Is the Bally Astrocade superior to the Atari Jaguar?

[+madman]

The Astrocade felt like it had a lot of internal overhead, much like Intellivision. It had to burn through a lot of clock cycles to get 1 pixel on the screen. Even more to do something like move it around.

 

In comparison the VCS was a free-wheeling efficiency machine. Each clock cycle did something important. The VCS was almost mechanical in nature. So simple.

The VCS was a free wheeling efficiency machine? It has no frame buffer, each line had to be displayed individually and game logic was only possible during blanking periods.

[Keatah]

Yep. This forced tight and efficient code to be written. Every game on the Astrocade is slo-mo compared to what the VCS can do. Show me something on Astrocade that is even half as fast as VCS' Turmoil or Kaboom! or even the slower Demon Attack.

[toiletunes]

Dude, this post is awesome, and I can't believe people aren't realizing the intended sarcasm!

I never expected the wide variety of responses, it just goes to show you...

 

But seriously, you can pick up most any older console for $50 or less, games for $10 or less (usually much less, depending on console/rarity etc) but the Jag is around twice as much, give or take. What makes it worth the cost?

[Keatah]

What makes the Jag so expensive? The hopes and dreams attached to it in its heyday. Now? Pfffffttthhhhhttt...