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I believe someone is planning to build a 6 button alternative. He posts on the "Atari Jaguar Fans" Facebook page, if you scroll down long enough you'll find photos. It's a repurposed (PC?) controller of some sort. The other option is to build a 6 button arcade controller by butchering a standard Jag controller and soldering wires to the appropriate points on the number-pad (and yes the number pad should still be useful afterward). It could probably be done with $40 - $60 worth of arcade parts and a wooden box / case. I've done it, and I already have two pro-controllers

Thanks for the spreadsheet. That clarifies things regarding decisions over which one to get. An issue that I can't get my head around is that for the Activision edition, which looks like the one to get if you don't want / need portable, is missing some key games that are in the others - Dig Dug (only on the portable), Space Invaders, Frogger, Shield Shifter, Polaris, Jungle Hunt, Xevious (only on the portable), Galaxian (only on the portable) etc. Essentially, if one wanted to 'legally' obtain all of the games that are possible in this release, one would have to buy the Gold, Activision, and Portable. It's a bit ridiculous given that a 'complete' set would only require not even ~50-100 kB more games. Whilst there's obviously been some care and consideration with these items (and licensing to consider), it bothers me that there's not an obvious 'ultimate' version this round. I'll probably get the Activision edition (if not for myself, for conventions and events where I help run retro gaming areas) this time around...of course, there'll end up being more versions and eventually a home version with an SD card slot that should solve most of the problems, though I'm sure stuff like the 'new' Donkey Kong homebrew might not run. To be honest, if the sound and other 'minor' issues are fixed, the Genesis Flashback with cart port is probably the best value for money out of this lot.

That was made by Beyond Games.

If you're talking about the video I linked to, that's PC Wolf 3D. Probably running on a 386. The source resolution of the textures in Jag Wolf are 4x that of the PC iirc. I think the Jag game itself runs at 320 x 200 or 240. If it weren't for the slightly ropey music (it's fine, but not CD quality by a long shot) and the fact it's missing the *many* extra levels from 3rd Encounter (which were included on the 3DO port, although graphically this was based on the SNES version!) the Jaguar version could be considered the definitive version of the original Wolf 3D...oh yeah, some people were bummed that you couldn't select the knife when you had guns...I never minded either way, but it was a silly omission. More reading: http://wolfenstein.wikia.com/wiki/Jaguar_port_of_Wolfenstein_3D

Seeing this thread bump reminded me of a question I forgot to ask. Given that the 'theoretical' maximum resolution most people will be able to run Jaguar stuff it on a TV or RGB monitor is 320 x 400/480 or 640 x 240 or even 640 x 400/480 *ish* (sorry - my memory about what CRTs / 15 kHz monitors can do is very hazy), other than for theoretical tests of what the Jag can push, what's the 'best' or most appropriate resolution to aim for 'in-game'? Other than memory and pixel shifting constraints, what would be the best resolution to target? I love the look of hi-res VF2 on the Saturn, and even some Amiga CD32 games seem to use a higher res or interlaced screen in-game. On the Jag, the only ones I know that use 640x240 are IWar and Pinball Fantasies, and that's for the intro / title screens. In addition, there's the bonus hi-res screen in Rebooteroids that is 320x400 (ish..?)...although some Jags don't display this screen IIRC. All of these look great, but is there a chance that a game (with all associated 'AI' and music and sounds and objects) could run hi-res or interlaced? Even a maximum of 720 x 480 would be amazing. I recall being slightly disappointed that I never saw any Jag games run any action in hi-res / interlace mode, especially Atari carped on about theoretical high resolutions that it could do.

Yet iD and Carmack himself (and Taylor) were directly involved with the Wolf 3D and DOOM ports...hmmmm.... ( http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Atari_Jaguar ) Here's Carmack talking about the Wolf port on Jag having to be *slowed* to 30fps - And some more relevant stuff here http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3564 and here: http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=27079

Technically all games sold for money are money grabs so lets stop buying games then eh? "The correct way"...oookay. If one doesn't have an old PC for games, nor the PS1 (or subsequent modern console online store 'retro' versions) the Jag version isn't too bad at all. I'm happy to be incorrect (despite having an old PC and other versions). Back to the original question, that old AA thread or Google should confirm some of the following (my memory is a bit rusty) - DSP was used for some graphical stuff, bus bandwidth was maxed out, Carmack said he could've redone it to get more performance if he did it again, the Jag FAQ has a code / hack to get music instead of sounds, playing both at once in the current version of DOOM makes music and / or framerate choppy.

