Phear

[Rick Dangerous]

I thoroughly enjoyed Tertrisphere on the N64. I didn't know of it's origins on the Jag until now, so cool story and thanks for sharing. I'm sure it would have/could have looked just as good on the jag and the techno soundtrack would have been well suited to the Jag CD

[PeterG]

When I first heard what happened to this game I was quite saddned but then I realized that the story around it makes it far more interesting than the game itself. I played it on the N64 and enjoyed it but most oft all because I was curious to See what became of the JAG game.it would not habe done what Tetris did for the Gameboy but still I wish the Jaguar Version would surface just to See how it was.

[JagChris]

Pretty sad about what happened to phear, and a bit surprising it hasn't turned up yet. Besides having it at the CES 1995, and in the lobby at Atari HQ, it has been said it was also pretty popular in the offices at Atari. There must've been a few flash carts with the game on it floating around the company back in the day... hate to think several people took copies home that were later discarded after they began collecting dust.

 

I doubt it would have been a gamechanger because Atari's bad decisions had already snowballed to a point of no return by the end of '95. But it would've been a solid title and could've left people with a more favorable impression of the system. Tetrisphere came out of the N64 in '97 and was pretty well reviewed, I think had it come out on the Jaguar in '96 it would've gotten some good press too. Despire the fact the N64 version looked considerably more polished, the solid year lead on the Jaguar would've made up for that.

 

Pretty sad that Atari knew that had something but let it go... I guess they probably relized by CES '95 the Jaguar was so far gone there was no real reason to try and pick up exclusive rights to the game so it made it easy for nintendo to come in and take it away from them.

 

 

Or they were just stupid

[Clint Thompson]

This is one of those things where after all this time has passed that I find it kind of silly that Nintendo would actually or actively go after someone that released a beta of the Jaguar version, with a different name to boot - that's not to say they wouldn't though, I guess. They definitely didn't revive the game or bring it to any other platforms and I doubt they ever will, for whatever reason. Either way, we'll probably never see it... I know the programmer mentioned having his old alpine and PC he used to dev Phear but wouldn't release anything because of the whole Nintendo deal... then again, that was probably close to a decade ago. I tried to follow up to see if he would at very least share some images or video of the game running on the Jag since they seem to be mostly non-existant outside of a few clips from the magazines that are really hard to see but he never got back to me. Probably just didn't want to hassle with it and then if the idea of it actually existing, people hounding him to release the source or image.

 

It seems simple enough, the game... I'm surprised someone hasn't tried making a copy of it already and just making their own version instead. I do remember him saying it took them about 6 months to develop between 2 people, which is probably pretty good timing working on it full-time and optimising it for that type of game that it is.

[Willard]

@Clint I doubt that the guys of H20 really cared much about the Jaguar, I wish I could find the old post they made on a newsgroup where they were talking shit about Atari despite already having secured a deal with nintendo.

 

If that was really their attitude I doubt they'd inconvenience themselves digging up the game. I'd be less shocked if you said the devs threw the hardware off a bridge and then went down and burned the scraps than saving the alpine and dev computer.

 

I'm not surprised someone would'nt spend a year or more of their life duplicating a game whose IP is owned by one of the largest game companies in the industry just to make a pittance for it by selling a couple hundred copies on a long dead platform when you can easily just play it on the N64 tho

[JagChris]

The specs they are talking about on the Jaguar version are interesting:

 

Phear Specifications:
Resolution: 384×240 pixels
Palette: 65,536 colours
Polygons: 50,000+ / second
Sound: 8-channel sound / FX
Playability: Awesome
Geometry: 4-Dimensional
Lastability: Virtually Addicting
Music: 12+ Modules
Release Date: January 1995

[JagChris]

This is interesting:

 

This was "Phear" on the Jaguar. I'm pretty certain "someone" on here has a copy of it. Unfortunately there's no way Nintendo is going to release the rights to the game....

