Gunstar

I guess I must have those same hyperactive 4-year-old on crack reflexes then.

Well, I disagree with about 90% of what Tempest said and agree with 10%. I origianlly got a Jag because I was an Atari fan, and the games look good and were good. (I'm talking about my first games which were ALL excellent experiences: Doom, AVP, W3D, IS, Raiden, Cybermorph, Super Burnout, Skiin&Snowboarding, etc.) It was the most powerful thing anyone at my college had seen (early '95) and I and everyone else was very impressed with it. I still play it today because I think it still has some of the best games on any console from any era. Also for nastalgia, but I own a ton of classic consoles and all the 32/64-bit ones for that reason too. I still prefer the graphics and gameplay in a game like Battlemorph better than supposedly (according to the masses)better graphics and gameplay in a like Tomb Raider. I prefer garaud shading to blocky textures, I think the shading gives a much better feeling of depth and solidity anyway, and the mix of textures and shading I prefer to all textures and no decent shading on games like Tomb Raider. I still am impressed with the graphics of Zero5 or Skyhammer. Not in a Halo sort of way, but the fact that they are games that look every bit as good and are every bit of fun or funner that comparible games on the PSX. IMHO. I own them all, so this IS first hand preference. Because it was Atari's last machine. my other Atari machines, while used are used less frequently and have more dust on them because the Jag is the most advanced you can get in Atari gaming. Also because it is "rare" and other don't own it and it's a fantastic machine to impress people with; an awsome looking 3D machine that was out in '93 when they were still playing far inferior SNES and Genesis games... Because I've fallen in love with several games on it which are favorites and I play all the time. (this is true of certain games on ANY system I own) . Because while spectacular new graphics are cool, they aren't necessary to have a good game and I still think the graphics look good anyway. Those are my reasons and I stand by them.

One top game is tuff. Ikari Warriors, Commando, Ballblazer and Tower toppler I think are the cream of the crop on the 7800.

Definately a tuff choice. Both systems have very good versions of the classics like ms. pacman, galaxian or galaga, Donkey Kong, centipede, etc. Personally, I think the 5200 controllers are much better than the 7800, the 7800 controllers start to cramp the hand in about 5 min., the 5200 you can use longer before cramping occurs. Games like Ballblazer and centipede are better with the analog controls too, but the graphics are better in the 7800 versions. Ballblazer has the same great sound on both systems, as the 7800 version has the same sound chip as the 5200 (Pokey) built into the cart. this is true of several 7800 games, but most do use the 2600 sound chip. But in these older games, the sound just isn't THAT much of an improvement to me to make a difference; it's not like one has stereo sound and the other doesn't or something. 2600 sound is good enough for me on these classic games. the 5200 is HUGE if there are space issues, the 7800 may be the better choice. 2600 comaptibility is also a big plus, but the 5200 does have more games in it's library than the 7800 (2600 games not included). I say get both, but which ever you choose, you will not be disappointed. the 7800 does have some cool games that are must owns if you have the system that the 5200 jus doesn't have, like Commado, Double Dragon and Ikari Warriors...Tower Toppler too. 5200 has Star Raiders and Rescue on fractalus which are must owns that the 7800 doesn't have...etc. Bottom line, look at the game libraries and get the one that has the most games you like personally. About half the games on each are on the other too.

I just found a bunch of 7800 games at a Goodwill near me, I bought about half a dozen of them, cart only, but some of the highlights are Super Skateboardin', F-18, and Double Dragon. I payed 99 cents apiece for them. The rest were common Atari releases.

You have to remember that since it a networkable game, many people who already own it are still trying to get additional copies for networking too.

I have the yellow labeled CDR version and think it is MUCH better (the label) than the lame telegames releases with just the black label and red text...that just looks cheap to me. having a real label with art work, even printed on a paper label, I feel is much better. A couple years ago I took a sort of poll on JI2 to figure out which is rarer, and the results seemed to indicate that they are about as common as each other.

I completely disagree with evry single thing you said and feel EXACTLY the opposite, I thinks it all rocks!

