I'll never forget how quickly the hype for each new machine was moving forward. By Christmas 1994, shockingly few people were talking about either Jag or 3DO outside the industry mags; everyone was either buying the Saturn/PS1 in Japan, or waiting for them in Europe. Jaguar simply didn't have the units on sale from autumn 93 to spring 94 to win the next-generation war, and 3DO was too pricey for people used to 16-bit hardware. Once it became clear that ALL 32-bit consoles would be expensive and CD based, people were willing to forgive PS1 and Saturn for their price tags. In other words, 3DO needed to flop for its later rivals to succeed...but Atari can only blame themselves for Jaguar's slow-burning failure.
2.5 million European pre-orders were simply just cancelled? Man, Atari was so determined to fail. They could have been like the Sega Master System in Europe and actually outsold Nintendo. A 2.5 million unit launch would have been HUGE back then. But no, they had to rush their launch and only have 5 digit launch numbers instead.
it's simple, the figured they had the market share in UK, and had more competition in the US/Canada, so they wanted to break through and dominate both markets, plus, the US/Canada simply has more people, more people = more money.
exactly my thoughts. that number was astonishing. it was insane. 2.5 million?they easily could have rid the momentum from there to a moderate success at least. instead the system sold only 10% of the number in all its life. huge face palm.
We did the Math back in the days and the Atari lost by a huge margin : Doom 1 and 2 (PC) > Alien v Predator and Doom (Jaguar) Starfox (SNES) > Cybermorph (Jaguar) Axelay, Super Aleste, Parodius, Thunder 2 and 4 > Crescent Galaxy (Jaguar) Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 (SNES) > Kasumi Ninja (Jaguar) Devil's Crush Pinball (SNES) > Pinball Fantasies (Jaguar) Final Fight 1 and 2, Rival Turf 1-3 (SNES) > Double Dragon V (Jaguar) Donkey Kong Country and Starfox ridiculed the Jaguar. Atari Jaguar 64-Bit on paper but somewhere between 8 and 16 bit graphics in reality. In 1994 the Sega Saturn made the Atari Jaguar look like a console from the one generation before. All the reasons and more we did not buy the overhyped underperforming Jaguar.
I worked at an electronics boutique part time when the Genesis was flying off the shelves. Nobody bought a jaguar...well maybe, but i wasnt working when they did.
I bought the system for Alien vs Predator Jan 94 and had to wait sooooo long for the game to come out. Cybermorph was ok, Tempest was fun, Wolfenstein was awesome, Doom was pretty good except for not having the bosses and AVP was great. Could not finish the marine mission in AVP. I am happy I had one (for AVP), but I would have rather have bought it in 96 for much less and a larger library.
These game documentaries are so well put together. I was born in the early 80s, so I’ve seen all the hype and ads that promoted these kind of consoles. I stuck with Nintendo most of my childhood, but I always wanted a Jaguar. It’s so cool to see what’s behind the scenes, or really behind the screens. I hope you continue to make these, I’ve been very nostalgic as of late, and to see these videos really brings me back. 10/10!!
Jaguar had to be the biggest disappointment in Video Game Console history. Those of us that owned a 7800 and Lynx knew Atari had potential. Why didn't Atari license games from Capcom, Konami, EA, or Namco? Jaguar had No wrestling game, No golf game, No good side scrolling shooter, No Mortal Kombat, No Street Fighter, No Earthworm Jim, No Baseball Game, No RPG, No side scroll beat em up like Final Fight. Did Atari really expect to succeed in this business by using half assed business tactics? (Which included bargain basement software development coupled with slow software distribution). A surefire way to fail in the gaming business.
All true. It's all too easy to romanticize About this console decades later but its games were shit compared to the competition. Atari leadership was stuck using market strategies from the 70's in the 90's. Jaguar never stood a chance.
I agree with you in a sense. To me, I am not a graphic snob, but they do look ugly. Still, it did have some decent games but flopped due to the nature of it and the fact that it relied on gimmicks. A thing that other consoles like the Game. Com and the Google Stadia didn't really learn from.
I've come to realize that nothing make a system successful like a truly varied library. That was what put Playstation head and shoulders above the competition, even Nintendo! They had a library that truly had something for everyone, and not just *something*, but quality games in every genre. The hardware is important but what truly makes a console a success is its software, especially exclusive software, and that's something Sony continues to lean itself on even today.
When the Saturn was announced there was no way in hell that Sega would give Atari its launch titles for the saturn, which also ultimately failed, I would love to see a Sega/Atari console competing with Microsoft and Sony today
@@souljastation5463 I disagree the Jaguar was actually really powerful and if the Motorola 68k wasn’t primary focus for game development amongst many developers due to the difficulty at the time of utilizing multiple processors, the games on the Jaguar would have been much closer to the Saturn/PSX
@@benjaminphillips5639 the Jaguar needs a retro gaming scene like the one that the C64, the Mega Drive and other system have today. It needs a modern developer to take full advantage of it. Having said that, I still think the Jaguar is more in line with something like the Atari Falcon rather than a full blown next gen system like the 3DO and the PS1.
@@souljastation5463 that’s where I disagree, certain games like Black Ice White Noise and Zero 5 actually showcase that the Jaguar was indeed capable of PSX/Saturn quality.
@@bradleymcavoy3432 It was notoriously difficult to programme for. The only one more difficult in recent years being the PS3. See here for a first hand view: gamingbolt.com/developer-explains-what-its-like-developing-for-each-console-ps3-being-the-hardest "You are handed a 10-inch thick stack of manuals written by Japanese hardware engineers. The first time you read the stack, nothing makes any sense at all. The second time your read the stack, the 3rd book makes a bit more sense because of what you learned in the 8th book. The machine has 10 different processors (IOP, SPU1&2, MDEC, R5900, VU0&1, GIF, VIF, GS) and 6 different memory spaces (IOP, SPU, CPU, GS, VU0&1) that all work in completely different ways. There are so many amazing things you can do, but everything requires backflips through invisible blades of segfault." My argument is that blaming how difficult something is on its poor sales is false because the PS2, one of the hardest EVER to programme, didn't see any harm done to its sales.
@@G_Gr00v3 Yeah it's a shame that the N64 was hampered by only using cartridges - because pound for pound it was the most advanced system. It also wasn't the storage capacity - it was the fact that cartridges were more expensive for developers - which made them turn to Sony even more.
Excellent video. It’s not the first time a gaming console would have their sales decimated due to a shortage of chips at launch. It really goes to show how important great first party games are to the health of a console, and how important it is to focus first in your strongest regions. Its kind of a sad story considering where the company came from, and where it went.
They needed proper development tools and had to focus much more on the EU market which was Atari centric. What could have been, Atari was a company of people who loved games, but when I visited them vs, visiting Sega and Nintendo I could tell they had a hard road. Sega and Nintendo offices where like fortune 500 megacorps, Atari's offices were like a bunch of coders decided to make a company, very 70s homebrew. Those of you old like me will know what I'm talking about.
The Jag had the potential to be a great machine. It just didn't get enough quality titles to support it. It would be one of many systems lost in the dark times of gaming.
We did the Math back in the days and the Atari lost by a huge margin : Doom 1 and 2 (PC) > Alien v Predator and Doom (Jaguar) Starfox (SNES) > Cybermorph (Jaguar) Axelay, Super Aleste, Parodius, Thunder 2 and 4 > Crescent Galaxy (Jaguar) Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 (SNES) > Kasumi Ninja (Jaguar) Devil's Crush Pinball (SNES) > Pinball Fantasies (Jaguar) Final Fight 1 and 2, Rival Turf 1-3 (SNES) > Double Dragon V (Jaguar) Donkey Kong Country and Starfox on a 16 bit ridiculed the Jaguar titles Atari Jaguar 64-Bit on paper but somewhere between 8 and 16 bit graphics in reality. In 1994 the Sega Saturn made the Atari Jaguar look like a console from the one generation before. All the reasons and more we did not buy the overhyped underperforming Jaguar.
@@jimmybiggs9230 that’s not even 100% true John Carmack himself stated that once you learn to work past the difficulties required with utilizing multiple processors which BTW was also the case with the Saturn, it’s actually a really cool piece of hardware to work with. I have an interview somewhere where he mentioned this but the developers of Super Burnout also stated that in comparison to today’s hardware the Jaguar was no harder than programming a PS3 title.
