Previously on Prowling the Official Atari Jaguar Catalog:
"When you look at everything surrounding these four games released on the Atari Jaguar in the first three months of 1996 it's really only natural to wind up thinking negatively... Luckily, the titles that Atari Corp. were putting out in these final days are honestly really good to solid games...for as much flak that the Atari Jaguar has gotten in the decades since its release back in late 1993 the actual official catalog of games that came out on it has surprisingly veered more on the side of 'good-to-great' than being absolute crud, and even this late into the console's short life (officially) this remains true."
We finally made it, people. No, this isn't the final part of Prowling the Official Atari Jaguar Catalog (though this 11th entry was originally intended to be the end, before a much better release order was discovered), but we have made it to a true milestone when it comes to the life of the Jag itself: The End of Atari Corporation. As mentioned last time, barely a month after making an appearance at Winter CES in January of 1996 Atari Corp. announced that it would be entering a reverse merger with JT Storage, effectively resulting in the death of one of the two companies formed by the splitting of the original Atari, Inc. back in 1984. While we're not quite at that point juuuuuuust yet, we will be hitting it during this penultimate part of the series. Before we get there, though, we have April 1996 to go over, because in this month two things happen regarding the "Atari" brand. First, ironically enough, was the revival of Atari Games after Time Warner sold off its entire video game business to WMS Industries, which at the time owned Bally, Williams, & Midway's arcade games & brands; this was after Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell had put in an unsuccessful bid to buy Atari Games.
Meanwhile, right as Atari Games was coming back from the dead, Atari Corp. would release its final video game... one that simply added fuel to the ironic blaze with its very title.
Truly, it's only fitting that the final game Atari Corporation ever released on the Jaguar (& the company's final game, in general) would be titled Fight for Life, released on April 19. Like some other games for the console, this 3D fighter originally started development back in May 1994 & was designed & directed by Francois Yves Bertrand, who most notably was one of the first two non-Japanese employees for Sega's iconic AM2 team, with Bertrand handling the camera & collision system for the original Virtua Fighter. Bertrand eventually moved to the US, which is where he got hired by Atari to make Fight for Life, & he even got a friend of his, Silvio Porretta, a job at Atari to handle the texture artwork for the game. Unfortunately, Fight for Life's very development was its own "fight for life", as while Bertrand's actual development was going by fine it had a rotation of various people acting as producer, with one of them even making the higher ups believe that it'd redefine the entire genre! Later, when Atari sent preview copies out to video game magazines it accidentally labeled the cartridges as "For Review Only", which resulted in some mags actually reviewing the unfinished build as though it was complete!! Finally, while Bertrand had finished the overall development of Fight for Life by December 1995, he still felt that it needed more time for some extra polish. However, by this point Atari Corp. was already starting talks with JT Storage about the merger, which had resulted in Bertrand even getting fired from Atari, so Bertrand actually tried to hold off on giving Atari his final build for as long as he could, so as to give the game those last little touches. In the end, Bertrand would later admit that the version of Fight for Life that saw release was "in an almost finished state", and though there are rumors of a 100% finished build there's been no evidence of such a thing existing. Still, Bertrand enjoyed his time developing on the Jag, calling it an interesting piece of hardware, & felt that owners at the time respected the effort he put in, especially since it would be Atari's final hurrah for the console. However, does that really mean anything when it comes to how good or bad the actual final release is?
