Sabertooth

I'd be all over the portable if it had an SD slot and a decent directional pad. I agree with MaximumRD that nothing in the design really ties back to the classic console. The could have throne some faux woodgrain on there.

I got a Jaguar in '94. Because I worked at a video game store in high school, I had access to used games and demos for the Jaguar, 32x and 3DO. Of the three, I never owned a 32x but I was able to sample the library. Given that I could play a lot of titles in store, I was never really surprised or let down by the games I bought. The pre-PSX games like Tempest 2000, Doom, Wolfenstein, AVP, Raiden, Iron Soldier and Theme Park all compared well to what was on offer on the other two platforms. I knew enough to stay away from dogs like Trevor McFur, Club Drive and Checkered Flag at the time. The store closed all of the locations in my area in the summer of '95 so I was flying blind that Fall. I relied mostly on Next Generation for info during this period. For the most part, later releases, like Missile Command 3D, Battlemorph, Rayman and Primal Rage all held up reasonably well to the early Saturn and PlayStation games. I also thoroughly enjoyed Blue Lightning and Highlander, even though they get pretty bad ratings in most Jaguar discussion threads. For me, the biggest let downs during the Jaguar's commercial life were Supercross 3D and Fight for Life. Both had semi-favorable previews and screen shots leading up to release. Both were terrible disappointments. Some happy surprises happened when the Jaguar went on clearance. I found that I really enjoyed the quirky, colorful titles Flip Out! and Attack of the Mutant Penguins. I also picked up the stellar Super Burnout at this time. Other happy surprises came with the Telegames releases. Iron Soldier 2 exceeded every expectation and Zero 5 became a lifelong favorite. In fact, I think the six Telegames releases are among the Jaguar's strongest titles. Later, when I got into Songbird's games, I couldn't put down Skyhammer. Other's, like Hyperforce or Soccer Kid, just aren't my cup of tea but I'm glad that Carl was able to save the work from the dust bin. I was on a break from gaming when Battlesphere and BSG came out. I finally got BSG at a bit of a premium a few years ago from another Jaguar collector. After all of the buildup, there was no way it could meet my expectations. It is a solid game and has a tremendous amount of polish but I just don't find it as engaging as, say, Wing Commander 3.

While Atari didn't make tv out available to consumers we're fortunate that McWill did. His improved LCD and VGA out is a great upgrade if you're really into the Lynx.

Great reviews, Rick. Roadblasters is a fantastic port on the Lynx and one of my favorite titles. Hydra has a similar vibe so I recommend that if you can get it cheaply. I also really enjoy Kung Food despite its flaws. If someone were to fix the collision detection I would snap up an improved version in a heartbeat. Many of the Atari Games arcade games do really well on the Lynx (Roadblasters, Hydra, XYBOTS, Gauntlet, Stun Runner, Paperboy, etc.). It's fortunate that Atari, Inc. and Atari Games were able to work out licensing deals despite being different companies. If things had worked out differently, I think that a unified Atari could have given SEGA a run for its money with exclusive quality arcade to home conversions. Alas, many Atari Games titles of the period were available across platforms. Good for gamers but bad for Atari, Inc.

Since late last year my go to record has been "Purple" by the band Baroness. We caught them a few weeks ago in Hollywood. It was a tremendous performance. Great energy and musicianship.

Done & done. I'm going to hold you to that drink.

I just downloaded an incomplete "complete rom set" in my haste to get playing and haven't bothered to fill in the gaps. I think there were initially some issues with a handful of roms but it looks like those have been resolved in software. He's on version 1.6 now, which is what I have, and everything I've tried has been aces.

Me too, Professor. The good news is that SainT announced that he's got a Jaguar SD cart design in the works too! Jaguar emulation is still a work in progress, so real hardware is really the way to go. This will make Jaguar ownership so much more affordable for those that want to play and not collect.

AtariAge user SainT recently launched his LynxSD cart. I signed up on the interest thread when the project was announced and finally got mine about two weeks ago. I have to say, it's one awesome accessory for your favorite Atari handheld. I now have the vast majority of games on a single game card. The cased version fits the Lynx II. If you have the Lynx I, you'll have to go with the uncased cart. Check it out on his website or visit the AtariAge thread: http://www.retrohq.co.uk/the-first-review

Here is one of the most decent Jaguar video reviews I have come across. It's from a guy named Dan Wood from the site kookytech.net. Despite one or two inaccuracies, on the whole this is a good overview and his assessment of the Last True Atari is right on.

