Why is the Jaguar so popular right now?

[+Sauron]

 

I'm sorry, I must not be in on the joke. I thought I was just engaging in a friendly debate, maybe you feel i was implying something about B&C or something else?

I just don't trust eBay resellers to give me new old stock of Jaguar games.

 

 

If I am dumb enough to pay $700 for a "new" copy of "Towers II" the *last* thing i'm gonna do is dig into the plastic

 

I'm guessing you're kinda new around here, so I'll fill you in. The line "there's something in the plastic" refers to the severe mental instability that seems to result from most people having an Atari Jaguar, and spending a significant amount of time with it in any way. Stay around long enough, and you'll see for yourself how some people seem to come up with crazy ideas, like how the Jaguar is more powerful than a PSX, or that the Jag could handle games such as Quake without even breaking a sweat. This mental disease even exhibits itself with those who are mostly interested in collecting, such as those who think a homebrew port of an ancient arcade game is worth hundreds of dollars. "It's in the plastic" is a simple way of mentioning the general irrationality of many of those in the Jag community.

[+CyranoJ]

 

I'm guessing you're kinda new around here, so I'll fill you in. The line "there's something in the plastic" refers to the severe mental instability that seems to result from most people having an Atari Jaguar, and spending a significant amount of time with it in any way. Stay around long enough, and you'll see for yourself how some people seem to come up with crazy ideas, like how the Jaguar is more powerful than a PSX, or that the Jag could handle games such as Quake without even breaking a sweat. This mental disease even exhibits itself with those who are mostly interested in collecting, such as those who think a homebrew port of an ancient arcade game is worth hundreds of dollars. "It's in the plastic" is a simple way of mentioning the general irrationality of many of those in the Jag community.

 

Is the mental instability the result of buying a Jaguar, or is buying a Jaguar the result of mental instability?

 

Either way, revolving glass cabinets confirm the diagnosis.

[WAVE 1 GAMES]

God the love here in this forum just radiates more and more each time i visit. Its good to be a part of a community who share the same interests and are true fans of Atari and their ill fated Jag. Nice to see everybody getting along and not taking shots and one another like all the other sites out there!

[Shamus]

God the love here in this forum just radiates more and more each time i visit. Its good to be a part of a community who share the same interests and are true fans of Atari and their ill fated Jag. Nice to see everybody getting along and not taking shots and one another like all the other sites out there!

[Cobra Kai]

God the love here in this forum just radiates more and more each time i visit. Its good to be a part of a community who share the same interests and are true fans of Atari and their ill fated Jag. Nice to see everybody getting along and not taking shots and one another like all the other sites out there!

HAHAHA!

[Clint Thompson]

What if... and believe me, this is a hypothetical - but what if, anyone posting in a Jaguar forum/thread prodding one another in 2016 has been affected so very deeply by said plastic to such an extent that even posters coming across seemingly unaffected are infected? Just face the fact that everyone in this thread is in denial, myself included. There is no cure. It's a dead end and once you're in, there is no way out. No turning back now. Try to leave, go on. You'll be back. They always come back. It's like a horrible Stephen King novel where you try to leave town but the road just keeps looping, repeating endlessly... and you find yourself in the same town again only 20 minutes later, with the same creepy people. =D

 

Fume and flame on, my friends... or enemies, or whatever... it's always a good time.

 

 

 

Truth be told though, we do have a lot of awesome people in the Jaguar community and the cool amount of hardware and software that continues to come out is evident of the continued passion for the little machine that just will not die. With all things people are passionate about, it's kind of expected to get a little out of control or messy at times and it's especially easier for the Jaguar to be subjected to such negativity for spiking price-increasing interest levels, being a failed console. I think 20+ years is a good time frame for original Jaguar owners interest to be sparked again for nostalgic sake, going out to seek the console they once enjoyed a solid game of AvP, T2K or Iron Solider on again.

[DrMalba]

 

I'm guessing you're kinda new around here, so I'll fill you in. The line "there's something in the plastic" refers to the severe mental instability that seems to result from most people having an Atari Jaguar, and spending a significant amount of time with it in any way.

