10 Cancelled Atari Jaguar games

Something a bit different on this episode of cancelled games, as it's for a console that I've hardly played - the Atari Jaguar (and Jaguar CD).
I hope you guys enjoy, and let me know what you think of the games on show here.
You can download ROMs of some of the games in this video here:
hiddenpalace.org/Prototypes_by...
Intro music from Tempest 2000, all other music from Raiden.
Video sources:
The Realm Fighters - bgP
/ @bgp001
Tiny Toons/Jack Nicklaus/Phase Zero/Barkley - viMasterJag
/ @vimasterjag
DactylJoust - Eric Nofsinger
Deathwatch - Unseen64
/ @unseen64archive
Gotcha (Arcade) - Old Classic Retro Gaming
/ @oldclassicgame
Conan CES 1995 clip (c) Don Rogers
Conan CES clip 2 - Dosunceste
/ @dosunceste
Black Ice/White Noise - Dean Pook
/ @deanpook
Research from:
Unseen64
AtariAge
Wikipedia
Assembler Games
If anyone uses GOG for their old PC games, you can support the channel by using my link. Costs you nothing extra but gives me a little kickback.
www.gog.com/?pp=8026ea3366528...

[@onaretrotip]

Hi all! Sorry for the lack of uploads recently, but I was on holiday. Hope you enjoy this one. You can find a link to a site for ROMs in the description if you wanted to try any of these games. EDIT: The Jaguar aficionados tell me that the bit about the two 32-bit processors is complete bollocks, so... whoops! My bad.

[@dadgoplaywiththekids932]

It's confusing but the best explanation is that the Jaguar was 64-bit where it counted (64-bit bus, RAM and two of the graphics chips inside of the GPU (the Blitter & Object Processor) that were responsible for drawing the screen). The Turbographx as you used was a good comparison in that it used different components of different bit widths (8 & 16).

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks for the info!

[@2drealms196]

If I remember correctly the Atari Jaguar was so ahead of its time AMD took the design of the Jaguar CPU and used the design to make Jaguar based CPUs in current gen consoles including the Xbox One and PS4 in 2013, as well as mobile and desktop APUs for the PC market starting in 2011.

[@FantasyVisuals]

Object and blitter chips are 64 bit chips. The gpu is 64 bit internally. Like the atari st (sixteen thirty two ) a mc68000 is internally 32 bit. The jag is 64bit but poor quality as its early trch.

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

The Jaguar was a 64 bit system. The risc processors were 32 bit, the OPL and Blitter and data bus were a full 64 bits. The problem with the Jaguar was not it's bitness but it's horrible tools that were not able to take advantage of the power. The machine was ahead of it's time, like betamax... and you saw what happened there and unfortunately what usually happens when the hardware outclasses those who wished to develop on it. Atari is to blame the most for very bad handling. More effort on proper tools for development and easy porting of games would have made all the difference. Having a a system that programmers needed to code in assembler while all other systems were using C compilers was the biggest issue in my opinion. The other problem is no one knew how to run code out in the main RAM area.

[@saltodefe]

Cancelled games for the Atari Jaguar look better than most actual Jaguar games.

[@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383]

That's the most fucked up thing actually!

[@onaretrotip]

Ha, so true. Some really good-looking games here; what a shame.

[@ressljs]

Probably because a lot of the released games were developers first time programing for the Jag, and the cancelled games were worked on by people who had at that point learned how to take advantage of the hardware better.

[@steve9094]

Deathwatch and Conan both look amazing. It looks like the system was capable of arcade-quality 2D, but the only game to take advantage of this was Rayman.

[@onaretrotip]

Steve Indeed! They’re the two that I like the look of most. Sadly 2D games in the West were pushed aside in favour of the in thing at the time (3D). A shame, as 2D games have aged so much better.

[@steve9094]

@@onaretrotip Yeah, that was a terrible era for graphics. I thought most 32 bit 3D looked rough even at the time. After all the refinements over the 16 bit days, suddenly graphics regressed back to a blocky distorted mess. History vindicated me, but at the time I was considered to be an out of touch dweeb for not being impressed by bad 3D.

[@onaretrotip]

@@steve9094 Agreed!

[@GamersBay]

An incredible disappointment the Jaguar was. While the console itself was fairly affordable, none of the retailers seemed to have but a handful of games for it. The controllers were quite odd as well. I wasn't sure if I was holding a telephone, or playing a game. Pitfall The Mayan Adventure was of the very few games worth playing on it.

[@onaretrotip]

Yes, I don't remember seeing more than a very small selection of Jaguar games in one shop back in the day. Haha great description of the controller, it is awful.

[@LeeONardo]

Could the Jaguar be the only/first console to actually have MORE cancelled games compared to ones that were actually released? lol

[@onaretrotip]

😂😂😂

[@LJW1912]

Atari made the '64-bit' claim because the Jaguar had a 64-bit bus, and well as various 64-bit processors, such as the object processor, and the blitter chip. It's still marketing speak, and clearly demonstrated the enormous flaw in the "bit" argument (I mean, the PS4 and Xbox use 64-bit hardware today... Ironically, it's called Jaguar!)

[@onaretrotip]

I agree, the whole "bit" thing is largely irrelevant anyway. Didn't know about the PS4/XBOX!

[@panzerfaust375]

@@onaretrotip It's only relevant when it's a bottleneck on the performance. 8 bit and 16 bit were bottlenecks and that's why no console has been 16 bit since snes/megadrive. It was like clockspeeds on CPUs. Once they hit 3.0ghz clockspeeds became a poor guide to performance.

