From rjung@netcom.com Mon Mar 02 03:09:23 1998 Newsgroups: alt.atari-jaguar.discussion,rec.games.video.atari,alt.answers,news.answers,rec.answers Path: news.nic.utwente.nl!news.cs.utwente.nl!Cabal.CESspool!bofh.vszbr.cz!newscore.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.nacamar.de!news-peer.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!ix.netcom.com!rjung From: rjung@netcom.com (Robert A. Jung) Subject: FAQ: Atari Jaguar Frequently-Asked Questions Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.games.video.atari Summary: FAQs about the Atari Jaguar video game system Organization: Southern California Lynx Enthusiasts Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 02:09:23 GMT Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Lines: 1716 Sender: rjung@netcom17.netcom.com Xref: news.nic.utwente.nl alt.atari-jaguar.discussion:11392 rec.games.video.atari:82990 alt.answers:28410 news.answers:40220 rec.answers:27373 Archive-name: games/video-games/atari/jaguar Posting-Frequency: monthly _ _ ____ _ _ _ ____ ||| Atari | | / |/ ___\| | | | / | _ \ Frequently Asked Questions ||| | | / | | __| | | | / | |_| | / | \ /| | |/ / | | |_ | | | |/ / | _ < | |_| / _ | |__| | |_| / _ | | \\\ \___/_/ |_|\____/ \___/_/ |_|_| \\\ \\\ Created by Robert Jung (rjung@netcom.com), because no one else wanted to. Dedicated to ASTEROIDS, for getting me hooked in the first place Last update: 2/27/1998 ============================================================================== This file is not maintained by, overseen by, endorsed, or otherwise associated with Atari Corp., JTS, or any of its subsidiaries. It's just a collection of questions and answers, with a few news tidbits thrown in. This file is posted on a monthly basis to rec.games.video.atari, alt.atari-jaguar.discussion, news.answers, and rec.answers around the first of the month. The latest version of this file is also available on the world- wide web at http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/atari/Atari.shtml. It is maintained by Robert Jung at rjung@netcom.com on the Internet. Send corrections, news, updates, comments, questions, or other stuff to that address. All mail is welcome! Updates since the last publicly posted FAQ have a percent sign ( ) in the first column. ============================================================================== Q. What was the Atari Jaguar/Jaguar64? A. The Atari Jaguar was the world's first 64-bit home console video game system. Developed after three years of research, manufactured by IBM, the Jaguar was released in Fall 1994, and offered high-speed action, CD-quality sound, and polygon graphics processing beyond most other machines available at the time. Orignally released as the Jaguar, Atari had, at times, referred to the machine as the "Jaguar64" for marketing purposes. For the sake of simplicity in this document, the term "Jaguar" will be used. ============================================================================== Q. What was included when you bought a Jaguar? A. The Jaguar was first sold for $250. It came with the Jaguar itself, one controller, an AC adapter, a television RF switch box, and the CYBERMORPH video game. Later on, the Jaguar was sold without a game, and as time progressed, the Jaguar was sold for $150, then $99. ============================================================================== Q. What happened to Atari, anyway? A. The trials and tribulations of Atari could fill a small book (and, in fact, once did). To summarize VERY briefly, the history of Atari is as follows: 1972 Atari Inc. founded by Nolan Bushnell from a $250 investment. Pong arcade game becomes a smash sensation. 1976 Atari Inc. sold by Bushnell to Warner Inc. for $28 million. 1980 Atari Inc. posts record sales. $2 billion profits annually. Atari occupies 80 offices in Sunnyvale, CA. 1983 Decline of video games and irresponsible spending by Atari Inc. results in record losses ($536 million, up to $2 million daily). 1984 Warner divides Atari Inc. Home division (Atari Corp.) is sold to Jack Tramiel. 1985 Atari Corp. releases Atari ST home computer. 1989 Atari Corp. releases Atari Lynx, the world's first color hand-held video game system (see the Atari Lynx FAQ). 1993 Atari Games becomes Time-Warner Interactive. 1993 Atari Corp. releases Atari Jaguar, the world's first 64-bit home video game system. 1996 Time-Warner Interactive (Atari Games) sold to WMS. 1996 Atari Corp. announces reverse merger with JTS Corporation. 1996 Atari Corp. and JTS connsumate deal on July 31 1996. The deal was beneficial to both parties; JTS needed Atari's $50 million to shore up their financial situation, and the Tramiels needed some way to liquidate their SEC Rule 144 holdings in Atari. The Tramiels are now obligated to find fiances for JTS, and the Atari "profit center" in JTS must continue to do some business to validate the tax loss carryforward. Hence, the name Atari continues to live on for tax purposes, and the odds are very good that the licensing of titles and patents under the Atari name will continue for several years, at least. ============================================================================== Q. Who now owns/handles Atari's properties? A. At the time of this writing, Atari Corp.'s licenses and intellectual % property are now owned by JTS. John Skrunch of Atari/JTS reports that the % company is willing to license or sell the properties if an acceptable deal % is offered. CWest has been contacted to sell Atari Jaguar software and hardware. CWest can be reached via electronic mail at atari@cwest.com, or on their WWW page at http://www.cwest.com/atari/ ============================================================================== Q. What was IBM's role in the Jaguar? A. IBM had a $500 million contract with Atari Corp. to assemble, test, package, and distribute Jaguar units. Manufacturing was done at IBM's Charlotte, NC facility, and the Jaguar was IBM's first attempt at producing a consumer-grade product for an outside vendor. By mid-1994, Jaguar units were also manufactured by Comptronix in Colorado Springs. Jaguar circuit boards were manufactured and assembled by an IBM subcontractor; IBM then cased, tested, and packaged final Jaguar units, which were then sent to Atari. IBM had no participation in the actual design of the Jaguar chipset. ============================================================================== Q. Okay, who did design the Jaguar? A. The primary designers of the Jaguar were Martin Brennan and John Mathieson. They started their own company in 1986 called Flare 1, and designed an original multiprocessor game console. After the system was finished, Flare wanted to "evolve" the system, but needed funding for the job. Atari was contacted, believed in the idea, and agreed to participate. Atari, Brennan, and Mathieson started a new company called Flare 2 to develop the system. As Jaguar development moved along, it became apparent that the machine would leapfrog the then-new systems from Nintendo and Sega (the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, respectively), so they decided to bring the machine to light. The entire process took three years, from initial design to production-ready models. The proprietary Jaguar chipsets were manufactured by Toshiba and Motorola. ============================================================================== Q. What are the specifications of the Jaguar? A. Physical dimensions: Size: 9.5" x 10" x 2.5" Controls: Power on/off Display: Programmable screen resolution. Horizontal resolution is dependent on the amount of scanline buffer space given to the "Tom" graphics processor. Maximum vertical resolution varies according to the refresh rate (NTSC or PAL). Reportedly, a stock Jaguar (without additional memory) running NTSC can display up to 576 rows of pixels. 24-bit "True Color" display with 16,777,216 colors simultaneously (additional 8 bits of supplimental graphics data support possible) Multiple-resolution, multiple-color depth objects (monochrome, 2-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit) can be used simultaneously Ports: Cartridge slot/expansion port (32 bits) RF video output Video edge connector (video/audio output) (supports NTSC and PAL; provides S-Video, Composite, RGB outputs, accessible by optional add-on connector) Two controller ports Digital Signal Processor port (includes high-speed synchronous serial input/output) Controllers: Eight-directional joypad Size 6.25" x 5" x 1.6", cord 7 feet Three fire buttons (A, B, C) Pause and Option buttons 12-key keypad (accepts game-specific overlays) The Jaguar has five processors which are contained in three chips. Two of the chips are proprietary designs, nicknamed "Tom" and "Jerry". The third chip is a standard Motorola 68000, and used as a coprocessor. Tom and Jerry are built using an 0.5 micron silicon process. With proper programming, all five processors can run in parallel. - "Tom" - 750,000 transistors, 208 pins - Graphics Processing Unit (processor #1) - 32-bit RISC architecture (32/64 processor) - 64 registers of 32 bits wide - Has access to all 64 bits of the system bus - Can read 64 bits of data in one instruction - Rated at 26.591 MIPS (million instructions per second) - Runs