Where all of the Jag's previous fighting games were 2D, Fight for Life is the only fully polygonal 3D fighter, complete with the ability to sidestep, a la Toshinden. On a purely basic level you can tell that Bertrand came from Sega AM2, because this game definitely is inspired by Virtua Fighter, but the controls aren't quite the simplistic beauty of a VF game. Instead of utilizing a similar "Punch, Kick, Guard" control scheme, only with the ability to sidestep, Fight for Life technically has two punches, three different kicks, & a dodge button, all of which can be accessed with their own buttons on the Pro Controller (or the keypad, for those who use the OG controller); yeah, just an utteraly bizarre control scheme. Also, when playing the single-player mode, after defeating a foe you can steal two of their moves, which is neat but also restrictive as you can't steal a character's "signature move", on their generic moves. However, unlike a VF game it's very tough to really combo attacks together (or, at least, actually have the game acknowledge that it's a combo, despite looking like one), because every character technically only has one proper combo string, and (much like the characters' moves) require directional inputs, as though you're combing together special attacks in a more traditional fighting game. When combined with the game's honestly sluggish feel, the end result is a very boring & lackluster fighting game, despite it arguably being the "best" of the Jag's fighting games, from a technical perspective; in terms of gameplay I'd still put Ultra Vortek over it. But even from a technical perspective, though, Fight for Life is just weird, as the health meters default to disappearing whenever no one's being damaged, & while there are two camera options it's pointless to go with the "static" one, since it will literally result in moments where you'll have problems actually seeing the fight in any dependable fashion; how the guy behind VF1's camera decided this was a good idea is beyond me.
Overall, Fight for Life truly is a fitting game for Atari Corporation to end its life with, because it represents the company, & the Jaguar, as a whole: Good intentions, solid ideas, and even a little bit of potential, but bogged down to death by all manner of problems that simply build up, and the end result is a literal fight for relevance/fun that can never be won.
Following the release of Fight for Life in April... well, there was a whole lot of NOTHING released for the Atari Jaguar for most of the remainder of the entire year! Again, Atari Corp. itself was prepping for the merger with JT Storage, so for all intents & purposes the Jag was dead to its creator, and any other games that were in the works were either simply cancelled or licensed out to another company, which we'll get to in a little bit. So... what was happening in the world of video game consoles during this time? Well, on June 23 Nintendo finally released its newest console, the Nintendo 64, in Japan & put the definitive end on Atari being able to claim that the Jaguar was truly a "64-bit console", because the N64 was capable of 3D polygonal visuals & performance that Atari only wished it could do on the Jag. The following month, on July 21, Nintendo was able to refresh its old Game Boy, which had trounced the Atari Lynx in sales, with the release of the Game Boy Pocket in Japan. While it was still the same old black-&-white handheld as before the Pocket did feature a much improved screen, with better visibility & the elimination of most of the ghosting that the OG "brick" suffered from, while the smaller overall size was well received. Simply put, while Atari was on the verge of complete death, Nintendo had finally entered the fifth generation of consoles & gave new life to its old handheld, helped in large part to the release of Pocket Monsters Red & Green in Japan a few months earlier in 1996.
A little over a week after the release of the Game Boy Pocket in Japan, though, it finally happened: Atari Corporation merged with JT Storage on July 30, 1996. Since this was a reverse merger that meant that JT Storage was the surviving entity (now as JTS Corporation), and while Atari Corp. did technically survive in some fashion from this, it was solely to act as an IP & rights manager for its properties; for all intents & purposes, Atari Corp. was dead as an actual video game company after this date. It's also at this point that the final tally of 125,000 Jaguar consoles having been sold in total, alongside 100,000 unsold units on hand, came into being & made the Atari Jaguar one of the worst-selling consoles of all time, though it still was more successful than stuff like the Apple Bandai Pippin (42,000 units sold) or the Mattel HyperScan (~30,000), & even just barely outsold the Bandai Playdia (120,000). September 1996 would see the North American launch of the Game Boy Pocket (September 2), followed by the final officially licensed 3DO game to see release in the form of the North American-exclusive Casper by Interplay (September 15 or 26, depending on the source), which was based on the live-action film adaptation from the year prior; this came out alongside PS1 & Saturn versions, both of which did see international release. If anything, the 3DO really was the Jag's closest competitor, as the two launched roughly a month part back in late 1993, so it's only fitting that their rivalry ended shortly after Atari Corp. itself had died. That being said, the 3DO still sold over 2 million consoles, i.e. roughly 8x or 16x what the Jag sold (depending on if you include the 100,000 unsold units) & had a final tally of 251 officially released games (of which ~55.38% were Japan-exclusives!), or just over 5x what the Jag got, so the rivalry was really more in both being also-ran consoles. Finally, September 29 saw the North American release of the Nintendo 64, which launched alongside Pilotwings 64 & Super Mario 64, the latter of which was an epoch-defining game that would influence 3D analog movement for games in ways that hadn't yet been seen at that point, at least on console.
