Timeline
I will try to make this timeline as up-to-date and as accurate as possible. Please e-mail me if you find any incorrect information as some of this info is coming off the top of my head. I will update this timeline whenever needed. Thanks to Rob Merritt for a wealth of new info!
Last Modified: 10/4/97
1989
In 1989, rumors abound of a 16/32 bit game system known as the Panther. The
Panther was developed and game programing was started when the decision was
made to kill it in favor of the Jaguar in 1991/92. The three of the five
games developed for it were quickly ported to the Jaguar. It is believed
that the porting of these games lead to the 68000 chip being added to the
Jaguar. The three games were Cybermorph, Raiden, and Humans (aka Dino
Dudes). It is unknown why Hard Driving wasn't ported.
1992
In 1992, Atari placed an ad in a local paper looking for 68000 programmers
with console experience.
Late 91/early 92:
This is a pure guess as far as the date, but this was about when word first leaked out about the Jaguar's development. In EGM's gossip section they mentioned that a 64 bit system by Atari was being developed. They then a few issues later said they were wrong and there was no such thing as the Jaguar and then once again they restarted the rumors of the 64 bit system by Atari. They then circulated throughout the industry in early 93. Also in 1991 a Lynx game had an easter egg saying something like "Honor HMS
Jaguar." When asked about this, Atari officals were strangely quite.
August 93:
Atari unveiled the Jaguar at the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. It received rave reviews from many, as everyone seemed to be impressed by the technology, at Trip Hawkins dismay. Atari was able to acquire an extremely extensive list of developers. Optimism began to rise. Atari announced a October release date and they received a large demand as far as prebooks. They planned to ship 50,000 systems in a limited release, which was suppossed to be limited to San Fran. and New York. Though chains recieved the systems anyways.
October 93:
Atari was forced to release the systems a month later. They were having problems producing enough systems to meet the presales demand.
November 15th:
The Jaguar was finally released, though not to the quanity demanded. Many had to wait to get their systems, rumors were they only were able to get 20,000 out.
Early Decmeber 93:
I finally received my Jaguar that I prebooked in October, I am sure you care!
June 94:
Atari at this point had suffered from a large amount of game delays and slowing sales since the release. All that was forgotten for now, as the long awaited Jeff Minter masterpiece was released, Tempest 2000! It received rave reviews throughout the industry, and it sold extremely well and spurred sales for the time being. Optimism arouse that this would turn around Atari's luck.
Towards the end of 94:
Sega settled with Atari with a $90 million deal. This cash infusion enhanced Atari's financial position immensely and allowed for a better holiday campaign. This deal also includes cross licencing, unfortunately Atari was never able to take advantage of that.
September 95:
The long awaited Jaguar CD arrives. At this point it seems that things may be turning around at Atari, with a good amount of software finally on its way and some large deals with retailers. Some of which included Toys R Us and Wal Mart. Sam Tramiel said Atari had a potent Christmas plan.
October
In October of 1995 Sam Tramiel had a heart attack and was out of the office
till mid 1996. His father Jack Tramiel came in and started butchering the
company.First he stopped all advertising. Either he didn't know or didn't
care but this violated a contract with Walmart that Atari would spend a
certain amount of money on TV advertising. Next, Jack asked Ted Hoff what he
would need to make Atari profitable again. Ted Hoff provided him with a list
to which Jack Tramiel laughed at him.
In December 1995, the first wave of massive layoffs hit Atari and Ted Hoff
left Atari and joined Sega of America.
Late November:
This is when I noticed that Atari's advertising allmost completely came to a halt. I had seen a nice amount of TV and print ads up to this point but then they all stopped which gave me a slight suspicion something had gone wrong. Especially since they had a magazine ad for a sweepstakes during movies on the USA Network on a certain date. I tuned in to see what they were doing and this never occured. After I saw this I knew something must be wrong.
Mid December:
Word leaks out that Atari is going to jump ship. I first saw the article while purchasing arguably the best Jaguar game ever Battlemorph. It was a Next Generation article.
January 96:
Atari releases four new cart games and another ad finally showed up in a few magazines pushing their new sports games. It gave me hope, but it was not too be. As later on in EGM, a article came out with developers saying Atari canned major projects with them and Atari announced Atari Interactive and the canning of the VR headset. At that point I knew it was over. Eventually the JTS merger was announced.
April 19th:
Atari released Fight For Life and it was known that it would be the last piece of Software Atari would release, at this point it was the end for the Jaguar, or so it seemed!
October 18th:
Telegames announced four new Jaguar games are on the way. They did so with a spirited internet campaign that was under way encouraging them to do this. They announced Worms, Towers 2, Breakout 2000 and Zero 5. New life was given to the Jaguar. Also 4Play continued development on Battlesphere, as this game will be published sometime in 96.
December:
Word leaked out about Iron Soldier 2 and World Tour Racing being licensed for the Jaguar CD by Telegames. While an official announcement is being awaited, the planned release dates are January for IS 2 and February for WTR. More life is injected into the Jaguar! On the 10th Towers 2 and Breakout 2000 were released. Reviews have been positive regarding these games! That lets us arrive to the current time, and things are looking much brighter than ever expected earlier on (April 96 is what I am referring to) for the Jaguar!
Early January:
Telegames makes the release of the two Jaguar CD games official. Also plans for a Jaguar event formulate, plans are for the event to take place in the Summer of 97 in Chicago.
March 7th:
Iron Soldier 2 is delayed due to CD replication problems that Telegames is having. They called in former Atari employees to try to solve this problem.
Late March:
The Atari Preservation Society is formed! It is a unified group that is open to all Atari fans, with the mission being to spread the word about the greatness of Atari and to encourage development of new games through such ideas as mass e-mailings! The number of people jumping on to this movement has been spectacular!
April 16th:
Telegames announces Iron Soldier 2 will be released April 29th. Telegames will go through the costly CD-R format due to the IS 2 replication problems consisting with the normal system.
April 18th:
Carl Forham announces on JI that Air Cars will be released by ICD, ICD does request 100 preorders to go forth. About 50 have already been taken in only 24 hours!
Late May:
World Tour Racing is released by Telegames as the Jaguar CD's first racing game.
June 27th:
Air Cars is released by ICD Games for the Jaguar.
July 19th:
Jag Fest '97 occurs and from what I understand was a huge success (unfortunately I was not at it)! Not only did people get to play the long awaited, unreleased Battlesphere, plans for future games came to light. Visual Dimensions 3D are planning a Club Drive type game by the name of Automaniacs along with Defcon 1. Also, a company by the name of Krunch is working on Gorf 2000.
September 20th:
Dark Knight Games releases their Jaguar Extreme Joystick, which is their first release.
September 29th:
Zero 5 ships from Telegames and the game is highly acclaimed around the Jaguar community!
| Games Released After Each Year: |
# |
| Year 1 (94) |
17 |
| Year 2 (95) |
44 |
| Year 3 (96) |
58 |
| Year 4 |
Atleast 65 |
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