did the
math for the Sega Saturn the way Atari did the math for their 64-bit
Jaguar system, the Sega Saturn would be a 112-bit monster of a
machine." 'Next Generation', in a mostly negative review of the
Jaguar, maintained that it is a true 64-bit system, because the data
path from the DRAM to the CPU and Tom and Jerry chips is 64 bits wide.
Arrival of Saturn and PlayStation
===================================
In early 1995, Atari announced that it had dropped the price of the
Jaguar to , to be more competitive. Atari ran infomercials with
enthusiastic salesmen touting the game system for most of 1995, but
did not sell the remaining stock.
In a 1995 interview with 'Next Generation', CEO Sam Tramiel declared
the Jaguar at least as powerful than the newly launched Saturn, and
slightly weaker than the upcoming PlayStation. 'Next Generation'
received a deluge of letters in response to Tramiel's comments,
particularly his threat to bring Sony to court for price dumping if
the PlayStation entered the U.S. market at a retail price below $300.
Many readers found this threat hollow and hypocritical, since Tramiel
noted in the same interview that Atari was selling the Jaguar at a
loss. The editor responded that price dumping does not have to do with
a product being priced below cost, but its being priced much lower in
one country than anotherwhich, as Tramiel said, is illegal. Tramiel
and 'Next Generation' agreed that the PlayStation's Japanese price
converts to approximately $500. His remark, that the small number of
third party Jaguar games was good for Atari's profitability, angered
Jaguar owners already frustrated at the small library.
Atari's 1995 annual report noted: In addition, Atari had severely
limited financial resources, and so could not create the level of
marketing which has historically backed successful gaming consoles.
Decline
=========
Figures from the NPD Group showed that at the end of year 1995, the
Jaguar had statistically a share of zero percent of the "sold through"
units (which are systems purchased by consumers) in the 32-bit market,
which was also lower than the one percent held by its struggling rival
3DO.
By November 1995, mass layoffs and insider statements were fueling
journalistic speculation that Atari had ceased both development and
manufacturing for the Jaguar and was simply trying to sell off
existing stock before exiting the video game industry. Although Atari
continued to deny these theories going into 1996, core Jaguar
developers such as High Voltage Software and Beyond Games stated that
they were no longer receiving communications from Atari regarding
future Jaguar projects.
In its 10-K405 SEC Filing, filed April 12, 1996, Atari informed
stockholders that its revenues had declined by more than half, from
$38.7 million in 1994 to $14.6 million in 1995, then gave them the
news on the truly dire nature of the Jaguar:
The filing confirmed that Atari had abandoned the Jaguar in November
1995 and in the subsequent months was concerned chiefly with
liquidating its inventory of Jaguar products. On April 8, 1996, Atari
Corporation agreed to merge with JTS, Inc. in a reverse takeover, thus
forming JTS Corporation. The merger was finalized on July 30.
After the merger, the bulk of Jaguar inventory remained unsold and
would be finally moved out to Tiger Software, a private liquidator, on
December 23, 1996. On March 13, 1998, JTS sold the Atari name and
properties to Hasbro Interactive.
Technical specifications
======================================================================
From the Jaguar Software Reference manual, page 1:
Design specs for the console allude to the GPU or DSP being capable of
acting as a CPU, leaving the Motorola 68000 to read controller inputs.
Atari's Leonard Tramiel also specifically suggested that the 68000 not
be used by developers. In practice, however, many developers use the
Motorola 68000 to drive gameplay logic due to the greater developer
familiarity of the 68000 and the adequacy of the 68000 for certain
types of games. Most critically, a flaw in the memory controller means
that certain obscure conventions must be followed for the RISC chips
to be able to execute code from RAM.
The system was notoriously difficult to program for, because its
multi-processor design is complex, development tools were released in
an unfinished state, and the hardware had crippling bugs.
Processors
============
* Tom chip, 26.59 MHz
** Graphics processing unit (GPU) - 32-bit RISC architecture, 4 KB
internal RAM, all graphical effects are software-based, with
additional instructions intended for 3D operations
** Object Processor - 64-bit fixed-function video processor, converts
display lists to video output at scan time.
** Blitter - 64-bit high speed logic operations, z-buffering and
Gouraud shading, with 64-bit internal registers.
