It is so refreshing to see someone actually give a fair review of this long forgotten console, I still have mine in the box, with a handful of boxed games, and play it regularly, good job! :D
Really informative review. I used to have one in the box with some boxed games. I'm gonna get another boxed one someday. I miss it. :( Great job showing all of the best games and the positives of what it can do and what it was at the time of the release.
i have the cd unit, it has a flaw in the clip that keeps the lid down and engages the unit has tendency to sheer, but its an easy repair job and a heavy book on the lid will do the job.
other than that ive found them very reilable.
what it does is allow for a much higher standard off game, getting over the limitation of the very limited capacity of a catridge (something that had a serious effect on the n64 as well)
world tour racing and phaze zero, even come close to playstaion standards
atari in 93 release the falcon, which gave st user a significant lead over amiga users.
but within 5 months had released they were not going to provide any support or new models.
atari had no money, was doing insane things with there products, undermining the confidence in suppliers and developers.
its ironic that atari who were again releasing the best hardware by far, did not have competent management or resources to make good on what their designers had produced.
all console have a mixture of 8 bit- up to 256 bit chips.
the jaguar actually has better claim off being what it claims than any other in history because it doubled up its processors on a 64bit bus and its gpu's are 64 bit.
a dreamcast has a single 32bit risc cpu and a 128bit gpu for example.
why its stuck to the jag is more to do with competiors claims agianst it like nintendo that release the the n64 with a single 32bit cpu and a 64bit gpu and actually less of a ligitamite claim than Atari.
breathtaking hardware you just have to read what john carmack's (doom) comments when talking about the jag and the 3do.
sadly it was horrendously let down by Atari's game development, poor panther developed titles never showed of its strengths.
and made reviewer make overly harsh reviews.
as well as the curious decission to remake atari arcade classics like missle command over other more popular atari arcade classics like gauntlet paperboy & hard drivin, sadly most off these remakes made the n64
Some of the best Jag games were made in the uk like, Alien vs Preditor, Cannon Fodder, Zool 2, Syndicate, Theme Park, Brutal Sports Football, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Jaguar versions of Tempest 2000 Defender 2000, Worms and Battlemorph. Also some not so great games too like Zoop, Cybermorph, Skyhammer, I-War. I may be wrong about some of these games.
Jaguar was not bad at 3D, but nasty hardware bugs prevented decent texture performance. A pre-release video of "Missile Command 3D" shows much smoother framerate without textures, but developers had to use textures.
Still a good game.
Other good 3D games IMO: AvP, Battlemorph, BattleSphere, DOOM & Wolfenstein 3D, IS & IS2, Skyhammer, Tempest 2000, Zero 5, Val d'Isere and Super Burnout.
The last two are pseudo-3D but extremely smooth, fast and fun.
Great video. brings me back to the 90's. I never had a Jaguar, but my Mom was going to buy me one. We had went to Toys R' Us to buy it, but it was out of stock. The employees told me to come back in a few days. Like the impatient kid I was, I just walked out of the store after buying a bunch of SNES games.
Iron Soldier reminds me of Mech Warrior which was a huge deal back in the early 90s. Also, I think the opinion about Supercross 3d at the time would've been more positive. No one would've thought it was amazing but I remember playing the snes version of doom in like 1994 and being completely immersed in it even though it's terrible by today's standards.
great review! You really highlighted the good and the ugly of the system in a fair respect unlike many reviewers. Doom and Wolf do look really good (and wolf frame rate is amazing) on the system. I think they show the Jag could do good for early 90s 3D, if programed right.
Great review, i always liked the jaguar and cd drive, some great cd games, a lot of developers dropped the system, when it was launched, which is why some games in early adverts never came out, on the packaging for the cd drive, most of those games were not released, robinsons requiem, only came out recently on homebrew.