What can be said about id Software's Jaguar port of DOOM that hasn't already been said? Famous for being the best console port available upon its release in late '94, the game features full screen action, 24 maps, great use of color and textures and full weapons access via that wacky Jaguar gamepad overlay. I spent about 40 minutes tooling around the world of DOOM using the Takara Dynovisor. I played the game in a darkened room so no light crept into the helmet from the bottom of the facemask. This enhanced the Dynovisor's isolating effect and I'll probably use it like this moving forward. The sound effects, particularly the growls and gurgles of the monsters around you were much more pronounced and impressive than when run through a TV. In fact, this has been the case for the few games I've played with the helmet. I think Takara really nailed the audio. Visuals on the other hand were less impressive due to the helmet's low-res display. That said, once my eyes adjusted it wasn't much of an issue. The helmet prevents you from referencing the overlay so if you're not familiar with the keypad's button layout, this could cause some fumbling. I did get a little queasy from the speed of the game but I've had this issue before with both DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D so I don't want to pin it on the Dynovisor. I'll have to see how I do with other games. Because this is DOOM, the game was as fun and frenetic as ever. What the Dynovisor added to the experience was a sense of immersion. With the outside world blocked from view, I did feel a little more connected to the game. Unlike Missile Command 3D, DOOM was not designed with the HMD in mind. Still, the game's first person perspective lends itself well to the technology and it's no surprise that John Carmack is onboard for the Oculus project. For me, the Dynovisor was a fun way to play DOOM. Gimmicky? You bet. But the kitsch of using the Dynovisor is part of the appeal. Next up: Hover Strike UL

RoadBlasters: Power that Rules the Road! I love many of the mid to late-80s Atari Games releases but this is easily among the best. In fact, it's one of my Top 5 Atari branded titles. You hit the nail on the head with the Mad Max reference. I was a huge fan of the second Max movie, Road Warrior. This definitely captures that high speed car combat feeling in a way that other games have not. As you say, the Lynx version is missing the steering wheel and pedal but it was a tremendous port at the time. It wipes the floor with other contemporary home versions and its on a handheld! Just amazing. I'm looking forward to the arcade block. Stun Runner, XYbots, Xenophobe, Hydra, Joust, Robotron, Super Asteroids/Missile Command, PacLand, Guantlet, Ms. PacMan, PaperBoy... So many great conversions on the Lynx! If you were an arcade fan, it was definitely the handheld to own.

I played DOOM on the Dynovisor tonight. No time to write it up now but I wanted to share my wife's observation. Now, my wife doesn't share my enthusiasm for gaming or retro life but she generally tolerates it. Upon walking in the living room she announced, "I can't believe this. This is the most ridiculous thing you've ever brought into the house. No one can know about this." So, in my overall analysis of the Dynovisor, I'll have to take into account spousal reaction. I haven't decided whether it will count as a positive or negative.

Ok, first up on the Takara Dynovisor is Missile Command 3D. Released in the fall of 1995, Missile Command 3D was a "2000"-esque update to the classic arcade game Missile Command which saw releases on Atari's 2600, 5200, 8-bit line and the Lynx. The premise is simple: protect your cities against an onslaught of enemy missiles. In the 80s, we all knew that this meant the Russians but in the 90s - with the Cold War thawing out - this update goes with "aliens and foreign countries." Missile Command 3D was developed by Virtuality, the company that designed the Jaguar VR headset and its progeny. The update includes three game modes: Original, 3D and Virtual. 3D and Virtual modes were designed to work with the Jag VR headset and its IR headtracking features. Unfortunately, neither the SCUBA or Dynovisor arrived to market with that feature intact. I played both the 3D and Virtual modes for the purposes of this review. 3D Missile Command: If you haven't played it before, the "3D" game in Missile Command 3D takes the concept of the original game and puts it in a pseudo 3D setting. For those familiar with the "2000" games, this would be equivalent to their plus modes. You defend your six cities from polygonal missiles, alien ships and meteorites in a playfield that seems to stretch vertically 120 degrees. There are power-ups and smart bombs that come in handy as the Reds...er...um..."aliens"....rain death from above. With the Dynovisor I definitely noticed a depth and sort of roundness to the playfield that I don't get playing on a standard tv. Instead of just moving the screen to view the highest incoming missiles, I had the sensation of rolling my head upwards as if looking to the sky. I can only imagine how that would have felt with actual head tracking. The sound in the headset is excellent even if the "3D" game sticks to the same track, wave after wave. The visuals were low res compared to a tv but with a decent amount of fiddling I got a relatively sharp picture. Once adjusted, there was an added depth to the mountains and missiles. Virtual Missile Command: Virtual Missile Command is essentially the "2000" mode for this game. It ups the ante and takes the Missile Command concept into a full 3D environment. The cities are arrayed in a circle with your gun turrets around them. You switch guns using the shoulder buttons of the pro-controller. Instead of using missiles to mount your defense, you use lasers that shoot with pinpoint accuracy and can be upgraded throughout the level. There are also cruise missiles, best reserved for alien ships, and bosses and smart bombs that come in handy when there are too many enemies to handle. The feeling of depth that I experienced in 3D mode was even more pronounced in Virtual mode. Because Virtual game mode plays in a 360 degree world with attacks coming from all directions, I really felt surrounded in a way that I simply couldn't playing on a tv. The visual effects are quite good with great use of shading on the polygons. Again, I can only imagine how cool this might have been with headtracking. The soundtrack for this mode varies from world to world and effects are a little more varied here so it made much better use of the headset's built in speakers. Overall, I enjoyed playing Missile Command 3D with the Dynovisor. The sound is terrific and the visuals are passable with a lot of adjustment. I only played for about an hour and frankly, I'm not sure I could use it for much longer than that. Between the straps and the thin padding on the mask face, comfort is definitley an issue. Maybe I'll get used to it with further play. The headset did seem to add a different dimension to the game play, particularly in Virtual mode. The 360 playfield coupled with the lighting and shading effects on the environment and enemies really provided a sense of immersion. I will definitely try this one out again. I don't think that Missile Command 3D is any better with the Dynovisor than on a standard tv but it is different, and after 20 years of playing the game a little something different is welcomed.