** DRAM controller, 8-, 16-, 32- and 64-bit memory management
* Jerry chip, 26.59 MHz
** Digital Signal Processor - 32-bit RISC architecture, 8 KB internal
RAM
*** Similar RISC core as the GPU, additional instructions intended for
audio operations
** CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo)
*** Number of sound channels limited by software
*** Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals
*** Full stereo capabilities
** Wavetable synthesis and AM synthesis
** A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
** Joystick control
* Motorola 68000 - system processor "used as a manager".
** General purpose 16-/32-bit control processor, 13.295 MHz
Other features
================
* RAM: 2 MB on a 64-bit bus using 4 16-bit fast-page-mode DRAMs (80
ns)
* Storage: ROM cartridges - up to 6 MB
* DSP-port (JagLink)
* Monitor-port (composite/S-Video/RGB)
* Antenna-port (UHF/VHF) - fixed at 591 MHz in Europe; not present on
French model
* Support for ComLynx I/O
* NTSC/PAL machines can be identified by their power LED colour, Red:
NTSC; Green: PAL.
COJAG arcade games
====================
Atari Games licensed the Jaguar's chipset for use in its arcade games.
The system, named CoJag (for "Coin-Op Jaguar"), replaced the 68000
with a 68020 or MIPS R3000-based CPU (depending on the board version),
added more RAM, a full 64-bit wide ROM bus (Jaguar ROM bus is 32-bit),
and optionally a hard drive (some games such as 'Freeze' are ROM
only). It runs the lightgun games 'Area 51' and 'Maximum Force', which
were released as dedicated cabinets or as the 'Area 51' and 'Maximum
Force' combo machine. Other games were developed but never released:
'3 On 3 Basketball', 'Fishin' Frenzy', 'Freeze', and 'Vicious Circle'.
Peripherals
======================================================================
Prior to the launch of the console in November 1993, Atari had
announced a variety of peripherals to be released over the console's
lifespan. This included a CD-ROM-based console, dial-up Internet
access with support for online games, a virtual reality headset, and
an MPEG-2 video card. However, due to the poor sales and eventual
commercial failure of the Jaguar, most of the peripherals in
development were canceled. The only peripherals and add-ons released
by Atari for the Jaguar are a redesigned controller, an adapter for
four players, a CD console add-on, and a link cable for local area
network (LAN) gaming.
The redesigned second controller, the ProController by Atari, added
three more face buttons and two triggers. It was created in response
to the criticism of the original controller, said to lack enough
buttons for fighting games in particular. It was never bundled with
the system. The Team Tap multitap adds 4-controller support,
compatible only with the optionally bundled 'White Men Can't Jump' and
'NBA Jam Tournament Edition'. Eight player gameplay with two Team Taps
is possible but not supported by either of the compatible games. For
LAN multiplayer support, the Jaglink Interface links two Jaguar
consoles through a modular extension and a UTP phone cable. It is
compatible with three games: 'AirCars', 'BattleSphere', and 'Doom'.
In 1994 at the CES, Atari announced that it had partnered with Phylon
to create the Jaguar Voice/Data Communicator. The unit was delayed. An
estimated 100 units were produced, but in 1995, it was canceled. The
Jaguar Voice Modem or JVM utilizes a 19.9 kbit/s dial up modem to
answer incoming phone calls and store up to 18 phone numbers. Players
directly dial each other for online play, only compatible with 'Ultra
Vortek'.
Jaguar CD
===========
The Jaguar CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for games. It was released in
September 1995, two years after the Jaguar's launch. Eleven CD games
were released for the Jaguar CD during its manufacturing lifetime,
with more being made later by homebrew developers. Each Jaguar CD unit
has a Virtual Light Machine, which displays light patterns
corresponding to music, if the user inserts an audio CD into the
console. It was developed by Jeff Minter, after experimenting with
graphics during the development of 'Tempest 2000'. The program was
deemed a spiritual successor to the Atari Video Music, a visualizer
released in 1976.
The Memory Track is a cartridge accessory for the Jaguar CD, providing
Jaguar CD games with 128 K EEPROM for persistent storage of data such
as preferences and saved games.
The Jaguar Duo (codenamed Jaguar III) was a proposal to integrate the
Jaguar CD to make a new console, a concept similar to the TurboDuo and
Genesis CDX. A prototype, described by journalists as resembling a
bathroom scale, was unveiled at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics
Show, but the console was canceled before production.
