In Defense of the Jaguar

What is it that makes for a truly exceptional gaming console? As the decades have crawled past, carrying with them a total of eight different generations of video games, dedicated hobbyists have witnessed the arrivals and departures of machines that have promised everything from undistorted, lifelike graphics, to economically priced games stemming from immeasurable libraries. In specific cases, the aforementioned touts have certainly been delivered upon, whereas others have been aggressively lobbied within advertisements, only to remain locked within the commercial realm, ultimately failing to meet consumer demand and expectation in the living room. Such was the case for Atari’s astonishingly ill-fated Jaguar system, an impressive, yet misunderstood and underutilized relic of the ‘90s that broke out of its cage with some of the sharpest claws the industry had ever seen, only to be quietly tranquilized a mere three years later.

The fifth generation of video game consoles will remain forever significant for a plethora of reasons, perhaps none more important than that of its introduction of texture mapping and 3D polygonal graphics, bringing forward the momentous shift from playing games in two dimensions to three. However, what the fifth generation of video games provided in abundance, was choice. Not since the infamous video game crash of 1983 had there been more consoles on the market, all of which were fanned for dominance and determined to showcase why one machine was superior to another. It was the mid ‘90s and everything from cartoons to comic books were overflowing with testosterone. Pugnacious and poised to make some serious money, video game companies were no different as they proclaimed supremacy over one another, contenders from a seemingly endless cornucopia emerged from the world of electronics’ woodwork, all attempting to strong arm one another with attitude laden advertisements. With the overwhelming array of selection available on the market, coupled with the increasingly complex descriptions of how each new system would operate, writers of the magazines at the time often predicted a disastrous second console market crash as the playing field continued to swell. Not only were previous generation systems such as the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo still selling well, but the compounded arrivals of the 3DO Interactive Media Player, SNK’s Neo Geo CD, the Nintendo 64, Sega’s Saturn, and Sony’s PlayStation (to name a few) were enough to send consumers into a collective tailspin. Which of the available consoles was the supreme system? Out of the bewildering selection, the likes of which hadn’t been seen within the previous generation of consoles, which machine possessed the elusive duo of having the most power and offering the best software? 

As contenders were inevitably edged out of the cutthroat console wars, Sony’s PlayStation had unreservedly dominated the fifth generation of gaming’s penultimate competition. Entering the North American market at a widely accepted price point of $300 and securing unrivaled third party support had consequently allowed Sony to ship 100 million PlayStation units worldwide – the first home console to ever do so. The Nintendo 64, predicted soon-to-be king of the living room, trailed the PlayStation in a surprising, very distant second, whereas the Sega Saturn, hampered by a multitude of poor marketing decisions and internal company squabbling, finished a disappointing third. As we scroll back a bit, the year 1996 proved to be an enthralling year in video games. While new titles were still being released for both the Super Nintendo and Genesis (including games for its struggling 32X add-on), the PlayStation was doing its best to fortify its lead with the contemporary crowd by battling the looming threat that was the Nintendo 64. While the war waged on for some, the dust was settling for others, primarily the Atari Jaguar. By the end of the year, Atari had pulled the plug on the big cat. Mass company layoffs would fuel the speculation, while third party developers, Beyond Games and High Voltage Software both stated that Atari were no longer returning their calls. Recall that the Sony PlayStation was able to ship over 100 million consoles worldwide, whereas by the end of 1995, Atari had sold a dismal 125,000 units of the Jaguar, with approximately 100,000 unsold systems remaining in inventory. To further put the situation into perspective, even the 3DO managed to sell over two million consoles when all was said and done. So in the case of the Jaguar, a machine that looked exceedingly impressive at its release, what went so wrong?

