Atari Jaguar

jaguar
Manufacturer	Atari Corporation
Type	stationary game console
generation	fifth generation of consoles
publication	November 21, 1994  November 23, 1993  1994
Main processor	Motorola 68000 @ 13.3 MHz
Graphics processor	Tom 64-bit RISC
Storage media	Modules , CD-ROMs
Controller	PowerPad (standard) ProController Jaguar VR (study)
Units sold	approx. 250,000 to 300,000
Most successful game	Alien versus Predator
predecessor	Atari Panther (study) Atari 7800
successor	Atari Jaguar 2 (study)

The Atari Jaguar is a stationary game console based on the Motorola 68000 processor of the fifth generation of consoles by Atari Corporation , which was first released on November 23, 1993 in the United States .

history

The console was largely developed by the Flare2 chip designers Martin Brennan and John Mathieson. The production took place in cooperation with IBM . This last game console realized by Atari was not a commercial success in spite of the advanced technology at the time. Estimated sales are between 125,000 and 250,000 units for the base unit, and between 25,000 and 50,000 for the JaguarCD drive extension.

More than 100 games have been officially released for the device, mostly on module. Before Atari discontinued all Jaguar products, a few Jaguar CD Units were sold. Some manufacturers (including Songbird Productions, Starcat Developments) have been producing new so-called "homebrew" titles or are releasing beta versions of games that have no longer officially made it onto the market. The Atari community is still very active and new software is constantly being created. But new hardware, like the Skunkboard, a kind of developer kit, is also finding its way into the community.

technology

The 68000 processor of the device released in 1993 is clocked at 13.295 MHz and is equipped with a 64-bit graphics and a 32-bit sound chip. The two special chips named Tom and Jerry are based on a RISC architecture and have a 64-bit data bus. However, the design of both processors proved to be poorly validated; Hardware errors forced the software developers to switch to the stable, but no longer up-to-date MC68000 when it entered the market. The 68000er works internally with 32 and externally with 16 bit (data bus) and was originally only intended for booting the console and controlling the controller. The console has four 512 KByte DRAM chips, which together make up 2 MB main memory. The graphics chip supports hardware scrolling , Gouraud shading and scaling ( texture mapping , but not morphing). The modules can contain up to six MB software and partially save the game status on EEPROM. It was not until late that the Jaguar's multiprocessor was exploited and the hardware bugs avoided through clever programming.

equipment

Controller

Pads

Standard controller "PowerPad"

The two controllers - although the ProController was only available at the end of 1995 - differ both in their handling ( ergonomics , the ProController is thinner and smaller than the StandardPad) and in the buttons. The control pad of the ProController is much flatter and easier to use. In addition, the ProController offers two shoulder buttons and three additional fire buttons. However, only very few games support these additional buttons in a meaningful way, as they are only duplicated points on the keypad (buttons X, Y and Z correspond to rows 7, 8 and 9; shoulder buttons L and R correspond to buttons 4 and 6 connected). They have only been specifically integrated into some of the last few games. The standard pad is available in black / red and, adapted to the design of the Falcon computer, as a PowerPad in gray / blue. The number pad is recessed on both controllers and provided with slots on the sides, where the so-called overlays from some games can be found.

Resourceful hobbyists from the Atari homebrew community built the so-called rotary controllers, which are supported by the officially released game Tempest 2000 and homebrew titles such as Impulse X or Kobayashi Maru . It can be assumed that more games will follow. Rotarys have a rotary knob , similar to the tennis controllers for the Atari VCS, with the help of which some types of game can be controlled more easily and, above all, more precisely. Four variants of the rotary controller are common. A converted standard or pro controller on which the DigiPad has been replaced by a rotary knob, or a standard or pro controller with an additional rotary knob below the DigiPad. A switch can be used to switch between digipad and rotary knob.

Jaguar Virtual Reality

Atari Jaguar with CD attachment, ProController and the game Rayman

The VR system, which has been developed since 1993, never found its way to market readiness, although it was presented at trade fairs in 1994. The individual parts consist of a helmet with an integrated screen, a hand controller with a fire button and a receiver. Atari delayed the release date further and further and finally gave up the system entirely. The only game released with VR support is Missile Command 3D .
Today there are two working prototypes. The red VR helmet known from various trade fairs with a lower (low-resolution) resolution and a blue helmet with a higher resolution (high-resolution). The blue VR headset was shown for the first time in Europe, more precisely in Germany, during the “European Atari Jaguar Festival” briefly ejagfest in autumn 2007 and could also be tried out. Further demonstrations at retro gaming events took place in the following months. The blue VR headset is now back in collectors hands in Italy.

JaguarCD

In September 1995, also after a long announcement, the Jaguar CD drive came out. In addition to the drive , the scope of delivery included a demo version of Myst , the soundtrack for Tempest 2000 , as well as the games Blue Lightning and Vid Grid. A "Virtual Light Machine" programmed by Jeff Minter is integrated in the JaguarCD in the BIOS, which plays various optical effects when playing an audio CD and is therefore the direct predecessor of the corresponding software in the Nuon DVD players and the Xbox 360 , the also from Jeff Minter. In order to be able to save games, the MemoryTrack, a memory card, is necessary. The modular bay of the JaguarCD is looped through and can therefore also accommodate the normal game modules.