Question - why is it limited to a 1MB ROM (I hadn't noticed that before)? Wouldn't a 2MB ROM allow for more music, higher colour depth (e.g. for the title screen), more graphical variation, higher quality / more sounds etc etc etc.

PR's size was discussed in the thread linked below. I don't think the file size on CD was resolved, but the arcade ROM is ~35MB, and the animations for characters do actually benefit from being loaded from CD (compared to the cart versions on 16 bit systems and 32X). That said, the 16MB PC version, the Saturn version, or the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 versions (essentially arcade perfect, on Xbox or PS2, and cost next to nothing**) are the superior versions to go for IMHO. I'm happy I got the Jag version for about ~$40 or $50 back when it was released, but compared to the MAT2 version or the other ones mentioend, it's not worth paying the JagTax IMHO. PR size thread that didn't reveal the size: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/221741-does-primal-rage-really-need-to-be-on-a-cd/ PR Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primal_Rage Arcade Treasures 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midway_Arcade_Treasures_2 **All three MAT for Xbox in PAL format for dirt cheap...boom! http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/xbox-MIDWAY-ARCADE-TREASURES-x3-Games-1-2-3-Microsoft-PAL/371542550177

Not wanting to add 'noise' to the comments that have already been made but instead of just 'a bit more playtesting' why not give yourself, for example, a four week cooling off period where you get more than a couple of people to play test on real hardware, compile a specific and targeted list of bugs / issues, and tackle them one by one. In addition to the aforementioned things, it just doesn't seem finished or balanced in the gameplay/graphics/addictiveness stakes to be honest. Example (and this is a simple one): the mode select screen looks very cluttered (text wise). Why not take 30 minutes to make it look 'nicer' (whatever that means). Example two: collision detection is not reliable. Example three: difficulty/ level progression doesn't feel complete somehow (this is subjective, but it feels like an 'alpha' version of a game with things just working but no smooth direction or thought behind gradual increase in difficulty). Don't take this as a bash, it's a great achievement to have all these modes up and running for a start. It looks like it's gone far beyond a learning project. Why let it loose now though when it's not quite there yet? My advice, for whatever it's worth, is don't release it in its current form. With bugs and general gameplay issues, people might start to demand refunds or updated versions...and with the cost of cart production this could be really bad for you. You don't want your first release to go down this way. Take some time, step back from it, let others who have no vested interest test it and give you specific feedback, that way you can fix bugs, and balance gameplay.

I hope too many of us don't bid against each other for it... I really with the guy who made these would put a few more up for sale. They seem to do pretty much what the Catbox does.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-Jaguar-Multi-IO-Board-Deluxe-Model-JagLink2-RGB-Svideo-Headphone-Amp-/171802302785?nma=true&si=NiohHwhNU%252F1yeEMGLb9iqUibSlA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

I was going to play it today but my PS4 was delivered this arvo so I've been stuck in a Polybius haze. Will there be a comp in June? I'm definitely in as I'll finally have a little bit of time to devote to beating my best score.

See attached image from twitter. I hope this means that Escape 2042 still might make it to Jaguar as some initial coding tests had recently been done. Any confirmation either way Orion?

6 month exclusivity window on PS4 I believe.

I wasn't being grumpy, I'd actually like to get some (as travistouchdown said, plenty of Jag games that don't have overlays could use them). I just can't fathom how someone would go to the effort of making them yet somehow not hit the SHIFT key when resizing graphics. I even learnt how to master that amazing Photoshop technique back when the Jag was a semi-viable console entity...it's obviously some kind of graphics editing voodoo that has eluded some. Maybe a set of perspective corrected ones will be released at a double the price bargain in the not too distant future...

This is great list of useful tools, and for more than just Jag stuff ( I'll suggest some of these for my students when teaching intro game programming ) , thanks. That said, I tried GIMP recently and I just can't get along with it after almost exclusively using Photoshop (or very occasionally Paint Shop Pro) for almost 20 years....which does make me wonder why Photoshop is missing from the list?

They look like they're decent quality and reasonably cheap...but I can't forgive the horizontal stretching of the images....ugh. Why go to all that effort and not have them formatted properly? Hopefully it's just the camera or my eyes, but almost every one is horizontally stretched...except the Jaguar logo one which is ever so slightly vertically stretched.