Having visited Atari a few times, met the Tramiels and worked in the industry during the late 80s and 90s I can tell you that the Jaguar was a system crippled by poor documentation and other cost cutting measures. The machine could have been pretty awesome. I played with the VR headset behind closed doors at E3 95 and it was way ahead of it's time. Basically, the Jaguar didn't have the financial clout it needed. There are quite a few really good games on the system and new games are being made to this day. The Homebrew community is pretty active. It doesn't deserve all the shit it gets. Excellent and accurate video man. Not like the biased click bait bullshit from others. And thank you to Hasbro!
Just as a quick note, the VR headset was by Virtuality and was originally designed in 1991 for use in the arcades using an Amiga A3000 with additional hardware. Exorex was an awesome game using this VR headset.
Exorex was actually planned for the system! There are design documents by Virtuality in regards to the unreleased Jag version. Too bad nobody is bothered enough to scan them. Would be really cool if the homebrew scene attempted to make a port of the game to the Jag...
Nice video. Thank you for pointing out how Cybermorph was an open-world shooter vs the on-rails approach of Starfox. Today, it seems that people forget that huge distinction.
+Jag Taggart '93 thanks, glad you liked it. Yeah, I think people don't realize how much more complex and impressive Cybermorph is compared to Star Fox. The Jaguar gets a bad rap in general. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people get their opinion about the Jaguar from the AVGN episode on it.
This is the kind of documentary videos that I always wanted to do on my favorite videogame consoles. Using my own knowledge along with magazine articles, quarterly reports and earnings, and splash a bit of the old ads in for some flair. Apparently you've even reached out to people actually involved -- and got an answer! It would take me years just to get up to speed in order to compete with you. I love your research, your transitions, and your voice works pretty well. Thank you sir, now i can stick to just yelling at games instead of trying to barely match your quality!
I was working in an EB Games in 1995 just before the PS1 release, we had shelves of Jaguar products (loads of CD units) couldn't shift them for love nor money. In fact people were trading in their Jaguars to get a discount on the PS1. I like the system, but why oh why was it RF out of the box?
Another fantastic video. It's crazy (in a good way) how much research and homework you put into your videos, especially this one. I learned a lot so far.
+Shawn Thanks man, I appreciate it. This one has probably taken the most research with the 3DO video coming in a close second. I was lucky to have a couple of really knowledgeable and connected people that helped verify the more obscure stuff on this one.
I thought I had commented on this video before (this is my 4th time watching it), but I got my Jaguar 15 years ago in March 2008. Probably still I best deal I have ever gotten on a game purchase (Rivals Schools for PSX Complete for $38 back in 2015 when it was going for over $100 complete (nevermind nowadays) is a close second). Even for 2008 prices it was a steal. Complete in box with 2 controllers, the rare OEM S-Video cable, Cybermorph (2MB black cart pack-in version with booklet), AVP (Cart only), Doom (booklet and overlay), Wolfenstein (cart only), Tempest 2000 (Complete), and Kasumi Ninja (Complete). I paid $60 for the whole thing on eBay. A few days later, before my Jag had shipped, I went to my local game store, and found Iron Soldier, Hover Tank, I-War, Checkered Flag, Raiden, Ultra Vortek, Zool 2, and Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding all complete in box for $5 each. It's like the gaming gods were smiling on me. Same thing happened a few months later where I got around $200 (eBay prices at the time) worth of Turbo Grafx-16 games and a Turbo Booster Plus for $40. Just take a guess at the software I got with that one. Remember, 2008 pricing. Nowadays the software is easily over $500. Anyway, a couple years later I added Brutal Sports Football for around $15. I own over 2500 physical video games, and despite being a hardcore fanatical Sega fanboy, I will NEVER sell my Jaguar. After playing it for the first time back in 2008 I immediately saw it's appeal and why it has such hardcore following and homebrew community (second only to the Dreamcast). Also, thank god for BigPEmu, because I am deathly afraid to play my Jag nowadays due to how fragile the cartridge port is. Everytime you insert or remove a cart, you tun the risk of bending the right most pin in the port. If that gets bent, your console is completely fucked, and you then need to send it in to a hobbyist for repair. Long Live The Jaguar!!!!
I need to thank you for making this video. I nearly shed a tear. I am an avid Jaguar collector and owner since 1995 with 63 cartridge games now. It is sad that it did not survive as long as I had hoped. There is some valuable information in this video and you did a great job with the research on this video. Props to you!
Thanks! I was fortunate to have some people from Jaguar Sector 3 to lean on for help with verifying my research. Particularly Kieren Hawken (the guy that runs the Laird's Lair channel I mention at the end) who writes for Retro Gamer magazine and has done several articles on the Jaguar himself. Leonard Tramiel was even nice enough to clear some stuff up for me. Those guys were all very helpful.
Dude, that was an incredible video. I always had a rough idea of the Jaguar's history in my head, but you did an amazing job of filling it with detail and colour.
The Bit Wars were a very strange time. You could talk about all the reasons why newer hardware tended to be better than older hardware - it offered more performance, more memory, wider color palates, the ability to display more colors at a time, more sprites, more layers of sprites, unique graphical effects (transparency, sprite scaling and rotation), higher resolutions, the growth in storage mediums offering games that were literally exponentially larger than their forebears.... nope. It's because this console has more "bits" than the old one, right? Yes, I see that all the other numbers went up too between the generations but I really like this one number. What if we made a console that had like infinite bits? Well, that's clearly impossible but what if had like way more bits than anyone else's console did? We could like totally leapfrog the competition and corner the market! Thankfully this is about the point it came to an end. I'm not sure if the crashing and burning of the Jaguar was primarily responsible, I could swear I remember seeing the Dreamcast advertised as a "128-bit" system once or twice, but I think even by that point people'd started to realize it was a meaningless number and Sega knew well enough the way to advertise it was by wowing us with Soul Calibur and not spreadsheets.
In the early days of computers and consoles, bits were far from meaningless. The bit-count determined the highest value a processor could handle. For example, an 8-bit processor could only handle integers up to 255 (unless it's going to use negative numbers and/or decimals, which drops said maximum integer). This is why Pacman's 256th level is so glitchy. The 8-bit processor literally can't handle the value. This is also why the NES's color pallet and sprite count were so limited. For 16-bit hardware, the maximum integer is 65535. 32 and 64 bit processors can handle integers in the billions and quintillions respectively. It's why you almost never hear about 128-bit processors. Very little, if any, software would need that many bits, especially when computers and consoles often have multiple processors working in unison.
That's not strictly true. The Motorola 68k was considered a 16bit processor but handled everything internally at 32 bits. The Z80 is also perfectly capable of dealing with 16bit numbers, it just required more instructions and handling 8bit overflows. It has no bearing on the number of sprites it can command for example.
It's crazy to think that if Atari could have met the initial demand for the Jaguar, it might have been a success. Their pre-release marketing generated so much interest. Once the system actually launched, interest started to wane due to the lackluster games and bad press, and most of the people who were on the wait list changed their minds. If Atari could have gotten the console in the hands of everyone who wanted one from the get-go, you're talking about increasing the install-base twentyfold. With that level of ownership, it could have weathered the storm of crappy early games and you'd have seen more serious development efforts unlocking the full potential of the system.
The problem with Atari was who ran Atari. The Tramiel family were known to be ruthless businessmen, and they killed off enough businesses over the years that they finally got killed off themselves on this one.
That's not how views work. You realize the vast majority of people have no interest in watching a video about the Atari Jaguar? Says nothing about the quality of the video...its just a very niche market.
Mister Sweetheart I don't think it would be totally linear but back then we're basically double the previous system so....PS1=32 bit, PS2=64, ps3=128bit, ps4=256.....though I remember back in the day the ps2 were said to be 128 bit so 5 he ps4 would b3=512
You don't get 64-bit by mixing 2 32-bit processors. It doesn't work that way. Memory interface doesn't work that way either, or my computer would be 768-bit. In reality it could be a 16 or 32-bit system depending on how the software was set up.
but having 2 32 bit processors act in unison like that is a pretty acceptable substitute for 64 bit, jaguar games that are written well and use both 32 bit processors for what theyre intended for can get an end result comparable to 64 bit.
