Unreleased Jaguar Games.

[Jaguar 2000]

Actually the correct pronounciation is Jaguar as in JA-GEW-ARR

[Lost Dragon]

Updated the Lynx Ultra Star Raiders thread, but ST Format Magazine once again proving itself to be the source of pure speculation, though to be fair they do state it was only a rumor... 

 

 

ST Format issue 60, talking about Jeff Minter:

 

‘Currently working on a sound-to-light synthesiser for the Jaguar CD-Rom, with his next game rumored to be Star Raiders 2000

 

[KidGameR186496]

This was posted by @marigul back at Facebook. IIRC, marigul took the picture back at GDC 2018-2019 (?). The final boxart of Robert Zdybel's Space War 2000 for the Jaguar, which is currently owned by a private collector. This is not the only proof that denotes how close the project was nearing launch, it was also rated by the ESRB: https://www.esrb.org/ratings/420/Space+War+2000/

Edited August 24, 2020 by KidGameR186496
For clarity sake

[agradeneu]

2 hours ago, KidGameR186496 said:

This was posted by @marigul back at Facebook. IIRC, marigul took the picture back at GDC 2018-2019 (?). The final boxart of Robert Zdybel's Space War 2000 for the Jaguar, which is currently owned by a private collector. This is not the only proof that denotes how close the project was nearing launch, it was also rated by the ESRB: https://www.esrb.org/ratings/420/Space+War+2000/

Do you suggest there was a near complete version of the game? Because, this could be just fan made boxart. I don't think ESRB ratings are useful indications of development progress/status. Would be great if there was version with more content though.

Edited August 24, 2020 by agradeneu

[KidGameR186496]

58 minutes ago, agradeneu said:

Do you suggest there was a near complete version of the game? Because, this could be just fan made boxart. I don't think ESRB ratings are useful indications of development progress/status. Would be great if there was version with more content though.

I'm not suggesting there's a more fully developed build of SW2K. Neither i'm saying that seeing the ESRB rating for SW2K means it was pretty much complete before being canned. Its just that i find weird that the game got a proper retail box and was rated by the ESRB despite never shipping. You could also say that the cover art is complete horse$#!? but, IMO, its difficult to do a proper Jaguar box mockup (i used to do them for fun before i gave up on that endeavor altogether). If you asked me, i think that box is the real deal and not a fake, as marigul (a former Atari Corp. employee) took it during his visit at GDC and i was there at the group where he posted the image, but that's just my opinion...

Edited August 24, 2020 by KidGameR186496
For clarity sake

[KidGameR186496]

Then again, after playing several levels of SW2K via emulation, you can tell there was still work to do and problems to fix before launch.

[agradeneu]

11 minutes ago, KidGameR186496 said:

Then again, after playing several levels of SW2K via emulation, you can tell there was still work to do and problems to fix before launch.

I played the B&C version. My impression of that was:

 

- They got an engine up and running

- There is something to shoot at

- status probably 20% for a full game and release

 

Appeared like a tech demo to me.

 

[agradeneu]

59 minutes ago, KidGameR186496 said:

I'm not suggesting there's a more fully developed build of SW2K. Neither i'm saying that seeing the ESRB rating for SW2K means it was pretty much complete before being canned. Its just that i find weird that the game got a proper retail box and was rated by the ESRB despite never shipping. You could also say that the cover art is complete horse$#!? but, IMO, its difficult to do a proper Jaguar box mockup (i used to do them for fun before i gave up on that endeavor altogether). If you asked me, i think that box is the real deal and not a fake, as marigul (a former Atari Corp. employee) took it during his visit at GDC and i was there at the group where he posted the image, but that's just my opinion...

 

4 hours ago, KidGameR186496 said:

This was posted by @marigul back at Facebook. IIRC, marigul took the picture back at GDC 2018-2019 (?). The final boxart of Robert Zdybel's Space War 2000 for the Jaguar, which is currently owned by a private collector. This is not the only proof that denotes how close the project was nearing launch, it was also rated by the ESRB: https://www.esrb.org/ratings/420/Space+War+2000/

Looks like a glitch in the Matrix, but maybe I'm reading too much into it. 

[+Stephen]

Wow - I was not aware Rob Zdybel was coding Space War!  Dude was with Atari since the early 2600 days.

