Atari Jaguar CD

The Atari Jaguar CD or Jag CD is a CD-ROM peripheral for the Atari Jaguar video game console.

Late in the life span of the company, Atari released this CD-ROM unit, which had been announced prior to the Jaguar's October 1993 launch. The Jaguar CD was released on September 21, 1995 and retailed for $149.95. The device sits on top the Jaguar console, fitting into the ROM cartridge slot. The drive has its own cartridge slot to allow cartridge games to be played without removing the CD drive, and to run software which used cartridge and CD in tandem, though ultimately no such software was released for the system. There was a separate "Memory Track" cartridge for storing saved game position and high scores.

The Jaguar CD unit featured a double speed (2x) drive and built-in VLM (Virtual Light Machine) software written by Jeff Minter. Using a spectrum analyzer, the VLM provided a sophisticated video light show when an audio CD was played in the machine. Packaged with the drive were two games (Blue Lightning and Vid Grid), a music CD (Tempest 2000 soundtrack), and a Myst demo disc. Also, the startup screen is different from that of the cartridge-based Jaguar: using the VLM banks it creates a random 'light show' that is different every time the console was switched on. However, the startup was silent.

Atari Jaguar

The Atari Jaguar is a fifth generation home video game console that was developed by Atari Corporation. The console was the sixth and last programmable console to be developed under the Atari brand, originally released in North America in November 1993. Marketed by Atari as the first 64-bit video game console, the Jaguar was designed to compete with the 16-bit Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the 32-bit 3DO Interactive Multiplayer platform.

Development on the Atari Jaguar started in the early 90s, and was designed by Flare Technology, who were tasked by Atari to create two consoles; the Atari Panther, which would compete with the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo, and a successor, the Jaguar, which would surpass the capabilities of any other console on the market at the time. With development of the Jaguar running ahead of schedule, the Panther was cancelled, and the release of the Jaguar was pushed forward. It was originally released to test markets in New York City and San Francisco in November 1993, and to the general public in 1994, with Cybermorph as the pack-in launch game.