2x32 bit processors is not why it was considered 64bit. The memory and all the CPUs ran on a 64bit bus. This included 2x32 bit RISC chips,a 16 bit Motorola 68000, and 2mb of ram all on a 64 bit bus. The system was supposedly able to process data 64bits at a time.
The 90s were a wild time of half assed new systems. And now 30 years later we have Amiico, Polymega, Stadia, Atari something, and too many mini consoles.
The kid playing at 5:50 is moving around so much like who plays video games like that they must have told him to look like he was having fun and into the game but he looks like he is in a tv add
Wow. This is an incredibly detailed, accurate and fair account of the last few years of Atari's existence. I was actually in the audience during the episode of 'Bad Influence' that you showed (my high school had an arrangement with the TV studio, Yorkshire Television)! I also remember the 2001 event you mention when UK retailer 'Game' sold a whole bunch of unsold Atari Jaguar inventory, and that year a lot of my friends bought me Jaguar games for my birthday which was incredible.I even had an e-mail conversation with Darryl Still back in the day. Amazeballs.
+DjKetti thanks man. This one took forever to research and to verify everything was correct. I think I'll be able to get back to my regular new episode every two weeks schedule now. This one was just so involved lol
Wrestling With Gaming To be honest? It's well worth the wait for a well executed and researched video! Better than rushing and presenting low quality, semi-true stuff...
This is a great video and shows what can sadly happen quite often - a great product is released, no-one knows what to really do with it, so in the end it gets unfairly overlooked.
Incredibly well researched and highly informative! My last game console was the Sega 16bit before I went for my National Service in 93'. I remembered seeing a lonely Jaguar sitting on the shelf in a computer store probably around 95 and remembered it's 64bit hype. Now I know what happened to it.Thank you for producing this!
Very informative thank you. I got my Jaguar in 97 and always felt that it was a great console that just came out a few years too late. This video taught me a lot about the workings behind the scenes, so thanks again!
I love the playstation article at 17:39 complaining about the controller, whose design has been proven a classic and barely changed since it's inception
My buddy's dad was a computer programmer and bought this for him when it first came out. I rember going to his house after school and wasting countless hours on that system. Was pretty bad ass at the time tbh, well, for a 12 yr old, any gaming time was bad ass. Lol
I always wondered why my Dad bought the Jaguar, it wasn’t until this video I found out there was Motorola chips in it; he worked at Motorola at the time. It all makes sense now…
@wrestlingwithgaming Another awesome video! I look forward to each video you release, they take me back to good old days of gaming as a kid and bring me sides of the story I wasn’t always aware of as a kid. I actually remember buying the Jaguar for $19.99 on clearance at KayBee toys when it was already pretty much dead. I had to have every game system in the 90’s, good or bad. I also picked up the Virtual Boy on clearance for a similar amount, oh well... Looking forward to the next video, I learn something new every time! Thanks and glad to see you are still with us after Irma!
+Sean Corcoran thanks! I love putting these together. Wow, $19.99. That's incredible. Ironic that Jaguars now are more expensive than they've ever been. We were really fortunate with Irma. We didn't have any damage and though we lost power for a bit it was back within a day and a half. I know some people that just got theirs back a few days ago. Thanks for remembering and enjoy what's left of the weekend.
+Darius Robert Newton Ghazi-Torbati hey Darius, good to hear from you. I'm pretty fortunate that things have been going so well with the channel. Like I say every month, you were right about removing those visual novel let's plays lol.
+Daniel Campbell Thanks man! This video took a really long time. Way longer than I expected lol. It was definitely a labor of love as I don't imagine there's too many people randomly looking up videos on the Jaguar's history but I hope it helps people look at it a little more objectively. I love AVGN but I think a lot of owls get their opinion on the Jaguar from his video on it and take his character's take on it way too seriously.
Well, the effort shows man. You can really tell you put a lot of love and, more importantly, effort into your videos. I just remember when I was younger that I saw the Jaguar in the stores and was immediately turned off by the controller. I picked up a SNES instead and, looking back, I'm certainly glad I did. The Jaguar is, yet another, instance that proves having quality games are what matters the most for a console. There are a lot of people who like to pour over the tech specs of console hardware, but an old/used Honda Civic will take you further than a Lamborghini that's up on blocks. A weird analogy... but I stand by it. :-)
+Daniel Campbell that's a great analogy. I know what you mean about the Jaguar controller. It takes some getting used to whereas the snes controlling just feels great right away.
regarding the bland 68000 cpu, which was far out of date at the time, yea ok it was only a manager, but it doesnt matter how many rockstar superhero's you got on your team, if your manager is slow to respond on how to direct them, even at the time of development a 32 bit 68020 at the same clock speed would run considerably faster than a 68000 and things like a memory management unit
I think you were missing the point of the 68000, it wasn't there to run the whole show only to do the grunt work. Both Tom & Jerry were infact full 32--bit RISC processors as well as graphics and sound coprocessors. The 68000 (16-bit) itself wasn't the issue had it been used as intended. Using a 68020 (full 32-bit) would probably have devalued Tom and Jerry even more with developers using it to do more. The MMU would still be next to useless as it would need to interact with both of the other CPU's which would have their own memory management (with 64-bit access). Besides unless you run multiple programs at once memory management shouldn't be an issue.
so jaguar use motorola 68000 the cpu that for 16 bit system , but using 2 graphics and sound processor that actually have 64 bit bus memory. wow that is like you attaching nvidia gtx gpu to pentium 3 processor pc. im not wonder if the most games are 16bit era.
@@daishi5571 so jaguar use motorola 68000 the cpu that for 16 bit system , but using 2 graphics and sound processor that actually have 64 bit bus memory. wow that is like you attaching nvidia gtx gpu to pentium 3 processor pc. im not wonder if the most games are 16bit era.
@@kusumayogi7956 Well while it does seem like that, what you have to remember is that Tom and Jerry were capable of offloading all the intensive CPU workload off the 68000 (it's a different architecture to a PC so only vaguely comparable). The real problem was there were few programmers that had the knowhow/willingness/time to do so. The idea of having the 68000 was just to do the easy work, nothing too intensive so it would hardly be used (mainly IO and keeping track of what tasks needed doing) and T&J would be doing all the heavy work so the 68000 really doesn't have that much value in the scheme of things. But what happened was programmers took the easy route (much like many other systems before it with custom chips Amiga/Saturn) the 68000 is a well known and documented CPU so instead of learning how to use T&J to offload the CPU they programmed the 68000 directly, and only did the bare minimum use of T&J to get what they needed. Atari is also to blame with poor development kits, but this is a case that the hardware exceeded the software due to programmers not using the hardware.
@@daishi5571 let old gpu as manager for newer gpu and dsp sound like sciene fiction. only happen in theory. that is why in practical, developer still use 68000 as main cpu. but remember it is like pentium 3 with gtx gpu, the cpu bottleneck gpu that is why jaguar games look like 16 bit games because the cpu is 16 bit tech. the other analogy is like ask your dog(cpu) to manage and use tool(gpu and dsp) to do house keeping. LOL it simply bottleneck.
I remember really wanting a Jaguar when I was a kid (mostly for Aliens vs Predator.. mostly) that video filled with so much wonderful nostalgia, made me want one again! Great job.
Wow Sega basically gave most of their support for Atari and Atari turn it all down just like that. Had Atari gave it the go, we would had seen Sega classics like Sonic, Vectorman, Streets of Rage, and Shinobi on the Atari Jaguar. Every developers like Capcom, Namco, Tecmo, Sunsoft, Natsume, and Taito turn it down cause Atari hasn't prove to them how serious they take of the console. I heard at one point that Midway was interested in porting Mortal Kombat 3 or Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 to the Atari Jaguar and they just need Atari's approval, Atari never approve anything and the project to port either games were delay then eventually cancelled.
I love this channel - I love computer and counsel history, and I know most of the stories - but the depth and detail of Yahel's reporting is amazing, and his storytelling is excellent!
Haven't even finished this video, but I have to stop and say that everything about it is excellent. I hope this channel explodes with subscribers soon.
Let's not forget frame rate and frame time. It is and always was shortsighted to base playability on statistics. Some of my favorite 3D games of all times (Driller, BBC Elite, F/A-18 Interceptor, Ashes of Empire, Gunship 2000, the list goes on) flickered and frame rates would go to single digits, but you know what I really appreciated was that these games pushed the systems graphically and technically while presenting a great game. To everyone who thinks that 4K 60FPS is the gold standard do you have any clue what is being sacrificed to get these statistics.