I disagree with most and actually think D2K is a LOT easier than Protector. All You have to do is survive long enough to get 3 power-ups (about 30 seconds) and you get shields so you don't die right away, and after that, the power-ups just keep coming and before you know it you're all powerful with guys hanging on you shooting, your bird-like helpers killing stuff, your lazer shot, your AI droids shots, lighting bolts, etc and can wipe everything out and nothing can touch you. I regularly score about 2,000,000 on this game! Prtotector is much more difficult in my opinion. I prefer D2K a LOT more than Protector. I have a couple friends that agree too, but whatever. FANTASTIC game(s) and just all around a much better experience than Protector as far as I'm concerned. I have no problem what so ever playing D2K, I have a much harder time with Protector.

they are only related by marriage, I met him at the gun club. He's a lot nicer and fuzzier too!

Oh, him. I know him. he's an *sshole. Notice the beady eyes, they've got jerk written all over them.

Purple hampster? What purple hampster?

Never very popular to the "others" may be true, in fact, it's an understatement where the general populous is concerned, but ANY Atari fan definately KNEW of the Jaguar, from the get-go, else they were NOT an Atari fan. I knew about the Jaguar prior to '93 when it was released! If you were an Atari fan and read Atari magazines back then, you knew about the Jaguar, period. It was not only the Holy Grail to Atarians, but Atari's savior and last best hope at the time. If you didn't know about the Jag, you were not an Atari fan, so go play your Ninschmendo or Schmega.

I agree. If that's a TV screen shot, then you have your brightness too low, because Raidenon my Jag/TV also looks closer to the bottom arcade pic as far as color&brightness go than the top Jag pic you supplied. If that's an emulator pic then the emulator is displaying the graphics far too dark for some reason. Even if the color isn't arcade perfect, so what? even arcade screens can have their color hue (tint) adjusted differently, so you may be hard-pressed to find two Raiden arcade machines that the color&brightness where adjusted exactly the same. Arcade perfect, to me (IMHO), is in gameplay first, then graphics (detail) and sound, the actual hue&brightness of the color never means a thing to me.

While in the end you may find you prefer other Jag games over what you've chosen, they are still solid picks and good choices for a first experience on the Jaguar. My first Jag games (back in '95) were: AvP, Iron Soldier, Raiden, Trevor Mcfur and of course the Cybermorph pack-in. I was in gaming heaven for several weeks after that!

wel lthats your opinion true jag fans know whats really good and what isnt You can prob tell now that I like Jaguar mostly for the collecting aspect But how can someone play club drive or Double Dragon 5 and say' date=' man this game is really cool![/quote'] You're a 100% right there, but the Jag still has a LOT more good/great games to offer than your puny little list...that's not "about it."

I've never had the opportunity to play the arcade Raiden for long (about 5 min. once), and from what I could tell, it looked to me the only problem, which is a problem with EVERY console version except the PC-FX edition (can turn monitor sideways on it), is that the arcade version had the advantage of the monitor screen being sideways for the longer up/down view and the graphics have to be adjusted on everything else to fit into the shorter, wider screen. So some stuff is smaller I think. But as far as the Asteroids go, yes, the Jag version's were improved over the arcade (according to what I read on it before) and the music was also redone with some killer stereo sound that was not in the original. I never noticed any difference in the sound effects, but then, I only played the arcade game for 5 minutes...All I know is that the Jag version is good enough for me, and all my friends seem to really like it and think it's as close to an arcade perfect port as they've seen, minus the screen orientation. Never had anyone complain about it not being as good as the arcade before (and most of the people I'm refering to have played the arcade version far more than I). I think Imagitec did a great job on it, even if it was rushed.

I have them all but the original Protector, and SoccerKid is on my 3DO. They are all good and well worth the money, but my favorite is SkyHammer; I like 3D games the best, and SkyHammer is a good one. It does have a learning curve, both in gameplay and in avoiding the game crashing (any bugs can be "avoided" if not the first time:save often). But it gets better as you make money and upgrade, the ship becomes more responsive and faster and you die less. There are three abosolutely HUGE cities in the game and two game modes, one is battle mode where you pretty much defend and attack, the other is mission mode and there are a number of different types of missions. I've seen the last city with cheat codes, but am currently on the second city. Also, I think the graphics get better in the other cities, there seems to be a better variety of textures, they just look better and the enemies look cooler too. It is a complete game, it just never got complete debug testing done on it. Hyperforce rocks. I'm not sure what it reminds me of, a mix of Contra and Metal Slug and Metroid, but different then all of them. It has many aspects that are more similiar to the usual lot of cute and cuddly type platformers too. Good music and very LOUD. This cartridge puts out about twice the volume as any other Jag game I have. I have to turn down the volume before I start it. Lots of levels, again, the graphics seem to get better as you go, at least more interesting. Protector SE is very cool and I'm getting better at it, but I still prefer Defender 2000 and Defender Plus over it. But you can't go wrong with it if your a classic Defender fan or just generally like 2D shooters with great graphics. Soccer Kid is colorful and well done, challenging but not too hard, solid graphics, but don't expect Rayman quality, but better than Bubsy or Zool2.

