The Launch Titles

[Schmudde]

The Jaguar's launch lineup is widely panned and the system arguably didn't have a must-have game until Tempest 2000. In that period, please rank the best titles. It's quite subjective. I have always appreciated gameplay, so I always felt that Raiden was a better title than Trever McFur, even though the latter looked more "next-gen" in still photographs. However, those looking for a next-gen experience in the early 1990s immediately felt that Dino Dudes and Raiden were pretty underwhelming.

 

What do you think? Rank away and comment!

 

/Schmüdde

 

A quick note on the selection of titles: I know that Raiden and Dino Dudes weren't available the day of the Jaguar's launch, but I still think these two qualify as "launch titles" as they were available when the Jaguar went nationwide.

 

 

[+save2600]

Interesting that 4 of us have voted Cybermorph #1 so far. Definitely agree that it was the right choice at the time, to show off the capabilities of a new next-gen system that is. Could it have been more polished? Probably, but you do have a fun little game there if you give it a chance.

 

Raiden is a very strong 2D shooter that gets most of the elements of a fun shooter right. Tough to find any real faults besides lack of auto-fire, or even anything that makes you want to dig much deeper into why it's not the best shooter around. It's just kind of there in a slightly above average way, especially considering the rest of the Jaguar lineup.

 

Dino Dudes was okay in that it had some clever gameplay and nifty backgrounds. While it may have been a bit underwhelming as a "64-bit" game, I can compartmentalize it as unique or niche enough for an action/puzzler. Still like it to this day and consider it the best puzzler on the system. Just a cool little game for what it is and while it's not everyone's cup of tea, was fairly popular as The Humans for other systems and computers at the time.

 

Trevor, the worst of the bunch IMO had soooo much potential, but as discussed in the other thread, just not enough fun to be had there. What a shame.

[PeterG]

I had a hard time deciding between Raiden and cybermorph on 1 and 2 because I feel that CM was a good first title to have but over time I've spent more time with Raiden. For the thread I went with CM because we are talking back in the day. And for the other two, while I guess dino dudes is the better game it never hooked me. Crescent galaxy I really tried to like until I failed at doing so.

[Rick Dangerous]

Picked Cybermorph because it was the game for the times and a Jaguar exclusive. Raiden I play more and is technically a better game, but 2d and available on many other platforms so hard for me to pick it as #1.

 

Had to pick Dino dudes for #4. That lame excuse for a lemmings type "game" is about as fun as getting stuck in the eye with a salad fork.

Edited February 20, 2016 by travistouchdown

[+jeremiahjt]

I went with 1. Evolution: Dino Dudes, 2. Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, 3. Cybermorph, and 4. Raiden. I enjoy all of them so it was hard having to put Raiden last.

[+doctorclu]

Cybermorph I was very unimpressed with at first.

 

 

The colors were dulled, the action a bit slow at first, and just really couldn't jump into the game too quickly. Over time I grew use to the controls and what the game was about and it became one of my top five. I remember popping that game in and thinking "64 bit eh?" Took the game out and played more Tempest and Bubsy which had much more color and action.

 

Raiden has never disappointed. When I got that game I was able to play with a friend two player and off we went blasting away with brilliant color, music, and sound effects.

 

More than likely if I was a rich kid and bought the Jaguar and all the launch titles I would have popped in Cybermorph and had the same reaction. Said "Eh, interesting, I'll get back to that one."

 

Popped in Dino Dudes and said "Cute. Next."

 

Popped in Trevor McFur and said "Cool. Next."

 

Popped in Raiden and played for hours, happy with my purchase.

[JaguarBrett]

I picked Raiden simply because I play it often, but technically it didn't showcase the Jag as much as cybermorph did in retrospect.

[+doctorclu]

Which was more fun from the start? Raiden or Cybermorph?

 

In 1993 if you are a Atari gamer and you liked Raiden, was there a better choice for Raiden aside from the Jaguar's version?

 

Sure you can mention the PM Towns version is superior, and the Playstation version was spot on, but in 1993 when the Jaguar was launched was there a better home version?

 

And at the very least, 2D or not, it showed the Jaguar could pull off a near arcade perfect port, which is a good statement in itself.

Edited February 21, 2016 by doctorclu

[+rdemming]

I put Raiden on 1 but seemly I'm one of the few that liked Dino Dudes much too. Not that it showcases the Jaguar but I find myself playing puzzle games more than action games and I played Dino Dudes more than any other Jaguar game except for Rayman.

 

Robert

[Trooper Galactus]

If I'd bought Trevor McFur off the shelf all those years ago I would have been pissed. I love shmups but that game just pisses me off. I might not have been super into Dino Dudes, but I think I would have taken the time to figure it out and enjoyed it in the end as something different, fun, and challenging. Cybermorph would have been frustrating maybe, but again, given a chance to spend time learning the nuances of the game I think I'd have liked it just fine. Would have loved Raiden back then, still love it now.

