History of video games/Platforms/Atari Jaguar

• 
  A basic Atari Jaguar and controller.
• 
  An Atari Jaguar CD and Pro controller.

History

Sketch of the Atari Panther, the cancelled predecessor to the Atari Jaguar.

Development

The Atari Jaguar was the first major system to be marketed by Atari since the Atari 7800.

The number pad at the bottom of the controller was designed to offer extra control, and also to accept paper overlays per game.

The Atari Jaguar was manufactured in Charlotte, North Carolina and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Pre-Launch

The touted performance of the machine lead some to speculate it would overtake offerings from rival companies Nintendo and Sega.

Launch

Do The Math

—American Atari Jaguar Slogan, What's in a Name article by Tom Charnock.

The Atari Jaguar launched in 1993 for $250.

Atari did not overly focus on internal software development, instead focusing on their core competency of hardware and leaving software mostly to third parties. This was a critical issue for Atari because they had trouble attracting third-party developers to the Jaguar.

The Do the Math Slogan was part of a marketing effort to get consumers to recognize the Jaguar as a superior 64 bit system. The slogan was not used in British English markets.

Legacy

The Atari Jaguar was discontinued in 1996 and rights to the system were released to the public by Hasbro at E3 in 1999. The Atari Jaguar sold 250,000 consoles at most, a quite small number for a major console.

While the Jaguar game console had a relatively short production, its case mold was used for around a decade longer in other applications. The machines used to make Atari Jaguar cases were repurposed for making dental equipment cases. The Jaguar molds are said to have been reused for the canceled Coleco Chameleon console. The case design itself is a major divisive part of the legacy of the console with some comparing the Jaguar CD equipped systems to a toilet, and others praising the design as possessing a functional layout.

Technology

Compute

The Jaguar contains five processors, with the primary two 32 bit processors being named Tom and Jerry being clocked at clocked at 26 megahertz. The Jaguar was capable of 55 Million Instructions Per Second(MIPS). The Jaguar contains two megabytes of RAM.

Development Kits

The Jaguar development kit was considered to be well made. The Alpine Development Kit was simply designed as an cartridge with an extended PCB which would be inserted into regular Jaguar consoles.

Notable Games

1993

• Cybermorph - Flight

1994

• Tempest 2000
• Alien vs Predator - FPS
• Kasumi Ninja - Fighting game

1995

• Missile Command 3D - Shooter

Canceled

• Black ICE\White Noise
• Thea Realm Fighters

Gallery

Console

• 
  The front of the Atari Jaguar features heavy branding, as well as two front controller ports slightly obscured by a rim.
• 
  A red button is located in the front center of the Jaguar's casing.
• 
• 

Controller

• 
  Regular controller
• 
  Pro controller, with extra face buttons visible.
• 
  Rear grip on pro controller
• 
  Added L & R buttons on the Pro controller.

Jaguar CD

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Internals

• 
  RF Cage
• 
  Jaguar Motherboard
• 
  The Tom and Jerry chips
• 
  Jaguar CD Motherboard top view.
• 
  Jaguar CD Motherboard angle view.
• 
  Jaguar CD Assembly
• 
  Jaguar Game Cartridge (Cybermorph)

Accessories

• 
  Memory Track cartridge for saving Jaguar CD games.
• 
  Jag Link interface
• 
  An aftermarket HDMI adapter for the Jaguar, produced long after the console was discontinued.

Places

• 
  Charlotte, North Carolina was one location where the Atari Jaguar was made.
• 
  Colorado Springs, another location where the Atari Jaguar was made.