Atari Jaguar
From LoveToKnow VideoGames
Atari Jaguar
Prior to the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Atari was by far the dominating force in home gaming consoles. Atari's next major attempt didn't come until the Jaguar hit the market in November 1993. It initially competed against the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), but later faced off against the much more popular Sony PlayStation. Eventually, the Jaguar was pushed aside as a flop -- except for a small cult-like following -- and as a result, was Atari's last attempt at creating video game hardware. Atari, of course, still exists today as a software developer.
The World's First 64-bit Game System
At the time of its release, the Atari Jaguar -- manufactured by IBM -- was probably the most powerful gaming system available on the market, perhaps being second only to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer (made by Panasonic, Goldstar, and Sanyo). The Jaguar was marketed as the world's first 64-bit game system, although it is perhaps more accurate to say that it basically ran on a pair of 32-bit processors.
The propriety 25.6 MHz "Tom" CPU was made up of three video-related processors: a 32-bit RISC Graphics processing unit, a 64-bit object processor, and a 64-bit blitter processor, as well as a 64-bit DRAM controller.
The other propriety CPU, the 26.6 Mhz "Jerry", contained a 32-bit RISC Digital Signal Processor, in addition to units responsible for 16-bit stereo sound, joystick control, wavelength synthesis, and other functions.
There was also a 13.295 MHz Motorola 68000 general purpose control processor.
Eventually, despite its reported "64-bit" prowess, the Atari Jaguar just could not keep up with the polygon pushing power of the Sony PlayStation. John Carmack, author of Doom, said that if Atari "offered a dynamic cache on the RISC processors and had a tiny bit of buffering on the blitter, it could have put a reasonable fight against Sony."
Video Game Media
Because it initially competed against the SNES and Genesis, it was not necessary to have huge storage capacities in the games, so the Jaguar ran primarly on cartridges up to 6MB in size. However, the Jaguar CD add-on was also available, plugging into the cartridge slot and running optical discs at 2X speed.
A Strange Controller
Most controllers of the day would have no more than 4 or 6 face buttons, but the Jaguar made use of many more. In fact, the controller had 17 buttons in all, however 12 of those buttons were oriented much like a telephone pad, and weren't used much -- if at all -- in actual gameplay.
A Small Library
Receiving very little third party support and having a short life on the market, there are very few games available for the Atari Jaguar. Later on, however, homebrew artists came up with a number of innovative titles that are available through the internet. The all-time best selling game was Alien vs. Predator, but there are others that deserve honorable mention as well. They are:
- BattleMorph
- BattleSphere
- Doom
- Iron Soldier 2
- Myst
- NBA Jam: Tournament Edition
- Rayman
- Tempest 2000
Learn More
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