Released in 1993, the Atari Jaguar is the last console Atari produced.
About The Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is most notable for its claim of being the ‘first 64-bit console’. The truth is that Atari interprets the use of two 32-bit chips as a total of 64-bit – A marketing ploy perhaps! This is debated, but there is not a single 64-bit chip powering the system.
The system was notoriously difficult to develop which meant software support was relatively limited, This especially became apparent just over a year after the Atari Jaguar was released. The Atari Jaguar, as well as other competitors’ systems, were affected by the Sony PlayStation stealing huge market share. Things were not helped by Atari not providing developers with quality documentation, leaving developers alone to work things out themselves.
The system had many critics from its launch. For example, the systems controller was criticised for its overly complex and cumbersome design. But it was more fundamentally the lack of third-party developers making games but sided with Sony, Nintendo, or Sega which killed the Atari Jaguar.
The Atari Jaguar was available for three years, until 1996. It is estimated that less than 250,000 units were sold in total. This was to be the last system Atari Corporation produced.
Atari Jaguar Emulators
BigPEmu is widely considered the best Atari Jaguar emulator around. It is by the same developer who wrote the emulation for the Atari 50 collection.
Atari Jaguar emulation is reasonably well catered for, we recommend taking a look at RetroArch if you are seeking an all-in-one solution. RetroArch emulates a large number of systems including the Atari Jaguar. RetroArch is a front end that utilises emulator ‘cores’, it is reasonably easy to use and has lots of good supporting documentation on how to use it. RetroArch is available across a number of platforms including Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Raspberry Pi, and many consoles. Take a look at our quick start guide for RetroArch which can get you up and running in 5 minutes.
A lifelong avid gamer and computing enthusiast, Matt has decades of Retro Gaming experience. Now over 40 years old, Matt now even considers himself retro, but fortunately, nobody has developed a Matt emulator (not yet at least!).