 

And I think I screwed up my votes and put Dino Dudes first and Raiden third instead of the other way around. My bad.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Trooper Galactus

[Bill Loguidice]

I voted as follows:

1 - Cybermorph

2 - Raiden

3 - Dino Dudes

4 - Trevor McFur

Cybermorph because, no matter how successful it was as a game, it was at least an earnest attempt at providing a reasonably unique experience that took reasonable advantage of the Jaguar's technical features. Raiden because it was well executed, if a bit of a niche title. Dino Dudes because it wasn't Trevor McFur. And finally, Trevor McFur because it was so poorly executed and could have instead been a proper, easily understood technical show-piece that the other three titles could

[Atlantis]

I don't have all the games, but I voted anyway just to use my right to precipitate in democratic votes!

(cyber, raiden, trevor, dino)

I would play Cybermorph more if I didn't own Battlemorph.

[R.O.T.S]

1. Raiden

2. Trevor .McFur

3.Cybermorph

4. Humans...er sorry I mean Dino Dudes

 

309

[ARETHIUS]

I'd say

 

1. Cybermorph

2. Dino Dudes

3. Raiden

4. Trevor Mc Fur

 

 

Président of the Retro-gaming Connexion.

[Major Havoc 2049]

I really like both Cybermorph and Raiden. I thought that Dino Dudes was serviceable as a puzzle-platformer, but I'm not a fan of the genre myself. Trevor McFur was just horrible.

 

1. Cybermorph 2. Raiden 3. Dino Dudes 4. Trevor McFur

 

 

 

A quick note on the selection of titles: I know that Raiden and Dino Dudes weren't available the day of the Jaguar's launch, but I still think these two qualify as "launch titles" as they were available when the Jaguar went nationwide.

 

The official National roll out was March of 1994. But in typical Atari fashion, a slow national roll out began in late 1993 and rolled on into 1994. I remember being at various locations around the United States and seeing small amounts of Jaguar consoles and games at dedicated video game stores from December 1993 to March of 1994. I bought my Jaguar, along with an extra controller and a copy of Raiden on December 3, 1993. If Raiden wasn't at the November test market launch, it was released shortly after.

[JaGamer]

Raiden is a really great and fun game. Not at first though, it really kicks your butt until you get good at it.. Takes awhile... Now that I am quite good at the game, it's always lots of fun to go back and play it and beat it with relative ease.

 

Cybermorph is another one that kicked my butt for a long time. Infact, I only ever beat the game once... I still really like the game. For me it's a tossup between Cybermorph and Raiden as best launch game. One is a great 3d game while the other a great 2d one...

 

Dino Dudes I think is actually a very good game, just EXTREMELY difficult... The first 5 to 10 levels, ok. but then jeez, the difficulty just becames insane quite quickly. It hurts a bit that the game is a bit slow as well. If the Dino dudes moved faster, would have made the game better. Still a solid game for what it is.

 

Trevor Mcfur kicked my butt for a long time. For a long time I didn't like it much. Then one day I decided, you know what, im going to beat this game. And I did just that and it was super satisfying. Like Cybermorph, I think I only beat this game one time. I enjoy going back and playing it. To me its a solid game. I don't get the hate for it. Whenever I see someone playing it on youtube or something, they die quickly and get game over quickly, and I think that's the main reason people don't like it. Because it is a very difficult game.

 

So there is a common theme with the Jaguar launch games, they are all very difficult games. No easy games here. I suppose Raiden is the easiest to beat. I don't think any of these games are bad at all as long as they are given plenty of time to come to grips with. None of these games are pick up and play games that you can easily master.

 

If I had a gun to my head I would say Dino Dudes is 4th best and Raiden is first best. Raiden is just such a solid game with smooth graphics and great music. If Cybermorph was just a touch smoother and with a little bit of in game music, I would pick that one my fav.

[Willard]

One benefit of Raiden was the 2P mode - I had a lot of fun playing Raiden (and even Club Drive ) with friends back when I first got the Jaguar. Although it had already been on other platforms for several years, it was still a solid game and the Jaguar version was a good port. I think the Jaguar could've used other popular arcade games like MK2 and TMNT or the Simpsons to give people the perception it was a great platform for high quality arcade games.

 

I wish I could've played Cybermorph in 1994 but it wasn't until quite a bit later that I got to play it. I would've rather they focus on fewer levels and higher quality. Still, the concept was good and it was a great game to show the direction Atari wanted people to think the Jaguar was headed. Exclusives like that were a good way to say you needed a 64-bit system to play those kind of games. I'd give the edge to Cybermorph as my favorite launch title because it wasn't available on any other platform and being a pack-in allowed you to appreciate it as a tech demo or a game, depending on how much fun you had with it.

 

Dino Dudes and Trevor McFur never really grabbed my attention nor left a good impression on me and I played them for about a half hour before tossing them aside. Later on after playing until I completed the game, I found Trevor McFur to be a little better than I expected (just slightly), so I'd put it at 3rd.