@Clint - I recall that you had a Takara unit from your FS post over at AA last year. As I understand it, the Philips and Takara units are supposedly identical. They appear to use the same molds for both the headset and connection unit. I'd love to get my hands on a working SCUBA if only to do a quick comparison of the two. @Lost Dragon - It will be interesting to see the consumer adoption rates in the coming wave of VR. I'm not typically an early adopter of entertainment technology these days, preferring instead to wait and see how well projects are supported. I guess it goes back to early disappointments with the Jaguar, Saturn and Dreamcast. It wouldn't surprise me if it did a bit better this time around. I think the display tech is finally matched to the promise of immersion and there is a lot of money involved. Your suggestions are great. I can play IS/2 and AVP without glancing at the controller so those should be no problem. I haven't spent enough time with Towers 2 but it might be a good excuse to plug it in. I also think the cockpit view of WTR could be fun. Stay tuned!

If the hype is to be believed, 2016 is the year of VR. Oculus, Samsung, HTC and Sony are all poised to launch projects that will take gaming and entertainment to new levels. Many consumers are eagerly awaiting the new tech while others dismiss modern VR as a gimmick. We'll just have to wait and see how this new phase of VR pans out but this isn't the first time we've been down this road. The early to mid-90s saw a rash of VR projects and peripherals promising a more interactive gaming experience. Most of these were utter failures. Atari, for their part, partnered with Virtuality, a firm specializing in immersive arcade games, to develop a consumer level head mounted display (HMD) for use with the Jaguar - Jaguar VR. The Jaguar VR was shown in '95 and one Jaguar game, Missile Command 3-D, was developed with the unit in mind. Two versions of the prototype were built; a low-res version and a high-res version. The tech was notable for its utilization of IR headtracking . Ultimately, Atari pulled the plug on the project as it was clear that the Jaguar was failing and the cost and quality of the VR platform left much to be desired. Of the handful of prototypes produced, only three are known to remain in existence today. However, the display technology that Virtuality developed for Atari was soon licensed and repackaged into two products that eventually made it to retail; the Philips SCUBA and Takara Dynovisor. Released in 1997 for about $300, the SCUBA and Dynovisor could be used with any composite video source. The units did not feature headtracking; instead, users used standard game controls to guide the action on screen. Worn on the head and supported by straps, both the SCUBA and Dynovisor are somewhat cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear. An automatic shutoff interrupts viewing every 30 minutes to help avoid eyestrain. I recently received a Japanese market Takara Dynovisor in good working condition. Over the next week I am going to play some Jaguar games that I think may be suited for this kind of device and provide some notes on my experiences. These won't be full reviews, but just a summary of my impressions of the effectiveness of the Dynovisor in providing an enjoyable and immersive experience. I'm going to start with Missile Command 3D since that game was designed for HMD. Other games I'm considering are Tempest 2000, Zero 5, Doom, and Hoverstrike:UL. If you have other suggestions or want to share your own impressions of the Dynovisor or SCUBA, feel free to post here.

I tried the second mod today; a Vader 4-switch. Everything is hooked up the exact same way as the Sears unit but I'm getting these strange artifacts. A faint blue line is apparent on the far left side. I know that some Vader's have uber bright displays and that can cause some issues. Any ideas? Also, I was playing around with adding "ground effects". Don't quite know if I dig it...

Power Drive Rally is such a fantastic game! Your ending comments were spot on. Its truly one of the best. If you have a Jaguar and don't have this game, please do yourself a favor and get it!

I picked up this Sears Video Arcade, with box, two joysticks, two sets of paddles and 23 games. It was advertised "untested". Given that it had a box I paid a little more than I typically do for untested consoles, $30 + shipping. I have wanted to try a composite mod for awhile and picked up the parts to make my own but I wanted to pick up a sample to look at in person. I went with the retrofixes simple mod for $23. While I was in there, I cleaned the contacts and added some dielectric grease to the switches. I also put in a green LED in a chrome bezel to match the SEARS Tele-games models. The mod itself took about 2 hours, including cleaning. It was a lot of fun. The system has been playing Battlezone in attract mode for three hours with no issues. The top Pac-Man in the second photo is pre-mod. The bottom Pac-Man photo is after. IMHO the picture is actually nicer than on my LHE 7800. I have a Vader and Woody 4 switch in the garage that I'm planning next if anyone is looking.

I guess my point was that its his business venture, so I won't be supporting it. This is regardless of content. Although, I let my year one subscription lapse because I personally didn't enjoy it. Just not my cup o tea. Now, even if it were I would have difficulty supporting the magazine. I vote with my wallet.