First Impressions

[Devbinks]

So, as I'm sitting here, waiting for my Jaguar to arrive in the mail, along with six games, I began thinking about my first exposure to the Atari Jaguar...

 

It was 1998. My friend let me borrow his Atari Jaguar and his two games: Cybermorph and Alien vs Predator. I got home, hooked it up and while Cybermorph was cool, I was completely sucked into AvP. I would play that game with the lights out and a set of headphones hooked into my TV set (so the parents wouldn't know how late I was staying up on a school night lol) and I would be totally immersed in the game. Not to mention scared ****less when an alien would pop up out of seemingly nowhere. I remember running for my life as face huggers were scrambling toward me as well lol It was a fantastic gaming experience! Can't wait for my system and games to arrive

 

So what was your first exposure to the Jaguar like?

[busterm]

So, as I'm sitting here, waiting for my Jaguar to arrive in the mail, along with six games, I began thinking about my first exposure to the Atari Jaguar...

 

It was 1998. My friend let me borrow his Atari Jaguar and his two games: Cybermorph and Alien vs Predator. I got home, hooked it up and while Cybermorph was cool, I was completely sucked into AvP. I would play that game with the lights out and a set of headphones hooked into my TV set (so the parents wouldn't know how late I was staying up on a school night lol) and I would be totally immersed in the game. Not to mention scared ****less when an alien would pop up out of seemingly nowhere. I remember running for my life as face huggers were scrambling toward me as well lol It was a fantastic gaming experience! Can't wait for my system and games to arrive

 

So what was your first exposure to the Jaguar like?

 

Cybermorph was my first impression. I begged my mom for the Jaguar for Christmas of 93. Not living in SF or NYC she had to mail order it out of the back of a Gamepro magazine. I honestly had little doubt she would actually do it as my mom is apposed to buying something over the phone or through the mail.

 

But as luck would have it she must of caved in because I received the Jaguar/Cybermorph bundle. I was totally blown away by the freedom Cybermorph offered the multiple camera angles and the kewl colors. I stayed up all night totally submersed. We opened presents at midnight by that age we knew Santa wasn't real. I didn't have a computer at that time so the only games I was playing before was on a Genesis and Sega CD.

 

I was hooked from then on. I remember pre-ordering Tempest 2000, Iron Soldier, Kasumi Ninja, and Aliens Vs Predator at the Babbages over in the next country in 94. Mowing lawns and doing choirs around the house at 13 to pay for them, I was to young for a real job.

Edited February 4, 2010 by busterm

[avanteproject]

I bought my Jaguar early last year not knowing much about it, besides it having good ports of Doom and Wolfenstein 3d. I just took a chance, paying £100 for a boxed Jaguar, Doom, Wolfenstein 3d, AvP, Cybermorph and I-War.

 

I hooked it up and straight away thought it was awesome. I've played it solidly since then.

 

It's now one of my favourite consoles, up there with the N64, Saturn and PS1.

[Hyper_Eye]

It's now one of my favourite consoles, up there with the N64, Saturn and PS1.

 

That is pretty good company.

[rayik]

I bought most new videogame systems back then. Bought the system the first weekend it came out. Got it with Trevor McFur.

 

Played Cybermorph for about 1/2 hour and was ready to return system for a refund. Played Trevor McFur and the graphics made me keep the system.

 

My memory in the day was that most carts looked and played similar to Sega Genesis games. There were a few brilliant games that were state of the art for back then (AVP, T2K, Doom, I-War).

 

Never bought the CD add on. There simply were not enough CD games to justify the price to me (even though I bought items such as the Sega CD add on for $300 and the Turbografx CD add on for $400). Even at $50 close out, did not feel it was worth it.

 

Even today, just like back then, only a few Jaguar games I like playing.