The Atari Jaguar launched on November 23^rd, 1993 and was marketed as the world’s first 64-bit system. With its sleek design, accented with cool lines and those oh-so-‘90s vents, the console looked truly unique. Equipped with its dual 32-bit Tom and Jerry coprocessors, Atari reasoned (through very aggressive advertising) that if you simply took the time to Do the Math, you would see things their way. The reasoning behind Atari’s marketing was such that the data path from the console’s DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) to its CPU and the Tom and Jerry coprocessors was in fact 64 bits wide and therefore factually capable of displaying graphics that far outpaced those of the current competition’s. At the time of the Jaguar’s launch, Atari’s trivializations of the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo worked in their favor to showcase the impressive horsepower that the newest cat on the block was capable of, though the tables would dramatically turn with the arrival of the Saturn and PlayStation. In a 1995 interview with Next Generation magazine, Atari CEO Sam Tramiel scarcely admitted that the Jaguar was but an iota weaker than Sony’s PlayStation and actually more powerful than the Sega Saturn. Considering that the Jaguar was originally intended to stamp out and embarrass 16-bit yesteryear consoles from the fourth generation, Atari was swiftly treading into unplumbed water. 

As the year of 1995 progressed, the Atari Jaguar was becoming the butt of next to every gamer’s joke. Save for a sporadic release every now and then, the majority of the games introduced for the console were ripped apart by reviewers in the magazines, the software unambiguously unable to hold its own against the technologically imposing offerings coming out of the competing camps at Sega and Sony. What made matters worse was that Atari’s release schedule was becoming increasingly desultory, as by the end of the Jaguar’s lifecycle, a paltry 50 officially licensed games had been brought out for the system (with an additional 13 being released for the last ditch effort that was the Jaguar CD). Part of the issue stemmed from the Jaguar’s lack of third party developer support, of which Sam Tramiel remarked as being “good for Atari’s profitability”, further incensing Jaguar owners that were already frustrated with the lack of games being brought to the machine. But while the Jaguar’s games may not have always been quite up to par on the graphical scale set by the Saturn, PlayStation and Nintendo 64, that didn’t necessarily mean that the software itself was substandard. Throughout the Jaguar’s lifecycle, the console saw games released for it that ranged from fantastic (Super Burnout, Atari Karts) to absolutely incredible (Tempest 2000, Alien vs Predator). It’s interesting to note that, in an unorthodox sort of way, the Atari Jaguar was a precursor of sorts to how consoles such as the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast are being held in such high regard today. All three systems were released with the belief that next to nothing could topple the graphical output that they possessed, only for the ever-crepuscular Sony and their PlayStation systems to lie in waiting, studying the efforts that had been brought to the table and trouncing them with something even more monumental (see: the PlayStation 2 subjecting the Dreamcast into total oblivion), but I digress. The point to be made is that akin to other, less favored consoles that flew under the radar during the fifth generation (3DO, PC-FX), the Jaguar is seeing its candle surprisingly relit, as inquisitive gamers from assorted age groups can’t help but want to learn why such a promising endeavor turned into a somber failure… and as to whether it should have been a failure at all. 

Pragmatically speaking, what went wrong for the Jaguar can be systematically summed up to poor timing regarding its release, an underwhelming selection of software, and overly aggressive marketing. It was an attitude fuelled 1993, and much like the rest of the mid-to-late ‘90s, it was a year of arm wrestling and insulting another person’s mother just to get your point across. Atari stuck with the times and took the utmost extreme approach with their marketing, more or less claiming that you were nothing less of a total moron if you couldn’t “Do the Math” and figure out that the Jaguar was technically superior to not only the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, but also the recently released 3DO. Provocative commercials included everything from sexy women to severed limbs (not joking) and encouraged viewers to “Get Bit by Jaguar”. Looking back on Atari’s advertising campaign for the Jaguar promises some hilarious entertainment, so I would be remiss to suggest against checking it out on the web. That said, I can see how, in comparison to Nintendo’s family friendly way of enticing customers, along with Sony’s edgy, yet inoffensive tactics of appealing to the more mature crowd, Atari’s methods of netting the Jag some attention wouldn’t have been digested well by everyone… or even the majority. However, if your sense of humor is anything like my own, then you would’ve purchased the console in a heartbeat back when its buzz was at its highest. My argument for not doing so was that I was two years old at the time. 