However, despite all of that... the Jaguar did not die just yet.
Like I said, Atari Corporation still technically existed following the merger with JTS, even if only for the purposes of IP & brand management. Because of that, the Jaguar itself was still considered an active console, so at some point it was decided that while Atari Corp. wouldn't be releasing games on its own it could still work with another company to put out games that were either already completed, or at least were close to completion. In the end that other company wound up being Telegames, the third-party that had previously released two games for the Jag (Brutal Sports Football & International Sensible Soccer), and handled porting duties for two others (Troy Aikman NFL Football & Double Dragon V) but otherwise hadn't been seen since April & May of 1995. Telegames' releases were only ever available either via direct mail order or select stores, like Electronics Boutique, so while these games would be counted as "official" releases they are all immensely scarce & are now considered holy grails for Jag collectors. Regardless, Telegames would essentially become the steward of the Atari Jaguar for the remainder of its official life, as all but one (official) game left for us to go over will be published by Telegames, and it all began with a pair of games that saw release on December 6, ending an eight month drought for the Jag. We'll start off with the "simpler" game of the two, which would be Breakout 2000. Considered the final entry in the Jag's "2000 series" of games (alongside Tempest 2000, Defender 2000, & even Missile Command 3D), this reinvention of Atari's iconic arcade classic came from a developer called MP Games, an Indiana-based studio originally called MP Graphics Systems that had previously developed productivity software for PC like DynaCaDD & DynaDesigner. However, what got MP the job to develop Breakout 2000 was WalZ, an Atari ST game based on Arkanoid, which was Taito's popular take on the "brick breaker" genre that Breakout itself innovated. MP had started development for a Windows 3.1x version of WalZ, which never came out but was shown to Atari, who liked the work that had been done & were given the job to turn it into a new Breakout game. So how did it wind up?
As is standard for these "2000 series" games, Breakout 2000 offers multiple versions of the iconic game, though here it's just two, but I guess one could stretch it as being three. Breakout Classic is your standard arcade Breakout, complete with options to turn on Catch & Breakthru, i.e. holding onto the ball when it touches your paddle & the ability for the ball to only get knocked back when it hits the back wall behind the bricks. However, Classic isn't really a 1:1 representation of the arcade original, or even Super Breakout, as the ball you have defaults to a rather large & chunky one, same with your paddle, though this is adjusted based on the skill level (Novice, Normal, or Expert), but the real difference is simply in how it feels to play. In traditional arcade Breakout the ball can only hit one brick at a time before hitting a solid object (either your paddle or a wall), but here in "Breakout Classic" the ball can hit multiple bricks depending on how it bounces, and it completely changes the way you play the game; for some this is a good thing, since OG Breakout is meant to be challenging, but for others it might break the game. Then there's Breakout 2000, which is definitely different. First, the perspective changes to more of a "behind the paddle" view, with only a slight angle for viewing the field, and you play along the bottom of the screen. That's because, in my opinion, this style of play really shines in two-player, whether that's with another person or the computer. In two-player the opposing paddle is on the top half of the screen (which is, to no surprise, admittedly a bit jarring & is like playing a video game upside-down), with the goal being a mixture of getting a higher score & clearing out your field first. However, there's a reason for this bizarre "lower field & upper field" concept, because when playing versus there is no back wall. Instead, your ball halfpipes into your opponent's field, and while destroying your opponent's bricks counts towards their field count (i.e. you're helping them clear out their field first) you're the one who still gets points for destroying the bricks, creating an admittedly interesting dynamic to the gameplay. Draining your opponent's ball on your field does NOT count as a lost life for them, but I can see why; this is Breakout, after all, not Pong.