Edited February 5, 2010 by rayik

[Austin]

The first time I touched a Jaguar (I didn't know a single person who ever owned one) was when Kay Bee was liquidating them for $30. I found out about it from a friend, couldn't fathom that happening, and begged my mom to drive me up to the mall. It was during the Summer time, I was on break. Sure enough, they were $30, and I snagged one (I was in early high school and hadn't started working yet, either--Proabably did a lot of chores for money like another poster here). At that point I had already owned the Saturn and N64, and I played a lot of PC games as well. Cybermorph was the only game I was stuck with at first, but regardless, I was still impressed. Either it was the silky-smooth shading, or maybe it was the cheap bang-for-the-buck value that I still get a kick out of to this day.. but I digress. A week or two later I picked up a couple of more games, Iron Soldier and Zool 2. Iron Soldier was quite impressive, even in '96, a few years after it had been out. To this day, I still thoroughly enjoy the system. After I finish saving up for another 360, I think I'm going to invest in some more Jag games..

[Crude Dude]

I got mine a couple of weeks ago for less than £50 came with avp, hover strike, syndicate, trever mcfur, zool 2, kasumi ninja,checkered flag (omg that game sucks on epic proportions) cybermorph, iron soldier, tempest 2000, so far its seems good cant wait to get my hands on doom, wolfenstein, power drive rally and many more.

Edited February 5, 2010 by Crude Dude

[Retro Rogue]

The first time what struck me was a) Damn this thing is light. B) Am I supposed to be pushing down harder to get this cartridge to snap in? I feel like I'm going to break something.

[Devbinks]

I got mine a couple of weeks ago for less than £50 came with avp, hover strike, syndicate, trever mcfur, zool 2, kasumi ninja,checkered flag (omg that game sucks on epic proportions) cybermorph, iron soldier, tempest 2000, so far its seems good cant wait to get my hands on doom, wolfenstein, power drive rally and many more.

 

Sweet deal! And, yeah, Checkered Flag... that game's "suckage" is beyond words

[kgenthe]

My first experience was in the summer of 2002, I bought a brand new jag off eBay for $80 or so (wish I had snagged a CD unit back then...) and Iron Soldier and Checkered flag. Didn't care for either game, and all I had was the RF adapter, and it just wasn't playable. A few years later I saw a loose Cybermorph at a local game store and snagged it.

 

Finally last summer I started buying some decent games (Power Drive Rally, Super Burnout, Rayman, and Raiden) and started enjoying the system. Now I own 14 games, composite, and s-video cables so I can properly play the damn thing. Much more fond of it now than 8 years ago when I first got it.

[+save2600]

This thread reminds me of another that was just brought up, but here goes again

Bought mine new when it first came out and was super excited, looking forward to and happy about Atari making a new gaming console. Ads and hype were everywhere. I was attracted to the notion that Atari was finally making a comeback and the fact it was "made in America" greatly appealed to me - even if it was made by IBM. lol Anywho... Releases were few and far between at first and was able to keep up with purchasing every game that came out for it. There was a lull for a bit when they were releasing PC clone conversions of stuff like Syndicate and Theme Park. Even though I had an Amiga 1200 at the time, I ended up buying both 'just because' it was something new for the Jag. Little more time went by and what were supposed to be "better" games were supposed to be coming out, proved to be a bunch of garbage. Long story short, by the mid 90's, I was pretty disgusted with what had happened to the Jaguar and Atari in general, yet I snagged up the rest of the games I "needed" from places like Video Game Liquidators, Tiger Direct & Kay*Bee - just to complete my collection. By the time Battlesphere came out, I had every single commercially released game for the Jag/JagCD and decided because of the hype and the fact I closely followed the development and news from r.g.v.a., I decided to buy a copy of that too. Great game, especially for the Jag, but didn't hold my attention too long because by then, I had been used to those kinds of space games for the other systems. By the time Songbird's $80-$90 (which I considered outrageous at the time and still kinda do) games were released, I finally decided to give up on the old cat and sold everything I had for the system. 'Course now, wish I hadn't, if only because of the values of some of this stuff - but there was a lot of competition going on back then. Dreamcast and Saturn especially. I got more time in playing Duke Nuke'm with friends over the phone line than I think I ever spent on ALL my Jag games combined - so that's the main reason I decided to get rid of the Jag in the first place. It simply didn't compete with the great games being released on other systems and I certainly didn't think the system or some of its games were ever going to rise in value either. lol

