Jaguar games cost too much!

[Iron Draggon]

I wouldn't even bother collecting them anymore if it wasn't for the fact that they just keep getting more and more expensive. I really hate collecting for this system. I'm having to pay an average of at least $75 per game, which is bad enough in itself, but to make matters worse, the games totally suck ass!

Tempest 2000 rocks, and so does Ruiner Pinball, but I'm not talking about those games. I'm talking about all of the rare ones. Most of the Telegames releases are lame as hell, just like most of the Atari releases are, but at least most of the Atari releases are cheap as hell like they should be now. And the Songbird releases are even worse. I still don't have any of those yet, so I can't say for sure if they're lame or not, but I can say that their prices are really lame! They cost even more than the Telegames releases do, so if they suck ass too, I'm really gonna be pissed by the time I get all of those I need.

So I just got another $75 game that I'll probably never play again. I played it one time just to make sure that it worked OK, yawned my ass off silly, and cringed at how ugly the graphics were. The gameplay was atrocious, and I basically have yet another $75 dust collector added to my collection of more of the same. But hey, I have yet another one of the rarest Jag games now!

If you ask me, these games are rare because nobody wants to play them, and nobody in their right minds would pay as much as I did to buy them. They're not even really kinda cool, they're all just like OMG, that's it? I paid how much for this crap? Sheesh, I need to get my head examined, I think there's something seriously wrong with me. That's how bad they really are.

Now I know that I'm about to get attacked by an angry mob of diehard Jag fans, but seriously, how can you play all these games and not realize what utter shit they are? Give me an N64 game over this tripe anyday, I mean at least the N64 gave you $75 worth of quality when you paid $75 for a game!

And to think that I actually sold my N64 because the games for it were too expensive. I should've kept it and unloaded the black cat. But if it wasn't for Tempest 2000 and Ruiner Pinball and the VLM on the Jag CD, I would've. I hate to even think about the Jag CD too, there are no games worth having for it at all, so I basically bought the VLM which just happens to play Jag CD games also. How a system that costs so much to collect for can suck so bad is beyond me, but it sucks way more than any of it's few cool exceptions.

I would've called this thread "Jaguar games cost more than they're worth!" but the sad fact is that they are worth what they cost in market value, it's just that they aren't worth anywhere near what they cost in play value! So I guess I'm just another insane Jag collector, willingly subjecting myself to this masochistic ritual of paying way too much for a bunch of junk that I could hardly care any less about. What on earth possesses me to keep up with this system is as much of a mystery to me as it must be to everyone else who wonders why I bother. So let's hear it, Jag junkies, confess your own sins!

That's right, this is the thread where you all get to admit that you don't really like very many of the games either, and you only keep collecting them because it's such an outrageously trendy thing to do! It's kinda like buying a Saab. Everybody knows that they're ugly as hell, but they're so hideously expensive, you just have to have one! You know who you are. Speak up!

[kai123]

You know I am feeling the same way about my Jaguar. It is hard to find games for it at all. I only want a few titles but I am not going for a complete collection. I guess I just don't like the controller that much is what really bugs me. I hate that F#$*ing dpad!!!

Also why do some games get bitrot or whatever and refuse to play music? Some of my games don't work at all, they just show the red screen at the intro. I have cleaned them up and down over and over. I guess I was hyped by the jaguar and it really disappointed me in the end. Really sad because I was really excited about it too. The only game I regularly play on it is AvP. I need to get a couple more though, that I think I will enjoy.

BTW has anyone played worms for the Jaguar? Is it worth the cash?

[K3V]

Since when is the Jaguar trendy?

And I'd hardly say the average cost of Jaguar games is $75. The majority you can get on eBay for sub $20, it's just the later post-Atari games (released for the hardcore Jag fans) that cost more than the rest, and that's due to economy of scale.

You're talking to a bunch of collectors here. We all have games in our collections that we'll never touch but it's all about having that complete collection. Play the good ones, the bad ones stay on the shelf. If you don't like them, either don't buy 'em or sell 'em off. Seems simple enough.