Nice to see a review on the jaguar that isn't just slagging it off. I may be slightly biased but I do just love the little charms it has :D Also I'm glad you noted the controller isn't as bad as you'd think. I was really surprised when I first played on mine. The key pad is rather dorky but it's just such a quirky console that I find it hard not to love it :D
If you were an Amiga user back in the day, you'd be familiar with Zool and Canon Fodder. I was surprised to see more than a few Amiga ports. A lot of the games "feel" like Amiga games. Which is great if you're an Amiga fan, but maybe not so much if you are trying to sell a 64-bit system..
That was fun and educational. It's just amazing to see how companies struggled with the fast pace of the 90s. That aside, when I watch your videos I always think "Man, the Seattle area must be video game heaven" :)
Great video! It's always nice to see a "real" review/commentary on the little Jaguar, rather than comical bashing. I've owned, and loved, the Jaguar for years. There are plenty of great games and hidden gems. I also like the controller, especially the shape, I just wish the buttons were a bit less mushy. Also nice to see you on AtariAge. There is a great community over there.
Cool review, I always wanted to try this console out. The controller looks so weird, and the console has a nice look to it. Its a shame looking for it on craigslist and such, and people are trying to charge ridiculous prices for them.
First great review I've watched that's not totally bashing this great retro system.
I hate that way to many people are comparing it to the Later released N64 witch to me is just ignorant as Graphics in 93 were not as good as 1995 and later
@WARPUDDY666 - Thanks very much! It's amazing how quickly the video game industry changed year by year in the 1990s. CPUs, video cards, CD-Rom speeds, networking... everything was changing rapidly! The 90's are some of the most interesting consoles to collect!
@WARPUDDY666 I was about to say the same thing. The positivity and enthusiasm shown in this review was refreshing after seeing so many people bashing the system. Excellent review!
Great video and overview. I had never heard of this when it was released. I went from the TG-16 to the Genesis to the SNES and I don't even remember in all that time hearing about the Jag.
The Jaguar gets a lot of respect these days.. because of curiosity value. Back in the day... hardly anyone touched it.. because it only had a few good games and most were pretty poor.
Back in 94, I was given a choice between the Jag & 3DO, and I'm glad I chose the 3DO. The 3DO could actually do impressive 3D and had a lot of cutting edge games. Sure.. I wanted to play Tempest & AVP, but I could live without them. The 3DO was the true next generation machine of that period in gaming.
awesome review man - i've not got alot of jaguar stuff although i did get a bit this weekend - crap i know but picked up brutal sports foot ball for £2.50 about $4 and i won a copy of aliens for £13 which is really cheap is that thing goes for crazy cash over here! looking forward to giving it a blast, it does look good for a jaguar game lol . joypad = aweful, telephone keypad??? it was 1993 not 1978 along with the layovers very intelevision! keep rocking dude
Great video as always man but what a horrible console. That controller may be comfortable in the hands but who needs 12 Start & Select buttons you can't even reach properly and overlays were a bad idea when Intellivision and Coleco Vision did it first. Also there is a big difference between raycasting and actual polygon rendering of which the Jaguar was bad at. Sorry to rant here but I wish I could find the designers of the Jaguar and early 80s game controllers and kick them in the balls. >O
@OneRealOG - D-Pad Gaming is in Burien: 12602 1st ave s, Seattle, WA 98168. It's a little hole in the wall, but is owned by two awesome dudes who love to make sure you find what you are looking for!
As a former Homebrewer for Jaguar, The problem with the 3D of the Jaguar is not the ability but the level of difficulty to code for it. IT could keep up with the Saturn or the PS1 but it lacked the tools necessary to properly write efficient code. Everything had to be done in J-RISC assembler. Aso the two RISC processors where bugged and could not normally run out in the MAIN system RAM, until I discovered a way
to do so. Unfortunately it was still difficult and too little too late.
