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History of video games/Platforms/Atari Jaguar

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History

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Sketch of the Atari Panther, the cancelled predecessor to the Atari Jaguar.

Development

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The Atari Jaguar was the first major system to be marketed by Atari since the Atari 7800.

The number pad at the bottom of the controller was designed to offer extra control, and also to accept paper overlays per game.[1]

The Atari Jaguar was manufactured in Charlotte, North Carolina and Colorado Springs, Colorado.[2]

Pre-Launch

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The touted performance of the machine lead some to speculate it would overtake offerings from rival companies Nintendo and Sega.[3]

Launch

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Do The Math
—American Atari Jaguar Slogan, What's in a Name article by Tom Charnock.[4]

The Atari Jaguar launched in 1993 for $250.[5]

Atari did not overly focus on internal software development, instead focusing on their core competency of hardware and leaving software mostly to third parties.[6] This was a critical issue for Atari because they had trouble attracting third-party developers to the Jaguar.[7]

The Do the Math Slogan was part of a marketing effort to get consumers to recognize the Jaguar as a superior 64 bit system.[4] The slogan was not used in British English markets.[4]

Legacy

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The Atari Jaguar was discontinued in 1996 and rights to the system were released to the public by Hasbro at E3 in 1999.[8][9] The Atari Jaguar sold 250,000 consoles at most,[10] a quite small number for a major console.

While the Jaguar game console had a relatively short production, its case mold was used for around a decade longer in other applications. The machines used to make Atari Jaguar cases were repurposed for making dental equipment cases.[11][12] The Jaguar molds are said to have been reused for the canceled Coleco Chameleon console.[13] The case design itself is a major divisive part of the legacy of the console with some comparing the Jaguar CD equipped systems to a toilet,[14] and others praising the design as possessing a functional layout.[15]

Technology

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Compute

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The Jaguar contains five processors, with the primary two 32 bit processors being named Tom and Jerry being clocked at clocked at 26 megahertz.[2][8][16] The Jaguar was capable of 55 Million Instructions Per Second(MIPS).[17] The Jaguar contains two megabytes of RAM.[2]

Development Kits

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The Jaguar development kit was considered to be well made.[18] The Alpine Development Kit was simply designed as an cartridge with an extended PCB which would be inserted into regular Jaguar consoles.[19]

Notable Games

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Canceled

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Console

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Controller

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Jaguar CD

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Internals

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Accessories

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Places

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External Resources

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References

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  1. "Is This The Worst Controller Ever Made?" (in en-us). Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/is-this-the-worst-controller-ever-made-453103476. Retrieved 25 October 2020. 
  2. a b c "Jaguar FAQ". atariage.com. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  3. "Le Salon international de la " High Tech " de loisirs La console de jeux vidéo cède le pas à la machine multimédia" (in fr). Le Monde.fr. 30 November 1993. https://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/1993/11/30/le-salon-international-de-la-high-tech-de-loisirs-la-console-de-jeux-video-cede-le-pas-a-la-machine-multimedia_3967984_1819218.html. 
  4. a b c Charnock, Tom. "What's in a Name?". http://www.atarijaguar.co.uk/2013/09/whats-in-name.html. 
  5. "AtariAge - Atari Jaguar History". www.atariage.com. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  6. Burns, Benjamin (19 February 2020). "The story of the Atari Jaguar saviour that never came out". Eurogamer. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  7. Writer, Eric Gwinn, Tribune Staff. "PLAYSTATION, SATURN BATTLE FOR POSITION IN THE MARKETPLACE". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  8. a b "Video game controller:Atari Jaguar Controller - Atari, Inc". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. "Hasbro Releases Jaguar Publishing Rights!!!". www.atarimuseum.com. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. "Atari Jaguar (1993-1996)". History of Console Gaming. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  11. Orland, Kyle (8 May 2015). ""Retro VGS" console aims to revive the humble video game cartridge [Updated"] (in en-us). Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/05/retro-vgs-console-aims-to-revive-the-humble-video-game-cartridge/. Retrieved 25 October 2020. 
  12. "The Machines That Literally Made Atari's Last Console" (in en-us). Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/the-machines-that-literally-made-ataris-last-console-5934490. Retrieved 25 October 2020. 
  13. "Coleco Chameleon console runs into trouble, could lose Coleco branding". Stuff. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  14. "The 10 ugliest pieces of technology ever made". The Telegraph. 12 September 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2019/09/12/10-ugliest-pieces-technology-ever-made/atari-jaguar/. 
  15. "The Video Game Critic's Atari Jaguar System Review". videogamecritic.com. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  16. "The Atari Jaguar That Should Have Been". Hackaday. 27 November 2013. https://hackaday.com/2013/11/27/the-atari-jaguar-that-should-have-been/. Retrieved 25 October 2020. 
  17. "Atari Jaguar - On the Prowl". www.gamezero.com. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  18. "Interview - Hyper Image Productions". www.gamezero.com. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  19. "Alpine Development System". www.jagware.org. Retrieved 8 February 2021.