[@Ezyasnos]

@@onaretrotip It's not largely irrelevant. It means the cpu can for instance fetch twice as much data at once. That can make the difference of 30fps and 60fps

[@Animated__Freak]

Atari did claim specifically that the system's architecture was "64-bit" in this advertisement 4.bp.blogspot.com/-FohVu10XSsg/UkKuzU1lMJI/AAAAAAAACOs/4t1Div2mx-o/s1600/true0203.jpg And despite the jaguar having some 64-bit hardware, it's debatable if you can declare the system's architecture as 64-bits, I mean the only true cpu it has is like a faster version of the megadrive's cpu is.

[@truesus1718]

It's not irrelevant from a tech point of view, but it's irrelevant from a games quality point of view. If we just limit ourselves to judging audio/visual quality, compare the Atari 2600 vs. NES. Both have 8-bit CPUs (almost the exact same CPUs actually) but the difference in AV quality between them is vast.

Bloody hell, Conan looks amazing!

[@onaretrotip]

I know, right!!!

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@onaretrotip chatted to the Conan coder some time ago, Carlo Perconti, regarding what became of it: 'We got involved developing on the jaguar after we met some key people at one of the CES show in LasVegas (I do not recall who exactly). Lyes and I we were impressed by the concept of the GPU Jaguar, an unique list processor which could allow huge sprites to be drawn on screen and which broke the limitation of number of hardware sprites on 1 video line like We used to have back then on the SNES. So at first We decided to develop a new graphic engine based on multiple layer of sprites on PC, then through Arcade Zone We got access to one of the Jaguar Hardware and then We started to port the beginning of a “first possible” level of what We wanted to demonstrate based on a CONAN character (but really it was only to show up the engine, no license was signed yet at that time). For sure, back to that period, We got many inspiration from the Big Coin-Up Arcade titles like GoldenAxe and alike…….'

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

The developer didn't even get a chance to complete any of the level of the Conan game. (7:38)

[@alkenstein]

did the developer makes other games on other systems after?

[@onaretrotip]

@Yurt Dweller 👍

[@spinninbackfistz7997]

That's a shame some of those games looked like it would have taken Jaguar to a competitive level. That Conan game looked amazing!

[@onaretrotip]

Agreed! Some of them look like they really push the hardware. Conan especially looks stunning.

[@SecondOpinionGames1]

Great JOB!! If you as the only person to review every Jaguar game on KZbin This video is great :)

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you very much!

[@donny4182]

Great video in the series Pete! I am a huge fan of the Jaguar...yes really! Loved the list and would have liked for a fully realized tiny tunes game.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Ryan! I know a lot of Jaguar fans, and judging by some of the games here it was pretty capable.

[@jonnyretro5873]

Loving these videos pal, keep up the great work Pete!!! 👍😎

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Jonny! I'll try.

[@argeniscanez9503]

Love your videos, hope you had a great hollyday, really hope you channel get's bigger and bigger

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you very much! I really appreciate that. The holiday was incredible; but back to reality now sadly.

[@Letstalkretro]

Great video as always Pete. We enjoyed this one. 👍

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, guys!

[@mtshark7]

Awesome video Pete! I love playing the Atari Jaguar, even tho now it's hard to collect for due to the huge increase in prices.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Mark! Yeah, the prices are getting silly mate.

[@ChadTi99]

Great video! Def would have liked to of seen a few of these finished.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks a lot, Chad! Me too.

[@Quedron]

That was fantastic pal, really enjoyed it. 😎

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Tim! Thought you might enjoy this one.

[@usernameunlisted]

Nice video, despite the erroneous claim that Atari added (only) two of the five processors to get the number 64; the system does handle 64-bit calculations and “it is a true 64-bit system, since the data path from the DRAM to the CPU and Tom and Jerry chips is 64 bits wide.” (Next Generation No. 12. Dec 1995 pp 36-85.)

[@onaretrotip]

🤷‍♂️

[@SegaCDUniverse]

Excellent video Pete, especially the cyberpunk one and Conan one.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Mike! Conan looks amazing.

[@WIDERisBETTER]

This is a great list. I have played many of these but have never seen DactylJoust or Conan before!

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Kyle! Conan looks so good.

[@AndyHugRetro]

Great stuff Pete. I bought a Jaguar from Special Reserve back in the day and very quickly sold it to a guy in my year. What a shame it never got Conan, looks superb

[@onaretrotip]

Cheers, Andy! Ah, Special Reserve. Good memories. Yeah, Conan looks brilliant, what a shame.

[@Blas4ublasphemy]

Awesome list! Black Ice reminds me of Shadowrun on the Genesis realized in 3D.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks!

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

I chatted to the Conan coder some time ago, Carlo Perconti, regarding what became of it: 'We got involved developing on the jaguar after we met some key people at one of the CES show in LasVegas (I do not recall who exactly). Lyes and I we were impressed by the concept of the GPU Jaguar, an unique list processor which could allow huge sprites to be drawn on screen and which broke the limitation of number of hardware sprites on 1 video line like We used to have back then on the SNES. So at first We decided to develop a new graphic engine based on multiple layer of sprites on PC, then through Arcade Zone We got access to one of the Jaguar Hardware and then We started to port the beginning of a “first possible” level of what We wanted to demonstrate based on a CONAN character (but really it was only to show up the engine, no license was signed yet at that time). For sure, back to that period, We got many inspiration from the Big Coin-Up Arcade titles like GoldenAxe and alike…….'

[@shahid1296ify]

Brilliant video here mate!

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks mate!

[@K1NGARTH3R]

I wished Conan (or whatever the released name would have been) came out, I might have bought a Jaguar just for that.

[@onaretrotip]

Same here, Tom. Looks brilliant!