at 26.591 MHz - 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM - Performs a wide range of high-speed graphic effects - Programmable - Object processor (processor #2) - 64-bit RISC architecture - 64-bit wide registers - Programmable processor that can act as a variety of different video architectures, such as a sprite engine, a pixel-mapped display, a character-mapped system, and others. - Blitter (processor #3) - 64-bit RISC architecture - 64-bit wide registers - Performs high-speed logical operations - Hardware support for Z-buffering and Gouraud shading - DRAM memory controller - 64 bits - Accesses the DRAM directly - "Jerry" - 600,000 transistors, 144 pins - Digital Signal Processor (processor #4) - 32 bits (32-bit registers) - Rated at 26.6 MIPS (million instructions per second) - Runs at 26.6 MHz - Same RISC core as the Graphics Processing Unit - Not limited to sound generation - 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM - CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo) - Number of sound channels limited by software - Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals - Full stereo capabilities - Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM synthesis - A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART - Joystick control - Motorola 68000 (processor #5) - Runs at 13.295MHz - General purpose control processor Communication is performed with a high speed 64-bit data bus, rated at 106.364 megabytes/second. The 68000 is only able to access 16 bits of this bus at a time. The Jaguar contains two megabytes (16 megabits) of fast page-mode DRAM, in four chips with 512 K each. Game cartridges can support up to six megabytes (48 megabits) of information, and can contain an EEPROM (electrically erasable/programmable read-only memory) chip to save game information and settings. Up to 100,000 writes can be performed with the EEPROM; after that, future writes may not be saved (performance varies widely, but 100,000 is a guaranteed minimum). Depending on use, this limit should take from 10 to 50 years to reach. The Jaguar uses 24-bit addressing, and is reportedly capable of accessing data as follows: Six megabytes cartridge ROM Eight megabytes DRAM Two megabytes miscellaneous/expansion All of the processors can access the main DRAM memory area directly. The Digital Signal Processor and the Graphics Processor can execute code out of either their internal caches, or out of main memory. The only limitations are that (1) "jump" instructions in main memory have certain restrictions; the JMP (unconditional jump) command is longword-aligned, while the JR (jump-indexed-by-register) command must be either word- or longword- aligned. And (2) running out of the cache is much faster (up to four times faster) and efficient. Some believe that the inability to jump/branch in main memory makes the main memory feature useless. Swapping data between the caches and the main memory is a quick, low overhead operation, and therefore the main memory is often used as "swap space" for cache code. The RISC compiler included in the latest Jaguar developer's kit produced code that transparently swaps code through the cache. This effectively allowed developers write RISC code without concern for the cache size limits. Compressed cartridge data can be uncompressed in real-time, and ratios of up to 14:1 have been cited. In theory, a Jaguar cartridge can store up to 84 megabytes (672 megabits) of data, though actual results will vary widely (most often, images are compressed, while sound and code are not). Compression is performed with BPEG, an enhanced JPEG image decompression mechanism. BPEG supercedes the former JagPEG algorithm, working up to 10 times faster and with more flexibility. Other Jaguar features: - Support for ComLynx I/O for communications with the Atari Lynx hand-held game system and networked multiconsole games (on DSP port, accessible by optional add-on connector). Networking of up to 32 Jaguar units available. - The two controller ports can be expanded to support "dozens" of controllers - Digital and analog interfaces - Keyboards, mice, and light guns are possible - Expansion port allows connection to cable TV and other networks - Digital Signal Processor port allows connection to modems and digital audio peripherals (such as DAT players) - One megabyte per second serial interface - 9600 baud, RS-232 serial port (accessible with optional interface) - General-purpose I/O bits via the cartridge port - Can accomodate future expansions of different processor types, I/O types, video types, and memory types and/or quantities. ============================================================================== Q. Was the Jaguar really a 64-bit system? A. The question is hard to resolve, largely because the definition of what constitutes an "N-bit" system has not been set. Of the five processors in the Jaguar, only the object processor and the blitter are "true" 64-bit components. Because the blitter and the object processor are in the Tom chip, by extension Tom is a 64-bit chip. Furthermore, the Jaguar also used a 64-bit memory architecture, according to Jez San of Argonaut Software. Some say the Jaguar should be considered a 32-bit system, as that is the maximum register size in the programmable processors (the 68000, the graphics processor, and the DMA sound processor). Others say the Jaguar can be considered a 64-bit system, because 64-bit components are used, and the GPU can access 64 bits of data if required. Again, the lack of an agreed-upon definition serves to complicate the issue. According to Jaguar designer John Mathieson, "Jaguar has a 64-bit memory interface to get a high bandwidth out of cheap DRAM. ... Where the system needs to be 64 bit then it is 64 bit, so the Object Processor, which takes data from DRAM and builds the display is 64 bit; and the blitter, which does all the 3D rendering, screen clearing, and pixel shuffling, is 64 bit. Where the system does not need to be 64 bit, it isn't. There is no point in a 64 bit address space in a games console! 3D calculations and audio processing do not generally use 64-bit numbers, so there would be no advantage to 64 bit processors for this. "Jaguar has the data shifting power of a 64 bit system, which is what matters for games, so can reasonably be considered a 64 bit system. But that doesn't mean it has to be 64 bits throughout." For the record, the opinion of most third party developers and observers is that the Jaguar is indeed a 64-bit system. The emphasis is on the word "system"; while not every component is 64 bits, the Jaguar architecture, as a COMPLETE SYSTEM, is. ============================================================================== Q. The Jaguar used a 68000. Isn't that the CPU? A. Again, quoting from Jaguar designer John Mathieson, "It may be the CPU in the sense that it's the centre of operation, and boot-straps the machine, and starts everything else going; however, it is not the centre of Jaguar's power. ... The 68000 is like a manager who does no real work, but tells everybody else what to do." And... "Atari were keen to use a 68K family device, and we looked closely at various members. We did actually build a couple of 68030 versions of the early beta developers systems, and for a while were going to use a 68020. However, this turned out too expensive. We also considered the possibility of no [Motorola 680x0 chip] at all. I always felt it was important to have some normal processor, to give developers a warm feeling when they start. The 68K is inexpensive and does that job well. I maintain that it's only there to read the joysticks." ============================================================================== Q. How could a graphics processor be the CPU? A. The 64-bit custom graphics chip was a good general purpose RISC unit, but it had been optimized for graphics work. Developers were free to specify which processor(s) to use in a program, as desired. ============================================================================== Q. What kind of special effects could the Jaguar do? A. The Jaguar was capable of doing the following visual effects: - High-speed scrolling (Object Processor). - Texture mapping on two- and three-dimensional objects (GPU and Blitter). - Morphing one object into another object (GPU). - Scaling, rotation, distortion, and skewing of sprites and images (Object Processor). - Lighting and shading from single and multiple light sources (GPU and Blitter). - Transparency (Object Processor). - "Rendering" up to 850 million one-bit pixels/second (35 million 24-bit pixels/second, 26 million 32-bit pixels/second), or 50 million Goroud shaded pixels/second. "Rendering" is believed to mean transferring a pixel from a frame buffer to the screen. - Sprites of "unlimited" size and quantity. Realistically, sprites can be over 1,000 pixels wide/tall, and the number of sprites allowed is limited by processor cycles instead of a fixed value in hardware (Object processor). - Programmable screen resolutions, from 160 to 800 pixels per line. The resolution can be increased even further with additional hardware up to a reported 1350 pixels per line. One of the Jaguar modes is called "CRY mode", which supports