Warzard

I think the Jaguar would have faired better is things weren't so rushed and done on the cheap. If Atari Corp would have developed some decent tools, like a C compiler, tried to put together a AAA studio, and not rush the launch, we might have seen better game. Also, a strategy of 2D, 2.5D, and really "polished" flat shaded polygons games as a motifs for the Jag, would have played to it's strengths. Not having Atari Games on board was a huge mistake. Those guys were very creative and talented: And could have possibly tamed the buggy beast that was the Jaguar. There were so many 32-bit 2D and pseudo 3D arcade and computer games that never saw a console conversion. And I would have loved to see I-Robot 2000 as a Jag game.

I, Robot 2000 would have been cool. Updated graphics and game play with bells and whistles like Tempest 2000.

IMO, the only way for the Jag to have been successful is if Atari Games was in charge of the console side and arcade side and Corp was only in charge of the computer side. A lot of smart, creative, and resourceful people worked at Atari Games and I could easily see them taming the buggy beast that was the Jag with good tools or a redesign. Also, they would have had exclusive games based on their arcade titles. So there you go.

You could rank them as worth the money at launch. CDI: $699(with DV cart) noway. 3DO: $699 noway. Jag: $250 yes sir. I own all three and the Jag is the only one I bought at launch. With that being said, the library for the 3DO is the best hands down. The Jag has a good amount of great games, but the 3DO has imports and EA too. I had a lot of fun with the CDI. I like the Dragon's Lair type games and it had lots of good FMV and puzzle games. Tetris, Lil Devil, Chaos Control, and International Tennis Open are some good games that have not been mentioned for CDI(only a few more after that though). PS: If you had the Gravis pad for CDI like me, you had the best controller of the three.

Another good "What If..." is Atari Games being in charge of consoles as well as arcade. A lot of smart and talented people worked at Atari Games, and they made some really fun games. I could have seen updated games like I-Robot 2000, Stun Runner War, Steel Talons Combat, Road Blaster Racing, Club Drivin'. Games like Primal Rage, Area 51 and T-Mek would have been exclusives and I'm sure they could have tamed the buggy beast that was/is the Jaguar with tools and work arounds for all its problems. Check out Jed Margolin web page: http://www.jmargolin.com/ He help program Star Wars, Hard Drivin', and others. A good read, especially the Atari Vax Mail. Shows some of the in's and out's of Atari at that time.

I disagree slightly with your statement regarding 3D. It's true that the Jag couldn't compete with the systems of the time in terms of number and textured polygons, but it can do z buffered and gouraud shaded polygons at pretty good speeds. A game like Zero 5 comes to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjRir-2KMM It would have took Atari embracing the Jags flaws and making the kind of 3D games it could do really well instead of "looking over the neighbors bushes" to see what they're doing. To your other point, it is "a no brainer" the Atari should have made/license arcade and computer 2D/2.5D games to show off what the Jag could do. Which is the reason for this thread.

It should have been more like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-9TUlCcib0 Gouraud shaded and with polished game play. I guess they were too busy looking over the neighbor's fence to clean up their own yard.

It is interesting with the amount of 2D/2.5D in the arcades and on computers at that time(some that never saw a home release) that could have really looked good on the Jag, Atari choose to play to the systems weakness and not its strength.

I believe Coolkitty mentioned this somewhere, but I would have dropped the 68000, one of the RISC, the OP, and put the rest into one chip. With the RISC, audio DACs, a frame buffer for the billter and the Jag CD-Rom instead of the cart. The one RISC would have needed to be optimized to be the main CPU(a small cache too). Also, I would have tried to get every arcade game of the 16-32 bit arcade era that had not been represented as arcade perfect.

3DO version was the best at that time(I didn't have a Saturn till Fire Pro 6 Man Scramble). The Saturn version is best over all IMO(for one thing, JAG's sprites were too small) .

When it was released, I bought the Jag CD version, played it for 10 minutes, then took it back and got the 3DO version. I had already played the 32X version before then and it was a no too.

IMO, a lot of Jag fans forget how impressive Super Burnout is. Lack of exposure maybe?

Rolling Thunder 2 & 3 where already ported to some of the 16-Bit systems, but what a bout The Outfoxies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhKAAT6zRN8 the next Rolling Thunder sequel. IMO the Jag could have handled it well.

Road Riot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj902lio7UU and Road Riot Revenge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ECcfBUkHgk look like Jag games already. Too bad Atari Games and Corp weren't on the same page.

I have like like relationship with this game(guess it's just me). Jeff should have added an updated version Attack of the Mutant Camels level as a bonus stage. The Kronix version is a good start : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LmMBbTg0Cg