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

chatted to the Conan coder some time ago, Carlo Perconti, regarding what became of it: 'We got involved developing on the jaguar after we met some key people at one of the CES show in LasVegas (I do not recall who exactly). Lyes and I we were impressed by the concept of the GPU Jaguar, an unique list processor which could allow huge sprites to be drawn on screen and which broke the limitation of number of hardware sprites on 1 video line like We used to have back then on the SNES. So at first We decided to develop a new graphic engine based on multiple layer of sprites on PC, then through Arcade Zone We got access to one of the Jaguar Hardware and then We started to port the beginning of a “first possible” level of what We wanted to demonstrate based on a CONAN character (but really it was only to show up the engine, no license was signed yet at that time). For sure, back to that period, We got many inspiration from the Big Coin-Up Arcade titles like GoldenAxe and alike…….'

[@GeneralVanRyberg]

Awesome video! I really loved Black Ice/White Noise, wish I could play this. There are never too many Blade Runner-isque games IMO :) I'm hoping you'll do a follow-up with more canceled Jaguar/Jaguar CD games, would love to learn more. I always loved the Jaguar and finally bought one second-hand a few years ago, something I rarely do. Hover Striker and Iron Soldier 1 are the games I bought it for.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! I very much doubt I'll do any more on the Jag. There were some more cancelled games, but not many with anything worth showing.

[@ViciousAlienKlown]

Tempest 2000, Doom, Camnon Fodder and Alien VS Predator are worth playing.

[@CommodoreFan64]

Nice video, and I think if I had owned a Jaguar back then, I would have been excited for Conan, as I've always loved beat'em up games.

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Me too, I love my beat 'em ups, and Conan looks stunning.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Yes! ! Man the Jaguar is one of my favorite systems just for the oddball games

[@21innocentbystander]

Which game?

[@onaretrotip]

It seems to be a Marmite console, people either love it or hate it. Thanks, Marcus!

[@21innocentbystander]

Retro Game Players oh you meant oddball as in weird, right?

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Brutal Sports Football, Kasumi Ninja, Ruiner etc

[@RetroGamePlayers]

Yeah I am a fan for sure, but I can see why it gets the hate

[@dei-wan-grey3888]

Wow Pete I forgot all about this unit Memories great video

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks mate, glad I could remind you!

[@dei-wan-grey3888]

onaretrotip sure Buddy thanks for sharing 👊

[@paultice]

The Jaguar is my main system, but the library is limited to a very few absolute classics, some solid 16-bit conversions (mostly from the Amiga), and a lot of absolute dog's dinners! Conan looked fantastic.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I have to agree with you, Paul. Conan looks amazing; what a shame.

[@pferreira1983]

Good video Pete. Deathwatch, the Tiny Toons Adventures game and the Conan game I feel had the most potential. Again what a waste to let them go.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks mate. Conan looks great!

[@pferreira1983]

@@onaretrotip Yeah it did didn't it.

[@TheDukeOfZill]

Starfox SNES 1993, didn't really expect more from 3D gaming than that. Jaguar's expectations were too high. I would have been more than satisfied with if these cancelled games were released, although gotta admit that Black Ice looks like it was edging on the 3D that some 1996-1998 3D PC games could do, not bad at all. Sadly the release library wasn't anything I wanted, but seeing these unreleased titles makes me feel like I definitely would have bought in.

[@onaretrotip]

Yes, seems like a lot of wasted opportunity.

[@FantasyVisuals]

DeathWatch , Conan , Dactyl Joust all would have been huge for the Jag. Oceans Apesh*t a two player game in 32000 colours was hugely promising. Atari hadn't got a clue , even now some of the most visually impressive PS4 games are 2D !!!

[@onaretrotip]

I know; sadly at the time the Western video game publishers were obsessed with 3D, which is why the Japanese libraries are better in hindsight and have aged well (the Saturn's 2D library for example).

[@samuelvictor9958]

Another great video. Death Watch and Conan looknbrilliant. The MK clone is also interesting, looks almost like its using the same engine and movesets as MK2.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Samuel! Yeah, I'd agree that Deathwatch and Conan look the best. What a shame that they wanted to focus on 3D, when those 2D games look so beautiful. Yes, Thea Realm Fighters looks so similar to MK2, in several aspects.

[@cessnaace]

I have in my collection a repro of the incomplete prototype for the Jaguar "Arena Football '95." It was developed by V-Real Interactive. It's in a standard Jaguar cartridge w/color label. No manual or box.

[@onaretrotip]

Nice.

[@boblowes]

That Conan game looks epic. I have a lot of love for the Jaguar. It's not nearly as bad as it was made out to be - the ports of 16 bit titles are usually of a very high standard. Ports like Doom and Wolfenstein are fantastic, and some of the original Jaguar titles, like Alien vs Predator, Tempest 2000 or Iron Soldier are absolutely brilliant. If you're a Jaguar owner, you NEED to get an RGB Scart cable, for the best picture. Retro Computer Shack on eBay makes professional quality cables, and the improvement is amazing. There's just two - well, three things I'd like to see on the Jaguar. New pro-controllers, a flashcart (CD drives are hard to get hold of and bloody expensive) and some way to run MAME.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, Conan looks stunning! Oh, if you own any console retro you need to get RGB SCART, any other cable is not doing it justice! I usually get my consoles RGB modded if they don't support it natively. I saw there's a flashcart on the way, but progress seems slow as the guy is doing it in his spare time. New controllers would be good, the existing ones are awful.

[@boblowes]

Googled for new Atari Pro controllers last night. Seems to projects are on the go. One is a reproduction of the original Pro Controller (minus the Atari logo) and the other is by the guy who built the Jaguar/Jaguar CD combo machine (which does look amazing). It's a completely new design, which incorporates a spinner for Tempest 2000 as a ring AROUND the d-pad, and two analog sticks, along with the rest of the controls. How feasible that one is, I dunno.

[@onaretrotip]

Oh, awesome! I'll watch this space.