 

I pretty much only got back into the Jag to see if I had missed much in the way of what the Jag fanboy's keeping screaming about - but no, not really. lol Don't get me wrong - I feel it *is* a great little system and I appreciate it a little more than I did in the 90's, but if it wasn't for the fact I like a handful of games on it, they're cartridge based and it being Atari's last system - I'd say from a gaming standpoint... you gotta be one hardcore/nostalgic about Atari kind of gamer to keep on with the system.

 

When the Jaguar came out, I had a nice Amiga setup, a SNES, an NES, a CD-i and a TurboDuo; so again, my expectations were high. I loved Tempest on it and always looked forward to more Tempest quality games - but we all know that really never happened.

 

Ahem... First impressions that I remember from '93- late '90's though... I could not believe how abysmal Checkered Flag turned out to be, but I did like Trevor, Dino Dudes (did not have The Humans for the Amiga back then) and Raiden a LOT. Perfect arcade translation. Club Drive was kinda cool and sort of compared to that SNES SuperFX game (forget the name of it). Cybermorph was kinda neat for a pack in, but pretty weak at the same time. Pinball Fantasies was "good", but I didn't like it as well as the CD32 version by the time I got one back '95. More of the playfield shows at once on the CD32 version. Umm, Kasumi Ninja I bought right away when it was first released. I was REALLY into Street Fighter and MK once, so you can imagine my disappointment there. Still, I stuck with Kasumi because of its "different" gameplay and graphics. It was cheesy, but was the closest thing to MK back then. Iron Soldier was great at first, but got old kinda quick. Graphics were a little too simple for the time. I'm really not sure *any* Jaguar game really blew me away - ever. Trevor McFur and Battlesphere come close graphically (the latter all the way around), but I think that's because I consider the Jaguar more or less the handicapped red-headed step child of video gaming, so I'm prolly projecting props there just because. lol For those that are too young, I guess you'd have to be there when we were expected to pay $40-$60 for each and every Jaguar flop. Imaging paying $50 for Checkered Flag back then... OUCH! lol Consistently being duped like that certainly didn't help matters. If it wasn't for the fact most of these games could be had cheap, I'd have never gotten back into it.

 

Okay, some more random thoughts...

 

Rayman, come to think of it - was excellently done. Great graphics, resolution AND gameplay. Yeah, from a technical standpoint - that game is right up there in the 'wow' department. Same with Super Burnout's frame rate. 16-bit or 24-bit (Neo Geo, lol) looking graphics, but still excellent for the Jag!

 

World Tour Racing was a disappointment too as far as its frame rate and camera angle went.

 

ISII was excellent and I liked the new missions a lot. Seemed this game *had* legitimately been improved upon, with its smoother animation and better colors.

 

I liked the large characters of NBA Jam compared to the SNES, but not sure it plays any different or any better.

 

Zero 5 actually kind of startled me with its super fluid animation and gameplay. I do remember thinking "now this is more like it" when that came out. That game has a kick ass arcade 'feel' to it that I wish the Jag had more of.

 

Ultra Vortek suffers from CD-i like graphical stuttering (think Mutant Rampage), still - it's a fun game.

 

Wolfenstein plays too fast, Val's Skiing... now that I was impressed at first with the sounds and super smooth frame rate. But when I bought it again, couldn't stand the camera angle and how difficult it was to discern the track.

 

Zool 2 was slightly "better", larger, quicker on the Jag than the Amiga. Interesting the sampling sounds the same. Prolly reused 8-bit Amiga samples here. lol

 

White Men Can't Jump is a steaming POS, avoid at all costs! lol

 

I-War is a little slow, but looks pretty good and I like the music. Atmosphere is great and it's kind of a relaxing game.