 

 

Thank you for the clarification. You can see why I was confused considering we were talking about trust issues with literal plastic. (Which, not to belabor a point BTW, I think is hardly crackpot, merely particular, considering the proliferation of jacked-up prices and greedy speculators all over eBay Jag forums. But I do get and freely admit the insanity by association. )

 

That said, I'm neither new to the forum nor new to posting here - I've been a member here since 2007.

 

I was on the "dreaded" other site which was where I did most of my posting until it went Tango Uniform a few years back now. So i'm by now fairly well-versed and quite familiar with all the drama, flamewars, notorious users and personalities, persistent trolls, etc.

 

I don't know what seized me to post on that particular thread out of the blue at that time, as I have an meager collection of posts here for my near decade of membership. But I have a formidable Jag collection and have dealt with many of the notorious early Jag speculators, maybe I was moved because it appeared as if they had multiplied tenfold.

[JaguarBrett]

I just saw the latest Jag /Jag cd combo on eBay sell for $1300 almost :/

Look at this on eBay:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201590363228

 

Atari Jaguar Console With Jag CD 33 Games, Team Tap And Jag Link + Extras

That was an auction with a good shape jag and jag cd, but most of the carts were in rough shape (squares punched out etc).

Makes me think that with my 2 pro controllers. One 5 hour used jag cd and one unit still boxed unopened with all my 90+ carts CDs and at ports would be around 2k$ lol.

 

I will NEVER get rid of my Jag CDs or my pro controllers, I don't care how much the market moves up.

 

I admittedly got rid of games I spent a lot on (Atari Karts, Hyperforce, Soccer kid, zero 5, Skyhammer, JHL 15, etc) simply because to me the games weren't worth the value.

I kept and will always keep Protector SE and Resurgence, as well as World Tour Racing and the upcoming Xenon 2, I love it on my ST and Jag, so greatfull for the people who are making these ST ports possible.

With the release of everdrives I'm now able to sell my 3000 game NES, Snes, n64, game gear, master system, TG16, Genesis, etc etc mint game carts.

I know most collectors want original carts, but when you have as many systems and games as I do it's nice to cut down

All my systems from 2600 to ps4 are mint (all 56), my pride is the shape of my systems, all 56 look just out of the box, no scratches at all (very ocd lol)

 

I think jag is popular for the same reasons i loved it since launch and have owned 4 lol.

It looks cool, was the last Atari, and has untapped potential to me (again I'm basing that on my mindset when the system just came out, kept thinking if the right dev did magic this system will be amazing).

 

To the newer crowd, I feel it's the homebrew scene getting their interest initially. Rightfully so, for a supposedly "dead system the jag has releases each and every year, growing in quality for that matter.

 

I can sell rare games and some systems but my Jag/Jag CD and pro controllers, my fav games and ST ports will NEVER leave my collection.

 

Ever since new there was "something" about the jag I always loved, it is what it is, but i guess that's why we are here on this forum, obviously you guys "get it" also

 

Long live the Atari Jaguar, all I can say

[GT Turbo]

Why the Jaggy most popular now ?

 

For me only one answer :

 

because the Jaguar has been Rebooted !!!

[+davidcalgary29]

How does the Jag compare with its contemporaries in the ability of modern collectors to amass a complete system of original era releases? I'd think that, with its small library, it's doable today for completists. Does this also hold true for the 3DO, Saturn, and (to throw it in there) the PSX and N64?

[Austin]

It's still pretty doable with the Jaguar. There aren't many games over $100 for the Atari-era releases.

 

Saturn, N64 and 3DO have considerably larger libraries, 200 games at a bare minimum, more for the more popular systems. It's much more expensive to go for full libraries of those. Doable if you have a crap-ton of money, but not terribly logical for the rest of us.

[+davidcalgary29]

Perhaps, then, that's a powerful argument for modern gamers -- the hunt for a complete collection is attainable goal.

[+CyranoJ]

Perhaps, then, that's a powerful argument for modern gamers -- the hunt for a complete collection is attainable goal.

