Atari Jaguar
Developer: Atari
Year Released: 1993
Generation: 5th
The Atari Jaguar was the last console that Atari marketed under this brand name. They designed it to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic 3DO in processing power.
It was eventually in competition with the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation, and other consoles that made up the fifth generation of video game consoles. When the machine actually hit the streets, the public had mixed reactions. The increased power excited some gamers, while some felt that the system fell short of its promises. Some people claimed that the Jaguar was not actually a true 64 bit system, that it simply was two 32-bit processors working in parallel. However, Atari was pressing forward with their advertising campaign touting its 64-bit power, and they announced an impressive number of third party titles. Unfortunately, the Jaguar proved very difficult to program for and Atari did not have sufficient development tools. They delayed production of many Jaguar games, and rushed many more unimpressive ones through production. Many announced developers did not even develop any titles. It proved to be a commercial failure and prompted Atari to leave the home video game console market. It was the last console from an American company until the 2001 introduction of Microsoft’s Xbox.