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

Mame would be tough on the Jaguar. It could certainly run a lot of the late 70's up to a few of the early 80's games as an emulator mode but beyond that would be asking a bit much of the ol' black cat.

[@FlynnJeux]

this is pretty rad. I didn't know about a lot of these.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@cepilloTV]

The Conan game looks pretty nice I must say o_o

[@onaretrotip]

Doesn't it!

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

chatted to the Conan coder some time ago, Carlo Perconti, regarding what became of it: 'We got involved developing on the jaguar after we met some key people at one of the CES show in LasVegas (I do not recall who exactly). Lyes and I we were impressed by the concept of the GPU Jaguar, an unique list processor which could allow huge sprites to be drawn on screen and which broke the limitation of number of hardware sprites on 1 video line like We used to have back then on the SNES. So at first We decided to develop a new graphic engine based on multiple layer of sprites on PC, then through Arcade Zone We got access to one of the Jaguar Hardware and then We started to port the beginning of a “first possible” level of what We wanted to demonstrate based on a CONAN character (but really it was only to show up the engine, no license was signed yet at that time). For sure, back to that period, We got many inspiration from the Big Coin-Up Arcade titles like GoldenAxe and alike…….'

[@nerdoutwordout6294]

Cool. I've always wondered what the Jaguar could do when it was pushed and you can see some of that in here. It's obvious the downfall was probably more due to bad management decisions and PR as they could have come up with a library of updated 16 bit titles rather than taking on the 32bit machines. More good work on your part!

[@onaretrotip]

Totally agree. There are some really promising games here that are impressive considering the hardware. Thank you!

[@SEGAZombie]

Another great cancelled games video Pete, wow Conan looks awesome a shame it never got finished. the one genre lacking on the jaguar a decent side scroll beat em up

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Scott. Thought you might like this one, being a big Jaguar fan. Yeah, Conan looks insane; what a shame.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Eric Falk on Tiny Toons. "The game was scrapped well into the project. The wiki page says it was due to poor quality (I actually resent that a bit), ...as I remember it funding was cancelled on the game due to poor sales of the Jaguar and the fact that the company did not want to continue to put money into this game as there were considerable production costs to get a physical game out. The company I worked for was a small animation studio that was contracted out to do the animated characters. I remember there was another company doing backgrounds and other aspects of the game. I am still in touch w/ about 3 of the other animators on the project (I think there were about 6 of us total). As far as I know everyone is still in the design business in some capacity. "

[@amigaoldskool]

Conan looks brilliant and that 1st person shooter mmmm such a shame brilliant video pete ... cheers

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, Conan looks amazing. A shame indeed. Thanks, Adam!

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

chatted to the Conan coder some time ago, Carlo Perconti, regarding what became of it: 'We got involved developing on the jaguar after we met some key people at one of the CES show in LasVegas (I do not recall who exactly). Lyes and I we were impressed by the concept of the GPU Jaguar, an unique list processor which could allow huge sprites to be drawn on screen and which broke the limitation of number of hardware sprites on 1 video line like We used to have back then on the SNES. So at first We decided to develop a new graphic engine based on multiple layer of sprites on PC, then through Arcade Zone We got access to one of the Jaguar Hardware and then We started to port the beginning of a “first possible” level of what We wanted to demonstrate based on a CONAN character (but really it was only to show up the engine, no license was signed yet at that time). For sure, back to that period, We got many inspiration from the Big Coin-Up Arcade titles like GoldenAxe and alike…….'

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

It's a real shame that a beat em up based on Conan never had a single level completed. (6:44)

[@onaretrotip]

😢

[@stevechavez83]

Great video man!!!!! Thanks

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Steve! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@bgp001]

Nice vid. I've only played Thea Realm Fighters ( ;) ) and I like it. The beta prototype, which was not featured in the vid, is quite playable but only features 4 characters. The alpha prototype (which is featured) is very hard to play but has more characters. Supposedly there is a prototype that is near complete but I have yet to see it. Perhaps one day it'll get released. If any of you do play the beta prototype, please play via an actual Jaguar. The software emulation makes the game play at a snails pace. Use either a repro cart or a skunk board to see how it really plays.

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks! And thanks for the footage, I linked to you in the description (which I guess you've already seen). Ah, thanks for the clarification with the prototypes. I always play prototypes on original hardware, I'm not really an emulation kind of guy when it comes to those things. Thanks for watching!

[@Matropolis]

Shame about Deathwatch, that looked pretty cool! Welcome back 🙂

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Mat!

[@adultmoshifan87]

They REALLY should’ve carried development over to the Saturn and/or PlayStation!

[@dadgoplaywiththekids932]

Conan is long one of the 'holy grails' of Jaguar collectors so it was a real shame that it never made it far; a few others that enjoy the same status is Phear (which became Tetrisphere on the N64); Zyzorryx II (made by the guys to created the excellent Super Burnout); Battlewheels 2025 (would have been a sequel to the Atari Lynx version); Legions Of The Undead (made by Rebellion with an enhanced AvP engine); AvP2; Mortal Kombat 3; Tomb Raider and AC/DC: Defenders Of Metal - among others :P

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I can see why. It looks amazing! I've heard of Phear, but a few there I've not heard of before.

[@SegaSaturnGamer48]

Awesome video ! :D

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

[@minks36]

another really enjoyable video in this series Pete , same as you i think Conan looked the pick of the bunch 🖒

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks, Craig! Absolutely; Conan looks fantastic.

[@mrfld]

It's amazing anything was made for this system.

[@onaretrotip]

PMSL

[@mrmadmight266]

I did enjoy playing a few Jaguar games like Zool 2 and i could've played Atari Karts(i couldn't play it because of emulation issues)but the game that i would've liked to play the most is Conan. also gotta love that Raiden music in the background.

