Atari Jaguar

Remember Pong?
Atari was the pioneer on console, cartridge or TV games, but the effort of theirs to go in to the 3D generation of gaming consoles did not even meet the most juvenile of expectations. Released in the early 90’s (’93 -‘96), it had a short-lived, ill-fated lifespan. Claiming to be the first 64-bit console (though it really could process 64 bits at a time), it was later exposed that the CPU itself is not even a 64-bit engine but rather a 32-bit. This produced controversy and bad publicity Atari did not need at that time.

The console itself, looked slick and simple, few buttons on it, a bright red on and off switch, a cartridge slot and two inputs for the controllers nicely placed on the console. The controllers featured a weird numeric keypad (which few game developers took use of or found a use for) and only three buttons, albeit that the SNES made the six-button controller a standard a year before.

The cartridges were about the size of the Genesis’ and were ergonomically designed for easy pull out but none of the consumers really took notice of this and it was really never rewarded any merit. The CD on the other hand, did not really have an upper hand to the cartridges; they only took up more time loading and were much more easily broken compared to the cartridges.

Claiming to be all this and that, it all boiled down to how the games played and felt. The graphics and sound are good enough by its day’s standards but still falling short of what everyone expected. A few good titles did emerge from the Jaguar but not enough to keep the system and its titles in demand as Atari would hope.

The Jaguar also released an add-on CD attachment and an eight-button controller with shoulder buttons later on, but it was too late and interest for the Jaguar never really boomed. The system’s unsuccessful run subsequently led to the company’s demise and thus dissolving Atari.

Merits for collection, but for the lack of good titles (both on the cartridges and CD’s) and if you are expecting to have the time of your life playing the system, it is just a waste of time to go look for this “cutting edge” console. Unless if you love polygons.

CPUs:

Tom"
(contains 3 video-related processors), 25.59 MHz

• Graphics processing unit (GPU) – 32-bit RISC architecture, 4K internal cache, provides wide array of graphic effects
• 64-bit object processor – programmable; can behave as a variety of graphic architectures
• 64-bit blitter processor – high speed logic operations, z-buffering and Gouraud shading
• 64-bit DRAM controller (not a processor)

"Jerry"

• 26.6 MHz
• Digital Signal Processor – 32-bit [RISC]] architecture, 8k internal cache
• CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo)
• Number of sound channels limited by software
• Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals
• Full stereo capabilities
• Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM synthesis
• A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
• Joystick control
• Motorola 68000 (processor #5)
• General purpose control processor, 13.295 MHz

Other Jaguar features:

• RAM: 2MB
• Storage: Cartridge – up to 6MB
• Support for ComLynx I/O