lighting and effects in 3D graphics. Red, green, and blue color elements are ranged from 0 to 255, and the lighting level for any pixel can be changed by setting one byte linearly. E.g., the relative proportions of red, blue, and green are indicated with one byte, while a second byte selects an overall intensity of 0 to 255. CRY allows much smoother shading of single colors, but doesn't allow blending between colors as smoothly. Actual graphics performance is hard to measure, as there are no industry- standard benchmarks. Rebellion Software has claimed that the Jaguar can render "10,000 Gourard shaded, large, 65536 color, any shape polygons per second," while still performing other tasks. Presumably this level can be increased further with optimized programming. A key to understanding the Jaguar's performance is to realize that most effects are accomplished by programming one of the processors to do the job. To perform texture-mapping, for instance, required a developer to write a texture-mapping routine for the GPU and/or blitter, then call it as needed. The general-purpose nature of the Jaguar architecture gave developers a lot of flexibility; unfortunately, the drawback was that software routines for such effects are invariably slower and less efficient than dedicated hardware chips and components. ============================================================================== Q. How come the Jaguar claims to have "32-bit" graphics, when only 24 bits are needed to render 16 million colors? A. The additional 8-bits was for programmers to implement whatever visual effects might be desired. Examples cited include Z-buffering (for polygon graphics) and an alpha channel (for transparency). ============================================================================== Q. Who were the third-party publishers/developers for the Jaguar? A. The following companies have, at one time or another, been announced as official developers, licensees, or publishers for the Jaguar. Note that an official announcement was not an obligation for a company to produce Jaguar-related products; many times, it merely meant that the company made a commitment to "consider" producing product(s) for Atari. Attention to Detail (ATD) Imagitech Design Llamasoft Rebellion Handmade Software Anco Software Ltd. Maxis Software Telegames Beyond Games Inc. Microids Tiertex Ltd. Dimension Technologies Midnite Software Inc. Titus Eurosoft Ocean Software Ltd. Tradewest High Voltage Software Rebellion Software Trimark Interactive Krisalis Software Ltd. Virtual Experience U.S. Gold Ltd. Loriciel U.S.A. Silmarils Millenium Park Place Productions Ubi Soft Gremlin Software Microprose/S. Holobyte Accolade Virgin Interplay 21st Century Software Activision Id Software Twilight Brainstorm 3D Games All Systems Go Argonaut Software Euro-Soft ICD Incorporated Photosurrealism DTMC Epic Megagames V-Reel Productions Sunsoft Domark Group Ltd. Elite Br0derbund Williams (Midway/Williams) Rage Software Readysoft Spacetec Visual Concepts Bullfrog Productions Imagineer Jaleco Sculptured Software Williams Brothers Accent Media Productions Anthill Industries Audio/Visual Magic Bethesda Softworks Black Scorpion Software Visual Sciences Ltd. Steinberg Soft-und Hdw Borta & Associates Clearwater Software Computer Music Consulting Cybervision CyberWare Delta Music Systems Inc. Pixel Satori Elite E-On EZ Score Software Inc. GameTek Inc. Genus Microprogramming H2O Design Corp. HiSoft Limelight Media Inc. Manley & Associates NMS Software Ltd. PIXIS Interactive Rest Easy Software Creations Team Infinity Team 17 Software Ltd. Techtonics Technation Digital World Teque London Ltd. Thrustmaster American Laser Masters Tengen Eclipse Zeppelin Games Time/Warner Interactive Acid Software 20th Century Fox Int. Alfaro Corporation Ltd. B.S.A. Bando Svenska AB Beris Bitmotion Software Bizzare Computing Brandlewood Computers Ltd. Cannonball Software Celebrity Systems Inc. Condor Software Cross Products Ltd. DAP Developments Data Design Denton Designs Ltd. Diskimage Electro Brain Corp. Electrom Extreme Factor 5 Flair Software Ltd. Frankenstein Software Funcom Productions Human Soft Ltd. JVC Musical Industries Inc. Kungariket Multimedia Lost in Time Software Malibu Interactive Michton Inc. Media Technology Scandinavia Merit Industries Inc. Miracle Designs Nebulous Games Neon-Buttner i-SPACE Network 23 Software NMS Software Ltd. Odyssey Software Inc. Orion Technologies Phobyx Rage Software Ltd. Rainmaker Software Riedel Software Prod. Scangames Interactive Wave Quest Inc. 4Play Selgus Limited Shadowsoft Inc. Sigma Designs Sinister Development Soft Enterprises Softgold Gmbh Software 2000 Software Development Systems Tantalus Entertainment Hyper Image Virtual Artistry, Inc. Springer Spaniel Core Design Acclaim Electronic Arts Level Seven iThink, Inc. Arcade Zone JV Enterprises Fatal Design Moving Target Software Design Visual Dimensions 3D OMC Games Dark Knight Games Also, Time-Warner Interactive had licensed the Jaguar architecture for use in arcade games. The "CoJag" architecture was a Jaguar chipset with more memory, a hard drive, and other architectural changes. Two CoJag games have been released: * Area 51: A light-gun shooting game for two players. The Jaguar's 68000 was replaced with a 68020 or SGI R3K, and ran at 25 MHz. It was also equipped with a four megabytes of RAM and a one gigabyte hard drive. * Maximum Force: Another light-gun shooting game. The 68000 was replaced with an SGI R3K, and came with six megabytes of RAM and a two gigabyte hard drive. ============================================================================== Q. What were all of the Jaguar games released? A. Jaguar cartridge games: Title Players Publisher Developer Type ----------------- ------- ------------ ------------ -------------- Air Cars 1-8 ICD Midnite Sw. Action/Driving Alien vs. Predator 1 Atari Rebellion Action/Adventure Atari Karts 1-2 Atari Miracle Sports Attack of the Mutant 1-2 Atari Sunrise Puzzle/Strategy Penguins Breakout 2000 1-2 Telegames Atari Action Brutal Sports 1-2 Telegames Millenium/ Sports Football Teque Bubsy in Fractured 1-2 Atari Imagitec Platform Furry Tales Cannon Fodder 1 Computer West Virgin Action Checkered Flag 1 Atari Rebellion Sports Club Drive 1-2 Atari Atari Action/Simulator Crescent Galaxy 1 Atari Atari Shooter Cybermorph 1 Atari ATD Action/Strategy Defender 2000 1-2 Atari Llamasoft Action/Arcade Doom 1-2(1) Atari id Software Action/Adventure Double Dragon V: 1-2 Williams Williams Action/Fighting The Shadow Falls Dragon 1-2 Atari Virgin Action/Fighting Evolution:Dino Dudes 1 Atari Imagitec Puzzle/Strategy Fever Pitch Soccer 1-2 Atari Atari Sports Fight For Life 1-2 Atari Atari Action/Fighting Flashback 1 Tiertex Ltd. U.S. Gold Action/Adventure Flip Out 1 Atari Gorilla Sys. Action/Puzzle Hover Strike 1-2(2) Atari Atari Action/Shooter I-war 1-2 Atari Imagitec Action/Shooter International 1-2 Telegames Williams Br. Sports Sensible Soccer Iron Soldier 1 Atari Eclipse Action/Simulator Kasumi Ninja 1-2 Atari Handmade Sw. Action/Fighting Missile Command 3D 1 Atari Atari Action/Arcade NBA Jam Tournament 1-4(4) Atari High Voltage Arcade Edition Pinball Fantasies 1-8(3) Computer West Spidersoft Action Pitfall: The Mayan 1 Activision Imagitec Action Adventure Power Drive Rally 1-8(3) Time-Warner Rage Action/Driving Raiden 1-2 Atari Imagitec Arcade Rayman 1 Ubi Soft Int. UBI Soft Int. Action/Platform Ruiner 1-4(3) Atari High Voltage Action/Pinball Super Burnout 1-2 Atari Shen Action/Sports Supercross 3D 1-2 Atari Tiertex Sports Syndicate 1 Ocean Bullfrog Strategy Tempest 2000 1-2 Atari Llamasoft Action/Arcade Theme Park 1 Ocean Bullfrog Simulation Towers II 1 Telegames JV Enterprises Adventure Troy Aikman NFL 1-2 Williams Telegames Sports Football Ultra Vortek 1-2 Atari Beyond Games Action/Fighting Val D'Isere Skiing 1-2 Atari Virtual Studio Sports and Snowboarding White Men Can't 1-4(4) Atari High Voltage Sports Jump (w/Team Tap) Wolfenstein 3D 1 Atari id Software Action/Adventure Zero 5 1 Telegames Caspian Sw. Action/Shooter Zool 2 1-2 Atari Gremlin Platform Zoop 1 Atari Viacom Action/Puzzle Jaguar CD-ROM games: Title Players Publisher Developer Type ----------------- ------- ------------ ------------ -------------- Baldies 1 Atari Creative Edge Puzzle/Strategy Battlemorph 1 Atari ATD Action/Strategy Blue Lightning 1 Atari ATD Action Brain Dead 13 1 ReadySoft ReadySoft Action Dragon's Lair 1 ReadySoft ReadySoft Arcade Highlander 1 Atari Lore Design Action/Adventure Hover Strike: 1-2(2) Atari Atari Action/Shooter Unconquered Lands Iron Soldier 2 1 Telegames Eclipse Action/Shooter Myst 1 Atari Atari Adventure Primal Rage 1-2 Time-Warner Probe Arcade Space Ace 1 ReadySoft ReadySoft Arcade Vid Grid 1-8(3) Atari High Voltage Puzzle World Tour Racing 1-2 Telegames Teque Sports (1) Multiplayer games supported by connecting multiple Jaguars together. (2) Cooperative play only. (3) Players alternate turns with one controller. (4) Three and four players can play simultaneously with the Jaguar Team Tap peripheral. ============================================================================== Q. What were the unreleased Jaguar games? A: The following games were announced at one time or another as being planned for