Atari Jaguar CD
The Atari Jaguar CD or Jag CD was a CD-ROM peripheral for the Atari Jaguar video game console.
Late in the life span of the company, Atari released this long-promised CD-ROM unit. The unit hit shelves in mid-1995 and retailed for $149.95. The device sat atop the Jaguar console, plugging into the cartridge slot, and had a funnel-like shape. Due to this, the physical design of the system has sometimes been compared to that of a conventional toilet. The drive had its own cartridge slot to allow cartridge games to be played without removing the CD drive. There was a separate "Memory Track" cartridge for storing saved game position and high scores.
The Jaguar CD unit featured a double speed (2x) drive and built-in VLM (Virtual Light Machine) software written by Jeff Minter. The VLM, which provided a sophisticated video light show when an audio CD was played in the machine, was as popular among buyers as the games themselves. 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 was different than that of the cartridge-based Jaguar: using the VLM banks it created a random 'light show' that was different every time the console was switched on. However, the startup was silent.
Jaguar CD games could 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 only provided limited error correction.
The drive was manufactured for Atari by Philips in the United States. The initial shipment was 20,000 units. Comments from Atari a few weeks after the unit was launched stated that the entire inventory had been sold, and that another batch would be ordered. With the JT Storage reverse takeover looming just a few months away, it is possible, however, that those 20,000 drives were the only units ever produced. Games for the Jaguar CD were released as recently as 2007.
While the ratio of CD to cartridge games is fairly low, the CD add-on unit has always held an interest to gamers. In particular, the value of the CD add-on has gone up dramatically in the past few years, mainly due to low supply. Also, it is now possible to download and burn several encrypted demos (Black Ice/White Noise, Native, Atomic) to play on an actual CD unit with no modification. Due to this, the homebrew sector is active with several titles in progress. A third-party cartridge is, however, still required for unencrypted games. The console has a high chance for overall system failure, making for an unreliable system.
Late in the life span of the company, Atari released this long-promised CD-ROM unit. The unit hit shelves in mid-1995 and retailed for $149.95. The device sat atop the Jaguar console, plugging into the cartridge slot, and had a funnel-like shape. Due to this, the physical design of the system has sometimes been compared to that of a conventional toilet. The drive had its own cartridge slot to allow cartridge games to be played without removing the CD drive. There was a separate "Memory Track" cartridge for storing saved game position and high scores.
The Jaguar CD unit featured a double speed (2x) drive and built-in VLM (Virtual Light Machine) software written by Jeff Minter. The VLM, which provided a sophisticated video light show when an audio CD was played in the machine, was as popular among buyers as the games themselves. 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 was different than that of the cartridge-based Jaguar: using the VLM banks it created a random 'light show' that was different every time the console was switched on. However, the startup was silent.
Jaguar CD games could 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 only provided limited error correction.
The drive was manufactured for Atari by Philips in the United States. The initial shipment was 20,000 units. Comments from Atari a few weeks after the unit was launched stated that the entire inventory had been sold, and that another batch would be ordered. With the JT Storage reverse takeover looming just a few months away, it is possible, however, that those 20,000 drives were the only units ever produced. Games for the Jaguar CD were released as recently as 2007.
While the ratio of CD to cartridge games is fairly low, the CD add-on unit has always held an interest to gamers. In particular, the value of the CD add-on has gone up dramatically in the past few years, mainly due to low supply. Also, it is now possible to download and burn several encrypted demos (Black Ice/White Noise, Native, Atomic) to play on an actual CD unit with no modification. Due to this, the homebrew sector is active with several titles in progress. A third-party cartridge is, however, still required for unencrypted games. The console has a high chance for overall system failure, making for an unreliable system.
Jaguar CD Game list
Baldies
Battlemorph
Blue Lightning (bundled)
Braindead 13
Dragon's Lair
GORF Classic
Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods
Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands
Iron Soldier 2
Myst
Ocean Depths
Painter
Primal Rage
Space Ace
Vid Grid (bundled)
World Tour Racing
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