+Nostalgia Nerd Thanks, pleasantly surprised to see your name here! it's certainly not as comprehensive as yours. I really enjoyed the level of detail you went into regarding Atari's backstory in yours.
Damnnn, such a comprehensively researched documentary. Why don't you have more subs? These are the kinds of videos the gaming community should be more interested with
+James Moffat Thanks, I appreciate it. I think a lot of people don't even know my channel exists. I've only been doing these gaming documentary videos for about 10 months, so that's probably part of it. Hopefully more people will find it as time goes on. There are so many bits (see what I did there?) of gaming history that should be preserved. Thanks for stopping by man.
Wrestling With Gaming do a colab with ACG or Downward Thrust, you all would be able to do some great stuff when it comes to these kinds of informative vids, u got a patreon?
+James Moffat I actually hadn't heard of those channels before you mentioned them. They both look great, particularly Downward Thrust looks to be right up my alley. Subbed to both to check them out tonight. These channels look awesome but I generally prefer to collaborate with people I know and already have a friendship with. I just think it makes for more natural chemistry. Plus, these guys have way more subs than I do. I highly doubt they'd be interested lol. Thanks for letting me know about them though. I do had a Patreon. Started it about a week ago actually. The discord for it is going live this weekend. It's at Patreon.com/wrestlingwithgaming
Awesome I didn't know any of that. Subbed. What happened to the VR helmet though? I realize virtual boy killed vr for 15 years but this came before it.
+Crow Migration thanks! there's some jaguar VR prototypes out there but between the issues with the console's sales as well as some stuff between virtuality (the company that made the Jaguar vr) and Atari it just didn't make it to market before the writing was in the wall for the jaguar.
I'll never forget how quickly the hype for each new machine was moving forward. By Christmas 1994, shockingly few people were talking about either Jag or 3DO outside the industry mags; everyone was either buying the Saturn/PS1 in Japan, or waiting for them in Europe. Jaguar simply didn't have the units on sale from autumn 93 to spring 94 to win the next-generation war, and 3DO was too pricey for people used to 16-bit hardware. Once it became clear that ALL 32-bit consoles would be expensive and CD based, people were willing to forgive PS1 and Saturn for their price tags.
In other words, 3DO needed to flop for its later rivals to succeed...but Atari can only blame themselves for Jaguar's slow-burning failure.
The 3D0's $700 price tag was still retarded, even by 32-bit standards.
2.5 million European pre-orders were simply just cancelled? Man, Atari was so determined to fail. They could have been like the Sega Master System in Europe and actually outsold Nintendo. A 2.5 million unit launch would have been HUGE back then. But no, they had to rush their launch and only have 5 digit launch numbers instead.
AdamCoate they should have stuck to there original plan.
it's simple, the figured they had the market share in UK, and had more competition in the US/Canada, so they wanted to break through and dominate both markets, plus, the US/Canada simply has more people, more people = more money.
exactly my thoughts. that number was astonishing. it was insane. 2.5 million?they easily could have rid the momentum from there to a moderate success at least. instead the system sold only 10% of the number in all its life. huge face palm.
Fixed, thanks.
We did the Math back in the days and the Atari lost by a huge margin :
Doom 1 and 2 (PC) > Alien v Predator and Doom (Jaguar)
Starfox (SNES) > Cybermorph (Jaguar)
Axelay, Super Aleste, Parodius, Thunder 2 and 4 > Crescent Galaxy (Jaguar)
Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 (SNES) > Kasumi Ninja (Jaguar)
Devil's Crush Pinball (SNES) > Pinball Fantasies (Jaguar)
Final Fight 1 and 2, Rival Turf 1-3 (SNES) > Double Dragon V (Jaguar)
Donkey Kong Country and Starfox ridiculed the Jaguar.
Atari Jaguar 64-Bit on paper but somewhere between 8 and 16 bit graphics in reality.
In 1994 the Sega Saturn made the Atari Jaguar look like a console from the one generation before. All the reasons and more we did not buy the overhyped underperforming Jaguar.
I worked at an electronics boutique part time when the Genesis was flying off the shelves. Nobody bought a jaguar...well maybe, but i wasnt working when they did.
I bought the system for Alien vs Predator Jan 94 and had to wait sooooo long for the game to come out. Cybermorph was ok, Tempest was fun, Wolfenstein was awesome, Doom was pretty good except for not having the bosses and AVP was great. Could not finish the marine mission in AVP. I am happy I had one (for AVP), but I would have rather have bought it in 96 for much less and a larger library.
These game documentaries are so well put together. I was born in the early 80s, so I’ve seen all the hype and ads that promoted these kind of consoles. I stuck with Nintendo most of my childhood, but I always wanted a Jaguar. It’s so cool to see what’s behind the scenes, or really behind the screens. I hope you continue to make these, I’ve been very nostalgic as of late, and to see these videos really brings me back. 10/10!!
Thanks so much!
Jaguar had to be the biggest disappointment in Video Game Console history. Those of us that owned a 7800 and Lynx knew Atari had potential. Why didn't Atari license games from Capcom, Konami, EA, or Namco? Jaguar had No wrestling game, No golf game, No good side scrolling shooter, No Mortal Kombat, No Street Fighter, No Earthworm Jim, No Baseball Game, No RPG, No side scroll beat em up like Final Fight. Did Atari really expect to succeed in this business by using half assed business tactics? (Which included bargain basement software development coupled with slow software distribution). A surefire way to fail in the gaming business.
All true. It's all too easy to romanticize About this console decades later but its games were shit compared to the competition. Atari leadership was stuck using market strategies from the 70's in the 90's. Jaguar never stood a chance.
I agree with you in a sense. To me, I am not a graphic snob, but they do look ugly. Still, it did have some decent games but flopped due to the nature of it and the fact that it relied on gimmicks. A thing that other consoles like the Game. Com and the Google Stadia didn't really learn from.
I've come to realize that nothing make a system successful like a truly varied library. That was what put Playstation head and shoulders above the competition, even Nintendo! They had a library that truly had something for everyone, and not just *something*, but quality games in every genre. The hardware is important but what truly makes a console a success is its software, especially exclusive software, and that's something Sony continues to lean itself on even today.
I think it was a lesson for all, catalog makes a console.
I still play my Jaguar, but I really wish those SEGA games would've been released.
Me too! I would love to have seen Streets Of Rage running on the Jag. What could've been...
Retro Game Players can you get your jaguar CD to work if so, Spoony, and AVGN needs your help lol
Mister Sweetheart didn’t he finally get a working jag c.d. ???
When the Saturn was announced there was no way in hell that Sega would give Atari its launch titles for the saturn, which also ultimately failed, I would love to see a Sega/Atari console competing with Microsoft and Sony today
Retro Game Players I
I recently sold my jag to a fellow collector. It feels good passing it to someone who can appreciate it like i did.
Amen to that buddy. Fellow ex-Jaguar owner here (2 times!).
Eh
“From my cold, dead hands...”
Damn! It one thing to get beat by Nintendo and Sega, but it got it butt kicked by the 3do, that sad.
The 3DO was a true next-gen console, unlike the Jaguar.
@@souljastation5463 I disagree the Jaguar was actually really powerful and if the Motorola 68k wasn’t primary focus for game development amongst many developers due to the difficulty at the time of utilizing multiple processors, the games on the Jaguar would have been much closer to the Saturn/PSX
@@benjaminphillips5639 the Jaguar needs a retro gaming scene like the one that the C64, the Mega Drive and other system have today. It needs a modern developer to take full advantage of it.
Having said that, I still think the Jaguar is more in line with something like the Atari Falcon rather than a full blown next gen system like the 3DO and the PS1.
@@souljastation5463 that’s where I disagree, certain games like Black Ice White Noise and Zero 5 actually showcase that the Jaguar was indeed capable of PSX/Saturn quality.
3DO is good console with some excellent games. Jag is a POS.
My god that clip at the beginning is amazing! It blew me awayyyyyy
+Useless Duck Company haha! I was tempted to just upload the full 30 minute infomercial and call it a day 😂
Useless Duck Company had me sold
+RedLineBandits 😂
Sounds like the guy from Epic Meal Time
I can't help but wonder where they are today.