ProController (left) and gray PowerPad (right)

Others

• JagLink : This makes it possible to connect several consoles with each other and play against each other. Is z. B. supported by " Doom ".
• TeamTap : This quadruples the controller interfaces of a Jaguar. It is possible to connect 2 TeamTaps. This multiplayer solution is supported by “White Men Can't Jump” and “NBA Jam Tournament Edition”, among others.
• Jaguar Modem : Only prototypes available. It was planned to connect the Jaguar to the Internet. The only game with modem support is "Ultra Vortek".
• ICD CatBox : The CatBox extends the Jaguar with inputs and outputs for composite video , S-Video , RGB output, stereo and mono audio outputs, two headphone connections with volume control, RS232 and RJ11 communication connections and a DSP Connection. The metal box is attached to the back of the Jaguar.

Successor models

Jaguar 2

This console (code name midsummer ) was planned for release at the end of 1996 to compete with the PlayStation , Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 consoles and was not completed due to the merger with JTS, a subsidiary of Tandon Corporation , and Atari's financially precarious situation. A total of eight processors were developed for the Jaguar 2, which should share the work, "Tom 2" alone contains five of these processors: The 64-bit RISC GPU with 64/128-bit registers, clocked at 63.951 MHz, a programmable one 64-bit RISC object processor, the blitter , the 64-bit RISC texture mapping engine with up to 2.5 million polygons per second (without textures) and a JPEG / MPEG chip. In addition, "Jerry 2" (sound), a 32-bit DSP (53.3 MHz) and a Motorola 68EC020 (26.59 MHz) were used. Just like the Jaguar, the Jaguar 2 should be able to handle modules and CD-ROMs, the corresponding interfaces were available on the prototype.

JagDuo

The combination of the Jaguar and the CD drive in one housing was also given up again before completion. There are only empty housings.

HotRod

A dental camera with a Jaguar housing was later offered under the name HotRod.

Games

Modules

• Air Cars (ICD)
• Alien vs. Predator (Atari)
• Atari Karts (Atari / Miracle Design)
• Attack of the Mutant Penguins (Atari)
• Barkley Shut Up And Jam! (Atari prototype)
• Battlesphere + BattleSphere GOLD (scatoLOGIC)
• Breakout 2000 (Telegames)
• Brett Hull NHL Hockey (Atari Prototype)
• Brutal Sports Football (Atari)
• Bubsy in: Fractured Furry Tales (Atari)
• Cannon Fodder (Virgin)
• Checkered Flag (Atari)
• Club Drive (Atari)
• Cybermorph (Atari / Attention To Detail)
• Defender 2000 (Atari)
• Doom (Atari / id Software)
• Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls (Williams)
• Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (Atari)
• Evolution: Dino Dudes (Atari)
• Fever Pitch Soccer (Atari)
• Fight For Life (Atari)
• Flashback (computer game) (US Gold)
• Flip Out (Atari)
• Hover Strike (Atari)
• Hyper Force (Songbird Productions)
• I-War (Atari)
• International Sensible Soccer (Telegames)
• Iron Soldier (Atari / Eclipse) + Iron Soldier 2 (Telegames / Eclipse)
• Kasumi Ninja (Atari)
• Missile Command 3D (Atari / Virtuality)
• NBA Jam Tournament (Atari)
• Pinball Fantasies (21st Century)
• Pitfall! : The Mayan Adventure (Atari / Activision)
• Power Drive Rally (TimeWarner)
• Protector + Protector Special Edition (Songbird Productions)
• Raiden (Atari / Fabtek)
• Rayman (Ubi Soft)
• Ruiner Pinball (Atari)
• Skycopter (Carousel / WalMart)
• Skyhammer (Songbird Productions)
• Soccer Kid (Songbird Productions)
• Space War 2000 (Atari prototype)
• Speedster II (Carousel / WalMart)
• Super Burnout (Atari)
• Supercross 3D (Atari)
• Syndicate (Ocean)
• Tempest 2000 (Atari)
• Theme Park (Ocean / Bullfrog)
• Total Carnage (Songbird Productions)
• Towers II (Telegames)
• Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy (Atari)
• Troy Aikman NFL Football (Williams)
• Ultra Vortek (Atari)
• Val D'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding (Atari)
• White Men Can't Jump (Atari)
• Wolfenstein 3D (Atari / id Software)
• Worms (Telegames)
• Zero 5 (Telegames)
• Zool 2 (Atari)
• Zoop (atari)

CD-ROM

• American Hero (prototype exists)
• Baldies (Atari)
• Battlemorph (Atari / Attention To Detail)
• Black Ice White Noise (BJ West - prototype exists)
• Blue Lightning (Atari / Epyx)
• Brain Dead 13 (ReadySoft)
• Caves Of Fear (?)
• Demolition Man / Commander Blood (?)
• Dragon's Lair (ReadySoft)
• Highlander: The Last Of The MacLeods (Atari)
• Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands (Atari)
• Iron Soldier 2 (Telegames / Eclipse)
• Double Feature # 1 (Matthias Domin)
• Jag-Ads (Starcat Developments)
• Myst (Atari / Cyan)
• Native Demo (Songbird Productions)
• Ocean Depths (Starcat Developments)
• Painter (Sinister Developments)
• Phase Zero Demo (?)
• Primal Rage (TimeWarner)
• Soul star (?)
• Space Ace (ReadySoft)
• Varuna's Forces (?)
• Vid Grid (Atari)
• World Tour Racing (Telegames)

Further titles were announced, but were no longer implemented. Some games can be run on the PC via an emulator .

See also Category: Jaguar Game .

Web links

Commons : Atari Jaguar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Matthias Domin
• Atari Jaguar, Jaguar Duo and Jaguar 2 in the Atari Museum
• Photos and information about the Jaguar II
• European Atari Jaguar Festival

Individual evidence

1. ↑ PDF file of the HotRod ( Memento from November 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive )