air cars rare ?

[broncoman]

hi i have a copy of air cars is it rare i have never seen it before thx for any ideas

[Tempest]

I've just started collecting for the Jaguar (why did I wait so long?), but I know that Air Cars is a fairly rare game. I've never seen it for sale or trade (although I know alot of people have it). It's definetly one of the rarer carts in the Jag library.

 

If you ever want to trade it...

 

Tempest

[JagDiesel]

AirCars is one of the few games designed to work with the CatBox. I believe it was also designed to work with the JagModem which was never released (was prototyped).

[Ze_ro]

As far as I know, the only game that ever had JagModem code in it was Ultra Vortex. Supposedly it actually worked surprisingly well. I could be wrong though... I know AirCars was planned to do this, but I thought it was taken out after they realized the modem was never going to see the outside of the Atari warehouses... On a similar note: Does anyone have any schematics of how to build a JagModem? Not that I have anyone in the city to play Ultra Vortex with but it would be pretty cool.

 

--Zero

[Gunstar]

yes, it's rare, there were only about 200 copies ever released, by ICD, the makers of the catbox. It was turned down by Atari for publication but ICD picked it up so there would actually be a game to use with the catbox(at the time Battlesphere had not yet been released and Doom only uses the Jaglink), it also uses the jaglink for only two jag link-up. It was the last thing ICD ever released for Atari systems before they went belly up. It is one of two games(BS being the other) that ever took advantage of the catbox's catnet linking ability, allowing up to 8 jags to be linked together(Battlesphere allows up to 16 and Doom only two with the use of a jaglink). Yes, only Ultra Vortek ever used the Jagmodem(different from the jaglink), and prototypes of the jagmodem do exist, but are extrememly rare and extremely expensive if you are lucky enough to find one(it's useless without a second one and two copies of UV).

[tripled79]

On 5/21/2001 at 8:43 PM, Gunstar said:

yes, it's rare, there were only about 200 copies ever released, by ICD, the makers of the catbox. It was turned down by Atari for publication but ICD picked it up so there would actually be a game to use with the catbox(at the time Battlesphere had not yet been released and Doom only uses the Jaglink), it also uses the jaglink for only two jag link-up. It was the last thing ICD ever released for Atari systems before they went belly up. It is one of two games(BS being the other) that ever took advantage of the catbox's catnet linking ability, allowing up to 8 jags to be linked together(Battlesphere allows up to 16 and Doom only two with the use of a jaglink). Yes, only Ultra Vortek ever used the Jagmodem(different from the jaglink), and prototypes of the jagmodem do exist, but are extrememly rare and extremely expensive if you are lucky enough to find one(it's useless without a second one and two copies of UV).

I wonder if there are still 200 carts out there...

[joeatari1]

I miss seeing @JagDiesel posts.  Love that avatar!

[Gunstar]

6 hours ago, tripled79 said:

I wonder if there are still 200 carts out there...

It has been so long, I don't even remember if that was an actual number I was told or an estimate, but I believe it was right around there give or take a hundred or two.

 

But of course, as most Jaguar fans know, B&C (MyAtari on Ebay) released a reproduction of another beta version and Team Jaguar/Beta Phase games released the true final version of the game, or at least the last beta with significant changes, mostly graphically where it was needed most: KA Aircars. Then another earlier beta Aircars '94 was also released in limited quantities. (not necessarily in that order)

 

So it isn't hard to find the beta repro's, just visit MyAtari on eBay. Just the original ICD beta release, '94 release and Aircars KA release. Though apparently, none of the different releases will network with each other, you need multiples of one type. I don't know if repro's of ICD's version have made it to Etsy and eBay, like so many other games...

 

I had the catbox and all three networkable games at one time, sold them off years ago, and now I have one of each back again, but this time I own KA Aircars and Battlesphere Gold, instead of the originals. I never had the opportunity (yet) to play ICD or KA versions networked. Hopefully a second run of KA Aircars will be done one day. Though I'll only ever do 2-player Jaglink with any of them at this point. I'm too far away from anybody to get together.

 

I can say that KA Aircars is a great improvement both graphically and with a better balance in game play, against the A.I. I did find some enjoyment with the original ICD version, but I always suspected it was an unfinished game with many of the graphics being "place holders" and that suspicion became reality for me. It's still certainly far from the best game the Jaguar has to offer, but KA Aircars was a long needed redemption for the unfinished turds ICD and others released. If this version had been released back in 1994, when ads for it were first in magazines, and not the unfinished ICD version after the Jaguar was commercially dead in '97, it would have been pretty good for 1994. No Iron Soldier, but I do think KA Aircars is better than Cybermorph. I have a blog about KA Aircars in my profile.

 

About KA Aircars: http://ejagfest.de/new-run-of-ka-aircars-for-jaguar-is-coming-soon/?lang=en

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Gunstar

[+cubanismo]

I always see this discussed as rare, but I see it is for sale on www.wave1games.net.  Is that version licensed, or is it a repro?  Is it a different version than the KA one discussed here?

[bombflare]

You can still get the b&c one also, just gotta send them an email.

[Swansea_Mariner]

Recently got a copy of KA from Wave1 games.  It's a total shocker imho, terrible, terrible game and light years behind cybermorph (which I personally think is great title for the time).

[Crazy Climber]

Original or B&C version?

[+Mitch]

7 hours ago, Crazy Climber said:

Original or B&C version?

It is my understanding that the B&C version is just a repro of the original version. The alternate versions were the KA and 94 beta editions.

 

Mitch

[tripled79]

Is it called KA Aircars because it was rated by the ESRB as "K-A"? and the original wasn't?

[+Mitch]

The original wasn't rated at all. The later proto had a "production" label on it that had the ESRB KA designation. Hence the KA name for that version.

 

Mitch

[tripled79]

35 minutes ago, Mitch said:

The original wasn't rated at all. The later proto had a "production" label on it that had the ESRB KA designation. Hence the KA name for that version.

 

Mitch

Uh...yeah.