Regardless of what the PCB for the JagDuo WOULD have looked like, I'd sure like to get a JagDuo case and see if I can fit the current PCB's in there...I think it could be done with some modifications.

It's the only JAG game they made...Hand Made Software also made a game or two on the lynx and I'm pretty sure I've seen games by them on the ST and Amiga. I don't remember the titles offhand, but I'll look through my games and post the names when I've found them.

I've been a 3DO owner since '96. Got about 50 games, most of the best and a few crap games. My top 5 are the following: The Need for Speed Star Fighter Space Hulk Wing Commander III Battle Sport There are a lot of other great games though...also lots of bad games.

Just thought I'd throw my two cents of support in for as close to original packaging as possible. That seems to be what you like yourself Jay, being the avid collector, which I would venture to guess is at least half the Jaguar community. A tall box that matches the other Jaguar cd boxes on the shelf is best, poor design or not, or since Telegames has a couple standard sized box cd games, even that would be cool. It would also be very cool to have the tri-fold inserts like Atari's own publishings, but the jewel cases are a bit more durable under use, and more easily replaced than a Jagcd tri-fold case with worn edges or peeling corners. Since ReadySoft had their own Jagcd varient, matching what they did would be cool too, with the tall, heavier cardboard box and than a jewel case and inserts...Definately glass mastered and silk screened cd or at least a high quality label like Clint did with Black Ice/White noise. I still wish I could get tall boxes for Vid Grid and Blue Lightning...

I tried it at the MWC. What I saw of it, about 3-4 minutes of play, was a mix of Breakout! and Gorf or something. You have a paddle at the bottom of the screen, there are two "Moons" that bounce around that you have to hit and keep going, while shooting at enenmies coming from above in formation, and there is also this strange green square that you move around too, somehow, but I never figured out what it was for, maybe for a lock on of a special weapon? The graphics were good 2D graphics, but it really seemed to me like a game that should be put in a collection with a couple others "mini games." Maybe I didn't see enough of it though to make a good judgement call. It had good music and didgitized speech as I recall. I'll buy it when it's released depending on how it's offered and for how much. If it's CD and not too expensive, great. If it's cartridge and $60+ dollars, it better come on a cartridge with Craze! and another title or two Terrance is working on...

Congrats! It's a great game. I was lucky enough to get a couple copies during it's initial release. I sold one when I needed money and have been waiting to get another copy ever since. I missed a chance at BSG when it came out because I didn't have the cash, so now I'm just bidding on a copy of the classic on E-bay. I'll buy Gold if it ever shows up on E-bay (assuming I win the auction). It is all in the detail of the game, sure there are better Space dogfighting Epics on newer systems since, but Battlesphere still looks and plays good in my opinion. The classic tradition of Star Raiders is intact, even if you only ever play single player with or without a friend riding shotgun. It has the core of an epic without all the heavy story telling. Use your imagination and the bit of background the game gives. The dogfighting (physics, A.I., mechanics) itself is still as good and exciting as the latest games in the genre.The shading and lightsourcing and smooth animation still look good. So BSG must look even better. The screen shots say so...

Dan did a good job considering he had no help. If I had known it was you alone Dan, I'd have brought some equipment to help. We could have at least had a two-way Battlepshere and Doom network. Could have brought instructions for BI/WN too...I'd hoped there was a Doom&Battlesphere networks and was disappointed about that. I also brought my rotatary controller to use in a Tempest tourney, but there was none. I played Protector and they had a Raiden Tourney in the classic museum room. I was also disappointed that there were no Jaguar venders selling Jaguar Items there either, there was the Goat store with a few Jag games, but I mean vendors like Songbird and others with new Jag products. I had hoped to spend my money on Jaguar Items but ended up getting a SegaCD and games and an N64 and games instead, as well as a few 32X and Saturn games. I want to go to the Lombard one if I can, and I'll bring stuff to help the Jag Tour Along, if it's just you again Dan. Hopeful;ly we can get a Battlesphere tournament going.