Edited March 2, 2016 by Willard

[Pete5125]

The problem with Cybermorph was that Star Fox was already out, and even though it was a shorter game, it looked similar and was more fun, the rest of the early line up was out on SNES and Genesis and looked similar, Raiden was out so was the Humans, the only game that looked incredible in screen shots was Trevor McFur, but it had no in gamemusic and the levels where way to hard.

 

Cybermorph was my college roommate's favorite game and he did play the heck out of it as it was a very long game with several worlds to explore.

 

next you had Checkered Flag come out, that looked great as good as a Genesis Game VRRacing, with much worst control

 

Thank goodness AvsP came out as nothing of its kind had been released, then Wolf3D, Doom, even Kasami Ninja (with slugish controls) it did look 64 bit, now you went through 6 months with hardly any games coming out...then a bunch of 16 bit games came out, but at least their where games, by this point another Christmas came and all yor friends got either a Saturn or Play Station, both had better games....Jag offered a CD Player for another 150 that promised to make it as good as Saturn not as good as Playstation.

 

Jag got harder to find, the only place it was was Electronic Boutique, Babbages and Kay Bee Toys.

 

Those are my memories, from a guy that owned it back in 93/94 on,with a hazy memory.

 

I do remember that Electronic Boutique had a play it 14 days bring it back for any reason policy, so the Manager would try to keep you from buying some of the games that where returned all the time like DD5, Checkerd Flag, Dino Dudes

[+madman]

If you put yourself into the mindset of someone back in the 90's, can you imagine the Jag launching without Cybermorph? I'm not talking about what is fun or enjoyable in 2016, but what would've compelled a gamer to take the Jag seriously in 1993. To the OP's point, Raiden and Dino Dudes didn't scream next-gen or 64-bits. They looked like games that could've been done on the SNES or Genesis, which in the case of Dino Dudes, pretty much was. Trevor McFur, the one game I remember being really impressed by screen shots in magazines, looked nice, but again didn't really look next-gen and the gameplay...well that's been discussed to death around here. That leaves us with Cybermorph. It was something that just wasn't being done on the other consoles of the time. It looked different than what we were used to, it played differently, it was new. It was the one title that helped the Jag stand out from the other consoles of the time. As much of a failure as the Jaguar was, I imagine it would've been much worse with any of the other 3 games as the pack-in.

[Pete5125]

You also have to wonder what if any market research indicated launching with 3 shooters and a puzzle game was the way to go when, street fighter 2, mortal kombat, sports games, and then racing games was all anyone cares about...they could read any one of the 10 mainstream video game magazines at the time, if they didn't feel spending money on market research was worth it

[Austin]

I feel Cybermorph was the most impressive launch release, but I think Raiden has more of an immediate kind of "fun" to it and so to me that was the best of the launch games (I'm not saying it should have been a pack-in). Cybermorph, while technically solid, needed a lot more polish, but that would be my second choice.

[Pete5125]

You also have to wonder what if any market research indicated launching with 3 shooters and a puzzle game was the way to go when, street fighter 2, mortal kombat, sports games, and then racing games was all anyone cares about...they could read any one of the 10 mainstream video game magazines at the time, if they didn't feel spending money on market research was worth it

[+phoenixdownita]

DELETED

[Schmudde]

You also have to wonder what if any market research indicated launching with 3 shooters and a puzzle game was the way to go when, street fighter 2, mortal kombat, sports games, and then racing games was all anyone cares about...they could read any one of the 10 mainstream video game magazines at the time, if they didn't feel spending money on market research was worth it

 

Atari Corp. publicly justified the 16-bit ports as a way to cover all their genre bases. They definitely talked about the importance of diversity in their library.

 

However, in reality, the Jaguar is really shooter-heavy. From Cybermorph to Hover Strike to Iron Soldier to Battlemorph to I-War to Phase Zero to Air Cars they certainly had the low-altitude vehicle shooter genre covered.

 

Specifically regarding the launch lineup - it's pretty clear that they were just working with the titles that had momentum to beat the '93 Christmas season. They knew that Alien Vs. Predator, Kasumi Ninja, and Redline Racing Checkered Flag II Checkered Flag had to get on the shelves ASAP to really move systems. We all know how that went.

 

/ü

[Clint Thompson]

If I'd bought Trevor McFur off the shelf all those years ago I would have been pissed. I love shmups but that game just pisses me off.

 

I remember I did either a trade or bought this game used many years later to be largely disappointed and remember muttering it being a piece of garbage and how pissed I would've been as well picking something like this up for $69.95 over Skiing and Snowboarding or any of the other games that were available then for that matter. This is one of the games that should've lived it's remaining days inside magazine page covers never to be seen again where Conan should have come to exist instead. Unless of course, it was equally as choppy, then forget it.