We still make games for the Jaguar! Find us on facebook, StormWorks Interactive. Working on a puzzle game as we speak! On twitter as well! Great Review on your channel, very fair- and we agree, Checkered Flag is a bit rough around the edges ;) Some of our favorites are Battlesphere gold, Ultra Vortek, Tempest, Val D'Isere Skiing, Doom, SkyHammer, and Total Carnage!
Thanks for the video MJ. I was one of the early adopters of this system. I found myself defending it against other console owners but eventually gave up when Atari lost heart in its own product and pulled the plug. It was a quirky system that "tried but died". Though it is way cool that the homebrew comm is alive and kicking, maybe that was it's ultimate purpose in life.
@MAMECADE - Atari was just a MESS in the late 80's & early 90's...and it's so disappointing! I really think they lost site of what gamers wanted. They had the world, and pissed it away.
@MetalJesusRocks Wow, your theme song is much better than AVGN's theme song. Do u ever make album reviews? I love for u to review Priest's Nostradamus or the new Van Halen album that just came out.
Great vid dude, nice to see the Jaguar getting some love :) Id definitley buy Wolfenstein dude, I have a loose cart and a sealed copy and the game is a fantastic port. Doom is superb however it doesn't have the music which sucks as the gameplay is spot on.
It is so refreshing to see someone actually give a fair review of this long forgotten console, I still have mine in the box, with a handful of boxed games, and play it regularly, good job! :D
neutopia6 5 hours ago
AHHHHHHHHHHHH WHERE DO I REMEMBER THIS THING FROM!!!!!
tylersurcess 6 days ago
@MetalJesusRocks
Did you know that there was going to be a version of tempest on the 2600 but it never got released?
The way i found out about it was on Atari's Greatest Hits on the DS
Theamrajr218 1 week ago
Really informative review. I used to have one in the box with some boxed games. I'm gonna get another boxed one someday. I miss it. :( Great job showing all of the best games and the positives of what it can do and what it was at the time of the release.
ckendrick341991 2 weeks ago
if you look at checkered flag and contrast with say the cd version of world tour racing, its like your playing a different console.
part off it is storage capacity limitations and part is the difficuilty is programming with new developers still largely unfamiliar with the jaguar.
world tour racing and the demo paze zero proves that the jaguar was capable off some pretty commpetive 3d graphics for the time
cant1rac 1 month ago
the pad i think is fantastic, but dosent look that good.
the number pad look intimidating and retro for 93.
but with the game transfers on it comes into its own.
i find it comfortable.
like the megadrive a few year earlier it has 3 buttons & no flipper buttons, atari did rectifie this with the pro controller.
which i'd say is the best controller till the n64.
it offers controls not avilable on other controllers i can acess weapons directly in doom without cycling unlike even the in xbox and ps3
cant1rac 1 month ago
i have the cd unit, it has a flaw in the clip that keeps the lid down and engages the unit has tendency to sheer, but its an easy repair job and a heavy book on the lid will do the job.
other than that ive found them very reilable.
what it does is allow for a much higher standard off game, getting over the limitation of the very limited capacity of a catridge (something that had a serious effect on the n64 as well)
world tour racing and phaze zero, even come close to playstaion standards
cant1rac 1 month ago
atari in 93 release the falcon, which gave st user a significant lead over amiga users.
but within 5 months had released they were not going to provide any support or new models.
atari had no money, was doing insane things with there products, undermining the confidence in suppliers and developers.
its ironic that atari who were again releasing the best hardware by far, did not have competent management or resources to make good on what their designers had produced.
the jaguar had the ablity.
cant1rac 1 month ago
all console have a mixture of 8 bit- up to 256 bit chips.
the jaguar actually has better claim off being what it claims than any other in history because it doubled up its processors on a 64bit bus and its gpu's are 64 bit.
a dreamcast has a single 32bit risc cpu and a 128bit gpu for example.
why its stuck to the jag is more to do with competiors claims agianst it like nintendo that release the the n64 with a single 32bit cpu and a 64bit gpu and actually less of a ligitamite claim than Atari.
