Atari Jaguar Inside Atari and the Jaguar?

Joined Feb 2007
2K Posts | 0+
Kentucky, US
Does any one know of a good book that covers the inside story, in detail, about what was going on inside of Atari during the Jaguar days? I was really wanting to know it from some of the game developer's perspective. Probably such a book does not exist. I've had my Jaguar since the days you could walk in and purchase it from a store shelf. I've aways been curious as to why so many of the games seemed so unfinished and rushed to market. It almost seemed like they made a desperate attempt to have games out for the system.

I have had my Jag out today playing Raiden, Tempest, and Defender. I decided to stick Checkered Flag in again and that is when this curiosity about whether or not there was some desperate pressure inside the company to get games out came to mind. My Lynx Checked Flag is so much more playable, and fun.

I think if there had been a gamer at the helm of Atari, the system would have had a better lifespan and a much larger library of great games. I, for one, would have focused the system toward arcade games and remakes of classic Atari game remakes. For me, Tempest, Defender, and Raiden make the Jag worth having.
 
rainninjax7 said:
No. I don't believe a book like that exists :'(
Maybe it's time we write one :)

Welcome to the boards! Please feel free post up... and We hope you enjoy your stay!

†B†V† :hat
 
Honestly, I'd love to hear this story. I had a Jaguar, mainly because I wanted to play the original DOOM so badly. Since I didn't have a PC at the time and couldn't afford a 32X back then lol
 
When Jack Tramiel left Commodore and purchased Atari after the crash in the '80s, he soon retired to let his son take over the company, and things never really picked up from there. During the Jaguar years, the son had a heart attack and Jack returned to try to save the company, but by then it was too late. Jack was mainly an office machine developer, which is what "Commodore Business Machines" started out as in the '50s, and knew very little about gaming.

So basically, when elderly businessmen who have no interest in gaming try to run video game companies, things tend to turn out rather poorly.

MegaDrive20XX said:
Honestly, I'd love to hear this story. I had a Jaguar, mainly because I wanted to play the original DOOM so badly. Since I didn't have a PC at the time and couldn't afford a 32X back then lol

Read a magazine article back then about Doom being ported to the Jaguar over the course of a weekend. I remember thinking, either the Jaguar is one helluva powerful machine, or that's going to be one helluva terrible translation. :lol But I've played it since and it's not bad. I think the 3DO version has got to be the worst, even sadder than the SNES/GBA versions.
 
You know what's sadder, Frak? GBA = Jaguar DOOM. Yup, it's a direct port.

Jaguar DOOM had no BGM until you finished the level LOL
 
You know... it would be cool if we could compile something like this for the Game Addicts site.

I don't know if we could get enough help for it though.

†B†V† :hat
 
MegaDrive20XX said:
You know what's sadder, Frak? GBA = Jaguar DOOM. Yup, it's a direct port.

Jaguar DOOM had no BGM until you finished the level LOL
Was Rayman also a direct port to the GBA?
 
Rayman was a multi-platform release I thought? It was on Jaguar, PS1, PC, and Saturn. The GBA port however? Probably was a Jaguar port too.