-= The Atari Jaguar, 64-Bit Game System
-= Reviewed By: Josh Renaud

    The future is finally here. Being 14, I constantly hear about the Super
Nintendo and the more popular Sega Genesis with their -16 Bit- (Oh my!) power.
The SegaCD seems to be the hottest commodity right now. Well, last year, Atari
produced a gem; Enter the Atari Jaguar.

    Simply put the Jaguar is a RISC-based, multiprocessor architecture, 64-bit
game machine (Or 'Integrated Multimedia System' as Atari calls it). I could
spend all day telling you about how it works and as much as one can tell about
the chipset. The Jaguar's controller features A, B, and C buttons, a 'Pause'
button, an 'Option' button, and a 9-key keypad. (A kepyad like that of a
touch-tone phone) But, suffice it to say, the Jaguar is incredible. Jaguar
ships with 'Cybermorph' a 3-D, flight sim-ish game kind of like Defender.
Cybermorph is composed of 5 levels with 8 planets each. You must visit each
planet and rescue a certain amount of pods from each planet to exit it. This
game shows off the finer points of the Jaguar. It uses texture mapped mountains
and terrain. The ship (a 'Transmogriffon' or 'T-Griffon'), enemies, and
buildings are all 3-D polygon shapes. Unlike some games with polygons,
Cybermorph is realistic. You have complete control of the ship, with full
reverse, gradual accelartion and the ability to circle the planet as many times
as you wish. Put simply, this is total freedom at it's best.

    Other Jaguar games currently out include 'Raiden,' 'Evolution: Dino Dudes,'
'Tempest 2000,' and 'Crescent Galaxy.' All these games have incredible graphics
and good gameplay. Tempest 2000 recieved several awards at the CES show. Right
now, Atari has around 80 or 85 developers working on games or accessories.
Being anxiously awaited is 'Alien vs. Predator.' AvP uses a Wolfenstein-like
viewpoint. However, the graphics are often photo-quality, the animaton is fast,
special effects are great, and sound is incredible. Atari had AvP on their big
screens at the CES, and people were flocking to see it. If you've seen the
screen shots for AvP, you know why so many people want it. This game looks
incredible.

    Atari is notorious for not advertising, neglecting it's users, and misusing
it's dealers. While Atari Corp still has it's flaws, I think there are some
changes going on. There are ads in almost every video game magazine (Good ads,
mind you. Eye-catching.), and they have TV ads running in San Francisco and New
York. I heard from 3 different friends at school that they'd seen a Jaguar TV
ad on Channels 30 and 11 around 5:00 and 5:30. I don't know that it's true, but
none of them have seen a Jaguar or it's games, and they were able to perfectly
describe them for me. Perhaps the ads have reached us. The Tramiels made the
comment they hope that the Jag generates 80% of their revenue this year. Now
this doesn't mean that ST/TT/Falcons are out of the picture, but it certainly
means the Jaguar is permanently cemented into Atari's future.

    This machine just blows away the competition. The Jaguar CD will premier
this fall, according to Atari (Who, incidentally, delivered the Jag closer to
the projected release date than any other product they've released). 'Doom,' a
popular PC game, has a Jaguar version coming out soon. 'Kasumi Ninja,' Atari's
version of Mortal Kombat (The megahit arcade game) ships about the same time as
Alien vs. Predator. There is already a peripheral for the Jaguar; The 'Cat Box'
which provides a wealth of A/V ports, as well as a DSP and, more importantly,
an RS232 port for connection to a modem. Rumors are flying that the keypad on
the controller is to allow one to call a BBS or nodes of the upcoming
'Information Superhighway.'

    The Jaguar is incredible. It costs 249$, and really is worth it. The Jaguar
may well be the beginning of Atari's rise to stardom again. Let's hope so...