the Jaguar. With the dissolution of Atari, the chances are very slim that any of these games will ever be produced or released. However, a few enterprising companies and individuals have considered plans to either finish their Jaguar titles for release, to sell finished-but-unreleased games, or to produce new games on their own. Announced Jaguar cartridge games (? = Uncertain entry): Title Players Publisher Developer Type ----------------- ------- ------------ ------------ -------------- Allegiance 1-2? ? Team 17 Action/Strategy Al Michaels 1-2 Accolade/Atari Atari Sports Announces Hardball Arena Football 1-8 Atari V-Reel Prod. Sports League Assault: Covert Ops 1-2? Midnite Sw Midnite Sw Action Automaniacs 1-2 Visual Dim. Visual Dim. Action/Driving Batman Forever 1-2? Atari Atari Action Battlesphere 1-8 4Play 4Play Action/Shooter Battlewheels 2025 1-2 Beyond Games Beyond Games Action Brett Hull Hockey 1-2 Atari Ringler Sports Casino Royale 1-2? Telegames Telegames Strategy Center Court Tennis 1-2 Zeppelin ? Sports Charles Barkley 1-4? ? Ringler Sports Basketball 'Dactyl Joust 1? Atari High Voltage Action/Arcade? Deathwatch 1-2 Atari Data Design Action Demolition Man 1? Atari Virgin Action/Shooting Dino Dudes 2 1 Atari Imagitec Puzzle/Strategy Dune Racer 1-2 Atari ? Action/Driving Dungeon Depths 1 Midnite Sw Midnite Sw Adventure Droppings 1? Delta Music ? ? European Soccer 1-2 Telegames Telegames Sports Challenge Frank Thomas "Big 1-2 Atari Acclaim Sports Hurt" Baseball Galactic Gladiators 1-2 ? Photosur. Action/Strategy Gorf 2000 1-2? ? Krunch Corp. Arcade Gotcha! 1? ? ? ? Graham Gooch's World 1-2? Telegames Telegames Sports Class Cricket Hyper Force 1-2 Computer West Visual Impact Action/Fighting Indiana Jags 1 ? Virtual Exp. Action/Platform Iratan Supremecy 1-2 ? Level Seven Action/Fighting Iron Man/XO-Manowar 1-2 Atari Acclaim Action? James Pond 3 1 Telegames Telegames Platform Jagmania 1-2? ? Matthias Domin ? Kick Off 3 1-2 ? Anco Software Sports Legions of the 1? Atari Rebellion Action/Adventure Undead Lester the Unlikely 1 DTMC DTMC Action/Strategy Max Force 1? ? ? Action/Shooter Mountain Sports 1-2 DTMC DTMC Action/Sports Nanoterror 1? ? Delta Music ? Native 1? ? Duranik Sw. ? Nerves of Steel 1? ? Rainmaker Action/Adventure Painter 1? ? Sinister ? Phase Zero 1-8 Atari Hyper Image Action Powerdrive 1? Telegames Elite Action/Driving Rainbow Warrior 1? ? 3D Games Action? Return of Magic 1? ? Virtual Art. Adventure? Rise of the Robots 1 Time-Warner Williams Br. Action/Adventure Robotron:2084 1-2 Atari ? Action/Arcade Rollcage 1-2? ? Team 17 Sports/Driving Skyhammer 1? Atari Rebellion Flight/Simulator Soccer Kid 1? Ocean Krisalis Platform Space War 2000 1-2 Atari ? Action Star Raiders 2000 1? Atari ? Action Sudden Impact 1-2? ? ? Action Super Off-Road 1-2 Telegames ? Arcade/Driving T-Mek 1-2? Time-Warner ? Arcade Thunderstalker 1? Telegames Telegames ? Ultimate Brain Games 1-2? Telegames ? Puzzle Virtuoso 1? Telegames Williams Br. Action Virtual Warriors 1-2 ? Rainmaker Action/Fighting Waterworld 1? Ocean Ocean ? Wild Cup Soccer 1-2? Telegames ? Action/Sports Witchwood 1-2 Atari Team 17 Action World Cup 1-2? ? Anco Software Sports Worms 1-16 Telegames Team 17 Action/Strategy Zzyorxx II 1? ? Virtual Exp. Action/Shooter Announced Jaguar CD-ROM games: Title Players Publisher Developer Type ----------------- ------- ------------ ------------ -------------- Age of Darkness 1 ? OMC Games Action/Adventure Artemis 1? Springer Sp. Springer Sp. ? Brett Hull Hockey 1-2 Atari Ringler Sports Circle of Four 1 ? JV Enterprises Adventure Commander Blood 1? Atari ? Adventure Commando 1 Atari Microids Action/Strategy Country Grid 1-8 Atari High Voltage Puzzle Creature Shock 1 Virgin Argonaut Sw. Action/Adventure Dante 1-2? Atari ? Adventure? Defcon 1 1 Dark Knight Dk Kngt/Vis.D Action/Adventure Demolition Man 1 Atari Virgin Action Deus ex Machina 1 ? Silmarils Adventure Evidence 1 ? Microids Action/Adventure FIFA International 1-2 ? Elec. Arts Sports Soccer Freelancer 2120 1 Atari Imagitec Action/Adventure Highlander II 1 Atari Lore Design Action/Adventure Highlander III 1 Atari Lore Design Action/Adventure Horrorscope 1? ? V-Reel Prod. Action/Fighting Ishar Genesis 1 Atari Silmaris Adventure Kid Grid 1-8 Atari High Voltage Puzzle Laura Cruz: Tomb 1 ? Core Design Action/Adventure Raider Litil Devil 1 ? Gremlin Int. Adventure? Lobo 1? ? Ocean Action? Magic Carpet 1 Atari Bullfrog Action/Arcade Max Force 1 Atari Genus Action Mind-Ripper 1? Atari ? Strategy? Mortal Kombat III 1-2 Atari Williams Arcade/Fighting Need For Speed, The 1 ? Elec. Arts Driving Neurodancer 1? ? PIXIS Int. Adventure? Orb of Bangzai 1 ? OMC Games Action/Adventure Powerslide 1 Telegames Williams Br. Driving Return Fire 1-2 ? Alexandria Action/Strategy Return to Zork 1 ? Activision Adventure Robinson's Requiem 1? Atari Silmarils Adventure Rocky Horror 1 Atari? ? Adventure Interactive Scottish Open 1-2? ? Core Design Sports Virtual Golf Sinister Missions 1-2 ? OMC Games Action/Shooter Soul Star 1 Atari Core Design Action/Shooter Starlight 1-2 ? V-Reel Prod. Action/Sports Bowl-A-Rama Striker '95 1-2 Time-Warner Rage Action/Sports Swagman 1 ? Core Design Adventure Thunderhawk 1 ? Core Design Action/Shooter Varuna's Forces 1 Atari Accent Media Action/Adventure Virtuoso 1 Telegames Williams Br. Action Wayne Gretzky NHL 1-2 Time-Warner Time-Warner Sports Hockey Wing Commander III 1 ? Elec. Arts Action/Strategy Upcoming Jaguar Virtual Reality Headset games: Title Players Publisher Developer Type ----------------- ------- ------------ ------------ -------------- Gravon 1 ? Suma Action/Simulation Zone Hunter 1 Atari Virtuality Action ============================================================================== Q. Where can I get a review and/or comments about ? A: Robert A. Jung (rjung@netcom.com) has reviews of some Jaguar games and peripherals. They are available on the world-wide web at his web site, at http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/atari/Atari.shtml ============================================================================== Q. Where can I find secrets, tips, and hints for ? A. A comprehensive list of Jaguar cheats and codes is available from "The Mage," at http://users.aol.com/TheMage1/jaguar/jagcodes.txt or http://members.aol.com/TheMage1/jaguar/jagcodes.txt Clay Halliwell maintains the Atari Jaguar Cheats and Codes FAQ, which he updates regularly. It can be found on the world-wide web at http://www.magicalfox.com/ken/jagcheat.txt, or write to him at e.halliwell@genie.com ============================================================================== Q. Some of my Jaguar games don't have overlays for the keypads. Where can I get them? A. Not all Jaguar games used overlays for the keypad; some titles didn't use the keypad at all, while others used the keypad, but the developers did not feel that an overlay was needed. Making your own keypads is certainly possible; simply use an existing keypad for a template, draw whatever designs you like, then cut and to fit. Tony Price has made a number of overlays for Jaguar games that didn't include them, as well as dust covers for the keypads. He can be reached by mail at mfmurdock@earthlink.net, or on the world-wide web at http://home.earthlink.net/~mfmurdock/jaguar/jaguar.htm ============================================================================== Q. What Jaguar peripherals are available? A: The following Jaguar-related peripherals were released. Availability will vary according to source: * Atari Corp. 1196 Borregas Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302 Phone: (800) GO-ATARI (800-462-8274) 9:00am to 5:00pm PST, M-F - CD-ROM PLAYER. Attaches to the top of the Jaguar console. Allows the Jaguar to play Jaguar CD games. See the dedicated entry for details. - COMPOSITE VIDEO CABLE. Attaches to the Jaguar expansion port to provide a clearer/sharper picture. - JAG LINK. Networking peripheral. Allows two Jaguars to be connected for networked games, up to 100 feet apart. - MEMORY TRACK. Peripheral. Plugs into the cartridge slot of the CD-ROM drive. Allows Jaguar CD games to be saved for later play. Holds up to 128K of data. - PRO CONTROLLER. Game controller. Provides more action buttons to be used in games. Adds three more "fire" buttons (X, Y, Z, which correspond to 7, 8, 9 on the numeric keypad) and two index-finger buttons (L and R, which correspond to 4 and 6). Some games were designed/optimized for the Pro Controller (PRIMAL RAGE, HIGHLANDER, SUPER BURNOUT, ATARI KARTS, and BATTLEMORPH are the most notable ones); other titles, while not specifically written for the Pro Controller, are easier to play with the easier access to the keypad. - S-VIDEO CABLE. Attaches to the Jaguar expansion port to provide a clearer picture. - TEAM TAP. Controller port expansion. Allows up to four Jaguar controllers to be attached to a single controller port. With two Team Tap adaptors, eight players can play simultaneously on one Jaguar. Was sold with the game WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP and also available separately. - TEMPEST 2000: THE SOUNDTRACK. Audio CD. Contains twelve tracks of "techno-rave" rock music by Imagitec Design Inc. Tracks are either remixes or inspired by the soundtrack from the Jaguar game TEMPEST 2000. * Ben Aein B.Aein@genie.geis.com (301) 251-0997 - LAPCAT. Joystick controller. Lap/table-sized joystick controller. 