cant1rac 1 month ago
breathtaking hardware you just have to read what john carmack's (doom) comments when talking about the jag and the 3do.
sadly it was horrendously let down by Atari's game development, poor panther developed titles never showed of its strengths.
and made reviewer make overly harsh reviews.
as well as the curious decission to remake atari arcade classics like missle command over other more popular atari arcade classics like gauntlet paperboy & hard drivin, sadly most off these remakes made the n64
cant1rac 1 month ago
NBA Jam TE is great on Jaguar
LongIslandVideoGamer 1 month ago
Very good review...I still have my Jaguar I bought new..Good system..
mikieson 1 month ago
Some of the best Jag games were made in the uk like, Alien vs Preditor, Cannon Fodder, Zool 2, Syndicate, Theme Park, Brutal Sports Football, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Jaguar versions of Tempest 2000 Defender 2000, Worms and Battlemorph. Also some not so great games too like Zoop, Cybermorph, Skyhammer, I-War. I may be wrong about some of these games.
OwtDaftUK 1 month ago
i think the jaguar had potential but the poor 3rd party support let it down
Mhd287 1 month ago
great review bro like always keep up the awesome channel
TRGTheRetroGamer 2 months ago
It lied it was only ever a 32 bit
phoenixflame44 2 months ago
Great review!
Jaguar was not bad at 3D, but nasty hardware bugs prevented decent texture performance. A pre-release video of "Missile Command 3D" shows much smoother framerate without textures, but developers had to use textures.
Still a good game.
Other good 3D games IMO: AvP, Battlemorph, BattleSphere, DOOM & Wolfenstein 3D, IS & IS2, Skyhammer, Tempest 2000, Zero 5, Val d'Isere and Super Burnout.
The last two are pseudo-3D but extremely smooth, fast and fun.
Check out Rayman for 2D greatness.
rudiangath 2 months ago
Oh, and there's World Tour Racing, a half decent game but a million times better than Checkered Flag.
The jaguar had some really lousy games, but there is also a great share of really good games.
rudiangath 2 months ago
nice video, your cool I understand everything your saying thumbs up
v1wax 3 months ago
Great video. brings me back to the 90's. I never had a Jaguar, but my Mom was going to buy me one. We had went to Toys R' Us to buy it, but it was out of stock. The employees told me to come back in a few days. Like the impatient kid I was, I just walked out of the store after buying a bunch of SNES games.
ContraCommando 3 months ago
You thought Motocross 3d was bad? Have you played ET for the atari 2600?
TheOneWhoNomsCheese 4 months ago
Iron Soldier reminds me of Mech Warrior which was a huge deal back in the early 90s. Also, I think the opinion about Supercross 3d at the time would've been more positive. No one would've thought it was amazing but I remember playing the snes version of doom in like 1994 and being completely immersed in it even though it's terrible by today's standards.
Dreamewalker 4 months ago
great review! You really highlighted the good and the ugly of the system in a fair respect unlike many reviewers. Doom and Wolf do look really good (and wolf frame rate is amazing) on the system. I think they show the Jag could do good for early 90s 3D, if programed right.
Sypran 4 months ago
Great review, i always liked the jaguar and cd drive, some great cd games, a lot of developers dropped the system, when it was launched, which is why some games in early adverts never came out, on the packaging for the cd drive, most of those games were not released, robinsons requiem, only came out recently on homebrew.
squirm13 5 months ago
Poo and wee
88johnbarnes 5 months ago
"It feels really good in my hands." That's what she said.
Chaoitcme 5 months ago
Nice to see a review on the jaguar that isn't just slagging it off. I may be slightly biased but I do just love the little charms it has :D Also I'm glad you noted the controller isn't as bad as you'd think. I was really surprised when I first played on mine. The key pad is rather dorky but it's just such a quirky console that I find it hard not to love it :D
Samcubegamer 5 months ago
Nice video! Jaguar... "swang song... chinese temple... quirky" ... well worded my friend!
m15granger 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
If you think that motorcross game's frame rate was bad, imagine it in 50hz!
