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  Atari Jaguar Timeline:

This is a historical timeline of the happings which led to Jaguar, its demise as a mainstream gaming machine, and the enormous underground following it now has.

*Feel free to email us for additions on important events that we may have left out!

1989

In 1989, rumors were abound of a 16/32 bit game system known as the Panther. The Panther was developed and game programing had begun, yet a decision was made to kill it in favor of a more powerful Jaguar in 1991/92. The three of the five games developed for it were quickly ported to the new system. It is believed that the porting of these games (Cybermorph, Raiden, and Humans) lead to the 68000 chip being added to the system.

1992

In 1992, Atari placed an ad in a local paper looking for 68000 programmers with console experience.

In EGM's gossip section, it was mentioned that a 64 bit system by Atari was being developed. A few issues down the road, they corrected themselves, stating they were wrong and that there was no such thing as the Jaguar. Later one, rumors started again about the 64 bit system by Atari. Also to be noted, in 1991, a Lynx game included an easter egg that said something relating to a 'Jaguar,' "Honor HMS Jaguar." When asked about this, Atari officals were strangely quiet.

1993

August:

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, even at Trip Hawkin's (3DO) dismay. Atari was able to acquire an extremely extensive list of developers, and optimism began to rise. Atari announced an October release date and received a large demand as far as pre-books went. They planned to ship 50,000 systems in a limited release, which was to be limited to San Francisco and New York, although chains recieved the systems anyways.

October:

Atari was forced to delay the launch and release the system a month later. They ran into problems producing enough systems to meet the presale demand.

November 15th:

The Jaguar was finally released, though not to the quanity demanded. Many had to wait to get their systems, and rumors were that they only were able to ship 20,000 units.

June:

Atari at this point had suffered from a large amount of game delays and slowing sales since the release of the system. However, the long-awaited Jeff Minter masterpiece was released, Tempest 2000, and it received rave reviews throughout the industry, and sold extremely well. It spurred sales for the time being. Optimism arouse that this would turn around Atari's luck.

Fall/Winter '94:

Atari had taken SEGA to court earlier on, and won/settled in a $90 million deal. This cash infusion enhanced Atari's financial position immensely and allowed for a better holiday campaign. This deal also included cross licencing, but unfortunately, Atari never took advantage of it.

1995

September:

The long awaited Jaguar CD add-on 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 stated Atari had a potent Christmas plan.

October:

Sam Tramiel has a heart attack and is out of the office until mid-1996. His father, Jack, stepped in and led the company downhill, starting off by the elimination of advertising. Either he didn't know or didn't care, but doing so violated a contract with Walmart that declared Atari would spend a certain amount of money on Television advertising. Second, Jack asked Ted Hoff what he would need to make Atari profitable again. Hoff provided him with a list, yet Tramiel laughed at him.

November:

Atari's advertising allmost completely came to a halt. A nice amount of TV and print ads up to this point had been seen, but they suddenly all stopped, giving many a slight suspicion something had gone wrong. There was a magazine ad which described a sweepstakes during movies on the USA Network, set for a particular date. When people tuned in to see what was happening with the sweepstakes, they began to see that something must have been wrong when it never aired.

December:

A Next Generation Magazine article states that Atari is going to jump ship.

After the first wave of massive layoffs hit Atari, Ted Hoff leaves Atari and joins Sega of America.

1996

Atari releases four new cart games and an ad shows up in magazines pushing their new sports games. A later EGM article was written with developers that described the Atari canceling of major projects, the formation of Atari Interactive, and the canning of the VR headset. Eventually the JTS merger was announced.

April:

Atari released the 3D Fighting game, Fight For Life, and it was known that it would be the last piece of software Atari would release on the Jaguar. At this point, it was the end of the Jaguar.

October:

Telegames announced four new Jaguar games. They did so with a spirited internet campaign that was underway, encouraging them to do this. Worms, Towers 2, Breakout 2000, and Zero 5 were all announced. New life was given to the Jaguar. Also, 4Play continued development on Battlesphere, which was planned to be published in '96.

December:

Word leaked out that Iron Soldier 2 and World Tour Racing were being licensed for the Jaguar CD by Telegames. More life is injected into the Jaguar with the release of Towers 2 and Breakout 2000. Reviews were positive regarding the titles.

1997

January:

Telegames makes the release of the two Jaguar CD games official. Also, plans for a Jaguar event formulate, for the event to take place in the Summer of '97, in Chicago.

March:

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.

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 emailings. The number of people jumping on this movement has been spectacular.

April:

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.

Carl Forhan announces on Jaguar Interactive that Air Cars will be released by ICD. ICD requests 100 preorders to go forth. About 50 were taken in only 24 hours.

May:

World Tour Racing is released by Telegames as the Jaguar CD's first racing game.

June:

Air Cars is released by ICD Games.

July:

Jag Fest '97 occurs, a convention-like gathering of many Jaguar fans, and is a huge. Ppeople get to play the long awaited, unreleased Battlesphere, and plans for future games come to light--Visual Dimensions 3D planning a Club Drive-like game by the name of Automaniacs, and Dark Knight Games with Defcon 1. Also, a company by the name of Krunch has plans for a Gorf 2000.

September:

Dark Knight Games releases their Jaguar Extreme Joystick.

Zero 5 ships from Telegames and the game is highly acclaimed throughout the Jaguar community.

December:

A limited run of the cartridge version of Iron Soldier 2 ships from Telegames.

1998

February:

JTS sells Atari to Hasbro, though unofficial for several weeks.

March:

The popular Jaguar messageboard, Jaguar Interactive, is moved from the Magical Fox server to currently being hosted by Atari Gaming Headquarters. It is renamed to Jaguar Interactive II.

Telegames announces Worms is still slated, for a limited-edition May release.

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