Whomever just bought the Battleshpere on Ebay

[MAYAman]

DAMN YOU! I was transferring money from my account and you beat me to it. Vmastjag was it you? Seeing as I emailed you about the difference between Battlesphere and Battlesphere gold. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[twoquickcapri]

This one?

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 261201507038

$485 is kinda high

[Clay]

Seems like a pretty good deal to me. Can not remember the last time any Battlesphere went for less than $500.

[+CyranoJ]

You know you don't have to transfer any money from anywhere until after you actually win an ebay auction

[+SabertoothRetro]

It looks like its still available. I want a copy but for $500 the box can't be crushed.

[sh3-rg]

There was one on eBay.co.uk for £350 ($540) with free delivery which had never been used other that to test before selling: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5574883395&toolid=10001&campid=5336500554&customid=&mpre=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fitm%2FBattlesphere-for-Atari-Jaguar-EXTREMELY-RARE-in-New-Condition-%2F111049030908%3Fpt%3DUK_PC_Video_Games_Video_Games_JS%26hash%3Ditem19db09bcfc

[108 Stars]

I played it recently. Besides being technically impressive (I guess) and rare, I don't really see much value in the game. I did not beat the fist level, and I heard from my more Jag-addicted friends that many never do.

 

I love complex games usually, but in this case I must say I'd much rather pay to get all Reboot releases plus Impulse X than to waste any money on Battlesphere. :/

[+Gemintronic]

I played it recently. Besides being technically impressive (I guess) and rare, I don't really see much value in the game. I did not beat the fist level, and I heard from my more Jag-addicted friends that many never do.

 

I love complex games usually, but in this case I must say I'd much rather pay to get all Reboot releases plus Impulse X than to waste any money on Battlesphere. :/

 

Personally, I think playing Gorf on Jag CD for $600 dollars is 600 times the fun as playing it on GBA for free. Not sure why this would be any different.

[108 Stars]

Are you saying Gorf on Jag CD now fetches higher prices than Battlesphere?

 

Anyway, what I meant to say originally is: Don't be disappointed if you have to wait for your Battlesphere a bit longer. Beside being a collector's item, it's really not that much of a fun game, and whether you put it on your shelf to collect dust now or next year doesn't matter.

Edited April 16, 2013 by 108 Stars

[+Gemintronic]

Nah, not contradicting you. I just find it strange that on a system like the Jag you've got $500 dollar CDs and 2meg games going for $200. Even the dev carts are $300 thanks to eBay.

[Isgoed]

108 Stars, I respect your opinion, but I strongly disagree with you about Battlesphere

 

I own the game for years now, and it is one of my most played Jaguar games, and one of the best on the system imo.

 

Regardless if it is an expensive game or not, as a game in itself I think it's great.

[racerx]

I played it recently. Besides being technically impressive (I guess) and rare, I don't really see much value in the game. I did not beat the fist level, and I heard from my more Jag-addicted friends that many never do.

 

I love complex games usually, but in this case I must say I'd much rather pay to get all Reboot releases plus Impulse X than to waste any money on Battlesphere. :/

 

Is it "worth" the current going rate? Obviously not, but then, no game is.

 

I'm not sure why the only grudging respect for its technical accomplishments, either. Whatever else it may or may not be, it's certainly the best version of Star Raiders ever released and near the top of the Jag heap, in my opinion. If more retail releases had been of its caliber the Jag may have ended up being more than a sad footnote in console history.

[108 Stars]

Look, your opinion is perfectly fine for me; I asked my friends who are die-hard Jag collectors with pretty much full collections including homebrew and indie to bring the game along so I could try it after all the hype.

 

Fact is, they don't care for the game much despite their Jag love, but they brought it. I only played it an afternoon and did not find it fun (and again, I am not an arcade guy or anything), but that is naturally not enough for a final judgement; but I add this with my friends' opinion on the game and the fact that nobody cared to play it even at e-Jagfest with dozens of Atari nuts and I came to believe it probably is not really that great a game and not really a favorite to play for many Jag fans.

 

If you like it that's great. I don't care for it personally, and I'd much rather play other space games. NES Elite is lots of fun.

 

But why are most games not worth their going rates? I would contest that. There's lots of affordable, great games. Not necessarily so many on the Jaguar, but overall the world is full of them.

[+CyranoJ]

It's certainly the best version of Star Raiders ever released

 

I'd say the original Star Raiders is the best version of Star Raiders ever released. Everything else, including the ST port, are pale imitations struggling to capture the essence of the original.

