Atari Jaguar - ROM Set
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- Topics
- Atari Jaguar, ATARI, ROM, Set, Atari Jaguar CD, Atari Jaguar VR, Retro Old School, Video Game's, CD-ROM, 64bit, 32, bit
- Language
- English
The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it competed with the 16-bit Sega Genesis and Super NES and the 32-bit 3DO Interactive Multiplayer that launched the same year. Despite its two custom 32-bit processors — Tom and Jerry — in addition to a Motorola 68000, Atari marketed it as the world's first 64-bit game system, emphasizing its 64-bit bus used by the blitter. The Jaguar launched with Cybermorph as the pack-in game, which received divisive reviews. The system's library ultimately comprised only 50 licensed games.
Quick Facts Developer, Manufacturer ...
Development of the Atari Jaguar started in the early 1990s by Flare Technology, which focused on the system after cancellation of the Atari Panther console. The multi-chip architecture, hardware bugs, and poor tools made writing games for the Jaguar difficult. Underwhelming sales further eroded the console's third-party support.
Atari attempted to extend the lifespan of the system with the Atari Jaguar CD add-on, with an additional 13 games, and emphasizing the Jaguar's price of over US$100 less than its competitors. With the release of the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation in 1995, sales of the Jaguar continued to fall. It sold no more than 150,000 units before it was discontinued in 1996. The commercial failure of the Jaguar prompted Atari to leave the console market.
After Hasbro Interactive acquired all Atari Corporation properties, the patents of the Jaguar were released into the public domain, with the console declared an open platform. Since its discontinuation, hobbyists have produced games for the system.
History
Development
The Jaguar was developed by the members of Flare Technology, a company formed by Martin Brennan and John Mathieson. The team had claimed that they could not only make a console superior to the Genesis or the Super NES, but they could also be cost-effective.[citation needed] Impressed by their work on the Konix Multisystem, Atari persuaded them to close Flare and form a new company called Flare II, with Atari providing the funding.[citation needed] Flare II initially set to work designing two consoles for Atari. One was a 32-bit architecture (codenamed Panther), and the other was a 64-bit system (codenamed Jaguar). Work on the Jaguar design progressed faster than expected, so Atari canceled the Panther project to focus on the more promising Jaguar.
The Jaguar was unveiled in August 1993 at the Chicago Consumer Entertainment Show. To prepare for its launch, the Atari ST computer line was discontinued, and support for earlier systems such as the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit family, had already been dropped on January 1, 1992. All 20,000 Jaguar units shipped during its test launch in 1993 were sold.
Technical specifications
From the Jaguar Software Reference manual, page 1:
Jaguar is a custom chip set primarily intended to be the heart of a very high-performance games/leisure computer. It may also be used as a graphics accelerator in more complex systems, and applied to workstation and business uses. As well as a general purpose CPU, Jaguar contains four processing units. These are the Object Processor, Graphics Processor, Blitter, and Digital Sound Processor. Jaguar provides these blocks with a 64-bit data path to external memory devices, and is capable of a very high data transfer rate into external dynamic RAM.
The Jaguar utilizes a multi-chip architecture that is difficult for most developers to use.
Design specs for the console allude to the GPU or DSP being capable of acting as a CPU, leaving the Motorola 68000 to read controller inputs. Atari's Leonard Tramiel also specifically suggested that the 68000 not be used by developers. In practice, however, many developers use the Motorola 68000 to drive gameplay logic due to the greater developer familiarity of the 68000 and the adequacy of the 68000 for certain types of games. Most critically, a flaw in the memory controller means that certain obscure conventions must be followed for the RISC chips to be able to execute code from RAM.
Processors
Tom chip, 26.59 MHz
Graphics processing unit (GPU) – 32-bit RISC architecture, 4 KB internal RAM, all graphical effects are software-based, with additional instructions intended for 3D operations
Object Processor – 64-bit fixed-function video processor, converts display lists to video output at scan time.
Blitter – 64-bit high speed logic operations, z-buffering and Gouraud shading, with 64-bit internal registers.
DRAM controller, 8-, 16-, 32- and 64-bit memory management
Jerry chip, 26.59 MHz
Digital Signal Processor – 32-bit RISC architecture, 8 KB internal RAM
Similar RISC core as the GPU, additional instructions intended for audio operations
CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo)
Number of sound channels limited by software
Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals
Full stereo capabilities
Wavetable synthesis and AM synthesis
A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
Joystick control
Motorola 68000 - system processor "used as a manager".
General purpose 16-/32-bit control processor, 13.295 MHz.