Jason

 

If JaySmith 'is pretty certain' someone on AA has it it means someone on AA has it.

[ChrisWR]

Release January 1995 . Yeah and the CD Addon come 1994 ! . And 100 and more 64 Bit Games 1995. :-)

[+CyranoJ]

This is interesting:

 

 

If JaySmith 'is pretty certain' someone on AA has it it means someone on AA has it.

 

Maybe JS3 will start up and you can subscribe for a copy from the hidden warez section forum access

Edited November 27, 2014 by CyranoJ

[108 Stars]

Would have been a nice game on the Jaguar. But wouldn't have made one bit of a difference for the system's success. Puzzle games can sell handhelds, but on home consoles they usually are just minor attractions.

[Lost Dragon]

:-) Wow.Worth bumping this old thread then....

 

But yes, to me Phear makes for a very interesting tale of what might have been and yes, it'd been very welcome on Jaguar, but it'd of been like people saying..if only Chu Chu Rocket had come out on the Dreamcast, things would of been very different...given some of the comments regarding the game i've read elsewhere.

 

 

I actually stuggle to see which, if any of the Jaguar's @Lost Games' would really have turned the hardwares fortunes around.

 

Creature shock, Heart Of Darkness, Waterworld? hell no. Things like Dact.Joust would have been fantastic exclusives, but too niche i fear.MK3? well...it'd still been on other consoles, Tomb Raider? probably too different to game we finally got to make an impact and again, if your putting it out on Jag CD only......

 

 

Comprimised Quake...oh, please god, no.....

[JagChris]

:-) Wow.Worth bumping this old thread then....

 

But yes, to me Phear makes for a very interesting tale of what might have been and yes, it'd been very welcome on Jaguar, but it'd of been like people saying..if only Chu Chu Rocket had come out on the Dreamcast, things would of been very different...given some of the comments regarding the game i've read elsewhere.

 

Creature shock, Heart Of Darkness, Waterworld? hell no. Things like Dact.Joust would have been fantastic exclusives, but too niche i fear.MK3? well...it'd still been on other consoles, Tomb Raider? probably too different to game we finally got to make an impact and again, if your putting it out on Jag CD only......

 

 

Comprimised Quake...oh, please god, no.....

 

Every console version of Quake after the PC version is compromised in some way.

 

 

 

I actually stuggle to see which, if any of the Jaguar's @Lost Games' would really have turned the hardwares fortunes around.

 

Yes I think we got that idea.

[Zerosquare]

Looks like the programmer was rather prone to anger:

http://tcrf.net/Tetrisphere

http://tcrf.net/The_New_Tetris#DaveRant

 

Just imagine what we could have read about Atari and the Jaguar, had the game been released on this console

Edited November 27, 2014 by Zerosquare

[JagChris]

The source is available for it?

[JagChris]

WOW wotta spaz. I see it was just a hex editor rom read or something.

Edited November 27, 2014 by JagChris

[Lost Dragon]

Compromises were made to console Doom, let alone Quake, but whilst i happily played it on Jaguar and PS1, i would'nt of gone after it on Saturn, 32X and SNES, and i owned those formats, let alone the 3DO version.There simply comes a point where it's often better for a machines reputation to not have a conversion at all, than one which is going to paint it in a poor light.

 

I did'nt miss the PC resolution or music on Jag Doom, nor PS Doom.Been years since i had the N64 so forget what it's version of Quake was like, let alone Saturns, but i do regularly play the DC version which was released online.

[doctorclu]

Tetrisphere:... That said, had it been released for the Jag, the game would be heralded as the greatest thing since Flip Out!

 

LOL!! Well said!! Or even... (thinks for a second)... Zoop!

[Lost Dragon]

EDGE really did'nt go much on Tetrisphere, as it's brought up again in Jan'99 Issue:

 

'..to be frank, Tetrisphere fails utterly in it's attempt to reintroduce the Tetris theme, to a new, polygon-hungry audience' and they have this quote from DMA Design's Brian Baglow: 'There are some ideas that need the 2D treatment, and putting them into 3D just is'nt the same'.

