It blows my mind that the Jaguar was basically only around for 2 years

[T.A.P.]

Because playing with one as a kid seemed like such a huge part of my childhood.

 

My older brother got one in 1994 (I couldn't tell you the exact date, but it must have been at least a few months before Doom came out, because I vividly remember him excitedly waiting for that to come out) and supported it all the way through to its bitter demise in 1996.

 

Heck, our dad even bought the first few post-death Telegame releases for him!

 

I ended up getting one of my own for cheap when Kaybee Toys was clearancing them out. Apparently my dad got it new for $50 with a handful of equally absurdly cheap games.

 

Club Drive was and continues to be probably my favorite game for it. That game absolutely blew my 8-year-old mind when I first saw it. It was basically the first ever free-roaming, open world 3d game I had ever seen, and just being able to drive around and explore it to my heart's content was just the coolest thing ever.

 

I also absolutely loved Wolfenstein on it too. That was the first time I had ever tried a first person shooter, and it absolutely spoiled me when I tried to find similar games on other consoles back in the mid-90s.

 

What about you guys?

 

Any favorite games or fond memories you want to share?

 

 

[+madman]

I didn't have one back in the day, I certainly bought into Atari's early marketing and I was a huge fan of the already dead Lynx so the hype worked on me. By the time it was on closeout everywhere I was in college and firmly in the PSX camp so it fell off my radar until much, much later. As often as people crap on the Jaguar, and I'll agree with a lot of it, there's still good fun to be had and the homebrew scene is amazing. It is one unique console.

[roots.genoa]

Time feels slower when you're a kid. I got a Mega Drive probably less than two years after I got the Master System, but it felt like I played the latter for years.

[+cubanismo]

Can confirm. Each year in kid years felt like a decade or so in adult years.

[JagChris]

I'm not sure how they figured it out but supposedly our perception of time is like 2.5x faster than when we were kids. 

[+madman]

2 hours ago, roots.genoa said:

Time feels slower when you're a kid. I got a Mega Drive probably less than two years after I got the Master System, but it felt like I played the latter for years.

I think it's because if you're 10, 1 year is 10% of your life. When you are 40, 1 year is 2.5% of your life. I just made that up, but it seems legit.

[PFG 9000]

When you're five years old, your span of experience/memory is of course five years.  Each new month is 2% of your life.  When you're fifty years old, your span of experience/memory is fifty years.  Each new month is 0.2% of your life.  So in comparison, a given unit of time is relatively briefer to an adult.  That's how I see it at least.

 

I got my Jag in 1994, and my JagCD in 1996.  I view that era of gaming as one of the worst during my lifetime.  The games were overly dark, the 3D was ugly, character models were awkward, and the mature themes were being pushed left and right just for the sake of being edgy.  The Jaguar was wrapped up in this era, but I still enjoyed the games immensely. I spent tons of time with Alien vs Predator, Doom, Iron Soldier, Syndicate, Blue Lightning, Baldies, and a bunch of others...those are some of the best going memories I have.  And yes, they're condensed down to just a few years.

[PFG 9000]

5 minutes ago, madman said:

I think it's because if you're 10, 1 year is 10% of your life. When you are 40, 1 year is 2.5% of your life. I just made that up, but it seems legit.

Okay, you said what I was trying to say, but better...and you beat me to it.  In my defense I started typing hours ago but got sidetracked.  ?

[Clint Thompson]

Only two years? *looks at date* yet here we are.... ...going on 28 years.

[+Sauron]

The Jag's commercial life was only around that long, but in all honesty I never really stopped playing it. For those of us who were hardcore enthusiasts dating back to its commercial life, the Jag never really "died" for us.

[hwrd]

18 hours ago, T.A.P. said:

Club Drive was and continues to be probably my favorite game for it. That game absolutely blew my 8-year-old mind when I first saw it. It was basically the first ever free-roaming, open world 3d game I had ever seen, and just being able to drive around and explore it to my heart's content was just the coolest thing ever.