[@onaretrotip]

I liked the original Zool on the Amiga, but not played Zool 2 on Jaguar. Me too, Conan looks fantastic, and right up my street. Yeah, got to love Raiden's music!

[@mrmadmight266]

The Amiga version of Zool 2 actually has a music track that is absent from the Atari Jaguar Version, but that aside the Jaguar Zool 2 is better, just make sure to play it with the 99 lives code because that game can be VERY unfair difficulty wise and it has NO continues. i guess Conan would've been another french gaming gem since french devs are usually great at making games, especially in the 90's. i always liked the fact that the Jaguar version of Raiden had some exclusive tracks.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

HMS said they had considered doing a Jag CD version of Kasumi Ninja, but it would of only offered longer loading times, more characters and backgrounds

[@zbdot73]

Ironically the Jagar chipset was full of bugs, primarily in the pipelined instruction processing. This resulted in 3d calculations being approximately 13 times slower than they should have been. The blitter on the other hand was good. Thus really Atari should have pushed 2d games with huge sprites / graphics and downplayed 3d titles, they did the opposite... if only upper management had someone, anyone in their ranks who had the technical background to understand the console's strengths and weaknesses.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Sadly Atari's Marketing soon turned on 2D titles, wanting 3D instead, trying to have the Jaguar being seen as being able to compete with never systems like the PlayStation and Saturn. Absolute idiots 😭

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Simon Butler kindly passed on this information regarding the Jaguar version of Witchwood: "I worked on Amiga/PC Witchwood at Team 17. It was never going to get off the ground on those platforms so no Jaguar version was planned."

[@musicotaku666]

great video as always mate :) where did you find the soundtrack to black ice white noise?

[@onaretrotip]

Thanks man! Oh, I didn't - all the music is from Raiden, apart from the intro which is from Tempest 2000.

[@musicotaku666]

@@onaretrotip thx a lot! i googled and it seems not to be available anymore, guess ebay is the only place :/

[@packie2624]

As much I don't know much everything about the Jaguar and game I only know games that was cancelled are Mortal Kombat 3, Batman Forever Arcade game, Demolition Man. Those the games I only know about all I heard and remember that people staying Jaguar was commercial failure and pretty sure it has like 15 or 20 great games on there. So that's it! That's the only thing I heard about from it

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, there aren't many famously good games on the console. It's a shame that there were a couple on this list that could've been fantastic.

[@mikaelsza]

7:25 Could this engine be the same used on SNES Iron Commando, also from Arcade Zone??

[@onaretrotip]

Could well be!

[@bryede]

I'm not a big Jag defender, but the claim that the 64-bits comes from adding up chips is wrong. It comes from the fact that some parts of the Jag were truly 64-bit. The RAM bus is 64-bits wide. The GPU/Tom also has a 64-bit bus and can perform some 64-bit operations (namely those involving the blitter). So, it's 64-bit in a few places and most modern designs are hybrids of some sort. That doesn't mean it's fast. Remember that both the NES, and the Fairchild Channel F are 8-bit designs, yet the Channel F has only a fraction of the power. In other words, bits are only part of the story.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I realise that was an error on my part. True about the bits =/= power.

[@andybrinks3784]

The world is missing something without Dactyl joust. I wonder If that could have been a take off on the old Joust games where you pilot a flying ostrich?

[@onaretrotip]

Yes, it was a 3D take on the original Joust.

[@REPVILE]

That us exactly what it was. The Jag had several old IPs they used like missile command and Defender

[@REPVILE]

Black Ice had potential to move units. The loss of that one stings

[@onaretrotip]

It certainly did :(

[@DeeDee-uu8rt]

A shame the system was short lived. So much potential in the hardware if optimized. Developers should bring it back to life.

[@onaretrotip]

They have! There have been Jaguar games in recent years.

[@darthv72]

One canceled game I was really looking forward to was Native. A shmup with an RType look. The game was later ported for the dreamcast as Sturmwind.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I wonder what it would have looked like on the Jaguar. Sturmwind is awesome, and looks fantastic on a Dreamcast (especially through VGA).

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@onaretrotip it looked superb, sound was the problem as they used the DSP to unpack all the compressed graphics data into the Jaguar RAM I believe I'm no tech head 😂

[@AGwolf2097]

Phase Zero actually looks pretty cool! Is the ground voxel-rendered? It seems to load so smoothly for being 3D on Jaguar... looks like they've built a good engine despite the obvious pixelation

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, it does! I'm not sure on the rendering I'm afraid.

[@rudolfrieder186]

A lot of so called "voxel" games actually used heightmaps (Outcast, Comanche etc.) Phase Zero also has heightmaps. For a voxel game take a look at Blade Runner for PC

[@WildlifeSeriaLKiller]

What a damn shame about Conan.... still have my Jag from Christmas of 93'. I would have definitely paid for that one.

[@onaretrotip]

I know, right! It looks fantastic.

[@johneygd]

Am glad they were cancled as they wouldn’t had make much sense,most of them were just 16bit games anyway,whereas the focus was on 3D games,because in the mid-90’s everybody wanted to have their favorite game translated into 3D. And the jaguar’s 2 32bit cpu chips can run in paralell together as a 64bit,and 3D can be done trough software if those gpu chips can’t do that, so there was a way to get 3D on the jaguar if they wanted it,but all the fear of losing money for making games for it hampered it,ouch.

[@onaretrotip]

It's funny, as 2D games weren't popular in the West at the time, but they've aged much better than the 3D games so they're more popular nowadays.

[@JonathanDeane]

I never liked the Jaguar myself (the controller looked horrific) but some of these games I would loved to have played on some system (the Conan one specifically, love me some beat em up action!)

[@onaretrotip]

The controller is insane. Terrible design. Agreed; Conan looks gorgeous!