Every single failed console I have read stories of can be summed up by “Hard to develop for”
PS3? huge success!
Even ones that weren’t quite commercial failures often had that issue. The N64 for instance had a few issues, specifically storage space of cartridges
@@G_Gr00v3 Its an easy excuse too. One of the hardest to develop for was the PS2 and that's the best selling console ever.
@@bradleymcavoy3432 It was notoriously difficult to programme for. The only one more difficult in recent years being the PS3. See here for a first hand view: gamingbolt.com/developer-explains-what-its-like-developing-for-each-console-ps3-being-the-hardest
"You are handed a 10-inch thick stack of manuals written by Japanese hardware engineers. The first time you read the stack, nothing makes any sense at all. The second time your read the stack, the 3rd book makes a bit more sense because of what you learned in the 8th book. The machine has 10 different processors (IOP, SPU1&2, MDEC, R5900, VU0&1, GIF, VIF, GS) and 6 different memory spaces (IOP, SPU, CPU, GS, VU0&1) that all work in completely different ways. There are so many amazing things you can do, but everything requires backflips through invisible blades of segfault."
My argument is that blaming how difficult something is on its poor sales is false because the PS2, one of the hardest EVER to programme, didn't see any harm done to its sales.
@@G_Gr00v3 Yeah it's a shame that the N64 was hampered by only using cartridges - because pound for pound it was the most advanced system. It also wasn't the storage capacity - it was the fact that cartridges were more expensive for developers - which made them turn to Sony even more.
Excellent video. It’s not the first time a gaming console would have their sales decimated due to a shortage of chips at launch. It really goes to show how important great first party games are to the health of a console, and how important it is to focus first in your strongest regions. Its kind of a sad story considering where the company came from, and where it went.
It's also interesting that leap frogging the competition with more power wasn't enough.
They needed proper development tools and had to focus much more on the EU market which was Atari centric. What could have been, Atari was a company of people who loved games, but when I visited them vs, visiting Sega and Nintendo I could tell they had a hard road.
Sega and Nintendo offices where like fortune 500 megacorps, Atari's offices were like a bunch of coders decided to make a company, very 70s homebrew. Those of you old like me will know what I'm talking about.
The Jag had the potential to be a great machine.
It just didn't get enough quality titles to support it.
It would be one of many systems lost in the dark times of gaming.
No! It was a nightmare to program for!!!
Nowadays all consoles in service use either X86 or ARM infrastructure and wrap it up using friendly interface.
If a AAA dev would have gotten the Jaguar like Konami or Capcom you would have seen some amazing things.
We did the Math back in the days and the Atari lost by a huge margin :
Doom 1 and 2 (PC) > Alien v Predator and Doom (Jaguar)
Starfox (SNES) > Cybermorph (Jaguar)
Axelay, Super Aleste, Parodius, Thunder 2 and 4 > Crescent Galaxy (Jaguar)
Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 (SNES) > Kasumi Ninja (Jaguar)
Devil's Crush Pinball (SNES) > Pinball Fantasies (Jaguar)
Final Fight 1 and 2, Rival Turf 1-3 (SNES) > Double Dragon V (Jaguar)
Donkey Kong Country and Starfox on a 16 bit ridiculed the Jaguar titles
Atari Jaguar 64-Bit on paper but somewhere between 8 and 16 bit graphics in reality.
In 1994 the Sega Saturn made the Atari Jaguar look like a console from the one generation before. All the reasons and more we did not buy the overhyped underperforming Jaguar.
@@jimmybiggs9230 that’s not even 100% true John Carmack himself stated that once you learn to work past the difficulties required with utilizing multiple processors which BTW was also the case with the Saturn, it’s actually a really cool piece of hardware to work with. I have an interview somewhere where he mentioned this but the developers of Super Burnout also stated that in comparison to today’s hardware the Jaguar was no harder than programming a PS3 title.
Man, that uni-brow @14:23. That thing is power.
Having visited Atari a few times, met the Tramiels and worked in the industry during the late 80s and 90s I can tell you that the Jaguar was a system crippled by poor documentation and other cost cutting measures. The machine could have been pretty awesome.
I played with the VR headset behind closed doors at E3 95 and it was way ahead of it's time.
Basically, the Jaguar didn't have the financial clout it needed. There are quite a few really good games on the system and new games are being made to this day.
The Homebrew community is pretty active. It doesn't deserve all the shit it gets.
Excellent and accurate video man. Not like the biased click bait bullshit from others.
And thank you to Hasbro!
Just as a quick note, the VR headset was by Virtuality and was originally designed in 1991 for use in the arcades using an Amiga A3000 with additional hardware. Exorex was an awesome game using this VR headset.
Exorex was actually planned for the system! There are design documents by Virtuality in regards to the unreleased Jag version. Too bad nobody is bothered enough to scan them. Would be really cool if the homebrew scene attempted to make a port of the game to the Jag...
daishi5571 I’m aware of who developed the headset, I met with them several times.
russ g LOL OK, I’m sure you’ve played them. 🙄
Shaddup
Where did *you* learn to fly?
That woman will haunt my dreams forever.
AVGN: "WHERE'D YOU LEARN TO BE AN ASSHOLE???"
Words that can invoke images in mind
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Nice video. Thank you for pointing out how Cybermorph was an open-world shooter vs the on-rails approach of Starfox. Today, it seems that people forget that huge distinction.
+Jag Taggart '93 thanks, glad you liked it. Yeah, I think people don't realize how much more complex and impressive Cybermorph is compared to Star Fox. The Jaguar gets a bad rap in general. Unfortunately it seems a lot of people get their opinion about the Jaguar from the AVGN episode on it.
This is the kind of documentary videos that I always wanted to do on my favorite videogame consoles. Using my own knowledge along with magazine articles, quarterly reports and earnings, and splash a bit of the old ads in for some flair. Apparently you've even reached out to people actually involved -- and got an answer! It would take me years just to get up to speed in order to compete with you. I love your research, your transitions, and your voice works pretty well. Thank you sir, now i can stick to just yelling at games instead of trying to barely match your quality!
This put the Jaguar in a light for me. I really want one now.
@Frankie Basile get brutal sports! A cult classic
I want one too but they’re so expensive now any old console that is over $100 now isn’t worth it too me
I am an Atarian still have almost all the computers and consoles, really great Jaguar documentary.
+1960ARC thanks so much and.thank you for taking the time to watch.
So, all that powerful processing only to be used as a Sega Genesis (M68k) in the end...
The Neo Geo accomplished much more with that same M68k. Jaguar was a waste of potential.
I know I love paying hundreds of dollars to have Sinead O Connor ask me "where did you learn to fly?" repeatedly
Hahahahahaahah!
@@turtleanton6539 05:22 panasonic
Lol. The voice is stuck in our minds forever at 64bit power
She had to fight the real enemy
Paul Rudd
I was working in an EB Games in 1995 just before the PS1 release, we had shelves of Jaguar products (loads of CD units) couldn't shift them for love nor money. In fact people were trading in their Jaguars to get a discount on the PS1.
I like the system, but why oh why was it RF out of the box?
+Larry Bundy Jr And now a working Jaguar CD is pretty damn expensive. Do you remember how much of a discount a Jaguar would get you off a PS1?
Larry Bundy Jr the Atari jaguar had av out its the green right side peace of the mother board just sticking out of it.
Weren't there just still TVs that only supported RF? In 1994 i was playing Sonic 3 on a black and white TV still.
And let me tell you, those blue balls bonus stages were HARD lol
andyukmonkey In the UK good TV's had scart
That was one of the best retrogaming videos I've watched, and a real insight into the Jaguar. Subscribed.
+Dex Shirts Thanks man. I'm hoping that it gives people a different perspective on the Jaguar.
Where did you learn to fly? Seriously can’t wait to finish this amazing video tonight.
+Jenovi haha 😂
I noticed a distinct Lack of that in the commerical, I wonder why...
I also can't believe it was critically acclaimed.
Paul Rudd in the beginning commercial, I feel like I spotted a Movie Star in your last video too. Awesome Job as usual!
+Anthony Menzer lol thanks man. I figured I'd use the Paul Rudd commercial as a Easter egg of sorts.
Another fantastic video. It's crazy (in a good way) how much research and homework you put into your videos, especially this one. I learned a lot so far.