 

Battlemorph is pretty much an enhanced Cybermorph with better graphics and more to do. The fact you can go in the water and explore is neat. Sounds/music done well too.

 

Highlander was a joke, but I really tried to like it. Complete waste of time running around. Horrible camera angles and lethargic gameplay.

 

Missile Command - good game. A little slow and awkward to control, but still pretty cool. This is worth getting. Same with Breakout 2000. Good game overall.

 

Power Drive Rally - GREAT overhead driver, but kinda slow and not much of the track can be seen at once. I like Micro Machines on the Amiga better.

 

Towers II... <snore>. Again, was really looking forward to a fun RPG. Terrible, terrible game IMO.

 

Hoverstrike - almost completely unplayable to me. Do not like the dark graphics at all either. Not much variety here. The CD version might have been a little better, but just more of the same.

 

Atari Karts was a bargain when I bought it CIB for $10 at the Software Etc. here in town - but it's flat and rather ugly looking altogether. Not much in the way of gameplay or racing either. Never got the sense that you were really racing. Just seems like you're skating or floating around. Tracks are uninspiring and the music doesn't fit the game either (although the music *is* good for what it is).

 

Cannon Fodder - now this is gaming! Highly recommended and compares to the other versions on computers.

 

Ruiner is kind of a silly pinball game (or two) - a little too colorful for me, but fun as a kiddie, slap the ball around and see what happens kind of pinball game maybe.

 

Jag Doom might be better than the other systems, but I never cared for the pixelized graphics on this one. Still, it plays really well and is a lot more fun than say AvP as a 3rd person game wandering around in a maze goes.

 

Air Cars was a major disappointment too. Bought that from ICD when it was first released for $50-$60 IIRC. Someone at the time in the newsgroups (I forget who) had been professionally making custom overlays for the games that didn't come with any. That was really nice and I bought all I could at the time - just because. Air Cars was one of them. This is back in the day when people weren't really out to gouge each other either. Stuff like that could be had for $3-$5 shipped.

 

...if I didn't mention many CD games or other carts, it's because I don't see a lot of "value" in 'em from a gaming standpoint. Just my opinions and yes, I am clearly aware this is an Atari Jaguar specific site. I also realize some people like to hear the truth (even if it hurts a little) or at the very least, someone that doesn't always sport their rose colored Jag glasses. lol

Edited February 5, 2010 by save2600

[famicommander]

I got a Jaguar in a trade and I played these games in order:

Tempest 2000

Rayman

Wolfenstein 3D

Alien Vs Predator

Zool 2

Zoop

 

Needless to say, I was in love from the start. That's a pretty good chunk of the system's top-tier games.

[JagChris]

So, as I'm sitting here, waiting for my Jaguar to arrive in the mail, along with six games, I began thinking about my first exposure to the Atari Jaguar...

 

It was 1998. My friend let me borrow his Atari Jaguar and his two games: Cybermorph and Alien vs Predator. I got home, hooked it up and while Cybermorph was cool, I was completely sucked into AvP. I would play that game with the lights out and a set of headphones hooked into my TV set (so the parents wouldn't know how late I was staying up on a school night lol) and I would be totally immersed in the game. Not to mention scared ****less when an alien would pop up out of seemingly nowhere. I remember running for my life as face huggers were scrambling toward me as well lol It was a fantastic gaming experience! Can't wait for my system and games to arrive

 

So what was your first exposure to the Jaguar like?

 

That is a cool story! Thanks for sharing. I felt the same way about AvP. Never been scared like that from a game before or since.

[sh3-rg]

That is a cool story! Thanks for sharing. I felt the same way about AvP. Never been scared like that from a game before or since.