The Jaguar is also infamously known for having a terrible roster of games available for it, the majority of which remain system exclusives. I’ll be the first to admit that a handful of titles released for the Jag are pretty mediocre (Zool 2, Checkered Flag), while others are downright atrocious (Club Drive, Trevor Mcfur in the Crescent Galaxy, Val d'Isère Skiing and Snowboarding) but to claim that the majority of a console’s game library is dreadful when only 50 games were released for it isn’t exactly justifiable. The Nintendo Wii’s library consists of over 1,500 games, some of which (if not the majority) are awe-inspiringly bad. Now don’t get me wrong, the Wii is home to some fantastic, groundbreaking titles, but it also has a reputation for being a hair-raising hostel for shovel ware. With its small-scale roster of games, it would be all too easy to dedicate a few of your weekend hours to playing through each and every Jaguar game ever released, whereas calculating the time needed to accomplish the same for the Wii or even worse, the PlayStation 2, would be unfathomable. The Jaguar definitely has a few funky looking spots, but it also boasts accolades such as possessing terrific arcade (Tempest 2000), racing (Power Drive Rally) and shooting (Raiden) games, along with the foremost console versions of two of the most influential games of all time; Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. In the case of Wolfenstein 3D, or JagWolf, as it’s fondly referred to by enthusiasts of both the game and console, the Jaguar port not only boasts four times the detail of its DOS counterpart (graphics no longer become blocky or pixelated), but also introduced two new weapons (Flamethrower, Rocket Launcher) and reversed a plethora of the unsavory changes that Nintendo had demanded be made to its Super Nintendo port of the game, among a lengthy list of other tweaks. It also shouldn’t go unmentioned that the original incarnation of Ubisoft’s Rayman was specifically designed from the ground up for the Jaguar, with one reviewer from Next Generation magazine going so far as to claim that the Jaguar version of Rayman was “impeccable” and that there was “little about the PlayStation or Saturn versions that could top it”.

In my opinion, the final nail in Atari’s coffin was the company’s overconfidence and narrow sighted reliance on their hardware, resulting in a consequent lack of drive regarding the procurement of third party developers to release games for the Jaguar. It was almost as if they were so proud of the system and what it was capable of that they simply expected developers to flock to them once they saw what the console could dish out – the elephant in the room being that Atari wasn’t the only fat cat in the alley now, with developers taking them less seriously than ever thanks to their checkered past. In an attempt to place the Jaguar on life support, Atari dropped the price of the console from $250 to $150 in 1995 and reignited their marketing campaigns. Combined with the auxiliary (and economically questionable) launch of the Jaguar CD attachment unit on September 21^st of the same year, Atari was sinking more money into what was to be yet another doomed venture. The Jaguar CD, codenamed Jaguar II during development, did little to entice new gamers to the console. Unleashed on the market for an additional $150 (no small sum back then, especially for a console that was already on its last legs) and failing to see more than 13 games released for it (a handful of which were not even exclusive to the machine) only lead to more head scratching from the public and industry analysts alike. Knowing they were in dire straits, Atari bundled the Jaguar CD with two games (Vid Grid, Blue Lightning) alongside a demo disc for the Jag CD port of Myst and the CD soundtrack for Tempest 2000. Looking back on things, the Jaguar CD’s launch bundle was actually pretty substantial (at least in comparison to what you’re awarded in conjunction with purchasing a new console today) but as I mentioned earlier, both the Jaguar and its CD counterpart were put to sleep with the arrival of 1996. Of additional and particular note is that the Jaguar CD came programmed with the first ever form of Jeff Minter’s VLM, or Visual Light Machine. Working in conjunction with any audio disc of choice, the VLM is a software program that showcases corresponding lightshows to whatever selection of music is being played and was welcomed with warm reception at the time. The software would go on to be utilized within programs such as Winamp and the Neon light synthesizer for the Xbox 360.

Financially, it didn’t appear feasible for Atari to continue supporting the Jaguar or Jaguar CD into 1996, which is a shame considering that the company seemed to have finally reached out to more developers to bring their games to the big cat duo. Records will show that an overabundance of titles were planned to hit the Jaguar and its disc based companion throughout the mid ‘90s, some of which were ports of none other than ClayFighter, Earthworm Jim, Demolition Man, Mortal Kombat and Quake, including brand new games such as Bomberman Legends (also known as Jaguar Bomberman) and the nothing less than revolutionary looking Black ICE/White Noise. With the arrival of the Jaguar CD, the potential to build upon the console’s library had increased by ten fold, but due to numerous delays in development, the peripheral had arrived all too late. Combined with the beating that Atari’s reputation had taken over the last decade, the company that originally introduced video games to the living room was about to be given an unexpected retirement package. 