+Shawn Thanks man, I appreciate it. This one has probably taken the most research with the 3DO video coming in a close second. I was lucky to have a couple of really knowledgeable and connected people that helped verify the more obscure stuff on this one.
I thought I had commented on this video before (this is my 4th time watching it), but I got my Jaguar 15 years ago in March 2008. Probably still I best deal I have ever gotten on a game purchase (Rivals Schools for PSX Complete for $38 back in 2015 when it was going for over $100 complete (nevermind nowadays) is a close second).
Even for 2008 prices it was a steal.
Complete in box with 2 controllers, the rare OEM S-Video cable, Cybermorph (2MB black cart pack-in version with booklet), AVP (Cart only), Doom (booklet and overlay), Wolfenstein (cart only), Tempest 2000 (Complete), and Kasumi Ninja (Complete).
I paid $60 for the whole thing on eBay.
A few days later, before my Jag had shipped, I went to my local game store, and found Iron Soldier, Hover Tank, I-War, Checkered Flag, Raiden, Ultra Vortek, Zool 2, and Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding all complete in box for $5 each. It's like the gaming gods were smiling on me.
Same thing happened a few months later where I got around $200 (eBay prices at the time) worth of Turbo Grafx-16 games and a Turbo Booster Plus for $40. Just take a guess at the software I got with that one. Remember, 2008 pricing. Nowadays the software is easily over $500.
Anyway, a couple years later I added Brutal Sports Football for around $15.
I own over 2500 physical video games, and despite being a hardcore fanatical Sega fanboy, I will NEVER sell my Jaguar. After playing it for the first time back in 2008 I immediately saw it's appeal and why it has such hardcore following and homebrew community (second only to the Dreamcast).
Also, thank god for BigPEmu, because I am deathly afraid to play my Jag nowadays due to how fragile the cartridge port is. Everytime you insert or remove a cart, you tun the risk of bending the right most pin in the port. If that gets bent, your console is completely fucked, and you then need to send it in to a hobbyist for repair.
Long Live The Jaguar!!!!
best Jaguar video documentary I've seen thus far!
+nafets zlaw thank you!
I need to thank you for making this video. I nearly shed a tear. I am an avid Jaguar collector and owner since 1995 with 63 cartridge games now. It is sad that it did not survive as long as I had hoped. There is some valuable information in this video and you did a great job with the research on this video. Props to you!
Thanks! I was fortunate to have some people from Jaguar Sector 3 to lean on for help with verifying my research. Particularly Kieren Hawken (the guy that runs the Laird's Lair channel I mention at the end) who writes for Retro Gamer magazine and has done several articles on the Jaguar himself. Leonard Tramiel was even nice enough to clear some stuff up for me. Those guys were all very helpful.
This!
This documentary is so perfect that you can actually air this directly on the NGC, unedited.
+Unique World thanks so much!
Dude, that was an incredible video. I always had a rough idea of the Jaguar's history in my head, but you did an amazing job of filling it with detail and colour.
+WickedRibbon thanks a lot. It as definitely a bit of a beast to put together but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
The Bit Wars were a very strange time. You could talk about all the reasons why newer hardware tended to be better than older hardware - it offered more performance, more memory, wider color palates, the ability to display more colors at a time, more sprites, more layers of sprites, unique graphical effects (transparency, sprite scaling and rotation), higher resolutions, the growth in storage mediums offering games that were literally exponentially larger than their forebears.... nope. It's because this console has more "bits" than the old one, right? Yes, I see that all the other numbers went up too between the generations but I really like this one number. What if we made a console that had like infinite bits? Well, that's clearly impossible but what if had like way more bits than anyone else's console did? We could like totally leapfrog the competition and corner the market!
Thankfully this is about the point it came to an end. I'm not sure if the crashing and burning of the Jaguar was primarily responsible, I could swear I remember seeing the Dreamcast advertised as a "128-bit" system once or twice, but I think even by that point people'd started to realize it was a meaningless number and Sega knew well enough the way to advertise it was by wowing us with Soul Calibur and not spreadsheets.
In the early days of computers and consoles, bits were far from meaningless. The bit-count determined the highest value a processor could handle. For example, an 8-bit processor could only handle integers up to 255 (unless it's going to use negative numbers and/or decimals, which drops said maximum integer). This is why Pacman's 256th level is so glitchy. The 8-bit processor literally can't handle the value. This is also why the NES's color pallet and sprite count were so limited. For 16-bit hardware, the maximum integer is 65535. 32 and 64 bit processors can handle integers in the billions and quintillions respectively. It's why you almost never hear about 128-bit processors. Very little, if any, software would need that many bits, especially when computers and consoles often have multiple processors working in unison.
That's not strictly true. The Motorola 68k was considered a 16bit processor but handled everything internally at 32 bits. The Z80 is also perfectly capable of dealing with 16bit numbers, it just required more instructions and handling 8bit overflows. It has no bearing on the number of sprites it can command for example.
Has to be the most comprehensive documentary on the Jaguar or any other early system I’ve ever seen. Well done
It's crazy to think that if Atari could have met the initial demand for the Jaguar, it might have been a success. Their pre-release marketing generated so much interest. Once the system actually launched, interest started to wane due to the lackluster games and bad press, and most of the people who were on the wait list changed their minds. If Atari could have gotten the console in the hands of everyone who wanted one from the get-go, you're talking about increasing the install-base twentyfold. With that level of ownership, it could have weathered the storm of crappy early games and you'd have seen more serious development efforts unlocking the full potential of the system.
I agree, Jaguar was marketed well. The long story short: I saw advertises, but never the Jaguar.
The problem with Atari was who ran Atari. The Tramiel family were known to be ruthless businessmen, and they killed off enough businesses over the years that they finally got killed off themselves on this one.
I really like how in depth this channel is . The high production values are very well done.
+ToasterNinja Thanks so much!
you have so many awesome videos. I'm gonna binge watch them. can't wait to see the superman 64 episode ;)
+Viral Killer Thanks! Glad you're digging the videos.
Your videos are amongst some of the best produced and most informative ones. Really well done.
Thanks! This has been a rough morning so reading this made my day. Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. I really appreciate it.
Nicely done. I bought the Jag and T2k in 1994, T2k remained to be one of my favorite games of all time. Minter can make any hardware sing.
+TingTingMelody thanks and yes he can 😊
Nicely made video, great work. Always great to see more involved content revolving around the Jaguar.
+Gameplay and Talk thanks!
GAMEPLAY AND TALK ROX!!! Check out his Jag DooM Let's Play vids, and all his DooM console port playthroughs. DOOM GBA IS AMAZING JS!!!!
I was a smuck that brought one in 1993 England, in a local shop that was closing down.
Love the video, have subbed.
You put a lot of time into this. You deserve more views my man!
+Brian W Thanks, I appreciate it.
Brian W yeah unfortunately the best talent on TH-cam are always over looked.
Too easy to make vlogs, act like a jackass, and rake.
That's not how views work.
You realize the vast majority of people have no interest in watching a video about the Atari Jaguar?
Says nothing about the quality of the video...its just a very niche market.
@@brokenwave6125 Almost 500K views. Do the math!
@00:54, that's Paul Rudd on the right, slapping da -bass- controller.
awesomely done! as someone who had a Jaguar in 1993 and is a lifelong Atarian, you did it right! IT's the video I could have / should have made!
+GTV thanks again man. It took a while but I'm really happy with how it came out. I hope it gives people a different perspective on the Jaguar.
GTV I got a dumb ass question, how many bits is a PlayStation4 can you even measure a game in bits even more? I am just amazed how far we have come.
512 bits perhaps?...
Mister Sweetheart I don't think it would be totally linear but back then we're basically double the previous system so....PS1=32 bit, PS2=64, ps3=128bit, ps4=256.....though I remember back in the day the ps2 were said to be 128 bit so 5 he ps4 would b3=512
GTV "Where did you learn to pick good systems?" :-P
7:47 that Wolfenstein 3D blurb is hilarious
“3D Blaster”
“the graphics are *streets* ahead of the pc version”
Not miles. Just streets.
😂🤣😂
LMAO "streets ahead" LOOOL
You don't get 64-bit by mixing 2 32-bit processors. It doesn't work that way. Memory interface doesn't work that way either, or my computer would be 768-bit. In reality it could be a 16 or 32-bit system depending on how the software was set up.
but having 2 32 bit processors act in unison like that is a pretty acceptable substitute for 64 bit, jaguar games that are written well and use both 32 bit processors for what theyre intended for can get an end result comparable to 64 bit.