Oh dear lord...
TheGreatBritishGamer 5 months ago
Comment removed
TheGreatBritishGamer 5 months ago
man, just found your channel through petedorr. Gotta say im really enjoying the vids and your style. Subbed man
OnThatPowder 5 months ago
stunt race fx is more fun than checkered flag
KillingJoke696 6 months ago
If you were an Amiga user back in the day, you'd be familiar with Zool and Canon Fodder. I was surprised to see more than a few Amiga ports. A lot of the games "feel" like Amiga games. Which is great if you're an Amiga fan, but maybe not so much if you are trying to sell a 64-bit system..
desiv1 6 months ago
That was fun and educational. It's just amazing to see how companies struggled with the fast pace of the 90s. That aside, when I watch your videos I always think "Man, the Seattle area must be video game heaven" :)
thekorben 7 months ago
WOW great video MJ!
TheGebs24 7 months ago
Great video! It's always nice to see a "real" review/commentary on the little Jaguar, rather than comical bashing. I've owned, and loved, the Jaguar for years. There are plenty of great games and hidden gems. I also like the controller, especially the shape, I just wish the buttons were a bit less mushy. Also nice to see you on AtariAge. There is a great community over there.
implantgames 7 months ago
Doom,Tempest, Wolfenstein were really good. Oh and Intellivision was the first system to use those keypad overlays. Thanks for the video!
auroramike71 7 months ago
Excellent review - have always liked the Jaguar.
electricadventures 7 months ago
Cool review, I always wanted to try this console out. The controller looks so weird, and the console has a nice look to it. Its a shame looking for it on craigslist and such, and people are trying to charge ridiculous prices for them.
AskeGuitar 7 months ago
nice review, i subbed you!
onecreativecriminal 7 months ago
First great review I've watched that's not totally bashing this great retro system.
I hate that way to many people are comparing it to the Later released N64 witch to me is just ignorant as Graphics in 93 were not as good as 1995 and later
Rock On Man
WARPUDDY666 7 months ago 9
@WARPUDDY666 - Thanks very much! It's amazing how quickly the video game industry changed year by year in the 1990s. CPUs, video cards, CD-Rom speeds, networking... everything was changing rapidly! The 90's are some of the most interesting consoles to collect!
MetalJesusRocks 7 months ago 10
@MetalJesusRocks another thing that was interesting that pretty much all of the consoles released between the snes and the playstation failed.
kaiserwilhelm 7 months ago
@WARPUDDY666 are you serious? the snes is better than this piece of shit, fuck a megadrive gives it a good run for its money
malBOROkid 7 months ago
@WARPUDDY666 I was about to say the same thing. The positivity and enthusiasm shown in this review was refreshing after seeing so many people bashing the system. Excellent review!
Chubzdoomer 2 weeks ago
Great video and overview. I had never heard of this when it was released. I went from the TG-16 to the Genesis to the SNES and I don't even remember in all that time hearing about the Jag.
atarileaf 7 months ago
Good video man, keep them coming.
gravysam 7 months ago
Well done.
coachmillsblog 7 months ago
The Jaguar gets a lot of respect these days.. because of curiosity value. Back in the day... hardly anyone touched it.. because it only had a few good games and most were pretty poor.