12" x 11.5" x 3". Arcade-quality build, with steel joystick shaft and reed contact buttons. Six large fire buttons are provided, and all Jaguar controller keys are available. Available in left-handed or right-handed models (fire buttons on the side of the hand). A "Lapcat Pro" is also available. Write to Ben for pricing details. * Dark Knight Games http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/6859/dng.html - GRAVIS BLACKHAWK JOYSTICK. Joystick controller. A high-quality analog (flight) joystick, with three buttons wired on the grip and a fourth button on the base. A second Jaguar controller can be connected to the joystick for cooperative play and access to the numeric keypad. Price is $60.00 US. Send e-mail to "ShelShock@juno.com" for details and ordering. * Demand Systems Phone: (805) 482-7900 - PRO-STICK. Joystick controller. An arcade-quality joystick and buttons, mounted on a large base. Suitable for lap or tabletop use. A Jaguar controller is attached to allow use of the keypad and other buttons. * ICD, Inc. 1220 Rock Street Rockford, IL 61101 Phone: (815) 968-2228, extension 222 FAX: (815) 968-6888 GEnie e-mail: ICDINC CompuServe e-mail: 76004,1600 Internet e-mail: icdinc@genie.com - CATBOX. Output/Networking adaptor. Attaches to the rear of the Jaguar, and provides a variety of industry-standard output ports: > S-Video, RGB, and composite video > Left/right channel RCA jacks > Two 1/8th inch stereo headphone jacks (with volume control) > Pass-through Jaguar DSP bus > RS-232 (modem) port and "CatNet" networking The CatNet is a differential pair network that is formed by connected multiple Jaguars/CatBoxes with RJ-11 telephone wiring. Up to 32 units can be connected, up to 1,000 feet apart. Price is $69.95. - CATBOX ACCESSORIES. ICD sells video, audio, and networking adaptors and cables for use with the CatBox if you cannot find them locally. ICD can also custom-manufacture RGB adaptors to suit most computer monitors, per buyer specifications. Contact ICD Inc. for individual prices and details. * Sandwich Islands Publishing P.O. Box 10669 Lahaina, HI 96761 Phone: (808) 661-2715 - JAGUAR GAMER'S GUIDE. Game tips book. Provides codes, tips, maps, and solutions for almost 20 Jaguar games. ISBN is 1-884364-13-6. * Victor Maxx - CYBERMAXX 2.0. Peripheral. A "Virtual Reality" helmet that uses standard RCA video and audio inputs. Existing games can be played with the helmet display for two-dimensional graphics, but full "virtual reality" games requires custom-written software (none exist at this time). The helmet provides 62 degrees of vision and weighs one pound. Includes three IBM PC Cybermaxx games and a VCR tape. * Virtual i-O - I-GLASSES. Peripheral. Shows video images on the lenses of the glasses, providing a very large display. Accepts standard RCA video and audio inputs. Weight is 8 ounces. The "video" version accepts only RCA audio/video inputs, while the "PC" version also accepts SVGA input and supports head tracking. [Ed. note -- ViO had a Jaguar in- house, and recommend the i-Glasses for DOOM and WOLFENSTEIN 3D.] ============================================================================== Q. What Jaguar peripherals were announced? A. The following Jaguar-related peripherals were announced at one time or another: * Atari Corp. 1196 Borregas Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1302 Phone: (800) GO-ATARI (800-462-8274) 9:00am to 5:00pm PST, M-F - VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET. Controller/Peripheral. Allows playing of Jaguar virtual reality games, with head and controller tracking. See dedicated entry for details. - VOICE MODEM. Networking/Communications device. Allows two players to play networked games over standard phone lines at 9600 baud. A headset and microphone allows players to talk to each other during the game. Call-waiting support will pause the game if an incoming call arrives, and the game can be continued after the call is complete. Project has been suspended indefinitely. In addition, rumors of a rotary controller continue to exist, even though no official announcement was ever made. See the dedicated section below for details. * Sigma Designs - JAGUAR PC CARD. Computer peripheral. Sigma Designs is developing a card for IBM PCs and compatables that runs Jaguar CD software and acts as a ReelMagic MPEG card. Last announced release date was December 1994. No price has been given. * Spacetec - SPACE PLAYER. Game controller. The Space Player is a controller that is reported to offer six degrees of movement (up/down, left/right, and in/out). No further details are available at this time. * Thrustmaster - FLYING YOLK. Game controller. A four-directional flight controller for use with flying games. No release date or price has been announced. - STEERING WHEEL. Game controller. A two-directional controller and pedal for driving games. No release date or price has been announced. * Time-Warner Cable - JAGUAR GAME CHANNEL. Game service. Time-Warner Cable's Full Service Network (FSN) plans to offer Jaguar games over television cable lines. The games are downloaded to the customer and played at home, and game instructions can be printed with additional equipment. Details are available from local FSN service providers. ============================================================================== Q. What's the information on the CD-ROM drive? A. A double-speed CD-ROM drive was available. The CD drive has an access time of 210 milliseconds, and has a sustained data transfer rate of 352.8K per second. The CD-ROM drive features a modified data bus interface for access to the Tom and Jerry chips almost directly, allowing for a higher throughput rate on sound and graphics. Storage on a disc is approximately 790 megabytes (6,320 megabits). The CD-ROM drive plugs into the Jaguar's cartridge slot. A pass-through cartridge slot allows cartridges to be used with the CD-ROM attached. Separate memory cartridges allow Jaguar CD games to be saved for later play. The Jaguar CD allows delivery of full-screen, full-motion video. The CinePak video decompression system has been licensed from SuperMac Technologies. It is a 7K routine in the GPU and can be included in any CD-ROM software that needs it, allowing full-screen video at 24 frames per second. Movie quality pictures can then be overlaid on the screen with computer generated graphics if the game demands it. Time-Warner has licensed a library of film clips from its movies to Atari. The Jaguar CD has "Virtual Light Machine" built in. This program plays audio CDs and generate accompanying color and visual effects that react to the music and sounds. The user can control and select effects with the Jaguar controller. Regular audio CD playback features (volume control, track programming, etc.) are also available. The Jaguar CD can also display CD+Graphics discs. Supplimental cartridges for Kodak PhotoCD and MPEG-1 (Motion Picture Experts Group) compression are being considered. The MPEG cartridge will reportedly include extra RAM for buffering and support the whitebook video format. The drive was being manufactured by Philips in the United States. Its dimensions are 6.5" x 10.5" x 3.5", and it weighs 1 pound, 10 ounces. The price was $150, and includes the TEMPEST 2000 soundtrack audio disc, a sampler for the CD game MYST, and two CD-ROM games: VID GRID and BLUE LIGHTNING. ============================================================================== Q. What's the information on the virtual reality headset? A. Atari Corp. and the Virtuality Group had signed a contract whereupon Virtuality would develop virtual reality hwardware and software for the Jaguar. In return, Virtuality would get the rights to port Jaguar VR games to their Virtuality arcade consoles. Though announced, the Jaguar VR was never produced. Unofficial reports conflict on whether the unit was cancelled, suspended, and/or reworked. Reasons given for the inaction ranged from Atari's needs to reassess their investments and focus on core business, to the high suggested retail price of the Jaguar VR headset, to Virtuality's problems in trying to create a mass-market headset that could track head movement fast enough to avoid motion sickness after a few minutes of play. As originally reported, the Jaguar VR package consisted of two components: (1) A lightweight headset (weighs less than one pound). It can be adjusted for fit and works with or without glasses. Game graphics are provided by a single 7", TFT active-matrix color LCD screen, with a resolution of 260 by 400 pixels and up to 65,000 colors. Dual temple speakers provide sound, and a built-in microphone allows player communication in future networked games. A custom optical system projects a binocular image to both eyes; it is aligned at infinity, so focus adjustment is not needed. Two degrees of freedom (left/right and up/down) are available. Field of view is 52 degrees horizontal by 40 degrees vertical. (2) A tabletop-mounted tracking station. The station senses the position of the controller and the headset with "V-Trak" infra-red