[KidGameR186496]

4 hours ago, Stephen said:

Wow - I was not aware Rob Zdybel was coding Space War!  Dude was with Atari since the early 2600 days.

The first instance of Rob Zdybel being mentioned to be working on SW2K was back in 1994 (AFAIK), in the October issue of German magazine Mega Fun. Atari Explorer Online also revealed a bit more of behind-the-scenes tidbits: http://www.atarihq.com/jeo/jeo_0501.htm#TOP5

[Lost Dragon]

5 hours ago, Stephen said:

Wow - I was not aware Rob Zdybel was coding Space War!  Dude was with Atari since the early 2600 days.

Jeff Minter made note of it at the time and claimed it was nearly finished :

 

 

‘ I was at Atari and I saw a near-final
Space War 2000. When you see this title you’ll notice that Mr. Zdybel
has been borrowing rather heavily from Yak’s Little Book of
Melt-O-Vision Tricks and Spells! There’s a cool bit at the end of a
round where Lance Chromedome appears in a field of melting with a third
eye and grins at you! Hoots of laughter were heard around the test
dept. when that came on…’

Sadly of course we never saw the game, seems it used the same game engine as Hoverstrike:Unconqured Lands, but due to nature of the game was able to have more detailed models etc without effecting the frame rate etc.

[Jaguar 2000]

the jaguar seems to be a playground for experimental and unfinished/beta games that drives a high price for no other reason than posterity.

[tripled79]

On 8/21/2020 at 8:54 AM, Jaguar 2000 said:

Actually the correct pronounciation is Jaguar as in JA-GEW-ARR

Hell to the no!

[Jaguar 2000]

3 hours ago, tripled79 said:

Hell to the no!

yes to the hell. 

are u british? thats how the brits pronounce it.

[Lost Dragon]

3 hours ago, Jaguar 2000 said:

yes to the hell. 

are u british? thats how the brits pronounce it.

? Speaking as a Brit, a lot of the pronunciation can depend on which region your from at times, but yes it should be as described above. 

[Jaguar 2000]

4 hours ago, Lost Dragon said:

? Speaking as a Brit, a lot of the pronunciation can depend on which region your from at times, but yes it should be as described above. 

Ah so you are British- I have listened to enough Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson ranting and praising Jaguar motor cars to know how to properly pronounce the name- Jaguar.   

[JagChris]

They named their car after a cat from the Americas. And they've been saying the name wrong since the beginning. 

[tripled79]

18 minutes ago, JagChris said:

They named their car after a cat from the Americas. And they've been saying the name wrong since the beginning. 

Jag-gwar JAG-GWAR! JAG-GWAR!!!!

[agradeneu]

28 minutes ago, JagChris said:

They named their car after a cat from the Americas. And they've been saying the name wrong since the beginning. 

I looked it up, it's actually tupi language "yaguar" and the portugese and spanish conquerors adapted it. Then the British adapted it. 

Edited August 26, 2020 by agradeneu

[leech]

On 8/24/2020 at 9:42 PM, KidGameR186496 said:

The first instance of Rob Zdybel being mentioned to be working on SW2K was back in 1994 (AFAIK), in the October issue of German magazine Mega Fun. Atari Explorer Online also revealed a bit more of behind-the-scenes tidbits: http://www.atarihq.com/jeo/jeo_0501.htm#TOP5

If you really think about it... Star Raiders 2000 should have simply been a launch title that Atari really should have thrown full force into getting out there.  Or hell, the pack in.  Pretty sure the one on the 8bit sold a few systems. 

[Lost Dragon]

4 hours ago, Jaguar 2000 said:

Ah so you are British- I have listened to enough Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson ranting and praising Jaguar motor cars to know how to properly pronounce the name- Jaguar.   

I'm from the west country (but thankfully don't have an accent), anything from Bristol downwards can see it pronuced differently and i reside with a northerner ?

 

But as a rule of thumb, a Clarkson pronouncement should be used. 

[Lost Dragon]

1 hour ago, leech said:

If you really think about it... Star Raiders 2000 should have simply been a launch title that Atari really should have thrown full force into getting out there.  Or hell, the pack in.  Pretty sure the one on the 8bit sold a few systems. 

