Atari Jaguar Sees New Life – Five New Games
The Atari Jaguar was the last console by Atari – until I see proof otherwise, I am not accepting the Ataribox as a “console”. Some say the Jaguar was ill-fated from the get go, while others think it was a rather elegant system and had more than its share of good games. I have never owned one personally, only experiencing the joys of that keypad laden controller through emulation. That has not stopped me from watching the Jaguar game development scene though. Over on Retro Gaming Magazine I cover the Jaguar quite a bit. Here are five games I think Atari Jaguar fans will enjoy a lot.
Philia, Myst-like Adventure
Philia is a Myst-like point and click adventure game by Orion Soft. This game, and its sequel, make great use of the Atari Jaguar’s increased color palette. There is not a lot to say without ruining the story of either game. Myst fans will love them.
Elansar, Sequel to Philia
Elansar is one of those games that uses the massive colors available on screen at once that the Atari Jaguar affords developers. Over 30 locations depicted in nearly 120 true color pictures, Elansar is bound to confound even the best Myst player a few times.
Good luck finding a copy of either though as the developer/publisher sold out of the Atari Jaguar edition almost immediately. You can grab the Sega Dreamcast versions of ELANSAR & PHILIA
Alice’s Mom’s Rescue, Run and Jump Action
The third game on this list is also by Orion Soft (as were Philia and Elansar) and it is still available on their site if you wish to purchase a copy for your Jaguar CD. There are three worlds and twenty five levels of run and jump action to enjoy.
Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior
Known as Death Sword in North America, Barbarian was one of those Epyx games you could get on computers in the late 1980’s. When released the publisher hired professional actors for the box art rather than using traditional hand drawn art. Maria Whittaker is the lady, and yes, she did nudes. For those still here, Barbarian was a 2D one on one fighting game that featured weapons combat (something that was not common).
Switchblade, 2D Side Scrolling Action Game
This one was covered here on Steemit by me. Fans of huge and difficult levels should definitely hit the Piko Interactive website and place your pre-order ASAP.
Nice to see some new stuff for the Jag. I picked one and a handful of games for it up at Dayton Hamvention a long time ago, and regrettably neither were Tempest 2000 or Alien vs. Predator.
Congrats on getting some Jag stuff, sucks that you couldn't find either "holy grail" of Jag gaming though. Keep looking, you may find them in the least expected location.
What games did you get?
I paid $20 for the console, Checkered Flag and Kasumi Ninja. Neither are what you would consider good games by any stretch of the imagination. This was after Atari had thrown in the towel on the system and the guy selling them just wanted them out of his warehouse.
As with most deals like this the true value in a purchase like that is the console itself.
Awesome - love these retro updates (even when they're about new games!) 😀
Great to hear. I don't mind writing about old games but you can only write about Super Mario Bros 3 so much before it is boring - I end up going and playing it rather than finishing articles on it. lol
Thanks for the list! I want to get a jaguar cd for my collection right now I just have the jaguar base unit. But one day I'll find a jaguar CD player at a good price.
It's pretty amazing there are people still programming for the console. Very cool that they are though!
Of the list up there, Switchblade is the only Jag cart game coming. Probably due to the high costs, and technical know how required, to create Jag carts is why so many go with the Jag CD for production (even though it is a MUCH smaller potential market).
We need these companies making carts to work together instead of against each other. There are so many games that could sell more if they were on cart rather than CD (as long as the developer is not only interested in "limited" runs of 100 or fewer copies).
That's still incredibly impressive! I think I am going to start saving my SBD so I can buy a copy of that game. I would love to show it off on steemit for everyone!
Awesome post. I agree totally that Jaguar was a bit ahead of its time in processing power. Unfortunately the price tag and a lack of Mario/Sonic type killer app spelled its doom. I had no idea people were still developing for it though. I'd love to see some posts on 8 and 16-bit development - it's kind of on my bucket list to write my own 8-bit game. Upvoated, followed and resteemed!
If you are an 8 and 16-bit fan then please browse my article history here on Steemit and over on Retro Gaming Magazine as I am also a HUGE fan of that era too. I also take note of what people take the time to ask for more of and do my best to go that direction.
Man, imagine if Atari could have gotten their license with Sega going earlier in the Jag's life. They had a deal with Sega that gave them carte blanche access to Sega's library (including Sonic, Streets of Rage, etc). I like to think about how the Jag would have faired if Atari had ported (and upgraded along the way) games like Altered Beast (I know it "sucks" but imagine an arcade perfect port), Phantasy Star II, Alex Kidd (anything considering Sega dropped him like a hot potato) or any one of the many Sega arcade games that were crippled on the Genesis console. Too bad this agreement came so late in the life of the Jag - similar to the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 deal for 3DO - it was too late to act on.
The Jaguar was one of those rare consoles that I've never had the joy to play or even be around... Nice to see it's sort of still alive thogh! Great post!
There are over 60 games in development, planned to be released by the end of next year from various publishers. This console is far from dead. It just isn't covered by sites like Gamespot or IGN.