 

I felt the same way, that game really had me on edge. Remember writing about that in a review I did of AvP in 1994 for Maggie. Reading that (very poorly written) review, I seemed to be most impressed with the in-game sounds that really lifted the tension levels.

 

As for first impressions - Cybermorph. That actually blew me away at the time & I remember thinking how great I thought the green head was with her funny sarcastic comments... I only learned to hate her in the following weeks.

[atarijagplayer]

I followed the development of the Jaguar since the Panther development days. The magazine coverage really drew me in as headlines read that the Panther was coming soon. Admittably I became discouraged when the latest article said the Panther was slated to become a home computer. The very next time I bought a magazine, I was shocked! The panther was dropped for the worlds first 64-bit system, the Jaguar.

 

In late 93/early 94 I went to Babbages and Electronics Botique to see the new Atari System. It rocked! I worked for seven months to save up for my first Jag and ended up buying it from a mail order company (before the internet explosion). The company let me select any game with the system, I chose Checkered Flag, I heard that it was a hoorible game, and the steering was non existant. I did not believe such accusations, so I wanted to see it for myself. I finally received my system after a few days...

 

Roar!!!!! The Jaguar logo screamed onto my screen! The Atari letters fell from the top! The Atari song played, and then it happened... The Title Screen for Checkered Flag cascaded across my television! I set my options and started to race! The music was fantastic and the challenge was plus tough. Yes the steering was a bit awkward at first, but I got used to a few taps here and there to steer correctly. I imagine the engineers responsible for the play mechanics wanted players to experience how attempting to control a car traveling at 170 mph would really feel... most likely super tough!

 

I love Checkered Flag to this day! I occaisionally play it to beat my previous lap record, or night race which is quite unique. All games for Jag are unique. They are forever trapped in time. There is one and only one Cybermorph. There is one and only one Trevor McFur. Althogh I-war later appeared on PC, the Jag version is one in itself.

 

I am now on my seventh or eighth Jag and proud to be an owner. The Jaguar I purchased though mail order was my most complete collection, including Jag CD and 24 games. From AVP to the latest Telegames releases... I was collecting. Unfortunately that collection is gone, But if anyone is lucky enough to own a piece of it, please know that a 24" television fell on top of the CD unit and busted the clear plastic, that's why there is clear tape on it.

 

The fact that a television can fall on top of a Jag/CD combo and not destroy it says alot about the strength of a product! Too bad the 84-96 Atari corp was not that strong. Perhaps if it were stronger the Jag would have many more games and preferals... Perhaps, however, if it were so strong there would not be such a strong desire for homebrews and other such interests as here on this wonderful site.

Edited February 7, 2010 by atarijagplayer

[The_Laird]

I was lucky enough to own one of the first 1000 Jags to enter the UK after pre-ordering mine from an official Atari dealer. I already had a 2600, ST and Lynx so was a massive Atarian anyway. I was blown away by the Jag upon first playing it, Cybermorph blew away anything else out there at the time with its smooth 3D and morphing effects. I then went and picked up Crescent Galaxy next after being wowed by the screenshots followed by Dino Dudes and then Raiden. I enjoyed all of those games for diffrent reasons and my love for the Jag has never faultered over the years as I now show even more by being the organiser of Jagfest UK.

[+doctorclu]

I've seen a few experiences that mirrored my own.

 

I picked up one in 1999, a friend of mine and I wanted to get one. I was all gung-ho Atari having recently got back into the hobby. We plugged it up, put in Cybermorph, and... well.. errr... yeh. Years later I would like Cybermorph, but at the time it was very underwhelming.

 

Bought AvP from a pawn shop. I was ready for some two player, platform action like in the arcade. Plugged that up... well.. err.. yeh.

 

Truth is, if I was not such a Atari nut I probably would not have made it long enough to get Bubsy, Tempest 2K, and Raiden which were the fun games that got me into the system on it's own beyond the Atari name.

 

Ten years later, most of my games are being sold off, but Bubsy, Tempest 2K, Raiden and Doom are still the main games I'll keep with the Jaguar in the end.