 

I really enjoyed Club Drive also, and I was in my 30's...

?

[Pete5125]

You figure genesis was a success, release 89, nobody bought it in droves till 91, when Sonic was added as pack in, by 95 Saturn was released sega stopped manufacturing and support 97  (granted they have kept some version that can play sega carts manufactured another 20 years).

 

Basically most had one and actively bought new games between 91 and 96.

5years, yet it felt like a lifetime of genesis does what nintendont ads.

 

On the other hand playstation enjoyed a decade, same with ps2, and neither were on my radar, I got xbox then wii, then Basically got out of modern gaming

[Atlantis]

Jaguar just drowned in the competition back then when like ten systems tried to be successful at the same time. No matter how good or bad Jag was compared to the others. Two years, yes, a short time. Think N64 lasted between ’96 and 2000/2001, five years more or less. And N64 was pretty successful even tho being a cart system.

[Atlantis]

And N64 had the Nintendo factor while Jag had the…… 2600 factor.

[+madman]

50 minutes ago, Atlantis said:

And N64 had the Nintendo factor while Jag had the…… 2600 factor.

Haha yep, there are countless threads here on why the Jag wasn't successful. And if you look at the N64's releases, the vast majority were in 97-2000...and even 97 wasn't that great in terms of quantity. Anyone who was around back at launch knew what a pretty sad 1996 that was for N64 fans. I remember one kid in my dorm had one and the rest of us pretty much mocked him because he had like 8 games to choose from. As mentioned above, I was way into PSX at the time despite having both a SNES and NES, the N64 wasn't on my radar until probably mid 97. I still don't get why people make those "LOL THIS CONTROLLER IS CONFUSING HOW DO I USE IT" videos for the N64, I never found it confusing at all. You can safely ignore the d-pad for almost every game.

[Atlantis]

What is the lifespan between the (all successful?) Nintendo systems? Nes - Snes - N64 - Gamecube - Wii - Wii u - switch ? Five years? ’86, ’91, ’96…. and so on???

Jag unsuccessful: two to three years depending how you count… what have we, 60 cranked out games? Not too bad, lol

Edited September 30, 2021 by Atlantis

[+madman]

3 hours ago, Atlantis said:

What is the lifespan between the (all successful?) Nintendo systems? Nes - Snes - N64 - Gamecube - Wii - Wii u - switch ? Five years? ’86, ’91, ’96…. and so on???

Jag unsuccessful: two to three years depending how you count… what have we, 60 cranked out games? Not too bad, lol

If you go by years that games were actively released, I'd imagine the NES is close to a decade. 

ETA: Well that might not be a fair judge of lifespan since 4 "Just Dance" games add 4 years to the Wii's lifespan using that logic.

[PFG 9000]

5 hours ago, madman said:

I still don't get why people make those "LOL THIS CONTROLLER IS CONFUSING HOW DO I USE IT" videos for the N64, I never found it confusing at all. You can safely ignore the d-pad for almost every game.

I don't make videos, but I love to hate on the N64 controller.  It's not that it's confusing.  It's that it has three handholds, and the average user has only two hands. If you can ignore the D-pad for most games, why have it on the controller at all?  Is it so that you can still use the controller after the analog stick gets all wobbly (you know, after like 4 months)?

 

...sorry, but as a loyal Jag fan, I have an unusually prominent chip on my shoulder against the N64.  ?

[+madman]

1 minute ago, PFG 9000 said:

I don't make videos, but I love to hate on the N64 controller.  It's not that it's confusing.  It's that it has three handholds, and the average user has only two hands. If you can ignore the D-pad for most games, why have it on the controller at all?  Is it so that you can still use the controller after the analog stick gets all wobbly (you know, after like 4 months)?

 

...sorry, but as a loyal Jag fan, I have an unusually prominent chip on my shoulder against the N64.  ?