[Clint Thompson]

EDGE really did'nt go much on Tetrisphere, as it's brought up again in Jan'99 Issue:

 

'..to be frank, Tetrisphere fails utterly in it's attempt to reintroduce the Tetris theme, to a new, polygon-hungry audience' and they have this quote from DMA Design's Brian Baglow: 'There are some ideas that need the 2D treatment, and putting them into 3D just is'nt the same'.

 

I could see that. I felt that way about Worms 3D... it was cool in its own way but I would much rather play the 2D version. Being that Phear was an original Jaguar title, there's obviously more desire for us to see it and want to play it, especially since it wasn't some shit port from another system and was built entirely from the ground for the Jag.

 

Someday...

[Austin]

 

Every console version of Quake after the PC version is compromised in some way.

 

 

A few exceptions aside, virtually every PC to console port was compromised in some way up until the mid 2000's, so I'm not really sure what the point is of saying this.

 

 

'..to be frank, Tetrisphere fails utterly in it's attempt to reintroduce the Tetris theme, to a new, polygon-hungry audience' and they have this quote from DMA Design's Brian Baglow: 'There are some ideas that need the 2D treatment, and putting them into 3D just is'nt the same'.

 

Makes me wonder what those guys were smoking back in the day. Tetrisphere has nothing to do with Tetris asides from similar shapes. There wasn't anything taken from the 2D formula and "put into 3D", the gameplay itself is vastly different from the original Tetris. What's was dumb was Nintendo including the Tetris name in the title at all to begin with (much like with Tetris Attack on the SNES), but we all know that was only done for name recognition and to sell units. And apparently it did manage to sell pretty well for them.

 

That aside, IMO, Tetrisphere is a well made game and a fairly unique concept that still holds up well all these years later. Had it been done well enough on the Jag it would definitely be a welcome addition to the library. Not a system saver, but something leagues above the likes of Flip Out.

[racerx]

That aside, IMO, Tetrisphere is a well made game and a fairly unique concept that still holds up well all these years later. Had it been done well enough on the Jag it would definitely be a welcome addition to the library. Not a system saver, but something leagues above the likes of Flip Out.

 

I love Tetrisphere. It's fun and frantic as hell and the soundtrack, especially for the N64, is to die for.

 

Phear is my personal missing Grail for the Jag.

[Rick Dangerous]

So.. when is Tetrisphere being ported/finished for the Jaguar?

[sd32]

The specs they are talking about on the Jaguar version are interesting:

 

Phear Specifications:

Resolution: 384×240 pixels

Palette: 65,536 colours

Polygons: 50,000+ / second

Sound: 8-channel sound / FX

Playability: Awesome

Geometry: 4-Dimensional

Lastability: Virtually Addicting

Music: 12+ Modules

Release Date: January 1995

50,000+ polygons per second at 65, 000 colors, thats awesome for the Jaguar. Fight for Life was said to be the game displaying the most polies for the Jag at around 40,000, right?

[sd32]

I thoroughly enjoyed Tertrisphere on the N64. I didn't know of it's origins on the Jag until now, so cool story and thanks for sharing. I'm sure it would have/could have looked just as good on the jag and the techno soundtrack would have been well suited to the Jag CD

This was going to be a cart game, not CD. And the Jag wouldnt need the CD to do the music, it can do some kick ass techno on cart.

[+CyranoJ]

50,000+ polygons per second at 65, 000 colors, thats awesome for the Jaguar. Fight for Life was said to be the game displaying the most polies for the Jag at around 40,000, right?

 

That's only 833 polys per frame. And I doubt it was running at 60fps. Note that it could also be 25,000 polys at 2fps. Suddenly doesn't sound too good, does it?