[+save2600]

I'd say the original Star Raiders is the best version of Star Raiders ever released. Everything else, including the ST port, are pale imitations struggling to capture the essence of the original.

 

Best port of A8 Star Raiders certainly belongs to the 2600's Starmaster.

[racerx]

But why are most games not worth their going rates? I would contest that.

 

I meant that no game is worth the $500 plus that Battlesphere routinely brings.

 

I'd say the original Star Raiders is the best version of Star Raiders ever released. Everything else, including the ST port, are pale imitations struggling to capture the essence of the original.

 

Nah...I've played the heck out of it on my 400. Great game, fantastic in 1979...but I'll take BS:G.

[nonner242]

If you spend a little time with Battle sphere ....learn alittle about the gameplay and have a 6 button pro controller.

You can really have a ton of fun.

But if your expecting a arcade type of afterburner or a Tmek in space...naw..you wont like. its a semi arcadey space fighter sim.

I love it and so do many ppl that i let try it. They all say the same thing. "The Jag... what?...by Atari...hmmmm when did it come out? Wow its that old...dosent look bad at all..pretty fun too"

I also liked the Colony Wars series back in the day on playstation and they dont make them anymore so maybe im just old and out of touch..

[PeterG]

It is interesting to see that there are some thing that are universly loved and some that are equaly hated by everyone and then there are those games/books/movies/music/whatever that just are not for everyone.

Today people argue about the price of Battlesphere and is it worth hundreds? I would not, I could not pay the price it goes for these days. But I got it from Scatologic for what they sold it for. It was a long wait and I had great expectations and not all were met because at the time I got it, the game was already bigger in my head than any game could ever be, but I had tons and tons of fun with it and I wasn't even a Star Raiders fan to begin with. I liked that Star Raiders mode and I liked the protect your bases mode although I detest such missions in other games.

At the end of the day I realise that there are game people can agree on and others which are difficult. Battlesphere is no game for just a few minutes. You have to get into it somewhat which makes it difficult for events like Jagfest. On the other hand it is great for Jagfests because it is linkable, but then you need people who played it before so still difficult.

What I try to say is that this game certainly is not for everyone but then it happens to me all the time. I try to show friends of mine Space Giraffe and no one knows what's going on and no one wants to try it.I was hooked the moment I saw it.

The difference is that everyone with a 360 can try that game and see if it fits...with Battlesphere it is more difficult....

[doctorclu]

So here we are in 2013. Battlesphere is tainted with high E-bay costs, and even further more tainted with the attitudes of those who are left of the Scatologic development team. But I want to strip all that away for a moment.

 

Take the way back machine to 2000. Battlesphere, a long awaited game, is released. Luckily I had started to hear of it when I got back into the Atari scene in 1999, so my wait was not all that long. Picked up Battlesphere for $79 and Battlesphere Gold for $125. A bit of money to shell out, but worth it.

 

Really about the cost to put together a cartridge considering the cost of Eproms. About what you would pay for a Songbird release.

 

With a few more copies aquired I was able to link up Jaguars that made a good party setup. Very often me and other friends would play two player games, but there were other times thanks to the JagLink 2 I was able to get three player games working. At JagFest 2003 in Austin we had a four player game working, and I often would have liked to try a 8 or even the 16 player game that Battlesphere advertised. I still think that would be awesome once you finally got it working.

 

Jaguar networking was something that was enjoyed by my friends as even some of their own game systems did not have that ability. Sadly there was only the option of Battlesphere and Doom but the game times were awesome.

 

When not in multiplayer mode, I found the game offered a variety of races, missions and scenarios. Also being a fan of the original Atari 800 Star Raiders, I was happy to have a game that brought the classic to the next level in both gameplay and strategy. In this version entitled "Alone Against the Empires" the game had the feel of the game as I believe gameplay wise a 16-32 bit system should bring it up to. I liked how you could rally other forces on the Galactic Map this time, and then personally aid the forces where the help was needed most. What I miss in a lot of versions of Star Raiders aside from the 800/5200 version is the lack of the 3D co-ordinates. I always enjoyed the vector numbers displayed at the bottom of the screen to give you an idea of where the opponent was, and how far away. With all other versions except the Atari 800 and 5200 versions this feature is absent. But this version did offer other forces to be controlled, and even had some of the original sounds ported from the original Star Raiders. A nice touch.

