The History of the Atari Jaguar

Atari Jaguar

The Atari Jaguar was released by Atari in 1993 in the US. Flame was hired by Atari to produce two consoles, a 32-bit console called Panther (which would be the direct successor to the Atari 7800) and a prominent 64-bit console called Jaguar. As development of the second became more advanced, the first was discarded. They invested so much in the project that, in addition to canceling the Panther project, they also discontinued support for the Atari ST PC and all other 8-bit PCs, in addition to the Atari 2600, in 1992.

Atari Jaguar Hardware

Their system did not have a central CPU, but rather a 32-bit GPU called Tom and a 32-bit digital signal processor called Jerry (they really liked the Hanna Barbera cartoon), in addition to the M68k CPU that was used as the system manager. Its sound was stereo and 16-bit and two DACs for digital-to-analog conversion. The idea of ​​it being a 64-bit system came from the marketing combination of the two 32-bit processors, which is not true. The console was in fact 32-bit. Its games were initially released on cartridges.

Atari Jaguar CD

The Jaguar initially competed with the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive. Its multi-chip architecture, combined with poor tools and hardware bugs, made it difficult to create games, with no more than 50 titles released. As a result, its sales were low, even though the console was sold for half the market price. With the arrival of the Sega Saturn and Playstation in 1994, its sales dropped even further. In 1995, they launched the CD-ROM support add-on, known as the Jaguar CD, in an attempt to create larger and better quality games, but not even that saved the console.

Atari Jaguar and Atari Jaguar CD games

Despite its lack of popularity, it had good titles released, such as Wolfenstein 3D, Rayman, Doom, Theme Park, Pitfall - The Mayan Adventure, Flashback, NBA Jam, Iron Soldier, Double Dragon V, Tempest 2000, Alien vs. Predator, Space Ace, Defender 2000, Cybermorph, Power Drive Rally, Atari Karts, Zool 2, Iron Soldier, Primal Rage, Raiden, Towers II, among others. The Jaguar was discontinued in 1997 with just over 150 thousand copies sold.