Throughout its time in the limelight, the Jaguar took a lot of well-publicized flack, having little to none of its successes made widespread knowledge. So withstanding all of the criticism it received, did Atari manage to do anything constructive with their final system? Let’s take a look.

First of all, the Jaguar’s controller has been panned across the board for being too ugly, too bulky and having buttons that were unresponsive. Atari listened to the feedback they were given (by fighting game enthusiasts, in particular) and released the Jaguar ProController. Equipped with three additional, higher quality face buttons and two shoulder triggers, the new controller was met with favorable reviews.

According to some developers, the Jaguar was apparently difficult to program for – this complaint largely stemming from the console’s multi-chip processor, yet Tempest 2000’s Jeff Minter claimed that the console was, simply put, “easy” to develop for. Coming from the guy that made one of the Jag’s greatest games possible, I’d say that his was a statement in the positive direction. Additionally, John Carmack of id Software spent a scant three weeks converting the legendary Wolfenstein 3D to the Jaguar, all while managing to make several additions to it and improving upon its graphics, ultimately making it what most refer to as the greatest console port of the game ever released. So was the Jaguar really that difficult to program for? Or were certain developers just feeling less enthusiastic about releasing their software for it due to apprehension regarding whether or not the software would sell? 

Of all the colossal opposition that the ill-starred Jaguar faced, there was perhaps none greater than the near constant, hulking condemnation of the system’s library of software. Near and far, video game enthusiasts (most of which have never spent any appreciable amount of time with the console) love to hate the spotted cat and its unique offerings, fallaciously claiming that not a single game is even remotely playable, much less enjoyable. These false declarations couldn’t be farther from the truth as five star titles such as the aforementioned Tempest 2000, Alien vs Predator, Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Rayman substantially disprove them. Beyond the more well known contenders of Jaguar brawn are other fantastic games including Pinball Fantasies, Kasumi Ninja, Breakout 2000, Raiden and Theme Park. To say that the majority of the Jaguar’s library is second-rate would be a stretch.

The question of as to whether or not the Jaguar could have secured greater fortune had it launched a year or two before it actually did will forever remain unanswered. With Sega and Nintendo’s fourth generation consoles hitting western shelves in 1988 and 1990 respectively, I can only conceptualize that the Jag would’ve made more of a mammoth impact on the system stadium had it been released in 1991 or even 1992. In a generation when graphics meant just about everything, the cat’s library certainly would have looked a bit more impressive upon comparison to (what was then) the current crop of games from the leading competition (the visuals in Iron Soldier alone would have spun heads had it launched in ’93 instead of ’94), and if the Jaguar CD had released before the 3DO, Saturn and PlayStation, Atari may have been able to pocket a bit more consumer interest. Again, thanks to the peripheral’s incessant delays in development, the add-on arrived much too late to the party and ended up looking like yet another follower seeking to hop on the compact disc bandwagon, one that was quickly relegating the use of cartridges to yesteryear. Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve. I’m not necessarily saying that all of the Jaguar’s ruination rests in a matter of poor timing, but I do strongly believe that the hour at which it was released played a substantial part in regards to why it wasn’t the success it could have been.