[DigitalSpace]

I don't own a Jaguar, but I have a personal memory. A cousin of mine owned a Jag at one point - and he didn't own it too long, either. I never found out the exact reason why he got rid of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if the cost and/or library of games had something to do with it. I did get the chance to play Tempest 2000 though, and enjoyed it.

On a side note, the Jag controller had way too many buttons.

[K3V]

You know I am feeling the same way about my Jaguar. It is hard to find games for it at all. I only want a few titles but I am not going for a complete collection. I guess I just don't like the controller that much is what really bugs me. I hate that F#$*ing dpad!!!

You should try out the ProController. Much nicer to hold and a better D-Pad.

Also why do some games get bitrot or whatever and refuse to play music? Some of my games don't work at all, they just show the red screen at the intro. I have cleaned them up and down over and over. I guess I was hyped by the jaguar and it really disappointed me in the end. Really sad because I was really excited about it too. The only game I regularly play on it is AvP. I need to get a couple more though, that I think I will enjoy.

Hitting 0 on the keypad turns off the music in all Jag games. Make sure it isn't simply turned off, or turned down in the Pause options.

BTW has anyone played worms for the Jaguar? Is it worth the cash?

It's identical to the PC original. I love Worms and am a big Jag fan so it's great to have the game on the platform. Whether it's worth $70+ to you or not is up to you.

Trivia: Did you know that the Jag was supposed to be the first home console to get Worms? But then Atari folded and the Jag died off with it, leaving the game on the shelf until Telegames finally published it.

[ianoid]

Songbird- limited run- read some reviews, they cost alot because they were just recently produced and in limited quantity.

Jag games as a whole are cheap, but then most aren't worth playing. I HAD to pay over $50 for the likes of Air Cars, Towers II, Iron Soldier2 , Battlesphere...

You DON'T unless you're a completist like me. Most games have versions or similar titles on other platforms that are cheaper.

One of my suggestions: Power Drive Rally, if you like isometric drivers. I'm into that title.

[anagrama]

No-one is forcing you to buy them. Collecting anything just for collecting's sake is bound to make you regret spending decent wads of money on something that you don't really want but 'need' just for the sake of a complete set.
Please note, I'm not trying to initiate another 'player vs. collector' debate, I'm certainly a completist with regards to certain systems. That said, I'm perfectly happy owning just Tempest 2K for the Jag, and collecting for systems that I enjoy playing.
Why bother with the ones you don't like when you could be spending that $75 on a fantastic game (or games) for another system that you do enjoy?

[Captain Wrong]

No-one is forcing you to buy them. Collecting anything just for collecting's sake is bound to make you regret spending decent wads of money on something that you don't really want but 'need' just for the sake of a complete set.
Please note, I'm not trying to initiate another 'player vs. collector' debate, I'm certainly a completist with regards to certain systems. That said, I'm perfectly happy owning just Tempest 2K for the Jag, and collecting for systems that I enjoy playing.
Why bother with the ones you don't like when you could be spending that $75 on a fantastic game (or games) for another system that you do enjoy?

Exactly.

[Rogmeister]

At one point, I was thinking of getting a complete Jaguar library and had between 40 and 50 games...then I looked at Air Cars and said there's no way I'm paying big bucks for that...so I'm now down to about 22 games and I'm happy with the ones I decided to keep.

[J2games]

Having been a collector for (well, more time than I'd like to remember!) I agree with your analysis on "overpriced" carts for ANY system. Honestly, I own just about every system ever made and decided a long time ago that I would focus on first acquiring the games I most wanted for a system, then working through "collecting/completing" the list of carts for those systems. Well, hundreds and hundreds of carts later, still not complete but a kickin library of games (and yes, there are some that just sit on the shelf!)

If you are diehard collector, spending the money for all the titles is about all you could do, but some collectors (like us!) work towards a collection that is enjoyable and keeps us coming back to play again and again!

J2Games.com

ps - i have most of the Jag and Jag CD titles and honestly, Tempest2k and Rayman are about the only ones I play over and over...

