Description

The Jaguar was Atari’s final console and was marketed as the first 64-bit console but the graphics and sound chips only went up to 32 bits each and Atari used this to argue the console was 64-bit. Even though the console was incredibly powerful at launch, it struggled to compete with the SNES and Sega Mega Drive which had enormous consumer bases and superior third party support. The Jaguar’s library was very small with only 50 cartridge based games released but had many great games like Tempest 2000 by industry legend Jeff Minter which was a remake of the 1981 arcade game, the game was ported to PlayStation and computers following the console’s failure. The failure of the Atari 5200, 7800 and Lynx had diminished Atari’s influence in the console market and the Atari ST computers, which were very successful, were losing market share. The same year the Jaguar launched Atari discontinued all of their computers which made the Jaguar the company’s main source of revenue. The release of the PlayStation only made the Jaguar’s situation worse the PS1 was more powerful, used CD-roms and had better third party support, the Jaguar was cheaper but most consumers who wanted a cheaper option went for the fourth generation consoles which now had huge libraries due to years of support. Two years after the console’s release the company released a CD add-on to compete with the PlayStation but this was an even greater flop with only 11 games released for it. In 1996 the console was discontinued with most of the company’s industry being unsold and Atari was acquired by Hasbro, in 1999 the Atari Jaguar patents were released into the public domain which created a sizable homebrew community.