Jaguar VR
===========
A virtual reality headset compatible with the console, tentatively
titled the Jaguar VR, was unveiled by Atari at the 1995 Winter
Consumer Electronics Show. The development of the peripheral was a
response to Nintendo's virtual reality console, the Virtual Boy, which
had been announced the previous year. The headset was developed in
cooperation with Virtuality, which had previously created many virtual
reality arcade systems, and was already developing a similar headset
for practical purposes, named Project Elysium, for IBM. The peripheral
was targeted for a commercial release before Christmas 1995. However,
the deal with Virtuality was abandoned in October 1995. After Atari's
merger with JTS in 1996, all prototypes of the headset were allegedly
destroyed. However, two working units, one low-resolution prototype
with red and grey-colored graphics and one high-resolution prototype
with blue and grey-colored graphics, have since been recovered, and
are regularly showcased at retrogaming-themed conventions and
festivals. Only one game was developed for the Jaguar VR prototype: a
3D-rendered version of the 1980 arcade game 'Missile Command', titled
'Missile Command 3D'. A demo of Virtuality's 'Zone Hunter' was
created.
Unlicensed peripherals
========================
An unofficial expansion peripheral for the Jaguar dubbed the "Catbox"
was released by the Rockford, Illinois company ICD. It was originally
slated to be released early in the Jaguar's life, in the second
quarter of 1994, but was not actually released until mid-1995. The ICD
CatBox plugs directly into the AV/DSP connectors located in the rear
of the Jaguar console and provides three main functions. These are
audio, video, and communications. It features six output formats,
three for audio (Line level stereo, RGB monitor, headphone jack with
volume control) and three for video (composite, S-Video, and RGB
analog component video) making the Jaguar compatible with multiple
high quality monitor systems and multiple monitors at the same time.
It is capable of communications methods known as CatNet and RS-232 and
DSP pass through, allowing the user to connect two or more Jaguars
together for multiplayer games either directly or with modems. The ICD
CatBox features a polished stainless steel casing and red LEDs in the
jaguar's eyes on the logo that indicate communications activity. An
IBM AT-type null modem cable may be used to connect two Jaguars
together. The CatBox is also compatible with Atari's Jaglink Interface
peripheral.
Reception
======================================================================
Reviewing the Jaguar just a few weeks prior to its launch, 'GamePro'
gave it a "thumbs sideways". They praised the power of the hardware
but criticized the controller, and were dubious of how the software
lineup would turn out, commenting that Atari's failure to secure
support from key third party publishers such as Capcom was a bad sign.
They concluded: "Like the 3DO, the Jaguar is a risky investment - just
not quite as expensive."
The Jaguar won 'GameFan's' "Best New System" award for 1993.
The small size and poor quality of the Jaguar's game library became
the most commonly cited reason for its failure in the marketplace. The
pack-in game 'Cybermorph' was one of the first polygon-based games for
consoles, but was criticized for design flaws and a weak color
palette, and compared unfavorably with the SNES's 'Star Fox'. Other
early releases like 'Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy', 'Raiden',
and 'Evolution: Dino Dudes' also received poor reviews, the latter two
for failing to take full advantage of the Jaguar's hardware. The
Jaguar did eventually earn praise with games such as 'Tempest 2000',
'Doom' and 'Wolfenstein 3D'. The most successful title during the
Jaguar's first year was 'Alien vs. Predator'. However, these
occasional successes were seen as insufficient, while the Jaguar's
competitors were receiving a continual stream of critically acclaimed
software; 'GamePro' concluded their rave review of 'Alien vs.
Predator' by remarking: "If Atari can turn out a dozen more games like
'AvP', Jaguar owners could truly rest easy and enjoy their purchase."