As with most video game consoles hailing from history, the Atari Jaguar isn’t truly dead, as there exist impressively devoted fan circles dedicated to the system, all attempting to keep the clawed cat breathing and chugging out new games. Over 20 new releases (and counting) have graced the Jag and its CD add-on since the console was officially declared kaput, promising new content for aspiring enthusiasts that have grown interested in the machine and what it's capable of. Don’t have a Jaguar but know someone that does? The console is also adept in the multiplayer department, offering a selection of titles that are as much fun with friends as they are in single player mode. Worms, NBA Jam, Doom and Atari Karts all promise a good time with pals. Additionally, the Jag is well equipped to task when it comes to adding even more friends to the party courtesy of the JagLink (net link two Jaguar consoles together) and the TeamTap (add an additional four controller ports). And while I’m on the topic of Jaguar peripherals, Atari also released a MemoryTrack cartridge that allowed for Jaguar CD game save files while also planning to release the now mythical Jaguar VR headset. Initially showcased at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, Jaguar VR was developed in response to Nintendo’s Virtual Boy system. Plans were eventually abandoned for the peripheral with all of the existing prototypes allegedly being destroyed in 1996, though two working units managed to survive the purge and continue to make appearances at various retro video game conventions. Remaining ever ambitious, Atari planned to release a second Jaguar model called the Jaguar Duo. Also known as the Jaguar III during development, the Jaguar Duo would have been similar to NEC’s TurboDuo system in that it would have combined the hardware of both the Jaguar and Jaguar CD. A prototype of the console was unveiled at the same 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show, but plans for system’s release were cancelled before it hit mass production.

The Atari Jaguar certainly has its shortcomings, but in all honesty, what console doesn’t suffer from a few flaws of its own? Like many others, I grew up surmising that the system was nothing more than a notorious paperweight, destined to forever be the trusty fallback of every gamer’s defensive argument regarding his or her own favorite console (“the Saturn may not be the best at 3D graphics, but it’s nowhere near as bad as the stinky Jaguar!”). As I’ve spent more time with the console and its unique library of games, I’ve grown to appreciate not only the fun that its capable of offering, but also what it relentlessly strove to accomplish in the industry. Iron sharpens iron, and whether some of their competition took them seriously or not, Atari pushed companies like Sega, Sony and Nintendo to stay on their toes in the fifth generation of the console wars, challenging them to bring their absolute best when it came to graphics and advertising. While the majority of people wrote the console off as a failure, some truly terrific games released for the Jaguar over the years, the bulk of which have held out as exclusives for the system. With Jaguar emulation still being tawdry at best, the superlative way to experience games like Alien vs Predator, Tempest 2000 and Wolfenstein 3D is by enjoying them on authentic Jaguar hardware, ironically placing the console in high demand for those peculiar hunters that are looking to bag the big cat for their collections. So now that you know the history, the facts, and the truth, of a console that isn’t quite as appalling as you once may have thought… 

 

Have You Played Atari Today?

Crazy Taxi

Sega Dreamcast
Hitmaker / Sega
2000

 

For no other reason than that it’s still just as awesome now as it was when it released, I’ve been playing a ton of Crazy Taxi lately. The arcade legend turned Dreamcast hit is famous within retro gaming circles for having some of the most addictive gameplay ever conceived, paired with stunning graphics and a killer soundtrack, Crazy Taxi would continually climb the Dreamcast’s sales charts to become the third best selling title for the system in North America. Released at the tail-end of January, 2000, Crazy Taxi only added to its console’s short but sweet dominance over video game culture as it was yet another example of an arcade perfect port spinning within Sega’s incredible swan song system. But what was it that made the game so fun and addictive? After all, driving a taxi around a city with the sole goal of picking up passengers and dropping them off at various destinations doesn’t exactly sound like a blast. So how did Sega take a seemingly mundane job and turn it into a title that would sell over one million copies in the United States alone? Let’s take a look at the reasons behind Crazy Taxi’s rise to Dreamcast dominance and why it continues to garner adoration from enthusiastic gamers today.

Simply put, the secret to Crazy Taxi’s success lies within its commitment to lucid ideas. In others words, its brilliance is in its simplicity. Start “working” for three, five or ten minutes, cruising around beautiful, California-like locations while looking for customers to pick up. Once inside your cab, your client will instruct you on as to where they wish to be dropped off by way of a photo of the destination, accompanied by a large green arrow (hovering above your cab) that points towards the drop-off point. Places that people often desire to be let off at include churches, hotels and markets, alongside licensed properties such as KFC, Pizza Hut, and Tower Records. Adding these real and easily recognizable places into the game was a brilliant move that only helps to immerse the player deeper into the experience as they notice stores and restaurants that they’ve actually visited, not to mention that it was one of the first, really prominent forms of product placement within a video game. Dropping your customer off as quickly as possible is the surest way to earn the most money. In Arcade or Original mode, the player will start working with an opening time limit of one minute. So long as customers are dropped off continually and satisfactorily, the player’s time limit will continue to be extended, allowing for more gameplay. Bonus money, or tips, can be accumulated throughout the drive from pickup to drop-off if stunts are performed – these include accelerating off of ramps and driving quickly and closely past other vehicles on the street (near misses), though colliding with traffic or buildings will predictably slow you down. Once a designated destination is in site, the player must stop within the appropriate space to make a successful drop-off. If your time runs out while travelling from one point to another, your current customer will hop out of the cab without paying you a red cent, and if your master time (located at the top left of the screen) expires, it’s game over. 

