Bundle includes Atari Jaguar Console, Atari Jaguar CD unit, 2x Atari Jaguar controllers, Cybermorph game cartridge (Game Only), Vid Grid cd game (Complete - Good) and the Tempest 2000 audio soundtrack The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console that was developed by Atari Corporation. The console was the sixth and last programmable console to be developed under the Atari brand, originally released in North America in November 1993. Controversially, Atari marketed the Jaguar as being the first 64-bit video game console, while competing with the existing 16-bit consoles (Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and the 32-bit 3DO Interactive Multiplayer platform (which launched the same year). Development on the Atari Jaguar started in the early 1990s, and was designed by Flare Technology, who were tasked by Atari to create two consoles; the Atari Panther, which would compete with the Genesis and the Super NES, and a successor, the Jaguar, which would surpass the capabilities of any other console on the market at the time. With development of the Jaguar running ahead of schedule, the Panther was cancelled, and the release of the Jaguar was pushed forward. It was originally released to test markets in New York City and San Francisco in November 1993, and to the general public in 1994, with Cybermorph as the pack-in launch game. The console's multi-chip architecture made game development for the console difficult, and underwhelming sales further contributed to the console's lack of third party support. This, in addition to the lack of internal development at Atari, led to a limited games library, comprising only 67 licensed titles. Atari attempted to extend the lifespan of the Jaguar by releasing a CD-ROM add-on known as the Atari Jaguar CD and marketing the Jaguar as the low-cost next generation console, with a price tag over $100 less than any of its competitors. With the release of the Sega Saturn and Sony's PlayStation in 1995, sales of the Jaguar continued to fall, ultimately selling no more than 250,000 units before it was discontinued in 1996. The Jaguar was deemed a commercial failure, and prompted Atari to leave the home video game console market. After Hasbro Interactive bought out Atari in the late 1990s, the patents to the Jaguar were released into the public domain, with the console being declared an open platform. Since then, the Jaguar has gained a cult following, with a developer base that produces homebrew games for the console. The Atari Jaguar CD or Jag CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for the Atari Jaguar video game console. Code-named the Jaguar II during development, the Jaguar CD was released on September 21, 1995, and retailed for $149.95. The device sits atop the Jaguar console, fitting into the ROM cartridge slot. The drive has its own cartridge slot to allow cartridge games to be played without removing the CD drive, and to run software that used cartridge and CD in tandem. The Jaguar CD unit featured a double-speed (2×) drive and built-in VLM (Virtual Light Machine) software. Using a spectrum analyzer, the VLM provided a sophisticated video light show when an audio CD was played in the machine. Packaged with the drive were two games (Blue Lightning and Vid Grid), a music CD (Tempest 2000 soundtrack), and a Myst demo disc. Also, the startup screen is different from that of the cartridge-based Jaguar: using the VLM banks it creates a random "light show" that is different every time the console was switched on. However, the startup was silent. Jaguar CD games can include as much as 790MB of data, considerably more than conventional CD-ROMs. The designers chose to ignore established CD-ROM formats and instead created their own based on the audio CD format. While allowing for dramatically more storage on the disc and foiling casual piracy, the format provides only limited error correction. Only 11 games were released for the Jaguar CD during its lifetime: Battlemorph, Baldies, Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods, Brain Dead 13, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands, Myst, Primal Rage, and the two pack-ins. However, previously unfinished titles and homebrew releases have since been produced, and games for the Jaguar CD were released as recently as 2017.