[Rogmeister]

I'm sure if I were forced to cut down to no more than 10 games per system, I'd have no trouble doing that for the Jag...5 might be a bit much, though. Besides Tempest & Rayman, my favorites would also include Alien Vs. Predator, the pinball games and the FPS games Doom & Wolfenstein 3D. The Jag version of Wolfenstein is actually the only version I have of that game.

Oh, and I only have cartridge games...I got tired of having to continually reposition the CD unit every time I wanted to play a disc game...

[Iron Draggon]

It's not that I regret my purchase, I just think that it really sucks to have to pay that kind of money for a bunch of games that are nowhere near worth it, as far as graphics and gameplay are concerned. I'm not that much of a completist, so I have no plans to go for a complete Jag collection. I'm at 30 games right now, and I plan to stop at 36. So there's only 6 more that I still want and still need before I'll consider my collection to be complete enough for me. But 3 of those last 6 games are gonna cost me about $250 total, plus shipping. That's pretty sad, especially when I'll almost never play them.

And out of those 36 games, only 5 of them are for the Jag CD. I have 4 Jag CD games right now, so I only need one more, as far as I'm concerned. So when I'm done, I'll have 31 carts and 5 CD's. Now 31 carts is still a pretty decent amount to justify the purchase of the system, but only 5 CD's sure isn't much to justify the purchase of the CD addon. Especially when none of those 5 games is really all that good. And if I only counted all the carts that I considered to be worth the $50 - $75 that I paid for them all brand new, then I'd still be down to Tempest 2000 and Ruiner Pinball, basically. There are a few others that I enjoy, like Power Drive Rally and Defender 2000, but beyond those most of them just gather dust. The 3D games are all horrible, and are only marginally fun for a few minutes at best. So to me it really is more of a collector's sytem than it is a player's system. You buy the games as an investment, not for enjoyment. It's not that they can't be enjoyed at all, because they aren't really as bad as I make them sound I guess, but they sure aren't on the same par with any N64 games, which makes no sense at all, since both systems are supposed to be 64BIT. So if that's true, then why aren't all the Jag games as much fun as all the N64 games? I just don't get it.

BTW, I only buy new games, so the prices that I'm complaining about are for factory sealed copies, not for mint complete copies on ebay or wherever. Yes I know that I don't have to buy only new copies for it, but that's what I want to do. So I know that I only have myself to blame for that, and I'm not really complaining so much as I am grumbling. I'm about to order 2 more Jag carts and 1 more Jag CD for about the same amount of money, so that's a big difference in value. And if I didn't know where to shop for the other 3 games that I'm about to order next, it would cost me over $150 for those 3 games instead of only about $75 for them. That's twice as much for the exact same games in the exact same condition, so I guess what I'm really complaining about is how much most places are still charging for Jag games. There's some great deals on ebay, like the Fight for Life cart that I got for less than $25 shipped, as opposed to $75 shipped from somewhere else, but you really have to search the net and find out where the best bargains are to keep from getting screwed on the prices. And in the case of all those Songbird games, there's no getting around it. You're gonna pay top dollar for them, or you just aren't gonna get them at all, it's as simple as that.

So I'm just grumbling about how much it's costing me to "complete" my Jag collection, and complaining about how gameplaywise none of those games are really worth as much as what they cost, in my opinion. So I dunno why I want them or why I even bother, but I guess it's just a collector's thing, I just have to have them because I've come this far and I'm so close to having all the games that I want now. I'm sure that I'll play them from time to time, and maybe I should spend alot more time with them for as much as they're costing me, but I just can't get that into them. They just aren't as much fun to me as other games for other systems that are far less powerful on paper. And I guess that's the biggest thing that has me so upset. The Jag with Jag CD is supposed to be pretty powerful, but nobody ever really used it to it's full potential, except Jeff Minter. Tempest 2000 and the VLM are the only real reasons to own a Jag and a Jag CD as far as I'm concerened, and that's just crazy for a system that costs so much and costs so much to collect for. But I guess I'm just a crazy guy, because I'm still gonna order those last 6 games that I want/need, and I'm gonna order 3 of them very soon now!