tracking. The tracking speed is 250 Hz, with a lag time of 4 milliseconds, four times faster than Virtuality's arcade hardware. The tracker has a range of approximately 100 degrees; multiple trackers can be daisy- chained together to provide a complete 360-degree tracking range, but most Jaguar VR games will not require a full 360 degrees. The Jaguar VR equipment was designed to be played while sitting down, so as to avoid injuries. if a player moves out of the tracking station's range, a safety cutoff would have been triggered to suspend the game. Jaguar VR games would have been written for use with the regular controller, as well as a two-button "virtual gun" hand-held joystick. The licensing agreement between Atari and Virtuality permitted authorized Jaguar third-party software developers to write their own VR titles. One product did come out of the Atari/Virtuality agrement. MISSILE COMMAND 3D for the Jaguar provided virtual-reality type play, without the need for special equipment or controllers. The game was later transported to Virtuality's arcade systems. ============================================================================== Q. What's the "Panther"? A. Quick history lesson: Sometime in the late 1980s, Atari Corp. was doing research and development on "next generation" video game consoles. There were two systems, a 32-bit machine called the Panther, and a 64-bit machine called the Jaguar. It is reported that work on the Jaguar was progressing better/faster than expected, so Atari abandoned the Panther to focus their energies on the Jaguar instead. Supposedly, if both machines were fully developed, the Jaguar would have followed the Panther only two years later. Reports of development work on the Panther have been whispered since 1988; some people have erroneously mistaken those rumors to be about the Jaguar. The Panther reportedly was considered a "32-bit" machine by Atari, though for reasons unknown. It featured three chips, consisting of a Motorola 68000 running at 16Mhz, an object processor called the Panther, and an Ensoniq sound processor called Otis, featuring 32 sound channels. The Panther could supposedly display 8,192 colors from a palette of 262,144 colors, and could display 65,535 sprites of any size simultaneously. According to Jeff Minter, the Panther's sprite hardware was very similar to the object processor in the Jaguar, to the point where both had the same limitations. Putting too many sprites on a single scan-line, for instance, would require too much time to draw the line and caused a "tearing" effect in the affected row. ============================================================================== Q. What's the "Jaguar II"? A. There's been a little confusion with this topic, since at least two separate machines have been called a "Jaguar II." The first was to have been an integrated Jaguar/Jaguar CD-ROM unit. That project has since been cancelled, making the point moot. The other Jaguar II was Atari's next video-game console. Though rumors were passed, a final design was apparently never produced for even the prototype stage. The following rumors were strongly suggested, however: * Main chipset (codename "Midsummer") developed by Motorola. * Fully backwards compatable with the existing Jaguar. Would have been able to play all Jaguar games and use all Jaguar peripherals. * Processing speed "two to four times faster than the Sony PlayStation." * Full C/C++ development package available. ============================================================================== Q. Was there a difference in Jaguar games/units sold in different countries? Do I need to keep track of PAL and NTSC versions of a game? A. There is no difference in the Jaguar game software. A properly-written Jaguar game detects PAL or NTSC at startup and changes the playfield size and game speeds accordingly. A properly-written Jaguar game will run at the same speed on either machine. There are no regional or national market lock-outs as there are for other game consoles. The Jaguar consoles themselves were configured differently, according to the country they were sold in. The primary differences were in the video output format (NTSC or PAL) and the power adapters (110 volt or 220 volt). Due to the Jaguar's use of an external adapter, a step-down transformer is not needed. A local PSU can be used so long as it matches these specifications: 1. 9 volt direct current (DC) 2. 1.2 amps 3. Center pin negative The PSUs from old Sinclair computers and Sega Game Gears can be used with the Jaguar without problems. To use an American (NTSC) Jaguar in Europe, you will need a new power adapter and a SCART lead to supply the Jaguar's RGB signals to the TV. Some European TV sets might have also required changing the Jaguar display from a 60Hz frame rate to 50Hz. The 50Hz/60Hz frame rate is set by soldering pads on the bottom of the Jaguar PCB. On an NTSC Jaguar, they're located on the bottom of the PCB near the controller ports. The set labelled "R140" determines between 50Hz and 60Hz. Connect the two points for 50Hz, or leave them disconnected for 60Hz, as follows: 60Hz 50Hz o-o R135 o-o o o R136 o o (Information courtesy of Martin Zimmer, o o R137 o o marz@haari.mayn.sub.de) o o R140 o-o PAL Jaguars sold in Europe have the R140 pads connected with a zero ohm SMD resistor, which can be removed with a soldering iron. It is possible to wire a switch to the points, allowing the Jaguar to be toggled between 50Hz/60Hz. This is mainly useful for PAL Jaguars to play games at the original speed and screen resolution of the NTSC version. Russ Juckes (russ_j@raiden.demon.co.uk) gives these instructions for finding the pads on a European/PAL Jaguar: "Hold the Jaguar PCB with the Joystick ports to the bottom. On the underside of the board, near the joystick ports, and to the left of centre there are four links, the top and the bottom one bridged. (Both with zero ohm resistors). Above them there is another link, with a brown resistor. "The bottom link is the one that needs to be broken. I used a penknife to scratch away the solder, and then a needle-nosed pair of pliers to break the resistor. "The links are *not* labelled in any way. As another guide to make sure you are about to snip the correct link, they are placed directly underneath a chip (which is obviously on the top of the PCB!) so if you use a soldering iron, be careful!" ============================================================================== Q. Hey! My Jaguar makes a quiet hissing sound! What's going on? Is it dangerous? A. Early Atari Jaguars had a rumored problem with the console hissing softly. Atari had cited several reasons for the hissing noise. Some have said that the sound is from the RF generator. The RF shield has holes in it (ostensibly to help air flow and keep the unit cool), and it is believed that the holes produce the noise. Others said the sounds are produced by coil L29 which is responsible for the proper voltage regulation to +10.0V, together with U38. The coil's copper wire vibrates when the current through it changes abruptly, making the hiss. There are two solutions: 1) Use plastic spray or silicone rubber glue to fix the coil's wire. 2) Replace the original Jaguar power-supply with a variable power-source, using 7.5V DC instead of 9V DC (it is not certain whether the Jaguar CD will require 9V DC, which would make this "fix" unworkable with the CD drive). In any case, the "hissing" noise was not dangerous, but merely annoying. It was usually audible only if you put your ear next to the unit and listen closely, and is not interference in the audio output. It is roughly analogous to the buzz made by electric clocks. Later Jaguars did not have this problem. ============================================================================== Q. My Jaguar comes up with a red screen instead of a game! Is it broken? A. Most often, the "red screen" problem appears after the Jaguar logo has disappeared off the TV screen, and is caused by one of the following: 1. Poor contact between the Jaguar and the cartridge (most likely). Make sure that the cartridge is firmly seated in the cartridge slot, and that contacts are not dirty/dusty. 2. Bent pins in the cartridge slot (rare). This may be caused by rough edges on some cartridges. The pins should be carefully straightened. 