Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy - Atari Jaguar

[glsmops]

I'm one of those people who don't like the game :)

But I played it 'till the end! It's not tough, you just need to learn attack patterns, that are always the same.

[J25x]

Super NES could not have pulled these textures off.

[msbae]

If anything, I'd say this game is a cheap knock-off of Gradius or R-Type, not a competitor for Star Fox.

The Super NES could have done these kind of graphics using the same technology that was used for Donkey Kong Country.

[Lupucillo]

This looks like a fan game.

[ChadSpeaks]

It's like Gradius meets Wing Commander programmed by unemployed meth addicts!

[Supertomiman]

my biggest complaint is that everything produces shrapnell or dubree and it ends up killing you, not to mention the enemies that go behind you as soon as they appear on screen...

[spiffyvictory]

Just to chime in:

Apparently the game was originally developed on Atari's cancelled Panther console (which was supposed to directly compete with Genesis and SNES, and launch in 1991). Jag was moving faster than expected, so Atari cancelled Panther (which was almost done) and concentrated on Jag development (they launched Jag in '93). And the Jag launch was rushed, so what you're seeing is an unoptimized port of a Panther game serving as a glorified demo on Jaguar.

[SonicRchannel]

I got this game the day I got my Jaguar at launch… I personally enjoy it, but I hate the fact that you are FORCED to continue… I love challenging games that push me to improve! - my only other complain, the lack of rapid fire! my thumbs take punishment while I play!

[LanceCampeau]

Graphics aside... this is as bad as the reviews of the day spoke of.... holy absence of music.

[ChannelUmptyThree]

THIS was meant to compete with Star Fox?

[viMasterJag]

@ChannelUmptyThree No, it wasn't. Where did you get that idea?

[ChannelUmptyThree]

@viMasterJag I heard about this game on some website reviewing some of the worst games ever made, and they made a comment about this being launched around the same time as 'the other furry space shooter a.k.a Star Fox'

[nicholasthetaylor]

:) This game makes me smile. Atari's future in jeopardy and so they put all their eggs in one basket... I was expecting at the very least - an attempt to clone starfox. Especially after the brilliant lion head superimposed over some poor army guy's photo. It had me gaspig for air I had the giggles so bad XD

[AxKeeper]

I can't believe this game is getting so much hate, I loved it when I first played it. The graphics are amazing, even for today the style really is outstanding, I love the cat people to lol

[zephichan]

Everyone says the graphics are 'amazing', they weren't. Large cart size + lots of DRAM + prerendered graphics != good graphics, not even 'for the day'. The SNES had a lot less to work with, and still came out with better sprites during its entire run.

This was a crappy rush-job by Atari (like always) to compete at launch with Starfox.

The Jaguar, and games like this, directly lead to the failure dissolution of Atari Corp.

It doesn't look like it'd be remotely any fun to play, either. ._.

[viMasterJag]

@zephichan Actually, they were very good for their time. I wouldn't call the amount of RAM the Jaguar has as "lots," but yeah, obviously more than systems before. I consider the amount of memory the Jaguar has a negative.

I love the system, but they could have done more with more memory.

I consider Cybermorph the game to compete with StarFox -- not Trevor McFur.

Trevor is a completely different game. That comparison simply wouldn't make sense.

[zephichan]

@viMasterJag SNES had 128kb of segmented RAM and 64kb of video ram. Genesis had 64+64kb. So, the Jaguar having 2MB of Fast Page Mode DRAM on a dedicated 64-bit bus is a giant-sized difference.

How many systems of the same era were trying to do pre-rendered 3D from carts?

It had oodles of capability over the competition, but the games reflected a level of quality synonymous with B movies, even the touted AvP looked and played flat and boring once you get up close instead of looking at stills.

[bobbystar101]

@zephichan Have you actually played a Jaguar?

Obviously its going to have more ram, it came out after the snes and genesis and was a generation ahead. Thats why these graphics are so much better. BTW avp does not look or play flat or boring if you actually sat and played it through on a jaguar.

[viMasterJag]

@zephichan There were other BIGGER problems at Atari that DIRECTLY lead to their demise. The Jaguar & its games were not the biggest cause, but the management behind them and the fact that they didn't have enough money to invest in it in the first place.

Pump more money into the Jaguar and development tools and we'd be reading a different story.

The Tramiels were cheap, cheap, cheap.

[dstarks80]

@zephichan These were amazing Graphics for their time. I haven't seen an SNES Genesis game with graphics like these. Also what in the hell does this game have in common with StarFox? I think it has more in common with Gradius 3 on SNES. But this game looks and plays a hell of alot better that Gradius 3.

[zephichan]

@dstarks80 Oh, I don't know what it has in common maybe. Plot, characters, release date. All ripoffs, of course, but...not gameplay, graphics, sound effects, music, critical reviews, popularity or sales, obviously. ._.

SNES, Genesis, and even the venerable Neo Geo (1990-2007, RIP) didn't have anywhere near as much RAM.

As other commenters pointed out, high resolution doesn't mean high quality. High quality trumps higher resolution nearly every time. Music and decent gameplay are good too.

[dstarks80]

@zephichan The main purpose of Trevr McFur was to demonstrate what the Jag was graphically capable of doing in 2D. It's definetly a crude and rushed game but it's graphics are runnin on 24-bit true color with no slowdown and no glitches.Genesis,SNES, and $569 Neo Geo could not pull this off. Characters? Tevor McFur and his girlfriend Cutter are both Jaguars-not Foxes. There are no birds,frogs or dogs in this game either.

