Atari Jaguar | 20 Years – Do the Math | Anniversary Video

Isn’t it amazing? A console that was so commercially unsuccessful, is still very much alive and kicking today. This console did much worse than the Sega Saturn commercially, and for a console that is under the great Atari name, this is surprising, and was quite surprising back then as well.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Atari Jaguar, click on the name to go to the wiki, or continue reading for a quick run-down of what this console generally is for many fans.

Without going into much detail, lets just say that the Jaguar’s history is rough. It was released in November 1993, with much anticipation. At first it did well, but unfortunate set backs began to determine it’s future, early on in it’s life. There are many reasons for it’s commercial failure, but I really only one focus on one for now.

The leading consoles of the time had something that the Jaguar couldn’t really get a handle on. A mascot, a title franchise, a symbol, to help sell the console. While Nintendo had Super Mario, and the Legend of Zelda, and Sega had Sonic the Hedgehog, Atari really didn’t have much in the way of recognizable characters or symbols or something that the player could relate to on a more personal level. Besides their logo and maybe Pacman, they didn’t have much. (Ironically there was never a Pacman game on the Jaguar.) The arcade generation was beginning to close around this time, and titles like Tempest, Centipede, Space Invaders, and Pacman didn’t appeal to a larger audience as a whole. Players wanted story, worlds, and most importantly, characters.

Sure, Atari tried to create mascots with Bubsy and Trevor McFur, but these characters lacked appeal, not to mention, the games they were in, weren’t that much fun to play. So, as consoles with more appealing franchises took the market, the Jaguar slowly sank into the background, and eventually disappeared with the advent of the Playstation and Nintendo 64. The third party developers moved on from the console, and, in 1996, Atari was sold off. Also, official support for the Jaguar ceased.

With all of it’s faults, the Atari Jaguar was still revolutionary for its time. It was one of the first consoles to push out games that were entirely 3D. Titles such as Iron Soldier, Hover Strike, Battle Morph, all showed that the Jaguar was leagues ahead of it’s competitor’s. And while Nintendo, Sega, and Sony didn’t really have any sort of online capabilities until 1999, the Jaguar had support for online and locally networked games. Which included the only console port of Doom that had multiplayer support. As for those who grew up in the arcades, this system had amazing reincarnations of arcade classics, such as Tempest and Defender. And for the people who grew up with Atari, those who played the games, or programmed for the systems, who went to the arcades, the Atari Jaguar represents a culmination of everything that made Atari what it was.

This brings me back to why the Jaguar is still going strong. The last system that Atari ever made, and the embodiment of everything that Atari was. For someone who grew up with Atari this means allot, and is one of the pinnacle reasons why my brother and I want to make games for the Jaguar. Not because we want to make games, but because we want to make games for a console that represents our childhoods. Proving that a console’s success isn’t based solely on sales. That a community of dedicated gamers and programmers can bring value to a system, and hopefully the bi-products of that dedication is good games.

In May of 1999, the hardware, and development code was released into the public domain. Allowing developers to make and release games without having to worry about licensing. This is the catalyst that allowed the community to grow. This along with that dedication to the Jaguar is what allowed for many titles that were initially canceled, to be restarted, and eventually release later on. That dedication, is what kept developers together, and has given us great titles like Downfall (produced by Reboot), and Elansar (produced by Orion), Games that were released 17 years after the console’s “death”. Very few consoles can tout that they have this strong of a community, many years after official support has ceased. It is a testament to the consoles quality, and the quality of people who support it.

I am not sure where the Atari Jaguar will be in another 20 years, but I am enjoying the great success it is seeing today. BitJag hopes to contribute to this success, and we hope to see many more people flock to this console, and many more games in the future. Here’s to 20 years of the Atari Jaguar.