/vr/ - Retro Games

>>7112139
>Many developers are planning on waiting out the eary 32 bit hardware wars, but I want to do a cool product even if it doesn't make tons of money. Sandy (our map designer) semi-derisively calls DOOM jaguar my "reward" for writing DOOM pc. "Good job, you can go play with your new toys." :-)

>Our initial appraisal of the Jaguar was "nice system, but Atari probably can't make it a success". But when I got the technical documentation, I was VERY impressed. This is the system I want to see become a standard platform.

>I was slated to do a cut down version of DOOM for the Super Nintendo SFX chip, but I kept thinking about how cool a Jaguar version of DOOM would be, and Nintendo kept rejecting Wolfenstein-snes for b*****t reasons (a golden cross bonus item might offend christians. right.).

>We finally decided that we didn't want to be a part lof the chicken-and-the-egg problem of new systems not attracting customers because developers haven't written for the platform because there are no customers. The jag is cool, I think it has a shot at success, and I am going to put my time where my mouth is.

>Why the Jag is cooler than the 3DO (from my point of view): It only costs $250. The bulk of its processing power is user programmable. The 3DO has a capable main processor (a couple times better than the weak 68k in the Jag), but most of its power is in custom hardware that has narrow functionality for affine transformations."

>The Jag has some stupid hardware for z buffering and gouraud shading, but I can just ignore it and tell the two 27mhz risc chips to do EXACTLY what I want. A 64 bit bus with multiple independant processors may not be the easiest thing to optimize for, but there is a LOT of potential!
-John Carmack

Source
https://www.atariarchives.org/cfn/09/03/08/0060.php

>>7112139
it plays doom? and that one alien vs predator game. and that's about it?

>>7112139
I worked at a major electronics chain in 1995. We were still selling SNES and Genesis at a decent rate. But the PSX we couldn't keep in the store for a day, it was that popular. The N64 was our next best seller. I sold a handful of Saturns and SegaCDs. Even a Philips CDi or Panny 3DO would sell once in a blue moon.

Want to know the two consoles I NEVER sold? NOT ONE? They ALL got shipped back? I'm talking about the Jaguar and the 32x. No one wanted that shit for nothing.

>>7112145

>>7112150
It has an FPS mecha game and a couple of full 3D flight open ended sims/shmups. It also had a canceled open world 3rd person shooter cyberpunk ARPG, which was going to be like GTA 3 with RPG mechanics. It's a powerful and affordable console with tons of barely tapped potential. Unlike sony and nintendo though, atari didn't hire enough high profile devs to make games for them.

>>7112171
>like GTA 3
Bit of a stretch there isn't it?
https://youtu.be/1Mbb-3awWck

>blocks your path

>>7112139
I had one at the time. It was pretty shit then. There is a pretty good port of Doom on it though.

>>7112253
soul

>>7112139
shit heap but has a couple nice games/... rayman, pitfall, that rally game, AvP etc

Now that the dust has settled, can we agree that the 64-Bit Interactive Multimedia System was the, dare I say it, quintessential classic retro game console?

>>7112253
It's actually a really comfortable pad to hold, suprisingly. I also like the idea of the overlays on the numpad.

>>7112139
Disaster.
Thing had more potential than it showed as videos like https://youtu.be/1Mbb-3awWck proves, but it was a disaster.

>>7112190
It's not. Check out Quarantine, driving slash FPS game made in the same era. Its got a 3DO port. That game has bigger cities and heavier traffic than GTA 3. If the 3DO can do it, Jaguar roughly can do it too, it's only slightly less powerful even though its launched for a quarter of the 3DO's price.

>>7112145

He has said that he could improve the resolution and other things with the code too for jag doom.

The jag took someone like carmack to program for, it wasnt easy at all. Shame, it could do some good things. Should have hired someone like him as a consultant for an SDK or something.

>>7112996
>improve with what he learnt later.

>>7112139
Absolute trash day 1.

>>7112145
>shit has been that never left his FPS safe zone likes a joke of a console
Sasuga

>>7113031
FPS games are the most hardware demanding games.

>>7112996
Iron Soldier is more impressive than Doom and it didn't have carmack. Anyway, carmack was really autistic about affine textures and accuracy to the PC version. I would bet Doom would run with better framerate and have music playing in the background if it wasn't programmed by Carmack.