 

In an age of Skunkboards and easy BJL mods (not to mention ones that can now be loaded on the CD or in the cartridge ports) it is easy to forget the significance that Battlesphere offered their own loading system (JUGS-Jaguar Unmodified Game Server) for amateur game development. This is done through the serial port in the back, and while about 1/10th the speed of the BJL connections was still a good introduction to me of what was possible. For the first time I got to see Jagtris, Jagmania, Jagmarble, Native, and other games.

 

Had a lot of fun with Battlesphere and ironically when the Dallas Morning News came by to interview me about Atari in 2000, I let them take a picture of a Jaguar, CD Unit, and at the top of it, Battlesphere. And so this picture was featured on the FRONT PAGE of the newspaper with a large article about Atari an the current scene later in the newspaper. Scatologic got word of it, and Doug and all (being fairly cool then back when Scatologic was still active and they were all on the message boards) sent me some unused boxes and stickers in thanks for "Putting Battlesphere on the map".

 

There are two other aspects around this game that should be mentioned, the opening of the Jaguar as a public domain platform and their contributions to the diabetes foundation: (here quoted from the Wiki entry on Battlesphere)

"Homebrew development & Reception

 

After Hasbro bought out Atari, it took relentless lobbying by the BattleSphere fanbase and much behind the scenes persuasion to convince Atari to release the Jaguar console into the public domain. Without this event, BattleSphere, though completed in July 1998, would not have been allowed to be encrypted and released.

Diabetes Charity

 

According to 4Play/ScatoLOGIC Inc.'s Official BattleSphere Homepage all after-tax profits from BattleSphere went to diabetes research. The first copy of BattleSphere (signed by the authors) went for $1,575.^"

 

From the nineties to the early 00's Scatologic was amazing in my opinion. They showed what the Jaguar could do, and helped open up a game system unlike any other where we were free to develop and make games. Not that other systems do not have game development, but the Jaguar was one of the first where a company said "We will not support this system any longer, go forth and make games with our blessings."

 

Scatologic offered the Scatbox (basically a Catbox) for game connections, and then I remember it well, I was trying to line up the purchase of a Scatbox and suddenly Scatologic was closed. Something had been said that set Doug off.

 

And so we start to see the slide to the present. Basically Scatologic members dropped off. They had made a cool game, released a run of cartridges in a box, with nice manual and sticker and even made hundreds of them. But in the end, for the untold Jaguar owners we never hear from on a regular basis but still enjoy the system, this was a small run as we have all come to know.

 

Companies have offered to make and sell Battlesphere, but the agreement to have all profit go to the diabetes foundation discouraged many from taking the effort too far. In time resentment built in the Jaguar community. The community would attack, and Doug would get more and more defensive. And those of Scatlogic that felt they had finished a goal and were happy with that seemed to fade off into other projects. Doug remained, growing more bitter and abbrassive as the years went on.

 

Finally such abbrassiveness made even myself so upset I sold all games by Scatologic and anyone associated with them.

 

So all this to say, I can see why people would be mad at Scatologic, or at least the aspects of the later years. I can see why people would be upset at paying hundreds for a game.

 

The Battlesphere game itself I believe is an amazing game however. I still play it on a flash card from time to time.

All I can say is if you missed the early years of Scatologic, I am sorry for you. It was an exciting time to be a Jaguar player.

[Zerosquare]

I still play it on a flash card from time to time.

In unrelated news, two persons just suffered a heart attack simultaneously today...

[+CyranoJ]

Flash, ahhhh-aaaaaaah. He'll save every one of us.

[+remowilliams]

In unrelated news, two persons just suffered a heart attack simultaneously today...

 

Having previously disappeared up their own asses must have made it really hard on the medical teams trying to help them out...

[doctorclu]

Fun. It's been long established that Battlesphere will run on a Flash card, just not on a Skunkboard. (Raiden is another.)

 

Anyway, so for those looking for Battlesphere, if you want to shell out the bucks it is a fun game. Or just see if you can arrange to have others bring their copies of Battlesphere to a JagFest and try it out there.

 

Then use the hundreds of dollars you would have spent to buy a few more newly developed games (Another World, Rebooteroids, etc etc) instead.

[+DarkLord]

Flash, ahhhh-aaaaaaah. He'll save every one of us.

 

Okay, that was funny. +1 for a Flash Gordan/Queen reference.

[+Stephen]

Having previously disappeared up their own asses must have made it really hard on the medical teams trying to help them out...

Quoted for preservation