[@theboone3848]

I never owned a Jaguar but god damn Conan looks like it could have been awesome.

[@onaretrotip]

Tell me about it! Looks amazing.

[@yeoedwin1619]

Conan was the greatest cancelled game, other potential should be Phrase Zero, DactylJoust, Deathwatch, Black Ice / White Noise

[@onaretrotip]

Conan wins hands down I think.

[@artemusprine]

AFAIK, the "24-Bit" NEO-GEO system was the only system marketed by adding the "bits" of two chips together (16-bit 68000+8-bit Z80). The PC Engine was not marketed as a 16-bit system until given the TurboGrafx-16 name for Western release, and this was not because it had two 8-bit chips but because it had a 16-bit graphics processor (superior to the one in the "true" 16-bit Megadrive/Genesis) in addition to an 8-bit CPU. If Atari had added the bits of the Jaguar's 16-bit 68000 and two 32-bit RISC chips, the Jaguar would have been called an 80-bit system. The 64-bit designation instead comes from the main system bus being 64-bits wide.

[@onaretrotip]

Looks like Atari missed a trick not calling it "the first 80-bit system" hahaha!

[@aberdeenkiko]

To resume: The Atari Jaguar gaming console from the second half of the 1990's, is actually a well-designed, pretty decent hardware piece of domestic entertainment technology. Meaning that the Atari console R&D engineers; were prob the only ones, that were doing their supposed tasked job; back the 1990's. The problem then, was that the Atari company had already lost some of its best game developers, probably because its department of gaming software R&D was being treated amateurishly, by the Atari's commercial department. Which meant that, most released gamed for the AtJag, lacked a lot of gameplay testing and its debugging. The AtJag wasn't that hard to program good stuff for it. But, it required a professional approach, in order to make it work, for the final consumer and therefore, for the gaming retailers as well. When I was about 15 years old; I saw two brand new AtJag, inside a domestic tech stuff local store. And after that, I only once saw, a shelf with around 20 different way too expensive, gaming cartridge boxes, for the AtJag. Meaning that it was just a bad deal for the costumer, to have to pay a minimum of $75, for a chosen game, that would feel quite unsorted, specially regarding its gameplay. And those were the 1990's for you there; with sometimes a total laziness from those who could and should have done a difference for better. Ameanwhile: most of the rest who were wise, would embark on an anti-struggling enterprise, just to be able to get by, without missing too much of what was decent to get, during those days.

[@A31Chris]

The object processor and blitter for that time were considered to have no theoretical upper limit and their performance was based on and limited only by the Jags 64 bit bus. The trick was getting all other processors off that bus and let the Blitter and Object Processor hit the bus full throttle. Unfortunately almost no developers learned how to do that with any degree of success back then except HVS. Not even Atari had any real clue how to do it.

[@onaretrotip]

It's never good for a console if developers struggle to get the best out of the architecture, let alone the first party devs!

[@A31Chris]

onaretrotip High Voltage Software tried to tell Atari as early as May 95 what they had, what they're willing to give Atari that would have made a lot of that transparent to the programmers. According the documents that have been found lately High Voltage Software several times tried to let Atari know what they had in terms of R&D regarding the development system. There were letters, sample demos sent to Atari regarding their accomplishments in this direction. But Atari ignored it and/or didn't appear to be paying attention. And now according to new notes uncovered it appears HVS would have handed it all over to Atari if Atari had just paid the June 95 milestone payment for Dactyl Joust. But if course it appears Atari chose that month to start stiffing them. Further reading for the curious www.3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=35&p=37117#p37117

[@onaretrotip]

Wow!...

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@onaretrotip titles like WMCJ and Ruiner Pinball (which couldn't even get the ball physics right) did the Jaguar no favors. Even NBA JAM was simply Iganua Sega 32X code reworked for the Jaguar. HVS talked themselves up as better coders than those behind Jaguar Doom, but their titles didn't reflect that. Adisak talks of a better than Jaguar Doom FPS engine he wrote, yet it's never been seen, it had no A. I routines etc running and it was never made available so other teams could build a game around it.

[@A31Chris]

@@thefurthestmanfromhome1148 I haven't been getting notifications of these responses. WMCJ is fashionable to bash. When HVS started having these development breakthroughs Atari stopped talking to everybody. Even in the paperwork you helped release the June 95 DJ milestones were the first to have these listed. But Atari ignored them. Yeah nba jam te was iguana code but one guy ported it in a few months and it's considered one of the best home ports of the era. The same programmers is considered one of the best technical advisors and now working with the mortal Kombat studio. HVS were definitely one of the most visionary and innovative of developers.

[@Sinn0100]

I got a Jaguar in 1994 for three reasons- Doom, AVP, and Tempest. I had a Sega Genesis/Sega CD, SNES, and 3DO at the time. I was disappointed with Doom for both the 3DO and Jaguar (the Snes... no). My parents listened to me one last time and bought me a 32X in late 1994...and that version of Doom was less than as well. Finally, I built a 486DX2 and was able to play the original Doom in all of its glory. I wanted Doom on a big TV...ot did not happen until I bought with my own money the PSX and Saturn. The question I have- Why did they release a CD Rom attachment for the Jaguar?

[@onaretrotip]

Glad you got to play the DOS version of Doom in the end, as that's by far the best. Luckily that was the one I played as a kid. God knows why the made a CD add-on for the Jaguar. A lot of companies made some very poor hardware choices in the 90s.

[@FatherAxeKeeper]

I always wanted one of these systems when I was a kid. but looking back I probably made the right choice sticking to Nintendo products. better overall libraries of great games.

[@onaretrotip]

Yes, you probably dodged a bullet there.

[@AdmiralBison]

Emulation today allows you to try these "classics" out to experience what they were like.