 

If you want nothing to show for it when the servers get pulled, then go ahead and collect for modern systems.

[+madman]

How does the Jag compare with its contemporaries in the ability of modern collectors to amass a complete system of original era releases? I'd think that, with its small library, it's doable today for completists. Does this also hold true for the 3DO, Saturn, and (to throw it in there) the PSX and N64?

Of those, the N64 is probably the most attainable, the prices still haven't gotten super crazy as of yet. Of course this is loose, not CIB.

[Cobra Kai]

Of those, the N64 is probably the most attainable, the prices still haven't gotten super crazy as of yet. Of course this is loose, not CIB.

Despite the constant belly-aching about Jag prices, even something like the N64 (30 million consoles) is much more expensive to actively collect/play for. Which is more evidence the Jag is not popular, I don't know where that idea comes from. It has a small supply, and everything is still readily available for not too much expense. If it was super popular I think Jag stuff would be way more expensive.

Edited May 30, 2016 by Nuclear Pacman

[Trooper Galactus]

It's still pretty doable with the Jaguar. There aren't many games over $100 for the Atari-era releases.

 

Saturn, N64 and 3DO have considerably larger libraries, 200 games at a bare minimum, more for the more popular systems. It's much more expensive to go for full libraries of those. Doable if you have a crap-ton of money, but not terribly logical for the rest of us.

The N64 isn't too bad unless you're going CIB, then it gets a little more difficult. It's kind of a weird one as a collector, since most of the games were well distributed, particularly the ones that would have higher demand (GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, etc.). It does, however, have a few pretty good gems in there, particularly Conker's Bad Fur Day, Starcraft 64, Super Smash Bros., and Worms: Armageddon. Oddly, some games that had wide distribution still go for pretty obscene amounts (I don't understand why the Mario Party series costs so damn much), but the holy grail of the system is probably Clay Fighter 1/3 - The Sculptor's Cut.

[Andromeda Stardust]

How does the Jag compare with its contemporaries in the ability of modern collectors to amass a complete system of original era releases? I'd think that, with its small library, it's doable today for completists. Does this also hold true for the 3DO, Saturn, and (to throw it in there) the PSX and N64?

Despite the constant belly-aching about Jag prices, even something like the N64 (30 million consoles) is much more expensive to actively collect/play for. Which is more evidence the Jag is not popular, I don't know where that idea comes from. It has a small supply, and everything is still readily available for not too much expense. If it was super popular I think Jag stuff would be way more expensive.

Although I don't see much point in collecting complete "sets" I think the 5200 and 7800 would be the easiest to obtain. Both have smallish libraries and neither have any truly rare or unicorn titles outside of homebrew.

 

N64 has a medum sized library with a few rares or desirable games that will set you back. Still much easier than say NES or SNES.

 

Collecting for underdog consoles really depends on the desirability factor versus obscurity. Turbografx for instance, isn't that much rarer than say 7800, and has a comparably sized US library (if you count only Hucard/Turbochip games), but nostalgia for Turbografx is huge right not, such that even common games cannot be had for under $40, and many rare or desirable titles are much much higher. Magical Chase sells for $3-4 thousand loose copy, but in reality it's far more common than say Air Raid.

 

So underdog status of a console and size of existing library or install base is not a good metric of how easy it is to collect a complete set. You've got to factor in how desirable it is. I would not consider the Jaguar too desirable, but due to abysmal sales it is fairly uncommon or hard to find.

[82-T/A]

I'm on the deadly list, and that's all that matters.

[Jagosaurus]

Okay, this thread is again steering towards "why did the Jaguar fail commercially in 1993-5" whereas it's supposed to be about why its so popular right now!

 

...

 

1. Commercial design and mystique of the Jaguar, its a cool looking system, it's Atari, and its rare. Also from the fun 16-32 bit early 90's era.

 

...