Other features
The inputs and outputs of an NTSC Atari Jaguar
RAM: 2 MB on a 64-bit bus using 4 16-bit fast-page-mode DRAMs (80 ns)
Storage: ROM cartridges – up to 6 MB
DSP-port (JagLink)
Monitor-port (composite/S-Video/RGB)
Antenna-port (UHF/VHF) - fixed at 591 MHz in Europe; not present on French model
Support for ComLynx I/O
NTSC/PAL machines can be identified by their power LED colour, Red: NTSC; Green: PAL.
COJAG arcade games
Atari Games licensed the Atari Jaguar's chipset for use in its arcade games. The system, named COJAG (for "Coin-Op Jaguar"), replaced the 68000 with a 68020 or MIPS R3000-based CPU (depending on the board version), added more RAM, a full 64-bit wide ROM bus (Jaguar ROM bus being 32-bit), and optionally a hard drive (some games such as Freeze are ROM only). It runs the lightgun games Area 51 and Maximum Force, which were released by Atari as dedicated cabinets or as the Area 51 and Maximum Force combo machine. Other games were developed but never released: 3 On 3 Basketball, Fishin' Frenzy, Freeze, and Vicious Circle.
Peripherals
The redesigned ProController has additional action buttons, and the JagLink peripheral adds network styled play to compatible games.
Prior to the launch of the console in November 1993, Atari had announced a variety of peripherals to be released over the console's lifespan. This includes a CD-ROM-based console, a dial-up Internet link with support for online gaming, a virtual reality headset, and an MPEG-2 video card. However, due to the poor sales and eventual commercial failure of the Jaguar, most of the peripherals in development were canceled. The only peripherals and add-ons released by Atari for the Jaguar are a redesigned controller, an adapter for four players, a CD console add-on, and a link cable for local area network (LAN) gaming.
The redesigned second controller, the ProController by Atari, added three more face buttons and two triggers. It was created in response to the criticism of the original controller, said to lack enough buttons for fighting games in particular. Sold independently, however, it was never bundled with the system. The Team Tap multitap adds 4-controller support, compatible only with the optionally bundled White Men Can't Jump and NBA Jam Tournament Edition. Eight player gameplay with two Team Taps is possible but unsupported by those games. For LAN multiplayer support, the Jaglink Interface links two Jaguar consoles through a modular extension and a UTP phone cable. It is compatible with three games: AirCars, BattleSphere, and Doom.
In 1994 at the CES, Atari announced that it had partnered with Phylon, Inc. to create the Jaguar Voice/Data Communicator. The unit was delayed and an estimated 100 units were produced, but eventually in 1995 mass production was canceled. The Jaguar Voice Modem or JVM utilizes a 19.9kbit/s dial up modem to answer incoming phone calls and store up to 18 phone numbers. Players directly dial each other for online play, only compatible with Ultra Vortek which initializes the modem by entering 911 on the key pad at startup.
Jaguar CD
Main article: Atari Jaguar CD
The Atari Jaguar CD and Memory Track cartridge
The Jaguar CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for games. It was released in September 1995, two years after the Jaguar's launch. Twelve CD games were released during its manufacturing lifetime, with more being made later by homebrew developers. Each Jaguar CD unit has a Virtual Light Machine, which displays light patterns corresponding to music, if the user inserts an audio CD into the console. It was developed by Jeff Minter, after experimenting with graphics during the development of Tempest 2000. The program was deemed a spiritual successor to the Atari Video Music, a visualizer released in 1976.
The Memory Track is a cartridge accessory for the Jaguar CD, providing Jaguar CD games with 128 K EEPROM for persistent storage of data such as preferences and saved games. Atari planned a second Jaguar model that combined both the Jaguar and the Jaguar CD into one unit, a la the TurboDuo. The Atari Jaguar Duo (codenamed Jaguar III) was a proposal to integrate the Jaguar CD to make a new console, a concept similar to the TurboDuo and Genesis CDX. A prototype, described by journalists as resembling a bathroom scale, was unveiled at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, but the console was canceled before production.
Jaguar VR
A virtual reality headset compatible with the console, tentatively titled the Jaguar VR, was unveiled by Atari at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. The development of the peripheral was a response to Nintendo's virtual reality console, the Virtual Boy, which had been announced the previous year. The headset was developed in cooperation with Virtuality, which had previously created many virtual reality arcade systems, and was already developing a similar headset for practical purposes, named Project Elysium, for IBM. The peripheral was targeted for a commercial release before Christmas 1995. However, the deal with Virtuality was abandoned in October 1995. After Atari's merger with JTS in 1996, all prototypes of the headset were allegedly destroyed. However, two working units, one low-resolution prototype with red and grey-colored graphics and one high-resolution prototype with blue and grey-colored graphics, have since been recovered, and are regularly showcased at retrogaming-themed conventions and festivals. Only one game was developed for the Jaguar VR prototype: a 3D-rendered version of the 1980 arcade game Missile Command, titled Missile Command 3D, and a demo of Virtuality's Zone Hunter was created.
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