What stores in Canada sold the Jaguar (back in the day)?

[WozzyCat]

What stores in Canada sold the Atari Jaguar (back in the day...as in 1993 to 1995/1996) ?  I don't remember the Jaguar getting too much advertising here during that time...or maybe I just didn't take note at the time.

[tripled79]

In Winnipeg there was a small business that sold Jaguars called MicroPlay. This was back in the mid nineties before EB Games came to Canada. I'm pretty sure most big chain department stores (Zellers, Future Shop, etc.) did not support the Jag.

[jhd]

 

The short answer is that apparently very few places sold the Jaguar in Canada. I certainly never saw one at retail.

 

 

 

[captainblack]

I vaguely recall hearing Giant Tiger sold them, and I also remember Microplay though when I started going there is was just a bit too late for anything Jaguar.

[jhd]

 

Do you recall when you saw them at Giant Tiger? Were there any games?

 

It presumably would been at the very end of their commercial life when whoever owned the (Canadian) warehouse full of Jaguar hardware was desperately trying to squeeze the last few pennies from it, so around 1997. 

 

 

[Sir Guntz]

The Jag was well before my retail buying time so I don't know.

[Lost Monkey]

I don't believe there was an official Canadian distributor - several independent game stores had them, but they were importing them as far as I know.

 

When they first were released, I asked a Microplay store to get me one and they said they weren't going to buy anymore until Atari figured out the problem with the cartridge slot. According to this guy, a lot of the first consoles produced were having issues with pins in the cart slot getting bent during normal use.

 

Late 1990's, a Canadian company called Dentec clearanced them online at severely discounted prices with a limited selection of titles.

 

 

[ComputerSpaceFan]

My roommate in the early 90's did all of his gaming purchasing at Egghead Software here in Vancouver British Columbia. I didn't have the money myself but I went with him and I saw all of the consoles of the day at that shop. Fairly sure the Jaguar was on the shelves with the Virtual Boy, SNES, Lynx, etc.

 

[captainblack]

3 hours ago, jhd said:

 

Do you recall when you saw them at Giant Tiger? Were there any games?

 

It presumably would been at the very end of their commercial life when whoever owned the (Canadian) warehouse full of Jaguar hardware was desperately trying to squeeze the last few pennies from it, so around 1997. 

 

 

From what I remember it was indeed when they were clearing them out at the end. If I remember right there was an ad pamphlet listing the Jag for like 80 bucks. 

[Lost Monkey]

I don't recall any talk of Giant Tiger having them, but there was a Tiger Direct ad from 1997:

 

https://www.vintagecomputing.com/wp-content/images/retroscan/atari_jaguar_tigerdirect_large.jpg

 

This was USA though...

 

[+LS650]

I definitely recall seeing both the Jaguar and the Lynx for sale in A&B Sound's electronic department BITD.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%26B_Sound

Edited May 27, 2021 by ls650

[tripled79]

Besides Winnipeg MicroPlay, I recall spending a summer vacation in London, Ontario. Must have been 1995. Went to a flea market one day and saw a Jag with Doom set up on a big CRT.

So yeah, very small presence in Canada. For that matter, I don't recall seeing much of the other console either. 3DO, Turbo Grafx, Neo Geo, Cdi, etc.