 

4. AA- All of us, excellent Jaguar community and thriving discussion, enthusiastic fan base.

 

5. Excellent (above average) home-brew and porting scene. SO many good games out recently and coming out for the jaguar (why I wonder over other systems, this is a big part of the success, see below for my theory)

 

6. Passionate programmer community: It seems like, though the Jaguar is not known for being "easy" to program for, that various tools have created and made available it has become a developers system. We are lucky to have a few handfuls of people (don't need to name names, we all know who they are) who keep working on great projects for the Jaguar year in and year out. And not just willing to program games, but spec components, solder carts, order shells, print materials, etc. etc. to actually produce high quality home-brew titles for purchase.

 

 

 

Agree, this thread quickly went off track. Atari could have succeed if... did we land on the moon, etc. Won't lie, couldn't finish reading half the comments.

 

#1 is a solid point and probably what drew me in. I've always had an interest in the "first wave" of 5th generation consoles. Most gamers did not get to experience the Jag, 3DO, or FM Towns but rather waited on the PSX, SS, N64. This is also an interesting era because you made the jump from 2D to 3D. While this will cause some ppl around here to trip (see versus threads), I think of these "first wave" 5th gen consoles almost as the "between gen" consoles. There is a novelty to these consoles that bridged that gap first.

 

#5 & 6 totally agree. Homebrew scene with DC and Jag are top notch.

 

#4 .... while we may think it's a great community, most folks in the retro gaming scene generally go by the "avoid the crazy Jaguar fans, stay away from the Neo Geo elitist, and don't join the 3DO forums" lol our view is skewed.

[Austin]

The N64 isn't too bad unless you're going CIB, then it gets a little more difficult. It's kind of a weird one as a collector, since most of the games were well distributed, particularly the ones that would have higher demand (GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, etc.). It does, however, have a few pretty good gems in there, particularly Conker's Bad Fur Day, Starcraft 64, Super Smash Bros., and Worms: Armageddon. Oddly, some games that had wide distribution still go for pretty obscene amounts (I don't understand why the Mario Party series costs so damn much), but the holy grail of the system is probably Clay Fighter 1/3 - The Sculptor's Cut.

 

Yeah, the N64 isn't that bad going cart-only. Do it right and you could likely obtain a good majority of the library relatively cheap. Although I didn't state it, I was also quoting my estimates on Jag prices as CIB, so if we are factoring that, then the N64 is considerably more expensive. Start tacking on boxes and manuals and those suckers really start jumping in price!

[ScoreAddict]

Adding my 2 Cents - my personal perspective from Germany.

 

Apart from some viral videos on YouTube "pushing" certain consoles (e.g. AVGN, Gamester81 etc.) there's also speculation from resellers and dealers. Especially since the "Nintendo-engine" (read: finding NES, SNES, N64 stuff for cheap and selling them for a lot) is running dry now.

 

I've been visiting flea markets here (Southern Germany) for 5+ years now on a regular basis. If you see a dealer/reseller these days and they have retrogames/consoles Nintendo is always heavily overpriced. And even they have less and less of it on offer. So now they're trying to "push" PS1-titles to higher prices by claiming that these are "retro" too. Well, maybe, but certainly not enough since nobody is paying the prices.

 

And now to get to the topic - until some 2 years ago Atari Jaguar-stuff was pretty cheap here! I got me a boxed Jaguar + 3 controllers + 3 games for 120 Euros! THESE DAYS the console alone will easily go for 200+ Euros in that very same condition! And you can tell that it's not normal PEOPLE looking for it, but mostly DEALERS/RESELLERS if you check for example the German "Craigslist" - eBay Kleinanzeigen.

 

Once again - 2 years ago, I could get a boxed Atari Jaguar WITH the cd-attachment (also boxed) for 200 Euros there. (Which I unfortunately I didn't, because I already had the console back then - and wanted the cd-attachment a while LATER.) Now the very same offer will be around 600 Euros upwards! AND IT'S MOST CERTAINLY A DEALER/RESELLER OFFERING IT!

 

Strangely, Mega Drive-stuff is still pretty tame in regards to the prices (with some exceptions) and most of the Atari 2600-stuff (and many other consoles from this generation) is still VERY cheap!

 

So, I'd say it's speculation mostly and not real interest in the Jaguar which has pushed the prices. (And I saw the very same going on with the Game Cube some 5 years ago.)