[ElectricRat]

@0:18: Looks like a bad photoshop thrown together by a procrastinating student being thrown together at once on the night of the deadline

[jurkis1]

I had thisgame. I got it for free with a mail in rebate. I don't remember getting very far cause it was so hard.

[WCWite]

I bid on this on Ebay hopefully I win!

[xg4bx]

i like this game but my only complaints are no music and no parallax scrolling

[viMasterJag]

Same here, I like the game. Music would be cool, but I'm still ok with it not having any. The pre-rendered graphics were amazing for its day, but it's tough as nails :-D

[anonymous0s0egion]

I hate to criticize but as for general review graphics dont make the game gameplay does and to me this looks like an unimaginative and extremely boring game.

To each their own I suppose.

[viMasterJag]

@anonymous0s0egion Of course. Gameplay is key. I like the game, personally. I think it's a decent shmup -- great graphics or not. But not everyone thinks the same as me. it's very difficult and that's usually why people don't like it.

[SuperCosmica]

Breathtaking? It's nothing more than a Project-X rip off. And a bad one. Tempest 2000 really stole the show on the Jag and against all odds too.

[viMasterJag]

@SuperCosmica And yet you could call Project-X a rip-off of Gradius.

In any case, I liked the game, but many people did not because they didn't have the gonads to get their trash kicked enough to get far.

T2K is obviously a much better game, though.

[WolfyPsycho]

HA! My bro and I played this game when we were kids and it's no problem, because we cheated. >-D I forgot what buttons to push right now but at least there's a way to beat this game so it isn't hopeless. ^_^

[SinisterSally]

back in the day magazines like gamepro listed the amount of memory in a cartridge. bigger games needed bigger needed more memory. today CDs and DVDs pretty much are all the same size except for duel layer and what not. I remember this game mainly because of its memory size, 4 megs (thats megabytes, not megabits... at least i hope so). during the time the Snes was rocking 32meg carts and genesis was dishing out 24 megs, hell the neo geo was pushing into the 100+.

[viMasterJag]

The SNES was pulling out 2-32 megaBIT carts, not megaBYTES. 32 mb = 4 MB, which is the same size as some of the Jaguar carts, though the Jag can technically handle a larger cart size. Memory was a lot more expensive back then, though, so 6 MB carts wouldn't have made financial sense.

[ephiany1]

This is more like it! This was the Jaguar's other launch title,yes? I like how it forgoes 3-D and goes for plain awesome graphics. That boss is so sharp-looking it makes me sick.

Better sound than Cybermorph,too. Looks fun to play; plenty of action,and enemies come at you in interesting ways. And the animals in clothing is a riot. With some music,this game would be awesome.

In a fair world,this would have been the game to power early Jag sales. Back then,everyone was screaming for 3D. Shame.

[viMasterJag]

And yet this is one title people tend to hate.

But certainly not for its graphics, because I agree, they look outstanding and were awesome for its day.

The gameplay is what suffered on this one, though I still think it's a lot of fun -- just very difficult.

It's probably just that -- the difficulty that pisses people off! ;-)

[Dashuto]

Jesus christ someone save humanity

[grapenutsrbt]

Wow. I could make this game on Maxis Klick and Play.

[yethboth]

Very Good.

[mistertakeda]

"Yiffiest game ever! Two paws up!"

Notice how it's also a rip off of Star Fox.

[viMasterJag]

I can't see the similarities between this game and Star Fox.

This is a side-scroller, Star Fox is an on-rails 3rd person shooter.

Star Fox uses polygons and this one is pre-rendered objects.

Where are the similarities?

[mistertakeda]

Simple, my friend. They both are about anthropomorphic beasties flying starships in space for some sort of galactic federation.

They both came out in 1993, perhaps with one riding the hypetrain of the other. That's the sort of thing Atari liked to do. Check out all their other knockoffs for the Jaguar.

Nothing wrong with it. It's just funny.

[viMasterJag]

I sort of understand what you're saying, but really, it's hard to call anything a knock off any more, because almost every single game has been done before.

Sorry if I took it the wrong way, but "rip off" has a negative connotation.

I would lean more towards Cybermorph being a clone of Star Fox, however, they are still just too different... and Cybermorph is certainly superior lol.

[Lumpytoast]

Trevor McFur?

Fox McCloud?

[viMasterJag]

heh, I actually like it.  it's tough, though.

[dstarks80]

I like it too. It has no slowdown and outstanding graphics. A kickin soundtrack and 2 player team play would've made it perfect. If you've ever played Gradius3 for SNES,you'll notice it has great music but the slowdown makes it barely playable. I would've love to have seen a CD sequel for this one.

[mystapler]

What else is strange is that the only time I did a search on YouTube for "Trevor McFur" (after having seen pictures of it on the Video Game Museum website), is the day you just happened to have uploaded this video. Weird coincidence.

[viMasterJag]

Yeah, that's really crazy! I'm glad I upped it :)

The video really doesn't do it justice, though. It looks MUCH better :)

Some of these I should upload on my own webspace so I can keep the quality.

[mystapler]

I think the animal characters look really funny. They look like regular animals faces stuck on people's bodies.

[CRVKHZ]

They probably are.