Atari Jaguar CD

The Atari Jaguar CD or Jag CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for the Atari Jaguar video game console.

Atari Jaguar CD

Atari Jaguar CD (on top) attached to the Atari Jaguar with the ProController
Also known as	Jaguar CD
Manufacturer	Atari Corporation
Type	Video game console add-on
Generation	Fifth generation
Lifespan	September 21, 1995[1][2]
Discontinued	1996
Media	CD-ROM
Online services	AtariNet
Successor	Atari VCS

Atari announced a CD-ROM drive for the Jaguar before the console's November 1993 launch.[3][4] Code-named the Jaguar II during development,[5] the Jaguar CD was released on September 21, 1995, and retailed for $149.95.[1][2] It suffered from multiple delays, having been originally intended for launch during the 1994 holiday shopping season.[6] The device sits atop the Jaguar console, fitting into the ROM cartridge slot. The drive has its own cartridge slot to allow cartridge games to be played without removing the CD drive, and to run software which used cartridge and CD in tandem.[7] There was a separate "Memory Track" cartridge for storing saved game position and high scores.

The Jaguar CD unit featured a double-speed (2×) drive[8] and built-in VLM (Virtual Light Machine) software written by Jeff Minter. Using a spectrum analyzer, the VLM provided a sophisticated video light show when an audio CD was played in the machine.[7] Packaged with the drive were two games (Blue Lightning and Vid Grid), a music CD (Tempest 2000 soundtrack), and a Myst demo disc. Also, the startup screen is different from that of the cartridge-based Jaguar: using the VLM banks it creates a random "light show" that is different every time the console was switched on. However, the startup was silent.

Jaguar CD games can include as much as 790MB of data,[9] considerably more than conventional CD-ROMs. The designers chose to ignore established CD-ROM formats and instead created their own based on the audio CD format. While allowing for dramatically more storage on the disc and foiling casual piracy, the format provides only limited error correction.

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.

Only 11 games were released for the Jaguar CD during its lifetime: Battlemorph, Baldies, Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods, Brain Dead 13, Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands, Myst, Primal Rage, and the two pack-ins. However, previously unfinished titles and homebrew releases have since been produced, and games for the Jaguar CD were released as recently as 2017.

In mid-1994 Atari and Sigma Designs signed an agreement to co-develop a PC board that would allow Jaguar CD games to be played on home computers, with a scheduled release by the end of 1994.[10] However, it was never completed.

It is now possible to (legally) 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 (Protector SE, B&C's cart) is, however, still required for unencrypted games.

Game library

Title	Genre	Developer(s)	Publisher(s)	Release date
				NA	PAL	JP
Baldies	Real-time strategy	Creative Edge Software	Atari Corporation	December, 1995	1995	N/A
Battlemorph	Shooter	Attention to Detail	Atari Corporation	December, 1995	1995	N/A
Blue Lightning	Simulator	Attention to Detail	Atari Corporation	September 11, 1995	1995	N/A
Brain Dead 13	Interactive movie	ReadySoft Incorporated	ReadySoft Incorporated	January, 1996	1996	N/A
Dragon's Lair	Interactive movie	Epicenter Interactive	ReadySoft Incorporated	December 6, 1995	1995	N/A
Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods	Action, Adventure	Lore Design	Atari Corporation	October 30, 1995	1995	N/A
Hover Strike: Unconquered Lands	Shooter	Atari Corporation	Atari Corporation	October 26, 1995	1995	N/A
Iron Soldier 2	Simulator	Eclipse Software Design	Telegames	December 30, 1997	December, 1997	N/A
Myst	Adventure, Puzzle	Cyan Worlds, Sunsoft	Atari Corporation	December 14, 1995	1995	N/A
Primal Rage	Fighting	Probe Entertainment	Time Warner Interactive	December, 1995	1995	N/A
Space Ace	Interactive movie	Epicenter Interactive	ReadySoft Incorporated	December, 1995	1995	N/A
Vid Grid	Puzzle	High Voltage Software	Atari Corporation	September 11, 1995	1995	N/A
World Tour Racing	Racing	Teque London	Telegames	June, 1997	1997	N/A

See also

• 64DD
• Family Computer Disk System
• Sega CD
• Super NES CD-ROM
• Xbox 360 HD DVD Player

References

1. "Atari Corp". HFN. 1995-09-04. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
2. "Atari Jaguar CD system pounces onto multimedia marketplace". Business Wire. 1995-09-21. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
3. "Atari's 64-bit Jaguar Stalks the Competition". GamePro (51). IDG. October 1993. pp. 16–17.
4. "Atari Jaguar Unveiled—Stalks 3DO". Computer Gaming World. November 1993. pp. 10–11. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
5. "Atari Gears Up for Battle". Next Generation. Imagine Media (4): 14–15. April 1995.
6. "1995: The Calm Before the Storm?". Next Generation. Imagine Media (13): 45. January 1996.
7. Wise, Carey (September 1995). "Gamer's Day at Atari". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis (74): 64–66.
8. "Jaguar CD". GamePro. IDG (86): 20. November 1995.
9. "Jaguar Plugs into the CD Revolution". Next Generation. Imagine Media (6): 18–19. June 1995.
10. "Jaguar to Roar on PC". GamePro (62). IDG. September 1994. p. 160.