3. Defective cartridge (rare). If the red screen only appears with one cartridge but not others, the game may be defective. Exchange it for another. If the Jaguar logo appears without problems, then the Jaguar is probably working fine, and it's only the data transfer between the unit and the cartridge that's causing the problem. ============================================================================== Q. I've heard stories about the Jaguar version of DOOM having network errors when playing with two Jaguars linked together. Are they real? If so, what causes the problem, and can I avoid it? A. There is some truth to the reports -- when linking two Jaguars together for multiplayer DOOM games, network errors sometimes appear which interfere with the gameplay. At worst, the game resets to the start of the current level, which can be annoying if you're in the middle of a heated Deathmatch firefight. The problem stems from several causes. The networking code in DOOM was not thoroughly tested before release, because the game was finished before Atari settled on the final specifications for the JagLink cable (the cable came out almost a year after DOOM did). As a result, this causes some problems due to integration differences. On the other hand, some of the folks playing networked DOOM are using their own home-made link cables, which might not have enough shielding, which also causes errors. There are reports that earlier Jaguar models are more susceptible to errors as well, but the evidence is inconclusive. Recommendations? Set up your Jaguars in an area relatively clean of electromagnetic interference, make sure you are using a well-shielded cable, and cross your fingers. And remember that, even with an occassional networking error, DOOM is still lots of fun with a friend (or foe). ============================================================================== Q: What's the wiring schematic for the Jaguar controller? A: Uwe Roeger (uwer@aragon.bb.bawue.de) reverse-engineered the Jaguar controller port and dissected a Jaguar controller to provide the following circuit diagram: Padport 4 Padport 3 Padport 2 Padport 1 (yellow) (orange) (red) (brown) 74HC244 | | | | ______ | | | | R1 4k7 | | | | | | | | | Padport 6 Pause -------|----------|----------|----------+----- 2| -|)- |18- (blue) | | | | | | | +---|------+---|------+---|------+ R2 4k7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Padport 10 "A"--|<-+ "B"--|<-+ "C"--|<-+ Opt -|<-+---+----- 4| -|)- |16- (black) | | | | | | | +---|------+---|------+---|------+ R3 4k7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Padport 11 Right-|<-+ "1"--|<-+ "2"--|<-+ "3"--|<-+---+----- 6| -|)- |14- (grey) | | | | | | | +---|------+---|------+---|------+ R4 4k7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Padport 12 Left -|<-+ "4"--|<-+ "5"--|<-+ "6"--|<-+---+----- 8| -|)- |12- (l.blue) | | | | | | | +---|------+---|------+---|------+ R5 4k7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Padport 13 Down -|<-+ "7"--|<-+ "8"--|<-+ "9"--|<-+---+-----11| -|)- |9-- (pink) | | | | | | | +---|------+---|------+---|------+ R6 4k7 | | | | | | | | | | | | | Padport 14 Up --|<-+ "*"--|<-+ "0"--|<-+ "#"--|<-+---+-----13| -|)- |7-- (white) |______| Padport 9: Ground (violet) -- Pin 1,10,15,17,19 on 74HC244 Padport 7: +5 VDC (green) -- Pin 20 on 74HC244 SYMBOL KEY ========== --|<-- 1N4148 Diode + Wire connexion Rx 4k7 Standard resistor, 4700 Ohms, .25 Watts (all resistors are pull-ups; i.e. tied to +5VDC on one end) Padport numbers correspond to those on a standard 15-pin SUB-D plug. The colors of the wires may be different in other versions of the controller. ============================================================================== Q. What's this about a rotary controller? What games use it? How do I make one for myself? A. TEMPEST 2000 has hidden in it an option for a rotary controller (at the "Game Options" menu, press Pause on both controllers to activate the "Controller Type"). No plans for an official Atari rotary controller were announced, but many TEMPEST fans have been trying to build such a controller, to give the game a feel that's close to its arcade original. Andy Light has written instructions for taking a Jaguar joypad and an Atari 2600 Driving Controller and building a rotary controller with the parts. His instructions are condensed below. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS THOROUGHLY BEFORE ASSEMBLY -- there are some areas that are left to the whim of the builder, and advance planning is highly recommended. * * * ANDY LIGHT'S JAGUAR ROTARY CONTROLLER INSTRUCTIONS Parts needed: Atari Jaguar controller Atari 2600 Driving Controller (NOT the paddles) 13 wires, preferably of separate colors Buttons A board or box or shell to mount everything on/in 1. Open the driving controller by removing the two underside screws. Inside is a top-like device or a grey box with three wires coming out of it. This is the encoder. Pull the driving controller's knob off the encoder's shaft, then remove the encoder by unscrewing the nut that holds it in place. Disconnect the wires from the encoder. 2. Open the Jaguar controller. There are four screws on the bottom holding it together, behind the round rubber pads. Inside the controller are two circuit boards connected by a ribbon of wires. The bottom board is for the numeric keypad and is held by two screws. Remove the screws and take out the keypad. 3. Disconnect the wire ribbon from the keypad by melting the solder. CAREFUL! This is delicate work -- get help if you need it. Solder the thirteen wires where the ribbon connection was; do not confuse them. 4. From the left side of the board (the side that says "P2"), I've numbered the wires as follows: 1) Common 5) Button A 9) Button C 13) Down 2) Right 6) Button B 10) Pause 3) Option 7) Button B 11) Up 4) Option 8) Button C 12) Left 5. On the encoder, connect wire #1 to the center terminal, #2 to the right terminal, and #12 to the left terminal. The rotary part of the controller is now finished. 6. How to connect the other controls is up to you. I'm using arcade buttons, a thumbpad, and a switch (to toggle joypad or rotary control) mounted in an Atari 5200 trak-ball controller case. You can mount a joystick, extra buttons, or other features for your own controller. Buttons and empty control boxes are available at stores such as Radio Shack. Wiring for the other signals are as follows: Up - wires #1 and #11 Button A - wires #1 and #5 Down - wires #1 and #13 Button B - wires #6 and #7 Pause - wires #1 and #10 Button C - wires #8 and #9 Option - wires #3 and #4 Because wire #1 has multiple uses, you will either need to string it or split it for each destination. 7. Reassemble and mount everything according to your design. For better spin, you can glue lead fishing sinkers to the inside of the knob, and lubricate the shaft of the encoder with light oil or silicone lubricant. That's it! Please forgive me for any mistakes in my grammer, terminology, spelling, etc. If you encounter any problems, feel free to e-mail me at ALIGHT55@AOL.COM. Good luck! ============================================================================== Q. I want something better than RF output from my Jaguar. What do I do? A. Atari had an S-Video cable and a Composite video cable available for use with the Jaguar. See the "Peripherals" section for details. If you are willing to build your own, the schematics for the expansion port are as follows: Pinouts for Jaguar Video Cable (view is looking at the rear of the Jaguar) 01A 02A 03A 04A 05A 06A 07A 08A 09A 10A 11A 12A --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 01B 02B 03B 04B 05B 06B 07B 08B 09B 10B 11B 12B 01A - Left Audio 01B - Right Audio 02A - Audio Ground 02B - Audio Ground 04A - Chroma Ground 04B - Red 05A - Blue 05B - Composite Sync (can also be used 06A - Horizontal Sync for vertical sync) 07A - Green 07B - Luma Ground 08A - Chroma 08B - Luma 10B - Video Ground 11A - +10V power supply 11B - Composite Video S-Video Cable ##\ /---(##- P2 RCA Male (Red) ### / P1 ###>>--(Shielded cable)-----<-----(##- P3 RCA Male (White) ### \ ___ ##/ \---<## P4 4 pin SVHS 3/. .\4 Jaguar Mini-DIN 1| . . |2 Plug Male \_=_/ (front) Conn Pin Signal Conn Pin +----+--------+--------------+----+-----+ P2 Center Right Audio P1 01B P2 Shell Audio Ground P1 02B P3 Center Left Audio P1 01A P3 Shell Audio Ground P1 02A P4 1 Luma Ground P1 07B P4 3 Luma P1 08B P4 4 Chroma P1 08A P4 2 Chroma Ground P1 04A P4 Shell Not Connected P1 N/A Composite Video Cable ##\ /---(##- P2 RCA Male (Red) ### / P1 ###>>--(Shielded cable)-----<-----(##- P3 RCA Male (White) ### \ ##/ \---(##- P4 RCA Male (Yellow) Jaguar Conn Pin Signal Conn Pin +----+--------+--------------+----+-----+ P2 Center Right Audio P1 01B P2 Shell Audio Ground P1 02B P3 Center Left Audio P1 01A P3 Shell Audio Ground P1 02A P4 Center Comp Video P1 11B P4 Shell Video Ground P1 10B For Jaguar owners who wish to use SCART, a Jaguar-to-SCART RGB cable can be made as follows: SCART socket: 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 +--------------------------------------------+ \ -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- | \ | | -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- | +------------------------------------------+ 19 17 15 13 11 9 7 5 3 1 RGB connection using an 8-pin shielded cable: SCART Signal Jaguar A/V port +-----+---------------+---------------+ 6 Left Audio 1A 2 Right Audio 1B 4 Audio Ground 2A 15 Red 4B 7 Blue 5A 11 Green 7A 16 H-Sync (Blank) 6A 20 Composite Sync 5B 17 Video Ground 10B (connected by cable shield) ============================================================================== Q. How did the ComLynx port on the Jaguar work? Could I connect my Lynx to it? A. The Jaguar does not have a ComLynx port per se, but has a ComLynx signal on the system bus. An expansion port add-on would have made the port available, and developers had announced plans for such accessories. It is possible to daisy-chain multiple Jaguars for multiplayer games into a "Jaguar network". In theory, it would have also been possible to connect Jaguars and Lynxes, though no plans for cross-system software were ever finalized. There was also talk that the Jaguar's ComLynx signal could allow Lynxes to be used as peripherals: software could have been developed to allow Lynxes to be part of a Jaguar game as "smart" controllers. Again, no actual plans were ever announced. For enterprising engineers who wish to build a ComLynx cable for two Jaguars, the following schematics from jonin@netcom.com are available. