Remembering our best Christmas ever: 1993, the year of the Jaguar

[Kirkman]

1993 was the best Christmas ever for my brothers and I. With the help of an uncle in California, my folks managed to get a Jaguar for us.

 

I wrote up a little blog post about it here: http://breakintochat...t-atari-jaguar/

 

I still have the Jaguar to this day, and in fact I am awaiting a new S-Video cable from thgill.

 

When did you all get your Jags?

[im_reg]

I too got mine the year of release. I think I paid around £269 for it as it was purchased from a catalogue. I forget which one now but it was probably Littlewoods or Kays or something. Not sure what my first game was after the pack in Cybermorph but I but alot of my game from HMV and Telegames (when they had a shop in Leicester).

[+Ransom]

I got it the year of release. I'd just moved from CA to IL after graduating from college. My parents managed to get a Jaguar on release day and sent it to me as a surprise. Sure was a great present!

[Cobra Kai]

I got mine on release day at a local game store called Mega Games. It was a little shop on 'Main Street' in my small hometown. The store didn't even have Trevor McFur yet, I just got the console and Cybermorph pack-in.

[Gunstar]

I was dreaming of the Jaguar since before it's release, but I didn't have the money to get it until January of '95, when I got my second sememster loans and grants for college. I spent all the money for books on the Jaguar, Iron Soldier, AvP and Checkered Flag. I had already purchased Trevor Mcfur and Wolfenstien 3D used in a game shop a few weeks earlier in anticipation. At the time, Atari had special offers going and I got a second controller and Raiden.

 

I guess I got mine just months after the nation-wide rollout in '94.

Edited December 17, 2012 by Gunstar

[+Sauron]

Like Gunstar, I was looking forward to the Jag from release day, but didn't actually get mine until January of 1995. I had just gotten out of Marine Corps boot camp, and it was my first day back home. One of the first things I did after getting off the plane was going to the mall and buying it from Babbages with my first military paycheck, completed with T2k, AvP, and of course Cybermorph as the pack-in.

[twoquickcapri]

I got my Jag CD for Christmas of 1996 and my Jaguar a few weeks before that. I made up my mind to get one when I saw one of those Iron Soldier ad in a game mag. Weird part about all this was I wanted a Genesis almost as badly before learning about the Jag and for some reason out of the systems of that time I ended up with a SNES in Christmas 1994.

[RJ]

Lessee...I know it was wintertime, maybe after the holidays, I bought my Jag at the only Electronics Boutique I knew in my area...I tried to pay w/ a personal check at first & they wouldn't let me, the mgr said they wanted to avoid bad checks or something, so my only option was to drive to my credit union & withdraw cash. I was grumbling about that & the mgr knew it, because when I came back he knocked off some of the cost, or it was a discount on a game, I forget. I may have bought Trevor McFur then too, if not then shortly after.

 

I do know the next game I bought was Tempest 2000. that ElBo in Maplewood Mall, & Babbages in the then-new Mall of America, was where I got most of my Jag games.

[Vintagebreed]

Letme see if im not mistaken i got my first jaguar Christmas of 95 bought the jaguar core console and a few weeks later bought the jag CD unit i remember Looking on the Jag CD unit box and being amazed at some of the games they had advertised but they never came out i think i bought Highlander and myst the same day i got my Jag CD unit from babbages i truley loved Highlander back then still do love that game.

[+Stephen]

I got my Jag in 94 in order to play Tempest 2000, and pretty sure I got the CD in early 95. But 93 was a good year - I graduated HS Guess that makes me old.

[Coleco]

I must have gotten mine in 96 for Christmas from a mail order place that was blowing them out for $39 or something. My brothers thought I was insane.

I bought most of the games in my collection from video rental shops and KayBee Toys as they were doing closeouts. I don't think I paid more than $10 for a game early on.

 

A place at the mall was selling JagCD units for $20, so I got one of those. The floodgates were open by then on the Jag closeouts -- Pro Controllers, Memory track, etc.. 99 cent Composite cables and S vidoe, Most CD games could be had for $5 or less. I paid $30-40 for Atari Karts and full price for Breakout 2000 and Iron Soldier 2 on CD. Then, I got Battlesphere (and I later passed on Battlesphere Gold).. stupid.

 

Sold the entire kit, all games included for something like $750. Wish I hadn't. Hope the guy who bought it is still enjoying it, though.

[masematte]

I got my Jag in 95 in Germany, when the price fall down, and I bought only a few Games, i think like the most people.

 

But then i stop playing videogames for about 5 years, so i didnt notice the released fo BS+BSG and that is so arrrr.......:-)

 

So i can say im a Jag Fan since the Launch (in Germany it was 94)

[Kirkman]

Our library included Cybermorph, trevor mcfur, tempest 2k, nba jam, syndicate, flipout, and a bunch of others. I didn't realize there was Myst for the Jag. I'll have to check into that.

[Vintagebreed]

Ya you can pick Myst up for the Jag at a reasonable price still to this day.I think early on when you bought the Jag CD unit they gave a Myst demo along with the unit or atleast i got one with mine.But just browsing threw ebay i seen multiple copies of Myst for a fair price.

[108 Stars]

Must have been tough, getting the Jag and being euphoric in 1993, only to see it going downhill with too many half-finished games released and third-party-support nowhere to be found. Christmas 1993 to mid 1996 is not a long time, it must have felt like going from the hot spring directly to Antarctica.

[Gunstar]

Must have been tough, getting the Jag and being euphoric in 1993, only to see it going downhill with too many half-finished games released and third-party-support nowhere to be found. Christmas 1993 to mid 1996 is not a long time, it must have felt like going from the hot spring directly to Antarctica.

