Atari's last stand
Written: Jul 17 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nostalgia, inexpensive games, lively community of fans.
Cons: Trickle of current software support, more potential than substance.
The Bottom Line: Can't compete with new systems, but there's a lot of fun to be had for a low price. Don't expect anything more in the future.
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| rukivverh's Full Review: Atari Jaguar |
Well, Atari, it was fun while it lasted.
Back in 1993, Atari's hopes were pinned onto the Jaguar, which looked incredible on paper. When reality set in, though, and 3rd party support was hard to come by, the Jaguar died a slow and ugly death...
...or did it? The Atari community has always been an odd one. With programmers still putting efforts into the 2600, it can easily be seen why the Jag is still breathing. Discussion areas like www.atarihq.com/interactive/ will come as a surprise to many people. Here, dozens of fans still get together and make plans for annual Jaguar-based fan festivals, as well as make strategies as to how best to place pressure in order to get new games released.
With some exceptions, Jaguar programming came to a halt long ago (note I said that there are *exceptions*). Most games to be released since the "official" death of the Jaguar (when Atari abandoned it) were nearly complete but simply never released.
So, let's get to the nuts and bolts of it: The Jaguar has top-notch hardware. There is a lot of potential here. Unfortunately, the potential was rarely realized, and never to its full extent. New games such as Battlesphere can really push the system, offering network play through the use of specialized Jaguar hardware, as well as all of the flashy graphics and gameplay you could want.
Most games are quite average. They most often could not be done on a SNES/Genesis (due to increased colour palette, speed or polygon graphics), but could easily be done on anything from a Saturn to a Playstation.
Why buy a 99% dead system? Well, look at the price. You can buy a brand new system in the box for about $10 US, the last I checked. Games run from a couple dollars, all the way up to full retail price for the new releases. You could get a pretty amazing selection of games and the system for anywhere from $30-$50, if not more, depending on how much you want to spend.
It is important to keep an eye on the game reviews before buying anything, though (http://jaguar.holyoak.com offers the best reviews). There are a few stinkers to avoid at all costs: Checkered Flag, Club Drive, Double Dragon V and Kastumi Ninja to be precise. The winners are Iron Soldier, Super Burnout, Tempest 2000, Ultra Vortek and many others.
Have some fun! Instead of buying a single brand new Playstation or N64 game, start a small Jaguar collection with some carefully selected games.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
rukivverh
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Reviews written: 4
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