Edited February 13, 2010 by doctorclu

[STGuy1040]

I couldn't find a Jaguar anywhere back in the day. My local EB sold them but they couldn't keep them in stock! My first time with a Jaguar was last year when I purchased one from an AA seller (the.golden.ax). My first game on the system was Doom and I was blown away (no pun intended) by how good it was. The game doesn't include any in-game music like the PC version, but that didn't matter to me.

 

Edit: I was also impressed by Ultra Vortex. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the spike pit fatality! And here I was thinking the pit fatalities in MK1 and MK2 were amazing (for their time).

Edited February 17, 2010 by STGuy1040

[+doctorclu]

I couldn't find a Jaguar anywhere back in the day. My local EB sold them but they couldn't keep them in stock! My first time with a Jaguar was last year when I purchased one from an AA seller (the.golden.ax). My first game on the system was Doom and I was blown away (no pun intended) by how good it was. The game doesn't include any in-game music like the PC version, but that didn't matter to me.

 

Edit: I was also impressed by Ultra Vortex. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the spike pit fatality! And here I was thinking the pit fatalities in MK1 and MK2 were amazing (for their time).

 

You think that is something, wait till you are slipping on blood in ULTRA GORE mode in KASUMI NINJA!!!

 

And Doom is simply awesome. Music? Just play your own selection of death metal... or Perry Como, whichever you prefer.

[+save2600]

And Doom is simply awesome. Music? Just play your own selection of death metal... or Perry Como, whichever you prefer.

I was always one of these guys that had to have the latest "thing" back in the day, and I gotta tell you... the 386 was waaaaaaaaay overrated back then! Music in Doom? You call that music?A single polyphonic bass line of shit? C'mon....

 

 

 

[Austin]

And Doom is simply awesome. Music? Just play your own selection of death metal... or Perry Como, whichever you prefer.

I was always one of these guys that had to have the latest "thing" back in the day, and I gotta tell you... the 386 was waaaaaaaaay overrated back then! Music in Doom? You call that music?A single polyphonic bass line of shit? C'mon....

 

A few years later when the Sound Blaster AWE32 was available, DOOM's music on it sounded awesome.. Ahh, the good old days. Now DOSBOX can't even emulate that (Or not that I know of, anyway)--you're stuck with emulating the old SB16 or PRO.. ugh.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Austin

[future assassin]

I've wanted one since they came out but the only place that sold it locally (Kamloops BC) was (Consumers Distributing) and it was like $400 or higher, some retarded price. So I waited till 1995 and MicroPlay in Abbotsford BC had it for sale for $100 with Cybermorph, AVP, Trevor McFur and another game. I've owned the same one since then. Most of my friends thought it was stupid as there were no games anywhere for it till they played AVP. Everyone was hooked on that game.

[Taskmaster99]

I'll admit.....when the Jag first came out i didnt give it a second look. I was one of those people who read game magazines like they were the Bible and we all know that the Jag was treated like the plague in those.

As i got older.....my game goggles came off(similar to beer goggles) and I started getting interested in systems i never gave a chance. A game store opened up near my house some years ago and carried alot of retro stuff as well as new. Thay had a Jag there at a very discount price with some games so I said "what the hell". Thats the end of the story. That Jag got more miles put on it than i can remember eventually breaking down. Not too long ago....I purchased a new one off the internet and have increased my collection 10 fold.

I love this system and wish i had given it a chance back in the day.

[Gregory DG]

I was super excited about the Jag before it was released. I remember reading all I could about it on Don Thomas' Cat Scan BBS. From there I'd see photos and some tiny postage stamp videos of some of the games.

 

So, the actual first time I ever saw Alien vs. Predator in action was at (believe it or not) Disney's EPCOT Center. They had a few Jaguars set up in Innovations and I was blown away. AvP was the game I was waiting for and I ran out and got a Jag right after that.