[@JWG.LLC_The_Artist]

It's always thought beater ment demo. but then you said beater-demo. so what does beater mean?

[@onaretrotip]

Beta. Usually just an early build.

[@HereForAStorm]

Mortal Kombat 3 was also cancelled and nothing of it exists. :(

[@onaretrotip]

:(

[@paulbearer6426]

It would most likely have looked and played like all the other versions of MK3, so I can't feel bad about it.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@paulbearer6426 there's documentation surrounding payments, PROBE software detailing who would convert the code from the Playstation version etc

[@pal-of-pals]

I'm not a huge fan of the Jaguar, but it's a massive shame that Conan and Deathwatch looked like they would have played great.

[@onaretrotip]

Me neither, but yeah, Conan looks so good 😢

[@TGApuleius]

Deathwatch and Conan look way better than the rest, a real shame about them. The 3D Joust looked surprisingly cool, too.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, those two look absolutely awesome, Calvin. Funny, as they're beautifully done 2D games, and the Jaguar had a heavy focus on 3D.

[@GH24381]

Never actually played on a Jaguar, but some of it's games look very decent. Same as that Conan game. Shamed it got canned as it did looked very promising.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, it definitely has some great games, and some that never made it it seems. Conan looks absolutely amazing, what a shame that was never completed.

[@eyesofnight]

Wasn’t a version of mortal Kombat supposed to come out for the jaguar

[@onaretrotip]

There are rumoursabout Mortal Kombat 3, but there doesn't seem to be anything out there to prove it.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@onaretrotip slight correction, Scott Stilphen had the documents from PROBE software where they talk of assigning a coder, who did PC MK, game would be converted from PS MK III Code. Curt Vendel etc have docs showing payments.. Faran T has talked of some screens being done for milestone payments etc

[@RobbieStrike]

I would have liked to see a wrestling game on the Jag!

[@onaretrotip]

Strange that it didn't have one. I wonder if it's the only console without one actually... 🤔

[@worldofretrogameplay6963]

The Jaguar has a kick-ass library of homebrew titles that can be bought from AtariAge, including Escape 2048, Rebootroids, and a plethora of Atari ST ports approved by the original developers.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I've seen some awesome homebrews on the Jag!

[@nyastclair8174]

Deathwatch looked awesome.

[@onaretrotip]

Nya Stclair Yeah, it looks great! Shame that 2D games didn’t get much love on the console.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

Apparently there's recently been a claim made that a source - not named) at Beyond Games, suggested Jaguar BattleWheels 2000 was around 50% complete 🤔 That conflicted with every source i had managed to piece together, which suggested the PC version was the lead version (at least screens of that were shown in the PC press at the time). So I reached out to Clark Stacey of Beyond Games, who was kind enough to reply with.. “To my knowledge BattleWheels never progressed beyond discussion and perhaps a very early prototype on the Jaguar” And pointed me in the direction of other sources who might know more. So if such a claim was made, it wasn't by Clark. Further investigations needed. Beyond were a small team, so it shouldn't be too difficult to get a degree of clarification on said claim. I'd like to thank Clark for his kindness in replying. Dale Jay Meier from Beyond Games also got back to me, regarding Jaguar BattleWheels 2000: “To my knowledge, there wasn’t any work done with battle wheels that was actually implemented on the Atari…” With thanks to Dale for the information

[@Bransfiiiield]

I still have a Jaguar (Jag-waaarrr) in the cupboard at my dad's house. Really need to root it out...

[@onaretrotip]

Yes, you do! I've never actually owned one personally.

[@user-gf3vb7xj3h]

Atari Jaguar was awesome

[@onaretrotip]

😎👍

[@shockz16]

Is it just me or do many of the 3D games on Jag-WIRE (lol) look really dark & colourless? It's a shame a lot of 2D games were getting dismissed to focus on the 3D stuff but looking at it from a back then perspective, I guess that is what everyone was wanting, it was the future afterall lol. Conan & Death Watch look like they would have been great games. :)

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, totally agree, Adam. Conan and Deathwatch would have been great. Sad, as 2D games have aged so much better than the 3D games of that era.

[@REPVILE]

Jag should have focused more on 2d, the port of Rayman look wonderful

[@MellowGaming]

That Conan game sure has some chunky sprites. never played a Jaguar. Should probably just pinch my mate's one when he's not looking. or ask him if I can borrow it maybe. He has Kasumi Ninja which I'm pretty sure is terrible... so I need to play it.

[@onaretrotip]

It certainly does; it looks gorgeous! Yeah, you should definitely borrow it if only to try it out.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

It's cool, how you can contact people who were in these games, animes or live-action movies, whom you wouldn't have had a chance to contact at that time, thanks to the internet and the birth of social media. I actually added Sonya (MK II or III I think) at Twitter and she replied and liked, if I can remember:-) Truly everything is in God's perfect time- there's always hope but patience is a virtue (I guess between the tweet and MK's release, that's about more than 23+ years. God bless, Proverbs 31

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, that's definitely the coolest part of the social media driven world we live in.

[@Yukatoshi]

The Jaguar with the CD add-on and Pro 6 button controller was actually pretty decent, and should of launched like that (without the retarded phone keypad).

[@onaretrotip]

Just seen this comment, must've missed it. Yes, they really chose a disastrous controller design there.

[@Yukatoshi]

onaretrotip Lol, don’t worry. KZbin often doesn’t send me notifications about comments.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

​@@onaretrotipthe concept was sound enough, Atari wanted more complex simulation titles converted from the PC to Jaguar.. TFX, Falcon, Gunship 2000 etc and these required a lot of keyboard commands. A numeric keyboard would make things far easier.

[@TVisTheRetina]

Phear/tetrisphere screenshots exist. Bomberman was complete supposedly.