Back in 94, I was given a choice between the Jag & 3DO, and I'm glad I chose the 3DO. The 3DO could actually do impressive 3D and had a lot of cutting edge games. Sure.. I wanted to play Tempest & AVP, but I could live without them. The 3DO was the true next generation machine of that period in gaming.
kingstonlj 7 months ago
awesome review man - i've not got alot of jaguar stuff although i did get a bit this weekend - crap i know but picked up brutal sports foot ball for £2.50 about $4 and i won a copy of aliens for £13 which is really cheap is that thing goes for crazy cash over here! looking forward to giving it a blast, it does look good for a jaguar game lol . joypad = aweful, telephone keypad??? it was 1993 not 1978 along with the layovers very intelevision! keep rocking dude
ukretrogameaddict 7 months ago
Great video as always man but what a horrible console. That controller may be comfortable in the hands but who needs 12 Start & Select buttons you can't even reach properly and overlays were a bad idea when Intellivision and Coleco Vision did it first. Also there is a big difference between raycasting and actual polygon rendering of which the Jaguar was bad at. Sorry to rant here but I wish I could find the designers of the Jaguar and early 80s game controllers and kick them in the balls. >O
TheBladeJunker 7 months ago
...where at downtown was that store?
OneRealOG 7 months ago
@OneRealOG - D-Pad Gaming is in Burien: 12602 1st ave s, Seattle, WA 98168. It's a little hole in the wall, but is owned by two awesome dudes who love to make sure you find what you are looking for!
MetalJesusRocks 7 months ago
@MetalJesusRocks cool ill check that out, looking for shadowrun on the snes...
OneRealOG 7 months ago
@Metal J
As a former Homebrewer for Jaguar, The problem with the 3D of the Jaguar is not the ability but the level of difficulty to code for it. IT could keep up with the Saturn or the PS1 but it lacked the tools necessary to properly write efficient code. Everything had to be done in J-RISC assembler. Aso the two RISC processors where bugged and could not normally run out in the MAIN system RAM, until I discovered a way
to do so. Unfortunately it was still difficult and too little too late.
3gdosrsfs 7 months ago
Great video, glad I subscribed! keep up the great work mate!
khisanth75 7 months ago
I totally agree that the Atari Jaguar was a very nice looking system.
Synth3t1cs 7 months ago
It's the Jaguarrrrrrrrrr....
Dustrick 7 months ago
Does anybody know the original price of the jaguar?
critter505 7 months ago
We still make games for the Jaguar! Find us on facebook, StormWorks Interactive. Working on a puzzle game as we speak! On twitter as well! Great Review on your channel, very fair- and we agree, Checkered Flag is a bit rough around the edges ;) Some of our favorites are Battlesphere gold, Ultra Vortek, Tempest, Val D'Isere Skiing, Doom, SkyHammer, and Total Carnage!
KANGAshawn 7 months ago 6
Great video as always. Most people know Zool better from the Commodore Amiga versions.
Polaventris 7 months ago
Thanks for the video MJ. I was one of the early adopters of this system. I found myself defending it against other console owners but eventually gave up when Atari lost heart in its own product and pulled the plug. It was a quirky system that "tried but died". Though it is way cool that the homebrew comm is alive and kicking, maybe that was it's ultimate purpose in life.
MAMECADE 7 months ago
@MAMECADE - Atari was just a MESS in the late 80's & early 90's...and it's so disappointing! I really think they lost site of what gamers wanted. They had the world, and pissed it away.
MetalJesusRocks 7 months ago
@MetalJesusRocks Wow, your theme song is much better than AVGN's theme song. Do u ever make album reviews? I love for u to review Priest's Nostradamus or the new Van Halen album that just came out.
kgp8 2 days ago
all these games look worse than a super nintendo game...no wonder the jag failed.
maniacchris 7 months ago
Very nice review! It really made me change my mind about the Jag!
markvergeer 7 months ago
Great vid dude, nice to see the Jaguar getting some love :) Id definitley buy Wolfenstein dude, I have a loose cart and a sealed copy and the game is a fantastic port. Doom is superb however it doesn't have the music which sucks as the gameplay is spot on.
Snestastic 7 months ago
Atari went up hill during the 70's.
Atari went down hill during the 80's and 90's.
games4356 7 months ago
do the math
BardoJoe 7 months ago
First! Damn the Jaguar sucked!
callmemarc 7 months ago