The Atari Jaguar is a fifth generation home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and manufactured by IBM. [1] [2] First released in North America on November 23, 1993, the Jaguar was fifth home console under the Atari name. [3] [4] The following list includes aftermarket post-releases, as well as homebrew games made by the community for Jaguar and the Atari Jaguar CD peripheral.
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In 1996, the Jaguar and game development for it were discontinued. [5] [6] Atari merged with JT Storage in 1996, while Hasbro Interactive acquired all of Atari's assets after buying out JTS in 1998. [6] [7] Hasbro declared the Jaguar as an open platform in 1999, releasing the console's patents and rights into public domain after much lobbying from Atari fans, allowing software developers to make and release games for Jaguar without a licensing agreement. [8] [9] [10] [11] Following the announcement, hobbyists have released previously finished but unpublished titles and produced homebrew games to satisfy the Jaguar's cult following. [4] [8] [12] [13] [14] Consequently, these titles are not endorsed or licensed by Atari.
Homebrew games for Jaguar and Jaguar CD are distributed in either cartridge, CD-ROM, or both formats, complete with packaging mimicking officially licensed Jaguar releases. Most homebrew titles are released physically via independent publishers like AtariAge, Good Deal Games, and Songbird Productions. [15] Some of the earliest homebrew software for Jaguar were written using a hacked Jaguar console. [16] Earlier CD releases were not encrypted, requiring either a bypass cartridge or a booting program in order to run unencrypted CDs. [17] [18] In 2003, Atari historian Curt Vendel released the binaries and encryption keys for both cartridge and CD formats, allowing to run software without development hardware. [4] [19] All homebrew games are region free, as both systems do no enforce regional locking, but some titles do not work correctly on PAL consoles. [20] There have been conversions from Atari ST to Jaguar, as the two share the same hardware. While some of these fan works are free to download, others have been sold online. [21] [22] [23] Other games and demos are also distributed online by their authors.