Combine all of this with flying saucers that either drop power ups (making your ball "breakthru", launching fireballs to clear parts of your field, clearing your entire field), power downs (refilling your field, though it's arguable that it could be a power up), or shoot at your paddle (after four hits your ball will go through, guaranteeing a lost life), and the end result is a wholly unique take on Breakout that, while certainly not perfect, honestly kind of saves Breakout 2000, as a whole. When playing either the Classic mode or 2000 mode solo this is kind of a lackluster game of Breakout, but playing 2000 mode in two-player is seriously really damn cool (though the reduced frame rate does suck), and I'm honestly amazed that the current Atari, Inc. & Digital Eclipse didn't include Breakout 2000 in the Atari 50 collection, because while Atari Corp. itself didn't publish the game back in the day it's still 100% an Atari game; hell, this is even the last Jaguar game to feature the Atari logo on the cover. As for where I'd place it among the other "2000 series" entries, I'd maybe place Breakout 2000 in third place, behind Tempest 2000 & Missile Command 3D, but that's solely on the strength of the 2000 mode in versus; without that it'd easily be the "worst" one, though all four of these games are, at the very least, good.
If there's one notable genre of video game that eluded the Atari Jaguar its entire life while Atari Corp. was an active company, it was the RPG. Therefore, it's kind of fitting that the Jag's post-Atari life would rectify that omission immediately with the other December 6 release, Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer. Developed by Las Vegas-based JV Games, Towers II was actually originally released for the Atari Falcon, the final PC Atari Corp. ever released (which was essentially a high-end Atari ST), in 1995 & was the sequel to Towers: Lord Baniff's Deceit, which came out for the Atari ST in 1993 & was later ported to MS-DOS in 1994. Both Towers games were first-person dungeon crawlers, but while all prior titles from JV Games were done by the company's two founders, Vince Valenti & Jag Jaeger, Towers II's scope expanded beyond their abilities, so they hired extra staff to help out. Despite being released for the Falcon first, JV Games actually designed Towers II to work within the Jaguar's specifications, in case they wanted to port the game, and in doing this it actually made porting relatively easy for the team. In fact, the Jag specifications they designed Towers II around were actually on the low end, so the Jaguar port wound up being an enhanced version that featured full-screen visuals (rather than the window seen on the Falcon) & improved textures. While it's understandable that Towers II wasn't exactly a "major seller", considering the console it was ported to, it was very well received & today is considered one of the best titles on the Jag, so let's see why that's the case.
Upon starting a new game, Towers II has you select from three characters (Gerand, Tasler, Merton, & Andros), each of which having random starting stats that can be rerolled before making your final selection. However, each character has their general preferences, namely Gerand being more of a warrior, Merton being more of a wizard, Tasler being more about speed, & Andros being an all-rounder. After making your selection you're summarily thrust right into the tower... and it's all up to you to figure things out. Make no mistake, Towers II isn't simplified in any way to play on the Jag & takes full advantage of the keypad in order to play, i.e. a Pro Controller is essential for stuff like strafing with the shoulder buttons instead of using 4 & 6 on the keypad. You also start off with nothing on hand to equip, and the game lets you equip all manner of objects, so you can kill a harmless janitor, take their mop & use it as a weapon until you find a sword, dagger, or whatnot. There really is a lot of attention to detail from a gameplay perspective to be seen here, like needing to eat when you get hungry, being able to grab objects & throw them, and the previously mentioned equip non-weapons when in a pinch. There is 100% a learning curve to this game, so getting into Towers II requires long-term dedication in order to learn how exactly it all works on the Jaguar gamepad, and it's not exactly a game you are meant to rush through. In that regard I can see why it's so well regarded, because there seriously was nothing else like this game on the Jaguar when it was released, and it even looks & runs well enough for a late release on Atari's final console. Sure, it's not exactly anything revolutionary or groundbreaking, but it is a very solid real-time first-person dungeon crawler, nonetheless.
