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| {{Infobox CVG system| title = Atari Jaguar | |||
| |logo = ] | |||
| |image = ] | |||
| |manufacturer = ] | |||
| |type = ] | |||
| |generation = ] (32-bit/64-bit era) | |||
| |lifespan = {{flagicon|US}} ], ] | |||
| |CPU = ] | |||
| |media = ], ] | |||
| |unitssold = 2.34 million | |||
| |onlineservice = | |||
| |topgame = '']'' | |||
| |predecessor = ] | |||
| }} | |||
| The '''Atari Jaguar''' was a ] introduced to the U.S. market in November 1993 against the Sega Mega Drive (known in North America as the Genesis) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a powerful next generation platform. It was touted as the "first 64-bit system". The system eventually wound up as a ] and prompted ] to finally leave the hardware business. | |||
| == History == | |||
| The Jaguar was the last game system to be marketed by Atari. ], a company formed by ] and ], said that not only could they make a console far superior to the ] or the ], but they could also be cost-effective. Impressed by their work on the ], Atari persuaded them to close Flare and, with Atari providing the funding, form a new company called Flare II. | |||
| Flare II initially set to work designing two consoles for Atari. One was a 32-bit architecture (codenamed "]"), and the other was a 64-bit system (codenamed "Jaguar"). However, work on the Jaguar design progressed faster than expected, and Atari cancelled the Panther project to focus on the more promising 64-bit technology. | |||
| The Jaguar was released in November 1993 for a sale price of $249.99, under a $500 million manufacturing deal with ]. The system was initially marketed only in the ] and the ] areas. A nationwide release followed in early 1994. | |||
| The system was marketed under the slogan "Do the Math", claiming superiority over competing 16-bit systems. Initially, the system sold well, substantially outselling the highly hyped, and publicized ], which was also released during the holiday season of 1993. However, the system was eventually considered a failure, due to the perception of the Jaguar having poor games and an overall lack of software developed. Developers criticized the Jaguar as being difficult to develop for. This was due to serious bugs in the released hardware (such as a memory controller flaw that could halt processor execution out of system RAM). Customers complained the Jaguar controller was needlessly complex, with over 15 buttons. . | |||
| By the end of 1995, after the entrance of the ] ] and the ] ], the Jaguar's fate was all but sealed. In an interview , Sam Tramiel, CEO of Atari, touted that the Jaguar was much more powerful than the Saturn (which was untrue) and slightly weaker than the PlayStation. He also predicted the price of the PlayStation to be $500 and said that any price from $250 to $300 would be ] and that Atari would sue to block sales (they never did). His comments were selected as #3 in ] . | |||
| In a last ditch effort to rescue the Jaguar, Atari tried to play down these two consoles by proclaiming the Jaguar was the only "64-bit" system. Technically-minded gamers debated the merits of Atari's claim: some felt the Jaguar's principal "64-bit coprocessors" were essentially nothing more than graphics accelerators (with limited progammability), requiring external control from the Jaguar's primary processors; the primary ] executed a 32-bit instruction-set, while the remaining ] (]) was already established to be a 16-bit unit. Others countered that the mere presence of 64-bit ALUs for graphics, was sufficient to validate Atari's claim. Finally, in mid-1996, Atari ran early-morning ] advertisements with enthusiastic salesmen touting the powerful game system. The infomercials ran most of the year but did not significantly sell the remaining stock of Jaguar systems. | |||
| Over the short life of the console, several add-on peripherals were announced. Yet only the ] drive and the JagLink (a simple two-console networking device) reached retail shelves. The voice modem and ] headset (with infrared head-tracking), existed in prototype form, but were never commercialized. (See ] and ] for early development.) | |||
| Production of the Jaguar stopped after Atari purchased ] in a ]. | |||
| After Atari was bought out by ] in the late 1990s, Hasbro released the ] coding to the Jaguar, finally opening the doors for ] development. Several game companies, including Telegames and Songbird Productions, have not only released previously unfinished materials from the Jaguar's past, but also several brand new titles to satisfy the system's cult following. | |||
| ==Arcade games== | |||
| ] licensed the Atari Jaguar's chipset for use in its arcade games. The system, named '''COJAG''' (for "Coin-Op Jaguar"), replaced the 68000 with a 68020 or SGI R3K (depending on the board version), and added a hard drive and more RAM. It ran the lightgun games '']'' and '']''. A third COJAG game, ''Freeze the Cat'', was a puzzle game that was developed but never released. | |||
| ==Technical specifications== | |||
| ''']:''' | |||
| * "Tom" (contains 3 video-related ]s), 25.59 ] | |||
| ** ] (GPU) – 32-] ] architecture, 4K internal cache, provides wide array of graphic effects | |||
| ** 64-bit ] processor – programmable; can behave as a variety of graphic architectures | |||
| ** 64-bit ] processor – high speed logic operations, ] and ] | |||
| ** 64-bit ] controller (not a processor) | |||
| * "Jerry" , 26.6 ] | |||
| ** Digital Signal Processor – 32-] ] 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 ] capabilities | |||
| ** Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM synthesis | |||
| ** A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART | |||
| ** Joystick control | |||
| * ] 68000 (processor #5) | |||
| ** General purpose control processor, 13.295 ] | |||
| '''Other Jaguar features:''' | |||
| * ]: 2] | |||
| * Storage: ] – up to 6MB | |||
| * Support for ComLynx ] | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{Dedicated video game consoles}} | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| * ] | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * - Covering the Atari Jaguar! | |||
| * | |||
| * http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Console_Platforms/Atari/Jaguar_64/ | |||
| * | |||
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| * http://www.atari-jaguar64.de/ | |||
| * | |||
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