Atari Jaguar Question

[brentsg]

My Jag is literally a Tempest 2000 machine. It comes out at gatherings whenever alcohol is involved and does a fine job, before going back in the box.

I so have a copy of Raiden but I've never bothered playing it.

It's a good investment for this alone.

[KindGrind]

Thread necro - I picked up a clean Jag with AvP and Doom. In the mail at this point, but pretty excited about it, weirdly enough. I had trouble sleeping last night... Pretty eerie, it felt like I reconnected with my 1993 self somehow.

I'll get Tempest 2K for sure. I want Rayman but the game seems pretty expensive... To be fair anything seems expensive when your dollar is worth shit, though.

[bulbousbeard]

It really saddens me that it's 2016 and there still isn't a truly good emulator for Tempest 2000.

Dio's standalone emulator is still the best one, but it's just so primitive in so many respects. There seems to be 0 interest from anyone with the technical skills to do it.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I bought an Atari Jaguar back in 1995 and later on, the Jaguar CD add-on interface. It's recommended to get a proper T2K rotary knob controller as Tempest 2000 does have built-in support for it (yep, Jeff Minter added it in, so it comes in quite handy and gives T2K that super slick gameplay that only a rotary knob controller is able to provide over the default D-pad control scheme in place). I recall playing the T2K game on one of those cool Jag console demo kiosks that a local "The Good Guys!" had on location at their Modesto, CA retail store back in March of 1994. That was pure awesomeness back in the day. Tis a shame that Atari Corp. never did release a proper official T2K rotary knob controller bundled with T2K as it would've sold like hotcakes quite easily (no matter what the retail MSRP was at that point in time).

Here's a custom-made T2K controller with the usual requiste sliky-smooth rotary knob + D-pad functionality included:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/nicolas_persijn ... 7675.l2562

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-Jaguar-Ro ... LLdv3SeQig

Telegames released some exclusive Jag games under their own label including Zero 5 and World Tour Racing (a Jag CD game to be more precise). Zero 5 is best played with an auto-fire endowed Jag controller like the Dan Loosen custom-made Jaguar DX arcade joystick controller that he used to sell on his Goat Store website back in 2000. I had fellow shmupper, Matt Ross, add auto-fire functionality to that particular Jag arcade stick controller and it works like a charm to all Jag games that need auto-fire to enhance the gameplay a tad bit on-the-fly (if it needed be).

Battlesphere was up for pre-order back in February of 2000 (from the likes of developer Scatological now known as FourPlay these days) and was later replaced by the Battlesphere Gold upgrade release.

At the World of Atari Expo back in August of 1998 hosted in Las Vegas of all places to have it at (precursor to the retro CGE shows that followed afterwards), (actually on the very last day of the WoA expo) a Duranik employee brought in a Jag dev system + Jag 2mb flash cart + PC laptop and personally asked me if I wanted to try out a game of Native. I said yes, and was treated to a stellar two stage demo (complete with end-stage boss to fight against/take down) of it complete with sound effects and lush BGM as well. I was blown away by the sliky-smooth arcade-spec 60fps framerate and by the slick homage to R-Type with Native's gameplay & game mechanics of it. I was one of the few lucky folks whom were able to try out this Native demo that day and it was truly an unforgettable/legendary shmup experience to play it in that format/version.

Eventually fast forward to the mid-2000s era, B&C Computervision (based out of El Dorado, CA) released the Native Demo as a Jag CD disc but it requires an installed Jag CD Encryption Bypass Cartridge to be able to play it properly (or else it's no dice/unbootable without it) but with no sound EFX nor any BGM tunes to listen to while playing it (which sucks big time IMO as the audio/BGM portion is truly killer to listen to/behold in person and truly compliments the gameplay like a well-fiited glove + sets the stage/overall tone for the player to get all pumped up when playing a given stage). Only if Duranik had finished & released it's Jag based Native shmup, it would've been a legendary Jag app killer worth owning/playing, indeed (but it wasn't meant to be as it's still currently unfinished as it is).

The Jag game titles of Super Burnout and Rayman both have that slick sliky-smooth 60fps framerate presentation besides the aforementioned Native demo and shouldn't be missed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I have a Jaguar and still play it somewhat regularly. It has enough games up my alley to keep playing it, but it's a tough sell these days at the current prices it tends to go for.

My favorites are Wolf 3D, Tempest 2000, Iron Soldier, Super Burnout.

Those are good! Right now I'm borrowing Super Burnout (with my own copy on the way), Rayman, and Tempest 2000. The T2K actually feels a bit tighter than the Saturn release despite the worse framerate, and the sound mix is much better. I think what I want to do eventually is make or buy a spinner for it.

Man, the Super Burnout soundtrack is fantastic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdKE3QjUgck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGvW3wojy6g
I don't *think* these videos are off real hardware though. I had it hooked up to my stereo and it's surprisingly non-grainy, like a Gravis Ultrasound.

Yeah, I agree that at current eBay prices I wouldn't get one. This one I got for a great price.

My commiserations.

Well, I made a list of games I want for it, and there's actually enough to keep me interested. It's definitely not a system I would *generally* recommend though.

BTW has anyone tried that snowboarding game for it? It looks ridiculously fast. I also wonder how the Pinball Fantasies port is-- I have an Amiga, but those games are NOT NTSC friendly. No matter how I force it, it still won't go. So, the Jag one is appealing to me if it's not broken.

Nowadays, a Jaguar GameDrive flash cart to play all 77 Jaguar games (including Jaguar CD games running off of the Jag GD itself) gets the job done via microSD card setup.

With Tempest 2000, a good high-quality spinner-based controller (preferably one that rotates silky-smooth and isn't notchy-like/clicky when spinning) does the trick. The real arcade cab of Tempest has a "ball bearing" based spinner and is truly silky-smooth to begin with. Gotta give kudos/respect to Jeff Minter for including rotary spinner support with Tempest 2000 from the "get-go" indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Austin]

T2K spinner control has to be the most overrated thing on the Jaguar. The game dips to like, probably 10 fps constantly, so the theoretical benefits the spinner provides (speed and fine-tuned accuracy) is completely negated by that fact. I find T2K much more enjoyable (and controllable) with the dpad.