Crazy Taxi also features a bonus mode called Crazy Box that pits the player up against a selection of challenges such as jumping over things and popping balloons with the vehicle, but I found the majority of these tasks to be hit or miss (mostly miss). That said, completing all of the Crazy Box challenges is the only way to unlock the couple (there really aren’t many) of secrets that the game contains, so they’re worth attempting for the completionist. The majority of the game takes place within Arcade or Original mode, both of which look really sharp. Arcade is (as the name suggests) faithful to the map that’s provided in the arcade version of the game, whereas Original mode was developed from the ground up for the Dreamcast, offering a much larger playing field that producer Kenji Kanno hoped players would “feel lost” within. Cruising around the game’s two different locales is such a blast that it’s often tempting for me to completely ignore expecting customers, all in an attempt to explore more of the scenery at my own pace, not to mention that every time I pass by a Pizza Hut, I seem to manifest one of their pies for dinner later that night. Righteous.

The graphics in Crazy Taxi still look incredible today. For a game that launched over two decades ago, it can hang with the best of them in the aesthetics department. Everything from the design of the cabs to the environments they’re motoring through all look really impressive and showcase a ton of detail. Crazy Taxi gives off a feel of paramount polish – a love letter to the wow factor being presented in arcades at the end of the 90’s. 

Deemed exceedingly unique and important was Crazy Taxi’s gameplay at the time of its release, Sega applied for a patent to protect the new innovation that Kanno had introduced. The concept of picking up passengers in a vehicle and delivering them to different destinations by way of arrow navigation was especially niche upon introduction, and Sega knew it. So it was no surprise that the company was a little miffed when Electronic Arts published a blatant copy of Crazy Taxi in the form of 2001’s The Simpsons: Road Rage, a game that involved picking up and dropping off passengers within Springfield. The reality of the video game industry is that developers take cues from their peers all the time – it’s one of the reasons why we have various kart racers that probably wouldn’t have come to fruition without 1992’s Super Mario Kart, for example. That said, the wasp’s nest that EA had lobbed a rock at swarmed out in the form of a yellow jacket militia called Patent 138, the very license that Sega had filed to protect Crazy Taxi’s unique gameplay from being emulated. Sega sued Electronic Arts, Fox Entertainment, and Road Rage developer Radical Games for infringement of the patent – an extremely ironic circumstance given that EA had sworn off of developing for Sega’s Dreamcast console, mostly due to the two companies falling out of favour with one another throughout the nineteen-nineties (but that's a rabbit hole for another time). The case was eventually settled outside of court for an unknown amount, but I’m willing to bet that Apu had to sell a lot of squishies to cover the damages. Considering that the majority of video game fans absolutely love to vilify Electronic Arts, this was a triumph for Sega fans everywhere and a major brain fart that had squeaked out of EA. 

At this point, Crazy Taxi’s soundtrack has become the stuff of legend, as just about everyone and their cousin associates the game with popular rock bands The Offspring and Bad Religion. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!”  blares out of your television’s speakers as The Offspring’s All I Want, courtesy of their 1997 album, “Ixnay on the Hombre”, welcomes you to another spin around the city, on a mission to make some more crazy money. Not to be outdone by The Offspring, Bad Religion’s Ten in 2010, plucked from their 1996 offering, The Gray Race, is another suitable fit for the game’s frantic and fast paced gameplay. The two bands make up the only two groups featured on Crazy Taxi’s soundtrack, but when most of your playtime only lasts between five to ten minutes, a more diverse selection of music really isn't warranted. 

