End of Atari Systems: Jaguar

My father was a teenager when Atari started to become a successful company in the 70s. From their beginnings with games like Pong and advancing to the arcades and home consoles, it seemed like nothing could go wrong. But it did, resulting in many home console failures. Even with trying the handheld area and doing okay until the Sega Game Gear, nobody cared about Atari products except the arcades.

I've never really played Atari too much other than a few handfuls of games. Their exit from a manufacturer is one that seemed inevitable with their final system turning 25 next week. The Jaguar was an attempt to be more powerful than the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. In that same breath, it was also going for new generational 3D, which was also the future. It's claim was that it was 64-bit and their slogan, "Do the Math." A very dumb slogan and when you judge the graphics, it's anything but 64. With 2D games, they ranged from average to very good. Ubisoft's Rayman is a prime example of doing something intended for that kind of hardware. Then there's 3D games like the launch title Cybermorph, which looks horrible graphically and tons of pop-up.

Of course, third parties weren't buying into this or to a lesser extent, 3DO. Shelling out 250 dollars is not horribly priced for 1993, but the efforts from Atari were minimal. Sure, they still had arcades, but they were finished with computers and whatever remaining systems they had around 1992. The company was doing most of the heavy work and trying to go after the newest fads. There was a handful of fighting games that imitated their competitors. The first person shooter games are well regarded with Alien vs. Predator and Doom. Some arcade ports like Raiden and NBA Jam Tournament Edition were stand outs.

One of the last ditch attempts to stay relevant came with the release of the Jaguar CD. Overall, the Jaguar was an ultimate failure. It had just over 50 games with the CD having a couple handfuls. Add in a clunky controller many didn't care for, poor graphics and marketing along with a few other things, and it faded into obscurity. Atari stopped with systems in 1996 and focused on making games for others. That being said, the Jaguar is still a relevant system today because of homebrews. There's quite a bit with about as many as the entire Jaguar cartridge library.

Part of me likes Atari, but poor handling of business is why they are irrelevant to my generation and most people that aren't my father's age.