[@onaretrotip]

Yeah, I think I saw video of someone playing Phear at an expo too. As I said, there are sooo many more that I didn't mention.

[@Holammer]

One game I always wanted to see was 'Apeshit' (obviously a working title). Afaik they only ever showed two screenshots in an Edge Magazine article. But from what I can gather it was some sort of Bubble Bobble clone.

[@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383]

It was more like a Snow Bros. clone actually! That's was the working title. The actual title was Toki Going Apespit, 'cause Ocean still had the rights to Toki's name back then.

[@Holammer]

Love Snow Bros, so that would have been great. I lump Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros into the same category because there's no real name for that sort of single-screen platformer genre afaik and BB was first.

[@onaretrotip]

Ah, not heard of that one. But I love Snow Bros.!

[@roberthanthonymartinezrive7383]

It looked great but sadly no prototypes have been found so far but knowing that even the rarest stuff such as the SpaceWorld Pokemon G&S demo managed to surface online, we can always hope that more stuff such as unreleased Jaguar title will appear one day, especially Conan!

[@G.L.999]

Hey onaretrotip, you want to know one of the craziest bizarre about a cancelled Jaguar game(s) that was considered for it? Believe it or not(no joke) a Jaguar version of Phantasy Star II. I shall tell you right here: In October 1993, Atari Corporation filed a lawsuit against Sega for an alleged infringement of a patent originally created by Atari Corp. in the 1980s, with the former seeking a preliminary injunction to stop manufacturing, usage and sales of hardware and software for both Sega Genesis(Mega-Drive in the rest of the world's case) and Game Gear. On September 28, 1994, both parties reached a settlement in which it involved a cross-licensing agreement to publish up to five titles each year across their systems until 2001. Phantasy Star II was one of the first five titles approved from the deal by Sega in order to be converted for the Atari Jaguar, but it was never released due to Atari discontinuing it after it failed in the market!

[@onaretrotip]

Weird!

[@jimmitwerk5669]

what no mention of Mindripper :(

[@onaretrotip]

Nah, there's absolutely nothing to show (from what I could find at least).

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

@@onaretrotip I was given concept documents years which I passed onto Atarimania. There's nothing to show actual game wise as it never progressed far enough.

[@adam4349]

Give me Gotcha. Conan. Barkley jam.

[@onaretrotip]

Conan looks amazing!

[@PrettyBlueThings]

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[@onaretrotip]

Thank you!!!

[@ZylonBane]

Never a good sign when the first thing a video says about a console's hardware is completely wrong.

[@onaretrotip]

I will commit Sudoku immediately in shame.

[@A31Chris]

@@onaretrotip hahaha

[@micshork]

I recently acquired Thea Realm Fighters cartridges..

[@onaretrotip]

Must've missed this comment, sorry. That's awesome!

[@ViciousAlienKlown]

I think they needed to work on hardware some more. It did have some power but like the Saturn was hard to program on.

[@onaretrotip]

Seems so, yes.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

​@@onaretrotipin terms of adressing the bugs in the chipsets.. Rob Nicholson of Handmade Software says it needed another 2 revisions.

[@thefurthestmanfromhome1148]

The official statement for Phase Zero cancellation : “We’ve been recently been made aware that there are a lot of Jaguar fans that really want to see Phase Zero released on the Jaguar. We are very flattered that people have followed our development so closely, and appreciate the many letters of support we have received over the past few months. Unfortunately Phase Zero will not be released on the Jaguar system. Based on questions posed in the large amount of email we’ve received from the Jaguar community, we thought it was the least we could do to address the most common concerns; * Atari has officially asked that we halt development of Phase Zero; our last payment was received in August of ’95. Total payments comprised only a portion of our contract with them. * We continued development unpaid in full force until December of 1995, through numerous changes in producers and focus at Atari. * We offered to develop Phase Zero for Windows 95 for Atari Interactive. * We have more than enough employees to pursue multiple projects :) * The only development hardware we have ever had to pay for was our Jaguar development hardware. * We develop games because we love it, and this is all we do. It is with sincere regret that we can’t afford to develop a project that can’t support itself. * We are currently working on Sega Saturn, Sony PlayStation, and Windows 95 projects. * We are not actively developing Phase Zero for any platform at this time, however we would like to revisit it in the future, possibly for the Windows 95 platform. Hopefully this helps to address everyone’s concerns and questions. We definitely appreciate your support through our development, and hope to see you on other platforms! Sincerely, Hyper Image”

[@brettknoss486]

I think the Jaguar would have worked if Sega had sold the system, and were able to make it backwards compatible with the Genesis/MegaDrive. It would have been cool if they made a 3d version of Golden Axe Warrior.

[@onaretrotip]

Interesting thought, but Sega would never sell an Atari console of course, nor would Atari let them I doubt.

[@brettknoss486]

@@onaretrotip it was originally designed by a small British outfit called Flare Technologies, but I was referring to the archetecture of the system itself.

[@ressljs]

Several years after the dust settled, I came to the conclusion that the Jaguar's main problem wasn't hardware (although there were issues) but that it was sold by a company that didn't have adequate to launch a system. First of all, the system was delayed a few times, which could probably be traced back to Atari's financial situation. Some of the games showed that the Jag could run games that would absolutely smoke the 16 bit systems, and at least not be totally embarrassed when compared to PS and Saturn. But while other consoles were getting big budget games, the Jaguar titles were mostly from no-name developers with only a handful of people working on each one. If the same hardware had been marketed by a company with an actually budget and recognizable IP (another of Atari's major weaknesses), I think it could have been a success.

[@wiredupretro]

Thank you for pronouncing the word, Jaguar, in the North American way! I applaud you.

[@onaretrotip]

You're welcome! A large proportion of my viewers are in NA so it's only fair.