Being the people that arguably started it all, you can understand why Atari would wish to leave the gaming world on their feet, and not on their couch playing someone else's game system. Jaguar was, in fact, a valiant effort; one which many feel didn't go as far as it could simply because of Atari's vulnerable economic position at the time; promotion for the system, compared to other system's ad campaigns at the time, was practically stagnant. Add to that hurdle a bizarre 64-bit debate, and an even more grating "Do the Math" slogan, and you can see some of the many troubles Jaguar had. Through it all, though, the Jag was (at the very least) a fine farewell to the original Atari company, which went belly-up a few years after its release.

The largest debate this console received is unresolved to this very day; was it or wasn't it the first 64-bit system, as Atari proclaimed? Skeptics say no way, Atari fans says yes way. All that can be confirmed is how games looked even when compared to 32 bit systems; not very good. The initial, with-system game, CyberMorph, was a far cry from Nintendo's eventual Mario64, which showed its 64 bits in 3D accelerated splendor. Tempest2000 (left), the jewel in Jaguar's crown, showed even less sign of "64 bits", as good as it truly was. Keep in mind, I'm not refuting that it was 64 bits; there just was little sign of it.

This debate became more trouble than it was worth, because of when Jaguar was released; right next to the over-hyped 3DO. Locking horns with 3DO's Trip Hawkins himself, Sam Tramiel went to the outer limits to defend Jaguar, most notably in a response to Computer Gaming World magazine (November 1993, page 10). Trip claimed that Jaguar was little more than two 32-bit processors running in parallel. Sam's response: "If that were true, Jaguar would be a 240-bit machine." While this might be Atari's way to "do the math," it wasn't anyone else's. They were too busy adding up the number of decent game titles for the Jaguar...and there were way too few of them.

This leads to a quick review of all the Jaguar's best games...both of them. In all honesty, Aliens vs. Predator was spectacular. The same can be said of Tempest 2000. However, that was it for major games on the Jaguar, as far as most gamers were concerned...and two games were barely enough to sell the system. Perhaps Atari should have concentrated on this issue more than releasing the CD-ROM attachment, which had even fewer titles available for it.

Jaguar biggest problem, in truth, was the bad rep Atari had by the time it was released. Sierra Online, for example, was busy making games for 3DO, though not for the Jaguar. Why? Most likely because of the lawsuit Atari placed against Sierra in the early '80s. Atari was so pompous over owning the rights to Pac-Man, they sued Sierra regarding an only-barely-like-it clone. In one swoop, King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and even Gabriel Knight came close to never existing at all. Sierra was within a hair of being sued right out of business, if not for a computer-illiterate judge. Suddenly, as of 1993, the shoe was on the other foot, and Sierra unquestionably slammed a door in Atari's face. It's petty, "burned bridges" like this that made Jaguar support a very uphill battle, indeed.

To the very end, and even some time after, Atari insists it was a great, groundbreaking system. Be that as it may, it hardly kept Atari from being liquidated just some time ago. It was still a nice attempt by one of the older video game companies to compete with the new "big boys" of gaming systems. Perhaps it was worth it, if only to keep 1990s gamers from asking, "What's Atari...?"

"To the very end, and even some time after, Atari insists it was a great, groundbreaking system. Be that as it may, it hardly kept Atari from being liquidated just some time ago."