Lentzquest

Can we all just say Star Raiders and call it good?

Best reason to own a Jag? Basically to own and play a handful games ranging from good to great, some of them unique to the system or oddly atmospheric: Brutal Sports Football Tempest 2000 Super Burnout Val D'Isere Cybermorph Doom Wolfenstein 3D Rayman Raiden Ultra Vortek Pinball Fantasies I-War Battlemorph, Vid Grid, and Homebrews are pretty much the only compelling reasons to look into the CD. If none of this stuff interests you then it's probably best to ignore the system. Which is truly understandable, most affection for the Jaguar falls squarely into the "you had to be there" category.

Email sent for a Regular Edition. I also couldn't find any mention of it on Console5.

Vindicators Toobin' Thundercade

Any installment of RBI Baseball is perfect for mornings. Also any kind of paddle controller brick breaking game.

Really interested to know if it can play Rolling Thunder, Gauntlet, and the rest of the Tengen games.

Game Gear games tend to stay cheap. Hardware reliability is the only hassle, kinda like the 5200. The Genesis is definitely a good one too. Especially if you can bear to go cartridge-only.

My two favorites that match the OP description are Dragon Spirit (which it looks like you've already found), and Phelios for the Genesis. Both are Namco games, both are vertical, simple, loads of fun, not insanely difficult, and have great music.

The factory video output on the Jr is great. When I go from my Jr to one of my woodys I don't feel the colors are as vibrant, but YMMV.

Double Dunk has great title screen music. I agree with BMX Airmaster and Journey Escape as well. Skateboardin' gets forgotten a lot. If including homebrew then nothing on the system beats Juno First.

Mine was the Atari Jaguar with money from my first tax-paying job at the age of 15 back in 1995 or so. That's probably why I'm still fond of the system. Paid the full $250 at VGE and picked up AvP as well. My dad gave me the ride to the store and was proud that I had saved up my own cash so he generously said he'd match me an additional game. I picked out Doom. Doom, Cybermorph, AvP; not a bad way to start off with the system at whatsoever. I never even knew that people considered the thing a flop or failure until many years later. If you had two eyes and half a brain it was very easy to avoid the crap games.

If you really want to do something like this for the Jag, then Supercross 3D is a more realistic option. If you try hard enough you can eventually get past the crap-factor on that one. Checkered Flag is a lost cause. In general I'd say pick up a game called Speedzone for the Wii. It's a fairly pretty game but the learning curve for the wonky controls is completely insane. Spend enough time with it though and unlocking all the tracks is extremely satisfying. The game definitely makes you work for it. Been playing it once and a while for a year or so and I still can't get 1st place on the final track.

4 is my favorite with 3 and 5 close behind. I love the combination of the slide move and charge shot. It also has my favorite robot master Skull Man.

Yeah PAL game or vertical hold if you're using an old CRT.

Cheaper games that are underrated? Val D'Isere, Brutal Sports Football, and Pinball Fantasies all come to mind. I personally enjoy Zoop a lot but not so much with the Jag's D-pad. Go Genesis or Game Boy for that one.

Nexar and Survival Run never get enough love.

With the Vita on your list I'd say start hitting up some local big box stores ASAP. Many of them are liquidating Vita games since Sony announced it was dropping support. I picked up a few retail releases at a local Kmart for $3 each a couple weeks ago. Best Buys have certain games and cases on low clearance too.

1. Dragon Spirit 2. RBI Baseball 3 3. Goonies 2 4. Gyruss 5. Dr. Mario 5. Super Mario Bros. 2 6. Mega Man 4 7. Paperboy 8. Blades of Steel 9. Crystalis 10. Star Soldier Really tough to narrow it down to just 10.

Hmm, maybe there are different versions of the ROM out there? On my 2600 Jr. Leatherface and the pickup truck in the background are both blue as can be. Maybe mine's the problem afterall. I know I get slight differences in color if I switch to a woodgrain model but never anything that drastic.

So NECA just revealed their first Atari 2600 entry into the classic video game action figure series at SDCC: http://necaonline.com/52867/products/toys/action-figures/texas-chainsaw-massacre-7-action-figure-classic-video-game-appearance/ On one hand I'm glad to see the 2600 get some representation as so far they've mostly done NES, SMS, and SNES throwbacks. The packaging is also an amazing reproduction of the original box art. But on the other hand it drives me nuts that a figure with only three colors gets the one covering 90% of it wrong. Leatherface is very clearly blue in the game. It's still fun though. I'll definitely be picking one up if only for the nice presentation.

Very picky. The artwork on Atari cartridges is wonderful and if it wasn't I'd simply Harmony Cart everything.

I'd say it was relatively common. Aside from everything previously listed or linked to; I can think of Masters of the Universe, Krull, The Empire Strikes Back, Stampede, Chopper Command, Pitfall 1 & 2, and Skate Boardin' right off the top of my head.

Rock 'N' Ball has a very underrated head-to-head pinball mode with three different table options that's a lot of fun with two players. You can even move your flippers from a defensive position to a more offensive position. There's also a couple foosball-like modes. For a less generic feel go with the Famicom version called Family Pinball. It has a Pac-Man themed 1P table as well as some selectable Namco characters vs the more bland American release. I also like Super Sprint, Dr. Mario, Spot the Video Game, and Super Off-Road for versus action.

They work with an original Atari. I don't even own a Flashback.

Another good alternative is the paddle controllers that Atgames is currently selling to go with the Flashback series. I picked up a set and it's wonderful to hold a newly manufactured pair of these things. The side buttons are nice and super clicky too. They're at atgames.us in the accessories section. They're pricey compared to old yard sale sets but still its nice to not have to crack them open for cleaning or repair.