Simply put, Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer is indeed a must play (or at least a must try) for anyone who wants to give the official Jaguar catalog a go... but unless you're doing it for historical value, like I've been doing with this series, I wouldn't recommend going with this original release.
That's because in 2023 JV Games, which has managed to stick around to this very day, teamed with Songbird Productions (a company we'll get to in the final part, next time) to release Towers II Enhanced Stargazer Edition, an actual full-on remaster of the game for the same console. In doubling the size of the cartridge from 2MB to 4MB JV Games was able to give this remaster new & improved textures that take advantage of the Jag's CRY color model (instead of RGB), re-rendered weapons, some improved lighting (even for the HUD), voice work for NPCs, improved performance, & more "quality of life" additions, like streamlined user actions, hints for when you don't know what to do next, & even health meters for enemies while fighting them. Yeah, ~$100 is really steep of a price, but considering how much of a niche the Jag is (I doubt many unofficial releases for the console have even made it into four digits sold) I imagine it is a fair trade-off for those who are truly the most hardcore of Jaguar owners.
I do wish that JV & Songbird at least offered a ROM for purchase to play on something like the GameDrive, which is what I use for this series, but at the same time I can fully understand concerns of said ROM getting shared online instantly & devaluing the cartridge itself; this isn't like Bitmap Bureau's Xeno Crisis & available on as many consoles as possible. As it is right now I can't personally judge Towers II Enhanced for myself, but from looking at footage & seeing the various changes & improvements that are advertised I imagine this remaster is really the way to go to properly experience Towers II in this day & age, and it's honestly amazing that JV Games even went back & remastered this game for the Jag, in & of itself.
A little over two weeks following Telegames' releases of Breakout 2000 & Towers II, on December 26, Atari Corp./JTS made a deal that moved their remaining Jaguar stock, including games, accessories, & the 100,000 unsold consoles, to a private liquidator. Specifically, the deal was with TigerSoftware (not to be confused with Tiger Electronics, Tiger Corporation, or Tiger Telematics), which would start offering the Jaguar & its catalog of titles through direct mail order via its TigerDirect catalogs the following year. And with that we come to the end of 1996, a year that (for the most part) kind of never even was for the Jaguar. Sure, the first four months of the year saw five games released, but then Atari Corporation was summarily killed off & merged with JT Storage, resulting in nothing else until that December when Telegames released its first two post-Atari games, though these were still considered officially licensed releases. As for the games covered in this penultimate part of this series, Fight for Life is both woefully undercooked yet also one of the best fighting game on the Jaguar, Breakout 2000 is saved almost exclusively by its unique versus mode, & Towers II is easily one of the most ambitious titles on the console, even if the gameplay itself is mostly what you'd expect from the genre, but now best played via its recent remaster.
When I first started Prowling the Official Atari Jaguar Catalog a little over three years ago I honestly wasn't 100% sure how long it'd take for me to finish it, or even if I would actually finish it. However, we're now down to the final stretch, with four official releases remaining (plus one unofficial release that apparently was, for all intents & purposes, meant to be official, so I'll include it), and while all prior parts of this series required multiple entries to cover a single calendar year, our next & final part will kind of feel like a whirlwind. That's because next time we'll be covering from 1997 all the way to 2001, i.e. the final official Jaguar games, an overview of the Hasbro Era, a little bit of the early era of post-official games, & the birth of the modern Atari!
Fight for Life © 1996 Atari Inc.
Breakout 2000 © 1996 Atari Inc.
Towers II: Plight of the Stargazer © 1996 JV Games
Towers II Enhanced Stargazer Edition © 1996, 2023 JV Games
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