In a late 1995 review of the Jaguar, 'Game Players' remarked: "The
Jaguar suffers from several problems, most importantly the lack of
good software." 'Next Generation' likewise commented that "thus far,
Atari has spectacularly failed to deliver on the software side,
leaving many to question the actual quality and capability of the
hardware. With only one or two exceptions - 'Tempest 2000' is cited
most frequently - there have just been no truly great games for the
Jaguar up to now." They further noted that though Atari is well known
by older gamers, the company had much less overall brand recognition
than Sega, Sony, Nintendo, or even The 3DO Company. However, they
argued that with its low price point, the Jaguar might still compete
if Atari could improve the software situation. They gave the system
two out of five stars. 'Game Players' also stated though it is 64-bit,
the Jaguar is much less powerful than the 3DO, Saturn, and
PlayStation, even when supplemented with the Jaguar CD. With such a
small library of games to challenge the incumbent 16-bit game
consoles, the Jaguar's appeal never grew beyond a small gaming
audience. 'Digital Spy' commented: "Like many failed hardware
ventures, it still maintains something of a cult following but can
only be considered a misstep for Atari."
In 2006, 'IGN' editor Craig Harris rated the original Jaguar
controller as the worst game controller ever, criticizing the
unwarranted recycling of the 1980s "phone keypad" format and the small
number of action buttons, which he found particularly unwise given
that Atari was actively trying to court fighting game fans to the
system. Ed Semrad of 'Electronic Gaming Monthly' commented that many
Jaguar games gratuitously used all of the controller's phone keypad
buttons, making the controls much more difficult than they needed to
be. 'GamePro's' The Watch Dog remarked: "The controller usually
doesn't use the keypad, and for games that use the keypad extensively
('Alien vs. Predator', 'Doom'), a keypad overlay is used to minimize
confusion. But yes, it is a lot of buttons for nuttin'." Atari added
more action buttons for its Pro Controller, to improve performance in
fighting games in particular.
Legacy
======================================================================
Telegames continued to publish games for the Jaguar after it was
discontinued, and for a time was the only company to do so. On May 14,
1999, Hasbro Interactive announced that it had released all patents to
the Jaguar, declaring it an open platform, and enabling extensive
homebrew development. Following the announcement, Songbird Productions
joined Telegames in releasing unfinished Jaguar games alongside new
games to satisfy the cult following. Hasbro Interactive, along with
all the Atari properties, was sold to Infogrames on January 29, 2001.
In the United Kingdom in 2001, Telegames and retailer Game made a deal
to bring the Jaguar to Game's retail outlets. It was initially sold
for £29.99 new and software ranged between £9.99 for more common games
such as 'Doom' and 'Ruiner Pinball' and £39.99 for rarer releases such
as 'Defender 2000' and 'Checkered Flag'. The machine had a presence in
the stores until 2007, when remaining consoles were sold off for £9.99
and games were sold for as low as 97p.
In 2022, the compilation 'Atari 50' was released with a collection of
Jaguar games, as one of the first instances of Jaguar software being
officially re-released by Atari. Due to the unique design of the
original Jaguar controller, the games feature reworked control layouts
to allow them to work with modern hardware.
Molds
=======
In 1997, Imagin Systems, a manufacturer of dental imaging equipment,
purchased the Jaguar cartridge and console molds, including the molds
for the CD add-on, from JTS. With minor modification, they fit its
HotRod camera, and the cartridge molds were reused to create an
optional memory expansion card. In a retrospective, Imagin founder
Steve Mortenson praised the design, but admitted that their device
came at the time of the dental industry's transition to USB, and apart
from a few prototypes, the molds went unused.
In December 2014, the molds were purchased from Imagin Systems by Mike
Kennedy, owner of the Kickstarter funded 'Retro Videogame Magazine',
to propose a new crowdfunded video game console, the Retro VGS, later
rebranded the Coleco Chameleon with a licensing agreement with Coleco.
The purchase of the molds was far cheaper than designing and
manufacturing entirely new molds, and Kennedy described their
acquisition as "the entire reason [the Retro VGS] is possible".
However, the project was terminated in March 2016 following criticism
of Kennedy and doubts regarding demand for the proposed console. Two
"prototypes" were discovered to be fakes and Coleco withdrew from the
project. After the project's termination, the molds were sold to
Albert Yarusso, the founder of the AtariAge website.
See also
======================================================================
* Contiki, portable operating system, including a port for the Jaguar
with GUI, TCP/IP, and web browser support.
External links
======================================================================
*
[
http://st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-9-issue-2/previews/the-jaguar/
Atari Jaguar review, 1994]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20070216161427/http://justclaws.atari.org/press.htm
Atari Corp. press released related to Jaguar, 1993-1997 (archived)]
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Jaguar