As one of the seventeen Sega All Stars titles to be rereleased for the Dreamcast during its time of prominence, Crazy Taxi has solidified its spot as being one of the most fun and innovative games available for the system. A simplistic, yet brilliant gameplay mechanic paired with a surprising amount of replay value, Crazy Taxi never fails to deliver a fun, albeit short, ride. With barely anything new to unlock as you progress through its rankings, the game doesn’t give you all that much to stress over, but I think that only points all the more to its charm. Crazy Taxi translucently presents itself as a game that wants to keep you occupied for a few jovial minutes before returning you to your more serious gaming, offering a laugh or two before you resume your controller tossing tantrums (again, I blame Banjo-Kazooie). An awesome arcade respite that always promises a good time, Crazy Taxi’s unique brand of entertainment is one that can be enjoyed by anyone.

Over Top

Neo Geo CD
ADK
1996

 

Unbeknownst to some, the Neo Geo family of consoles sports some serious street sprinting action with a handful of titles that are curiously entertaining. Considering that SNK’s systems were heavenly for fighting game fans and seemingly nobody else, the idea of the machines possessing small, yet impressive catalogs of racing games may come as a surprise to those who would simply write them off as purely scuffle systems. Over Top was the last racing release to hit the Neo Geo CD. Following the likes of Rally Chase, Riding Hero, and Neo Drift Out, Over Top managed to bring some fresh ideas, and frustrations, to the starting line for the console’s rearmost relay. That said, the game remains my favourite of all Neo Geo racers, thanks to the profusion of charm and detail that developer ADK invested in the release. Read on to find out why this unique racer takes the trophy for me and how it can be somewhat vexing for others.

Lead by Magician Lord designer, Takashi Egashira, and produced by World Heroes all star, Kazuo Arai, Over Top was released in the early fall of 1996. The game is often thought of as the spiritual successor to the Neo Geo’s most prolific racing release, Thrash Rally (also known as Rally Chase – the game legitimately has two names). Being a top-down rally racer, Over Top is assuredly similar to Rally Chase in that they both belong to the same genre, but from what I’ve experienced, that’s where the parallelisms stop. Rally Chase is a fantastic game that boasts tight controls, thoughtful details, and excellent music, coupled with mediocre graphics and somewhat unimaginative vehicle designs. On the other hand, Over Top sports an undeniably energetic soundtrack, outstanding graphics that push the Neo Geo CD’s hardware to its limits, and car and track details that make its predecessor’s look flat and domesticated. Now, don’t get me wrong, Rally Chase truly is a terrific game, and it’s one that I probably play more often than its sequel, but Over Top succeeds it simply by taking more dangerous chances at those sharp corners and by slamming the pedal to the metal – all the time. In fact, that’s where Over Top spins out a little, but I’ll wrap my hands around that wheel later. 

From the game’s onset, Over Top boosts right into full throttle with one of my favourite intros to a Neo Geo CD game, full stop. I absolutely love the use of the early CGI, pre-rendered looking graphics that so many developers were experimenting with… two years prior. Yeah, the Neo Geo CD may have been a little behind the times with regards to graphical capabilities, especially when you consider the facts that the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Nintendo 64 were already on store shelves by the time of Over Top’s release, consoles that were far more equipped to handle graphics deemed current for the then fifth generation of video games. Being a fourth generation machine, the Neo Geo CD was attempting to turn in fourth grade tests at a fifth grade level, but that was what made its efforts so charming. Sure, Over Top may have looked lame and bovine to the kid burning rubber in Ridge Racer, but looking at its graphics in hindsight allows a greater appreciation for what ADK was trying to accomplish. Throughout the early to late 90s, SNK went from being the Rottweiler to the Pomeranian. Once the big bad dog, now the yappy pintsize with a 24 karat collar, SNK found itself playing in a pen with the very contenders it had bad mouthed just a few years before, only to discover that those contenders were now much bigger, and stronger. Nevertheless, SNK and their pals at ADK pushed on, refusing to go down in blue flames by pumping out titles like Over Top, chock full of caliber, regardless of what year it was. All eight vehicles in the game look sheeny, and I love how they rattle and roll as they anticipate the beginning of a race. You can customize your choice of vehicle by selecting a different colour for it too, an incredibly important option that I don’t remember being offered to me while playing the likes of Mario Kart 64. Take that, Nintendo. 