@@markmental6665 this is more telling that the number of bits doesn't really mean much (in terms of raw performance) tho
Todd Howard: It Just works
2x32 bit processors is not why it was considered 64bit. The memory and all the CPUs ran on a 64bit bus. This included 2x32 bit RISC chips,a 16 bit Motorola 68000, and 2mb of ram all on a 64 bit bus. The system was supposedly able to process data 64bits at a time.
Wrong
The 90s were a wild time of half assed new systems. And now 30 years later we have Amiico, Polymega, Stadia, Atari something, and too many mini consoles.
The kid playing at 5:50 is moving around so much like who plays video games like that they must have told him to look like he was having fun and into the game but he looks like he is in a tv add
+Michael Switzer lol very true
Those are 1990 ads for 'ya ;-)
Michael Switzer
C'mon, it's an advertisement. Would you rather him sit there stoically? These types of responses are so annoying.
That's not a kid! Look again. That's Bad Influence!'s co-host Andy Crane.
Michael Switzer I knew a few people back in the day that play like that. And I know a few today that plays like that.
Wow. This is an incredibly detailed, accurate and fair account of the last few years of Atari's existence. I was actually in the audience during the episode of 'Bad Influence' that you showed (my high school had an arrangement with the TV studio, Yorkshire Television)! I also remember the 2001 event you mention when UK retailer 'Game' sold a whole bunch of unsold Atari Jaguar inventory, and that year a lot of my friends bought me Jaguar games for my birthday which was incredible.I even had an e-mail conversation with Darryl Still back in the day. Amazeballs.
Been waiting too long for a new episode, but well worth the wait!
Continue the awesome work and thanks for making my holiday even better!!!
+DjKetti thanks man. This one took forever to research and to verify everything was correct. I think I'll be able to get back to my regular new episode every two weeks schedule now. This one was just so involved lol
Wrestling With Gaming To be honest? It's well worth the wait for a well executed and researched video! Better than rushing and presenting low quality, semi-true stuff...
+DjKetti true
Well done! As a long time subscriber of The Gaming Historian, this video really impressed. Subscribed, and I am eager to watch you other videos.
+Rob Nava thanks man. I love gaming historian so that's high praise in my book. Thanks again!
...Paul Rudd?
+Dan Koch Yep. That is indeed Antman.
Right dude, I didn't know that. I assume that had to be his start.
I thought I would have heard about Paul Rudd being in an SNES commercial. How is this not referenced constantly?
Dan Koch The man pretty much looks the same way today
Ant deez mans
This is a great video and shows what can sadly happen quite often - a great product is released, no-one knows what to really do with it, so in the end it gets unfairly overlooked.
It just didn't have enough games that people wanted. It needed something -- anything -- in every genre so people would have a reason.
14:25 my god the brow is majestic.
That's a 64 bit eyebrow!
Lol
Incredibly well researched and highly informative! My last game console was the Sega 16bit before I went for my National Service in 93'. I remembered seeing a lonely Jaguar sitting on the shelf in a computer store probably around 95 and remembered it's 64bit hype. Now I know what happened to it.Thank you for producing this!
+weeliano Thanks, glad you liked it! It was definitely a beast of a video to research and edit but I'm pretty happy with how it came out.
Great video man!
+shahid khan thanks!
When is your next live feed
+shahid khan I'll probably be streaming tomorrow night.
Wrestling With Gaming Awesome!!
Very informative thank you. I got my Jaguar in 97 and always felt that it was a great console that just came out a few years too late. This video taught me a lot about the workings behind the scenes, so thanks again!
Your videos are the ones I anticipate the most, great stuff man, love it!
+OneMinuteFixed thanks!
Your production on your videos is awesome. I feel like im watching a mini documentary everytime one of your new vids comes out. Kudos.
+HellaFunnyShorts thanks, I appreciate it. I'm definitely trying to improve with each video.
You're a great gaming historian! I'm glad I found you.
+CENTER311 Thanks. Glad you found me too!
the dude at 14;32 has the gnarliest unibrow of all time. i wonder if he still rocks that look in 2021
Parents did the math. And concluded rent was more important
Best Jaguar historical video I've seen to date. Very professional and a blast to watch.
+mattinao thanks so much!
This might be your best vid yet. You are truly getting better with every video. Can't wait for your next video
+Steve Bosell Thanks! This one took a while to finish but I'm happy with how it came out.
00:55 Paul Rudd's finest acting!
+ALWTunes probably the only thing he ever needed to send to casting agencies.
cider house rules was his best acting. but everything he touches is gold. wellll not dinner for shmucks, our idiot brother or this is 40 lol.
I love the playstation article at 17:39 complaining about the controller, whose design has been proven a classic and barely changed since it's inception
The playstation d-pad sucks though.
My buddy's dad was a computer programmer and bought this for him when it first came out. I rember going to his house after school and wasting countless hours on that system. Was pretty bad ass at the time tbh, well, for a 12 yr old, any gaming time was bad ass. Lol
I thought Wrestling with gaming was a bit of an odd name for a retro gaming channel, but at 19:30 it all became clear :) keep up the good work.
that virtual reality set blew me away! for the year 1994 its out of this world!!!
I always wondered why my Dad bought the Jaguar, it wasn’t until this video I found out there was Motorola chips in it; he worked at Motorola at the time. It all makes sense now…
@John Megadrive and Saturn had the Motorola 68k chip inside too but they were probably taken from a second source manufacturer like Hitachi in Japan
@wrestlingwithgaming Another awesome video! I look forward to each video you release, they take me back to good old days of gaming as a kid and bring me sides of the story I wasn’t always aware of as a kid. I actually remember buying the Jaguar for $19.99 on clearance at KayBee toys when it was already pretty much dead. I had to have every game system in the 90’s, good or bad. I also picked up the Virtual Boy on clearance for a similar amount, oh well... Looking forward to the next video, I learn something new every time! Thanks and glad to see you are still with us after Irma!
+Sean Corcoran thanks! I love putting these together. Wow, $19.99. That's incredible. Ironic that Jaguars now are more expensive than they've ever been.
We were really fortunate with Irma. We didn't have any damage and though we lost power for a bit it was back within a day and a half. I know some people that just got theirs back a few days ago. Thanks for remembering and enjoy what's left of the weekend.
As always well done my friend. So happy to see you continuing to create such good content!
+Darius Robert Newton Ghazi-Torbati hey Darius, good to hear from you. I'm pretty fortunate that things have been going so well with the channel. Like I say every month, you were right about removing those visual novel let's plays lol.
Great video Wrestling! Seems like it got as many or more games after death than before. Truly it is the Tupac of consoles.
+kevin bhall Thanks Kevin, appreciate it. I guess that makes the CD-i the Notorious B.I.G.
Wrestling With Gaming oh man who was the shooter...we will have vengeance !
Outstanding video - high production values and thorough historical references/analysis. Bravo!
+JazzzRockFuzion Thanks so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment.
I can't imagine the countless hours you put into these videos bud. Well done. Wish I could subscribe twice. :-)
+Daniel Campbell Thanks man! This video took a really long time. Way longer than I expected lol. It was definitely a labor of love as I don't imagine there's too many people randomly looking up videos on the Jaguar's history but I hope it helps people look at it a little more objectively. I love AVGN but I think a lot of owls get their opinion on the Jaguar from his video on it and take his character's take on it way too seriously.
Well, the effort shows man. You can really tell you put a lot of love and, more importantly, effort into your videos. I just remember when I was younger that I saw the Jaguar in the stores and was immediately turned off by the controller. I picked up a SNES instead and, looking back, I'm certainly glad I did. The Jaguar is, yet another, instance that proves having quality games are what matters the most for a console. There are a lot of people who like to pour over the tech specs of console hardware, but an old/used Honda Civic will take you further than a Lamborghini that's up on blocks. A weird analogy... but I stand by it. :-)
+Daniel Campbell that's a great analogy. I know what you mean about the Jaguar controller. It takes some getting used to whereas the snes controlling just feels great right away.
Slick editing and well researched. Subbed.
really enjoyed this, but when I saw what the narrator looked like, I was like: This guy is swole AF!" :-)
+Ashamanknight It's from my 64 bit workouts lol
You're criminally underrated dude. Your videos are top notch.