Well for the games that do use the d-pad, you move your left had to the outer portion. Clearly you are confused, hope this helps. I've got all my OG N64 controllers, none have any wobbly analog sticks. But then again I also don't have fat bratwurst fingers so I suppose that's a factor in not breaking controllers. 

[+Sauron]

41 minutes ago, madman said:

Well for the games that do use the d-pad, you move your left had to the outer portion. Clearly you are confused, hope this helps. I've got all my OG N64 controllers, none have any wobbly analog sticks. But then again I also don't have fat bratwurst fingers so I suppose that's a factor in not breaking controllers. 

I broke more than one N64 controller, but that was due to slamming it on the ground and throwing it at the wall after getting my ass handed to me by my younger brother in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. 

 

46 minutes ago, PFG 9000 said:

I don't make videos, but I love to hate on the N64 controller.  It's not that it's confusing.  It's that it has three handholds, and the average user has only two hands. If you can ignore the D-pad for most games, why have it on the controller at all?  Is it so that you can still use the controller after the analog stick gets all wobbly (you know, after like 4 months)?

 

...sorry, but as a loyal Jag fan, I have an unusually prominent chip on my shoulder against the N64.  ?

The N64 controller was an important stepping stone in the evolution of controllers. It also came before everyone was sure of what control scheme would work best for games like first person shooters, so I can understand why some people may look back at it now and wonder why it was designed the way it was. Back then, though, it worked fine for the types of games we got on the N64. And the D-pad was a necessity for fighting games that require precise movements for pulling off special moves and combos.

 

[+madman]

Sauron gets it. The N64 controller paved the way for the future of 3D gaming. After Sony saw the N64 controller they began to develop the dual analog which led to the dualshock and the rest is history. History that started with the N64. Who knows how long it would've taken manufacturers to figure out 3D gaming if it wasn't for Nintendo. 

[T.A.P.]

double post

Edited October 1, 2021 by T.A.P.

[T.A.P.]

2 hours ago, madman said:

If you go by years that games were actively released, I'd imagine the NES is close to a decade. 

ETA: Well that might not be a fair judge of lifespan since 4 "Just Dance" games add 4 years to the Wii's lifespan using that logic.

I think as a general rule-of-thumb, the typical 'effective' lifespan of the popular/successful consoles is usually around 5-8 years, give or take.

 

That's about as long as a console stays relevant.

 

After that a successor is usually out. Sure, the console in question it might still be supported or have some games released for it (some of them even good), but those are typically things like easy cash grabs (Just Dance, a new sports game with updated rosters, stuff aimed at children, product tie-ins, etc).

Edited October 1, 2021 by T.A.P.

[Atlantis]

^ yes, good one. Nes being a complete game changer lasted for more years for sure maybe 8 to 10 years. ’Now’ the jump between Ps3, Ps4 and Ps5 is closer in time. Tech moving so fast.

 

It is always about inovation the N64 controler being a very good example. When it comes  to Jag… he he… inovation? Nice design on console, controller? Falcon one, cheap desition. Must say Jag only have charm ’today’ retrospective. I’m not surprised of that short lifespan here and now, or then (only came in contact with Jag at age of decline, when people waited for next gen or moved on to Pc and Win95). Still think atari were effective tho, cranking out apps and hardware in a shorter lifespan. Just me.

[Arcadia]

7 hours ago, PFG 9000 said:

I don't make videos, but I love to hate on the N64 controller.  It's not that it's confusing.  It's that it has three handholds, and the average user has only two hands. If you can ignore the D-pad for most games, why have it on the controller at all?  Is it so that you can still use the controller after the analog stick gets all wobbly (you know, after like 4 months)?

It helps to think of the N64 controller as an SNES controller on which you have added more comfortable handles and an analog stick. The "face" and shoulder buttons are very much alike, if you ignore those features.