>>7112480
i rather comfortable buttons

>>7113152

The pro controller actually is good. the original is OK its not conventional but the pro controller feels alright.

>>7112253
Why did some have grey buttons and others black? WHY

>>7112253
>Sir they are complaining about the controller
>..........Add more buttons.

>>7113395
>ditch the number pad
>analog stick at below d-pad and pause
So close...

In the form it was released it just came out way too late. If it came in 91 or 92 it could of stood a chance. Also the 64-bit meme really bit it in the ass as it made the games all the more dissapointing. The overall design and branding was on point though

>>7112139
Did the Jaguar even have any good games?

Its been said that the hardware was designed around CD-Rom for the games and a lot of the major bugs in programming it were due to Atari panic dumping the CD drive to cut costs/time, and last minute switching the games to use the cart slot which was suppose to be just for saving games. Atari really could not stop fucking themselves in their final years.

>>7112139

>>7113625
Cybermorph is actually good and AVGN was intentionally playing like complete shit to make it keep saying that. Try it, you have to TRY to suck ass to replicate that.

>>7113420
Alien vs Predator
Highlander

>>7113449
I've never heard that rumor, but I doubt that it's valid. I believe the bugs occurred because the hardware designers were in a bit over their head and needed more time to iron out the wrinkles. Which is a bit weird because the hardware was in development since '90, was taped out by '91, and had some sample production in '92 via Toshiba gate array chips. The other hardware they released years later, "Project-X" or the Nuon, was also riddled with bugs and likewise was in development for an extended period.

I think at some point the Atari execs might have considered releasing the CD unit as standard, but by 1992 their PC hardware business was beginning its tailspin and so producing the leanest possible hardware was paramount. A 2x CD drive in 1993 would probably have added $100 to the B.O.M. and increased its retail price even further. And this was from a company that simply forwent the 4th generation entirely. They must have known early on that customers wouldn't have trusted the Atari name enough to spend $350 or 400 on a new console from them (save for some parts of Europe, I suppose).

>>7113420
a couple as stated.

>>7114364
Like a dozen actually.
>Doom
>Wolf 3D
>Rayman
>Iron Soldier 1 and 2
>Skyhammer
>Battlemorph
>Cybermorph (its good, fuck you)
>Defender 2000
>Hover Strike
>Highlander
>AVP

>>7114508
Oh, and Atari Karts > Mario Karts unironically.

>>7112171
Lol. No it didn't.

>>7114591

yeah it did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLNWDSrBWMQ

i remember reading up about it, they complained they had to use atari computers to make it and brought in their own macs to get some actual work done, and the lack of SDK meant they were really slow at building the games, where designers and so on had to take in so much tech and complain they werent programmers. Also Sam Tramiel rage quit while it was being made and turfed a jaguar console in the rubbish..

i should google it

https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/bj-west/

not the article but another angle.

>>7114523

the mortal kombat, virtua fighter, and mario kart rip offs. What do you expect, pong their breakthrough game was pong that was ripped off from magnavox.

>>7112380
Still cant believe that fucking RAYMAN was (initially) exclusive for the Jaguar. One of the best platformer franchises got it's start as a seed growing out of a massive pile of shit

>>7114909
>One of the best platformer franchises got it's start as a seed growing out of a massive pile of shit
I didn't know they wanted to make Rayman for the SNES.

>>7112534
Dear god those FMVs are golden!

>pisses into a glass
"Here ya go K A M P A I"

>>7114929
Edgy

>>7114929
Little do you know they actually did
The first Rayman prototype was on SNES.

>>7114909
i like the rayman version to, its colours are amazing, the 16bit ost is cool and NO load times is fucking ideal.

>>7114984
jag version*

>>7114972
Fr? I didn't know that. I just figured you were doing the "hrr drr SNES worst system ever" meme

>>7115004
>meme
Not the worst system ever, but it came out 2 years after the Genesis, with more primitive CPU and more expensive retail price. The game carts were significantly more expensive than the Genesis too. It was a piece of shit technically. Jaguar on the other hand was a groundbreaking console when it came out with an impressive performance for its price, but with an awfully small library littered with shit games and insufficiently marketed killer apps.

??

>>7115147
One thing I always liked about Atari. Those fuckhuge giant rubber plugs for all their hardware. I've seen sticks go bad, buttons stop working, pins in the ports get broken, but I've never see the plugs themselves break.