+Machete180 Thanks! I appreciate you saying so.
Damn bro your giving Kim justice and a nostalgia nerd a run for thier money on this vid, the quality and detail is unbelievable
Thanks man. Those are two of my favorite TH-cam channels so that's mighty high praise in my book. Not sure if I deserve it but i'll take it! lol
This is the one I was waiting for. Absolutely brilliant video. It's people like you that make TH-cam worthwhile. Thanks man! 👊👊👊✊✊✊
+L P Thanks man! This one took a lot of work but I'm really happy with the end result.
Wrestling With Gaming Mate you make the absolute best gaming content vids on TH-cam. Thank you!! 😁👌
+L P Thanks for watching man! I think the next video is going to be on the Game Shark.
The math is that the processors were 32 bits and only one chip had any 64 bit extensions, and that was just 2 specific functions.
Yup, it was a combination of 16 bit and 8 bit. It was marketed as 24bit. But, SNK used 330 Meg's in addition. The games came out great.
I knew you were working on this, but I never had a chance to watch it. Great vid brother!
Great video, thank you! Great to know that there may be a new Atari console in the future.
+Johnny Carvin Thanks man.
Dude, your vids are GREAT! Reminds me of the late, great G4 TV show "Icons"
+bliglum Thanks! I loved that show.
regarding the bland 68000 cpu, which was far out of date at the time, yea ok it was only a manager, but it doesnt matter how many rockstar superhero's you got on your team, if your manager is slow to respond on how to direct them, even at the time of development a 32 bit 68020 at the same clock speed would run considerably faster than a 68000 and things like a memory management unit
I think you were missing the point of the 68000, it wasn't there to run the whole show only to do the grunt work. Both Tom & Jerry were infact full 32--bit RISC processors as well as graphics and sound coprocessors. The 68000 (16-bit) itself wasn't the issue had it been used as intended. Using a 68020 (full 32-bit) would probably have devalued Tom and Jerry even more with developers using it to do more. The MMU would still be next to useless as it would need to interact with both of the other CPU's which would have their own memory management (with 64-bit access). Besides unless you run multiple programs at once memory management shouldn't be an issue.
so jaguar use motorola 68000 the cpu that for 16 bit system , but using 2 graphics and sound processor that actually have 64 bit bus memory. wow that is like you attaching nvidia gtx gpu to pentium 3 processor pc. im not wonder if the most games are 16bit era.
@@daishi5571 so jaguar use motorola 68000 the cpu that for 16 bit system , but using 2 graphics and sound processor that actually have 64 bit bus memory. wow that is like you attaching nvidia gtx gpu to pentium 3 processor pc. im not wonder if the most games are 16bit era.
@@kusumayogi7956 Well while it does seem like that, what you have to remember is that Tom and Jerry were capable of offloading all the intensive CPU workload off the 68000 (it's a different architecture to a PC so only vaguely comparable). The real problem was there were few programmers that had the knowhow/willingness/time to do so. The idea of having the 68000 was just to do the easy work, nothing too intensive so it would hardly be used (mainly IO and keeping track of what tasks needed doing) and T&J would be doing all the heavy work so the 68000 really doesn't have that much value in the scheme of things. But what happened was programmers took the easy route (much like many other systems before it with custom chips Amiga/Saturn) the 68000 is a well known and documented CPU so instead of learning how to use T&J to offload the CPU they programmed the 68000 directly, and only did the bare minimum use of T&J to get what they needed. Atari is also to blame with poor development kits, but this is a case that the hardware exceeded the software due to programmers not using the hardware.
@@daishi5571 let old gpu as manager for newer gpu and dsp sound like sciene fiction. only happen in theory. that is why in practical, developer still use 68000 as main cpu. but remember it is like pentium 3 with gtx gpu, the cpu bottleneck gpu that is why jaguar games look like 16 bit games because the cpu is 16 bit tech.
the other analogy is like ask your dog(cpu) to manage and use tool(gpu and dsp) to do house keeping. LOL
it simply bottleneck.
I remember really wanting a Jaguar when I was a kid (mostly for Aliens vs Predator.. mostly) that video filled with so much wonderful nostalgia, made me want one again! Great job.
+Lenny Wright thanks!
Wow Sega basically gave most of their support for Atari and Atari turn it all down just like that. Had Atari gave it the go, we would had seen Sega classics like Sonic, Vectorman, Streets of Rage, and Shinobi on the Atari Jaguar. Every developers like Capcom, Namco, Tecmo, Sunsoft, Natsume, and Taito turn it down cause Atari hasn't prove to them how serious they take of the console. I heard at one point that Midway was interested in porting Mortal Kombat 3 or Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 to the Atari Jaguar and they just need Atari's approval, Atari never approve anything and the project to port either games were delay then eventually cancelled.
Yep, MK3 was supposed to come to the Jaguar. There was even a magazine at the time that had a cover story about it.
I love this channel - I love computer and counsel history, and I know most of the stories - but the depth and detail of Yahel's reporting is amazing, and his storytelling is excellent!
+Barret Kruse thanks so much Barret, I appreciate the kind words.
Yeah but what did Trip senpai think?
+HistoricNerd something charming
Haven't even finished this video, but I have to stop and say that everything about it is excellent. I hope this channel explodes with subscribers soon.
Thanks so much! I hope it blows up too ha ha!
Bit wars... then.. today.. resolution wars
Let's not forget frame rate and frame time. It is and always was shortsighted to base playability on statistics. Some of my favorite 3D games of all times (Driller, BBC Elite, F/A-18 Interceptor, Ashes of Empire, Gunship 2000, the list goes on) flickered and frame rates would go to single digits, but you know what I really appreciated was that these games pushed the systems graphically and technically while presenting a great game. To everyone who thinks that 4K 60FPS is the gold standard do you have any clue what is being sacrificed to get these statistics.
@@daishi5571 05:22 looks immense that one
Awesome video, probably covers the Jaguar the most deeply in the TH-cam!
+Kimura Shinji Thanks. It was definitely a bit of a labor of love.
14:30 - No comment...
That unibrow is mesmerizing.
Your videos keep getting better!
+DoomFinger511 Thanks. I'm actually pretty happy with how this one came out and I don't say that often lol.
Cool video dude!
+Nostalgia Nerd Thanks, pleasantly surprised to see your name here! it's certainly not as comprehensive as yours. I really enjoyed the level of detail you went into regarding Atari's backstory in yours.
Damnnn, such a comprehensively researched documentary. Why don't you have more subs? These are the kinds of videos the gaming community should be more interested with
+James Moffat Thanks, I appreciate it. I think a lot of people don't even know my channel exists. I've only been doing these gaming documentary videos for about 10 months, so that's probably part of it. Hopefully more people will find it as time goes on. There are so many bits (see what I did there?) of gaming history that should be preserved. Thanks for stopping by man.
Wrestling With Gaming do a colab with ACG or Downward Thrust, you all would be able to do some great stuff when it comes to these kinds of informative vids, u got a patreon?
+James Moffat I actually hadn't heard of those channels before you mentioned them. They both look great, particularly Downward Thrust looks to be right up my alley. Subbed to both to check them out tonight. These channels look awesome but I generally prefer to collaborate with people I know and already have a friendship with. I just think it makes for more natural chemistry. Plus, these guys have way more subs than I do. I highly doubt they'd be interested lol. Thanks for letting me know about them though.
I do had a Patreon. Started it about a week ago actually. The discord for it is going live this weekend. It's at
Patreon.com/wrestlingwithgaming
Talkin' about some JAG now, huh? awesome. Lmiao. love it. 💜
+Ehrisaia Aleidria O'Shannon. 😁
0:10 The retro gaming scene would have his head.
Awesome I didn't know any of that. Subbed. What happened to the VR helmet though? I realize virtual boy killed vr for 15 years but this came before it.
+Crow Migration thanks! there's some jaguar VR prototypes out there but between the issues with the console's sales as well as some stuff between virtuality (the company that made the Jaguar vr) and Atari it just didn't make it to market before the writing was in the wall for the jaguar.
Your content is quality. I really enjoy watching these videos. They're relaxing and very informative :)
+A Ham thanks a lot for taking the time to comment. Glad to hear you're enjoying the videos.