 

It wasn't like that at all for me, though I didn't get mine until January of '95, so I got it just after the first big Christmas push, when All the Jag's best games were out on the shelves. T2K, AvP, DOOM, Wolfenstien 3D, Raiden, Iron Soldier...the only turkey I got initially was Checkered Flag, otherwise I was in gaming Heaven. And by Christmas of '95 there was another ton of games, half great and half, half done as you said, but I was always a savvy game buyer and got the good stuff for Christmas '95; Missle Command 3D, Defender 2K, The Jag CD with Battlemorph, Hover Strike CD, Highlander and Myst, all of which I loved. Then, after a year of heaven, It did all end for the most part, but then along came Telegames releases (all great) and then Songbird came along with some of the games I'd been missing. The fact is, I'm still enjoying long awaited releases today, like most of the Songbird games. I steered clear of the games people said were dogs (until I started collecting everything). But I had a great experience back then, and I kept buying the later systems and enjoyed what everyone else had, but I had the bonus of owning a Jaguar with lots of great games no one else ever enjoyed and am still enjoying new games on it today, 4 generations later, along side the latest gen hardware.

 

But I love having obscure systems like the Jaguar and 3DO. Somtimes I'll be playing NSF on the 3DO or Battlemorph on the Jag, and I'll sit there thinking to myself, "I bet I'm the ONLY person in the WORLD playing this game." I like that feeling, especially when it a great game, that just happens to be unknown by 99.999% of the world.

Edited December 21, 2012 by Gunstar

[Kirkman]

Must have been tough, getting the Jag and being euphoric in 1993, only to see it going downhill with too many half-finished games released and third-party-support nowhere to be found. Christmas 1993 to mid 1996 is not a long time, it must have felt like going from the hot spring directly to Antarctica.

 

Yes, it was. I was an Atari fan, and even though I was a kid, it was clear that Atari was an underdog and that the company had made many missteps. Still, the Jaguar seemed like a clean slate, and a chance to reclaim some former glory. So, yeah, it was hard when it didn't work out the way I hoped.

[+DarkLord]

I actually had Jennifer Troy (Dave's wife) of Toad Computers call me at home to

ask me if I wanted a shot at their first shipment of Jaguars coming in. Not wanting

to appear overly anxious, I held out as long as I could before I said "eeeeeyessss!!".

It was the longest 3 seconds of my life.

[RJ]

Just last night digging thru storage for my Kenner Star Wars Imperial Shuttle (found it!) I found my Jag CD boxed w/ Blue Lightning, VidGrid, sealed Myst demo & sealed Tempest 2000 sdtk.

[Gunstar]

 

 

Yes, it was. I was an Atari fan, and even though I was a kid, it was clear that Atari was an underdog and that the company had made many missteps. Still, the Jaguar seemed like a clean slate, and a chance to reclaim some former glory. So, yeah, it was hard when it didn't work out the way I hoped.

 

This is true, being a long time Atarian, I did hope the Jag would bring Atari back to the top, and the truth is, that they might have had a slight chance if it had ended up being Jaguar-vs-3DO-vs-Saturn/32X; Sony with it's Corporate might was what did them all in eventually, save Nintendo. So I was disappointed Atari died, but the Jaguar always had enough good games out for me to continually enjoy it buying a game every few months or so for years. Though I did buy a used 3DO in '96 on clearance for $99 and suddenly had a whole other game libary along side the Jag to keep me happy at bargain-been prices until I got a Dreamcast in '99. I can sure pick the winners can't I? Really I buy what I think is the most advanced for it's day, that also is a big enough leap forward and has that "wow" factor. The PSX and Saturn weren't a big enough leap over the Jag and 3DO to make me upgrade. And win or lose, enough games are made for even these failed systems to keep me happy.

Edited December 22, 2012 by Gunstar

[future assassin]

I got mine at Micro Play in 1995. Still have it and play it.

[CD-i]

Played the Jag from the release on in GErmany at a friend who had bought all great games on launch day e.g. Tempest, AvP, Doom etc.

 

Got mine at a clearout at "Quelle" which was one of Germanys biggest resellers on mail order back then. The sold it for 99DM with 2 controllers, Cybermorph and Tempest. Bought some games at clearouts in local stores and later bought the Jag CD via an game seller who advertized the CD for 170DM. The CD Rom was never on local store shelves in Germany.

[sqoon]

Got mine for $99 through Tiger Direct, after Atari sold all their stock to some hard drive manufacturer. Came with Cybermorph, White Men Can't Jump (and 4-player adapter), Alien vs. Predator, Attack of the Mutant Penguins, and Raiden. We went to Kay Bee shortly after and they had a bin of the Jaguar games clearanced for $5 a piece. Picked up Val D'Isere, Checkered Flag, Supercross and NBA Jam TE.

[Kirkman]

Got mine for $99 through Tiger Direct, after Atari sold all their stock to some hard drive manufacturer. Came with Cybermorph, White Men Can't Jump (and 4-player adapter), Alien vs. Predator, Attack of the Mutant Penguins, and Raiden. We went to Kay Bee shortly after and they had a bin of the Jaguar games clearanced for $5 a piece. Picked up Val D'Isere, Checkered Flag, Supercross and NBA Jam TE.

 

I think Cybermorph, Tempest 2000, and NBA Jam were the most-played games in my house.

 

Funnily enough, my 2-year-old son has begun saying "Boom shaka laka." Not because of NBA Jam, but still. One of these days I'll get out the game and let him hear it there.

[MAYAman]

I was lucky in that I ran three games stores called cutting edge entertainment and got it launch day in New York. Got all the available games and me and my buddies played all night. Great memories.