The original 8-bit version is sometimes referred to as the first real Killer-App title and i think the testimony from Archer Maclean sums up the impact it had, very well:

 

" In 1981 I got hold of an Atari 800, a "Star Raiders" cartridge, and a joystick. I remember being absolutely hooked on this for weeks at a time. No one had seen anything like it before, as we had all been spoon-fed black and white "Pong" and "Tank" style games up until that point. People would drive miles to come and have a look and play with it. I think I broke two or three joysticks and a couple of chairs ridding the universe of enemy star fighters!"

 

 

 

Sadly the later installments never came anywhere close to matching that. 

 

 

 

Star Raiders II:

 

 

 

 

The Atari version looked much better than the C64 and ZX Spectrum version, but the gameplay suffered in comparison to not only the original, but also games inspired by Star Raiders, such as :Sentinel (Synapse):

 

 

 

 

Sentinel had more variety, atmosphere and playability. 

 

 

 

I would advise caution on having Rob Zybdel involved with a Jaguar update as being a sure fire good thing, Rob was also responsible for the lackluster  Star Raiders on the Atari  ST:

 

 

 

 

This was a terrible dissapointment to myself and pulled in some mixed reviews from UK Press. 

 

If i remember correctly you couldnt steer through Hyperspace, were unable to deny the Zylons your own Starbases by destroying them, it seemed to loose a lot of the subtle strategic elements, gameplay wasn't as frantic and it just got boring far too soon. 

 

The last Star Raiders inspired game from around the late Jaguar Era that seemed to want to try and replicate it outside of an Atari platform i can remember was Star Rangers PC :

 

 

Things went downhill from there, the XBLA reboot was NOT Star Raiders.. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Lost Dragon
Added video clips.

[Jaguar 2000]

8 hours ago, tripled79 said:

Jag-gwar JAG-GWAR! JAG-GWAR!!!!

You like the metal band GWAR?

[Lost Dragon]

8 hours ago, leech said:

If you really think about it... Star Raiders 2000 should have simply been a launch title that Atari really should have thrown full force into getting out there.  Or hell, the pack in.  Pretty sure the one on the 8bit sold a few systems. 

Slight side note, but in keeping with the question of just how much clout the Star Raiders name still held, by the time of the Jaguar... 

 

I remember Andrew Braybrook discussing the creation of Morpheus on the C64 and how he'd been playing a Rescue On Fractalus at the time and hadn't noticed much difference in the recovered spare parts.. 

 

Time clearly playing tricks on him (and the magazine that printed the interview hadn't spotted the error), he must of been talking about Koronis Rift, which used the fractual engine and had you playing as a Techno Scavenger. 

 

 

It would of taken any individual or team an incredible amount of work and ambition to deliver a game on Jaguar that had anything like the impact Star Raiders had in the A8. 

 

 

AVP and Tempest 2000 were seen as the systems Killer Apps, but weren't enough to shift the system in sufficient numbers. 

 

And old fossils like myself and older are struggling to remember much of the golden days of gaming with clarity ?

 

 

Out of interest, what would people of wanted out of a true Jaguar Star Raiders 2000?

 

 

And who would you of had behind it? 

 

Zybdel? 

 

Minter? 

 

 

 

[leech]

33 minutes ago, Lost Dragon said:

Slight side note, but in keeping with the question of just how much clout the Star Raiders name still held, by the time of the Jaguar... 

 

I remember Andrew Braybrook discussing the creation of Morpheus on the C64 and how he'd been playing a Rescue On Fractalus at the time and hadn't noticed much difference in the recovered spare parts.. 

 

Time clearly playing tricks on him (and the magazine that printed the interview hadn't spotted the error), he must of been talking about Koronis Rift, which used the fractual engine and had you playing as a Techno Scavenger. 

 

 

It would of taken any individual or team an incredible amount of work and ambition to deliver a game on Jaguar that had anything like the impact Star Raiders had in the A8. 

 

 

AVP and Tempest 2000 were seen as the systems Killer Apps, but weren't enough to shift the system in sufficient numbers. 

 

And old fossils like myself and older are struggling to remember much of the golden days of gaming with clarity ?

 

 

Out of interest, what would people of wanted out of a true Jaguar Star Raiders 2000?

 

 

And who would you of had behind it? 

 

Zybdel? 

 

Minter? 

 

 

 

Well of course we would have to merge the two into Mindel or Zybter!