Is an Atari Jaguar system worth keeping?

[tom]

[QUOTE=retro junkie;1716240]Probably the conflict here is, we look at the Nintendo 64 and then we look at the Jaguar, thinking 64-bits, wondering where's the beef? I'm not sure if any of the games really taxed or revealed the true power of the 64-bit environment created in the Jag. The people at Atari just did not know what to do with it. And it did not stay in the market long enough for developers to come to grips with the hardware.
[QUOTE]

The Jaguar was way ahead of its time, just like the Lynx, but by the time the Jaguar appeared, consoles and console gaming was fully in Japanese hands. Who was gonna buy a American made console in 1993?

[diskoboy]

The Jaguar was way ahead of its time, just like the Lynx, but by the time the Jaguar appeared, consoles and console gaming was fully in Japanese hands. Who was gonna buy a American made console in 1993?

I did...

The only thing I hated about my Jag was the pins in the controller ports bent easy, and were very hard to get back straigt once they were bent. I ruined my Jag when I moved... I packed it without protection. The pins bent bad, and I couln't sraighten them back out. The console was unplayable by that point. I couldn't get my Jag repaired because Atari dropped support by this point.

[tom]

I did too.
I was in UK at the time, and I SOOOOO desperatly wanted a pre-order (Atari UK had some Jags on pre-order service only).
I went into Virgins (sucky UK CD/gaming/ whatever shop) all over and ask if anyone changed their minds, so I could buy it. No luck, I had to wait until the 'real' release, and I snapped one up on first day of 'official' release..GBP 220.00.

[Leo_A]

I think there was enough hype and buzz at launch that Atari had a huge opportunity to make something great. A shame, really.

Can't say that I agree. I think it was a lost cause from the start.

Where I think they could've been really successful was with the Lynx. They got in on the ground floor of things just weeks after the GameBoy and a full year before the GameGear even hit the Japanese marketplace, with a really nice piece of hardware, some great games, and some talented programmers onboard.

But it was never much more then a side focus for them for many reasons (Including their console ambitions that turned into the Jaguar). So it sputterred out almost as soon as it began despite a successful launch and reception, and Nintendo has had a untouchable lead in the market since.

That's the real wasted opportunity in my mind. I think they had the handheld to compete with Nintendo and establish a new niche for themselves after fighting a losing battle in the console business. But sadly, they wasted the opportunuty.