New page, so just a reminder that VR is 'not needed'. It runs on any PS4. A pity that mine, which I ordered from Sony last week, still hasn't even shipped yet. Grrr. As far as VR being 'gimmickry', it was in the 1990s...it's still not quite there yet, but it's way more immersive than in the past, and almost there. Almost. (c.f. mobile phone internet, PCs needing more than 640kB of RAM, and consoles requiring optical media or internet access....all were once considered 'gimmicks').

There were two I believe. One with just audio and the other with Cinepak clips (Jaws, Star Wars, Atari Jag ads maybe). I don't think I own either in my collection of Jag stuff so I'm relying on very hazy memories of what was written in AEO at the time, as well as usenet descriptions....and AA too apparently From here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/127503-cineplay-dvd-2-atari-big-disk/ Quote: "The Big Disk was created by Atari to test the Video capability of the Jaguar and was actually used in the factory to test production drives. It is fully encrypted and runs on any Jaguar with CDROM. No Bypass or developer units required. It features several Jaguar commercials including "AVP Oh Mom", Kasumi Ninja, Doom, Iron Solder and several Movie Trailers including Star Wars, Back to the Future III(?), Jaws & Maverick. You can zoom in or out, rotate, flip or jump. This is not a game, it is a test disk and a technology demo disk. JAGBIG Big Disk $15." If memory serves me correct, the Jaguar one with the eyes is the audio only disc. The other black one (or normal silver looking one) is this "Big Disc".

From http://www.myatari.com/atarijag.txt It's either the first black one in the photo on the page your posted or the one with the eyes I think....the one with the eyes iirc.

FYI Polibyius is out now on PS4/PS4 Pro/PS4 3DTV/PS4 VR. Initial impressions are that it's very good at what it does. All at 120Hz! Even those who were skeptical and dismissive have sung its praises. I just need a PS4 to play it now lol.

A couple of questions from a programming perspective... - Why does eating the milkshake always trigger the donut to appear next to the mouth (give or take 50 pixels in the x and y direction)? - Why does eating the donut trigger all the other foods (appearing in the same lanes) at the same relative X positions as the mouth rather than at X = 0? I'd have it 'level' up - one good fruit first, then one good + one bad, then two good + one bad, then two good + two bad etc, then when the 'lanes' are maxed out increase speed randomly (as well as having the good / bad objects randomised from an array rather than always be the same object). And have a score / lives display at the top (I'm assuming that's what it's for). And then add 'bonus' objects slowing the enemy down and making you invulnerable. And maybe make the character and fruit graphics smaller to allow for more refined gameplay. And clean up the edges on graphics etc...that'd be the last thing, I'd do it all using simple shapes and objects first rather than using the animated stuff found online...I'd go for a more consistent and 'clean' style. All IMHO anyway, just some ideas. Just using the sort of stuff I teach 15 - 18 year olds when introducing programming. It's an interesting coincidence that the 'dodge and / or catch' and Frogger style games are pretty much what I use when teaching and giving kids tests of their programming skills. Here's some example images of the sort of functional games they can get running in 90 to 180 minutes (I'll only keep these images here for a day or so because I still actively use this sort of stuff in my teaching)...

Not wanting to fuel any flames, but how hard would it have been to say, "whoops, no ST version, perhaps I was thinking about the Amiga version" or something. The whole "pull code" thing perplexes me as it's making a bunch of assumptions. AFAIK, the only Jaguar games with code he's got and published are the Protector series. The rest (SH, RR, HF, SK, PZ etc) have all been binaries, but I could be mistaken. Besides, I went to all that effort of putting together a comparison image from multiple versions. It's clear as day to me that the artwork was almost completely reworked for the Jag version, albeit not in a "super dooper mega 64 bit wow" way, but a classier and smoother way. The Jaguar audio is fairly heavily reworked over the SNES, PC, Megadrive, and Amiga versions. Anyway, back on topic, see my image and the Youtube link. The Jaguar version beats the PC version in a number of noticeable areas for this game.

I don't think he is, just trying to ascertain what's real and what's alternative facts (i.e. Jag uses a different graphic tileset vs all other versions, there's no ST version unless...).

Nah. The SNES and PC (and MegaDrive and Amiga CD32) versions are almost the same and based on the same artwork as far as I can tell, bar resolution differences (especially noticeable on the weird SNES resolution, although it does have a nice Mode 7 level select screen). The artwork on the Jag version was redone, obviously at a higher colour depth (or, at the very least, more smoothly with less obvious colour stepping). See the comparison image I put together. Power Drive wasn't ever ported to the ST...? Here's a good comparison video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR8evyhkahY And the Jaguar version does have a Practice mode...right there on the title screen you press A.