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! * * * 12 Contact IDE Card Edge Connector (Atari Jaguar DSP Connector) View from the front of the connector (not the solder side): Top Cable pinouts 7 8 9 10 11 12 Jaguar 1 Jaguar 2 L +------------------+ R 2 (TX) ______ ______ 2 (Tx) e | x x x x x x | i \/ f | x x x x x x | g 3 (RX) ______/\______ 3 (Rx) t +------------------+ h 6 (Ground) __________ 6 (Ground) 6 5 4 3 2 1 t Key signals: 2 - Transmit, 3 - Receive, 6 - Ground Assembly Notes: As shown, the only 3 wires needed for the cable are 2, 3 and 6 (Tx, Rx, and Ground). All of these wires are on the bottom connector, so that is a good indicater of which way the cable plugs in the Jaguar. Shielded and RF-Choked cables work best. Due to the nature of this connector, it will be hard to shield this cable completely. If you cannot find a 12-contact IDE Card Edge Connector, a 10-contact version can be used. A quick one can be built with no soldering using JDR MicroDevices (Part# IDE10). This is made for ribbon cable, but you can use regular shielded cables with a little work. As long as lines 2, 3, and 6 remain properly connected, there should be no difference. Usage tips: * DO NOT PLUG THIS CABLE IN UPSIDE-DOWN! You may damage internal components if you plug it incorrectly. * TURN OFF BOTH JAGUARS BEFORE CONNECTING. You may damage internal components if you do not. * Since there isn't much strengh in the wires, remove the cable by the connectors. ============================================================================== Q. Agh! My Jaguar is broken! How can I fix it? A. Unforutnately, with the dissolution of Atari Corp., repair or replacement % of broken Jaguars is no longer available; Atari/JTS does not have any units % remaining for sale or replacement. On the other hand, with the low price of clearance Jaguars today, it isn't expensive to buy a new unit. In Great Britian, Telegames UK will offer to repair your Jaguar for a fee. They can be reached at: TeleMail Kilby Bridge, Wigston, Leicester LE18 3TE, UK Tel. +44-116-2880445 Fax. +44-116-2813437 ============================================================================== Q. Where can I get other information about the Jaguar? A. Publications: - Instant Replay Newsletter devoted to the Jaguar, with 7570 South Manor Avenue news and reviews. Write to Frank Eva Oak Creek, WI 53154 for more information. - Wild Cat A one-man, home-made Atari video gaming Phil Patton "fanzine." Subscvriptions are $12/year 131 Dake Ave. for eight issues, at 12 pages each issue. Santa Cruz, CA 95062 Covers all Atari consoles and computers. Internet/USENET newsgroups and services: - rec.games.video.atari USENET newsgroup. Contains news for all Atari video-game systems. - World-Wide Web Pages CWest is now handling the sales of Atari software and hardware: http://www.cwest.com/atari/ The Electric Escape is the official home of the Jaguar FAQ. http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/atari/Atari.shtml The Atari Lynx and Jaguar Club Deutschland is on the web: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6679/ General-purpose Atari/Jaguar Web pages: http://www2.ecst.csuchico.edu/~jschlich/ http://www.redsun.net/jaguar/ http://www.mcc.ac.uk/~dlms/atari.html http://dcpu1.cs.york.ac.uk:6666/~andrew/jaguar/ http://rzserv2.fh-lueneburg.de:8080/Jaguar/ http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/5916/ http://www.cwo.com/~holstine/jz/us640.htm Also, Yahoo!'s list of Atari Jaguar web sites can be found at http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/Video_Games/Systems/Atari/Jaguar/ Llamasoft has a web page which contains updates on upcoming Jaguar projects, as well as ruminations on lovely llamas, hot music CDs, and other musings from Jeff Minter: http://www.magicnet.net/~yak/ Internet TELNET site: - Cleveland Free-Net Atari SIG freenet-in-{a,b,c}.cwru.edu or 129.22.8.51 or nextsun.INS.CWRU.edu Access via modem at (216) 368-3888. You can log on as visitor to explore the system and apply for a Free-Net account online. At the opening menu, enter "2" to log in as a visitor. At the next menu, enter "2" again to explore the system. You will then read an opening disclaimer and a login bulletin, then be sent to the main menu. Once inside, type "go atari". Follow the menus to read discussions, reviews, news, and information. In order to post messages and send e-mail, you need a Free-Net account. Apply for a Free-Net account by entering "1" at the second menu instead of "2". Mailing list: - Atari Jag-mail J. Sinn runs a Jaguar e-mail newsletter. For subscription information, write to j-sinn@ellijay.com BBS: - CATScan (209) 239-1552, 300/1200/2400/9600/14400 bps. Single line. The BBS is completely dedicated to Atari products and Atari video game consoles. Includes screen shots, press releases, pictures, and other files. Run by Don Thomas of Atari Corp. - Video Game Information Service. (201) 509-7324, 300/1200/2400/9600/14400 bps. Multiple lines Located in West Orange, New Jersy (USA). The BBS is completely dedicated to video gaming, and maintains files of cheats and reviews for all game systems. Carries video-game-related conferences from other computer networks, including Fidonet, Worldnet, and Globalnet. On-line services: - America On-Line The PC Games/Video Games discussion group has areas devoted to the Atari Lynx and the Atari Jaguar consoles. Use the keyword PC GAMES, then go to the Video Games discussion board. From there, select Atari Discussion, then the console of your choice. - GEnie A dedicated/expanded Jaguar roundtable has been established. Type M475;1 to reach it. For assistance regarding the roundtable, send e-mail to JAGUAR$ on GEnie. ============================================================================== Q. How was development for the Jaguar done? A. Jaguar game development environments existed for the Atari TT030 computer or an IBM PC/compatible. Art development could be performed on any machine, whether a low-end Apple Macintosh or commercial rendering software such as SoftImage. Wavefront's "GameWare" was the official 2D/3D graphics development system; Atari itself used GameWare for in-company development, and registered third-party Jaguar developers could buy GameWare licenses at special discount prices. Estimated price for a developer's package was $9,000 for the TT030 setup, and $7,500 for the PC/compatible platform. The package included a Jaguar development unit, documentation, and development/debugging software. The Jaguar had modified boot firmware to run the development board (the "Alpine board"), and it had a cable coming out to provide signals to the Alpine board that are not normally present via the cartridge connector. CD-ROM developement packages (including the cartridge development kit) were ranged at about $8,000, and were upgradeable from the card-only kit. Software routines packaged with the system included a multi-channel polyphonic FM/Wavetable synth; JPEG decompression; video set-up; drawing primitives; 3D rendering with gourad shading, texture mapping, and camera manipulation. GCC is the primary 68000 C compiler; support for other languages was not available from Atari, but developers were free to use whatever tools they may prefer. The development toolkit ran under DOS, TOS, or Linux. Work was proceeding on a Linux development system using the GNU tools. The centerpiece of the TT030 deveopment platform was DB, an assembly- language level debugging tool. The Jaguar and the TT030 were connected with a parallel cable, and software could be debugged interactively without interfering with the Jaguar's screen display. DB supported the use of scripts and aliases, which simplified the use of complex or common functions. Support for the development packages was primarily provided by Brainstorm (Atari France), who worked closely with Atari Corp. Atari granted final code approval, but did not see the need to "censor" games. Every game was given one man-month of compatibility and quality testing before it was approved. Atari offered technical support via FAX, mail, electronic mail and voice. Atari allowed developers to source their own cartridges, documentation and shells if desired. Jaguar software is encrypted with a proprietary key, thus preventing unauthorized developers from releasing Jaguar software. Cross Products (SNASM) offered an alternative Jaguar Development system. It came with a multiwindowed debugger, assemblers, compilers, and SCSI support, for approximately $3,700. The package allowed for full screen, source level debugging of multiple processors, in C or assembler. This was software only for the IBM PC; the Jaguar development hardware (Alpine board, modified Jaguar, etc.) had to be purchased separately from Atari. ==============================================================================