I only want to compare like consoles. Lopsided battles would be boring. That leads me to today’s subject. Anyone that is a fan of failed consoles of the 90s (it’s almost like a sub-culture at this point). Today the topic is the Atari Jaguar vs. The Panasonic 3DO. I’ve collected for both consoles, and I’ve played most of the worthwhile games for both. Originally I was obsessed with comparisons between the two systems but back then I couldn’t find anything like that. This is why I decided to write up my own today for people who are like me. With that said let’s compare the Atari Jaguar and the Panasonic 3DO. Strap yourself in because it’s going to be quite the ride!
Let’s begin with a basic run-down of the two consoles.
Atari Jaguar
Release Year: 1993
The company that defined video games in the late 70s and early 80s (but also caused the great video game market crash) Atari tried their hand at yet another console. There wasn’t a lot of room to compete against the juggernauts that were Nintendo and Sega, and so they tried to do so with hardware technology. Touted as the first 64-bit console the Jaguar was released with a huge marketing campaign based around the concept of ‘do the math.’ This was the bit wars after all, and 64-bits sounded very impressive on paper. While it was more powerful than the SNES and Genesis the Jaguar failed to catch on. They even released an add-on which made use of CD technology.
In popular culture the Atari Jaguar is often referenced as the worst video game console of all time. Bear in mind that 3D graphics were in their infancy, and at a very awkward stage overall. It is because of this that the Jaguar is infamous for ugly polygonal graphics that were poorly programmed because of the weird hardware. Most third parties didn’t care, and the same goes for the market. I was vaguely aware of the console when it was released but never had any interest in Atari products back then. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.
Panasonic 3DO
Release Year: 1993
This one is a little more interesting. The 3DO was conceived by Electronic Arts a few years before release. The CD format was just catching on, and that’s what they were banking on here. The 3DO was one of the first 32-bit consoles released, but that wasn’t the focus. Instead Panasonic went for a multimedia release. You know, audio, video… 3DO. I mean, I get it, but it clearly didn’t resound with gamers or videophiles. Why not use laserdisc as a format if you’re pushing high end audio and video? I imagine it sounded great in the boardroom but they just didn’t understand the market. The Panasonic 3DO launched at the colossal price of $700 and because of that it was doomed from the start. Even Atari knew better than to ask gamers to fork out that kind of cash in the mid 90s.
What’s interesting is that Panasonic licensed out development of the hardware. There were several different iterations of the console made by different manufacturers. They could all play the same games, but they had advantages, disadvantages, and different appearances. I imagine this caused some confusion in the market, but few cared in the first place so it probably never mattered at all. The multimedia approach did however allow the 3DO to gain more of a marketshare in foreign markets than the Jaguar did thanks to the concept transcending just video games.
Sinn1
I don’t know how old all of this is but your take on the Jaguar’s power is way off. Starting with Doom…did you know there is a fan fix for the game that not only adds the in-game music but you can play Doom 2 as well on bone stock hardware. However, if you want to see what a Jaguar could really do go play Skyhammer. The game takes place in an open futurustic city that is nothing but wall-to-wall teaxtured mapped polygons at a stable frame rate. It looks as good as top tier mid-generation PSX games, no joke. You should also check out the Soulstar Remake on the Jaguar as well. It too will blow your entire conceptions of what the Jaguar could do.
Addendum- NBA Jams is the very best sports title on the Jaguar. It is the only port that was arcade perfect. It even crushes the Saturn and Playstation ports if you can believe it.