The incredible amount of detail put into the environments of the tracks in Over Top is by far my favourite part about the game. It still impresses me. Everything from the skid marks on the roads that your vehicle will inevitably make, to the miniature people standing on the sidelines, waving their arms and flags in the air as you whiz by, to miniscule, interactive objects like barrels and snowmen that explode as you collide with them all make Over Top a real joy to race through. You can really tell that ADK put a lot of heart and soul into this one. Genuineness on full display and I love every bit of it. 

Over Top’s soundtrack is a loot bag filled to the brim with tuneful treats. Keiichiro Segawa (who would later go on to lend his talents to the Armored Core series) and Takao Ohima (who handled the music for other Neo Geo CD offerings such as Master of Syougi and World Heroes Perfect) came together to produce 47 minutes worth of magical melodies for a game that wouldn’t rev for anything less. Everything from the music accompanying the selection of your vehicle to the tracks that spin as you race sound as if they bleed nineteen-nineties, and if you know anything about me, then you’ll know that I have absolutely no quarrels with that. Indeed, Over Top’s soundtrack is a superb product of its time, one that will have you legitimately wishing that you were playing the game in a mall arcade as opposed to your own living room. So excellent is Over Top’s soundtrack that, when the discussion turns to the tones of video games, some have even claimed it to be one of their favourites of all time. 

Over Top’s gameplay is fast and addictive. As I touched on earlier, the aforementioned fast attribute can actually act as a deterrent for some. Akin to any racing game of substance, the various vehicles of choice in Over Top possess strengths and weaknesses. Upon first play through, it’s naturally tempting to select between the two stunning cars featured on the front of the game’s manual, the 1996 Ferrari F50 (known in the game as the F350) or the 1996 Lamborghini Diablo SV (known as the Dio). Well, I’ll let you know now that ADK took things in a pretty realistic direction with this arcade game, as both of those vehicles are incredibly fun to drive while also being prohibitively difficult to control. They’re fast but wild – offering the perfect balance betwixt risk and reward when attempting to dash through each track as quickly as possible. Additionally, the Ferrari and Lamborghini have a stiff time while slogging through some of the game’s more mountainous terrains, making either of them a poor choice if you’re on anything other than tarmac. I’ll admit that when I first played Over Top, I was a little disappointed. The coolest cars in the game were fun to get behind the wheels of, but only for a little while. It was when I rudely discovered that I could barely control the vehicles as I went smashing into every wall and rail within the game that I realized I needed to do a little more exploring of the choices made available to me. Among the eight available, there are most definitely better, all-around car options that offer predictably improved controls at the cost of reduced speed. I’ve found the 1994 Hummer (called the Falcon 395 in the game) and Kia Sportage (Dominator) to both control and handle the differing in-game environments well. For some bonus, yet bizarre, versatility, you can also select a 1942 Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, which I think is awesome and hilarious at the same time. Even so, for a fast paced arcade game, Over Top takes some patience. The near constant, tight turns that the game throws at you can be irritating at first, but with time and practice, I learned to anticipate more of them with each play through, only making my victory at the finish line that much more satisfying. Unlike some other racing games that are rather easy to get the hang of, Over Top really is all about repetition, wherein if you want to be skilled, you have to earn it first. 

Coming as no surprise to anyone that knows (or doesn’t know?) anything about the Neo Geo CD is that the console’s loading times seem to forever be a simmering topic. My thoughts on the supposed issue have and always will remain the same in that I feel that the claims made against the hardware are drastically over exaggerated. Whether you’re running software on the original front or top loading models, or the faster CDZ machine, I have confidence that you’ll be more than fine with half an ounce of patience. That said, Over Top does take quick breaks in-between checkpoints to load the next section of a cruise. This will undoubtedly annoy some but the game does offer a way (of sorts) around the matter. Upon venturing into Over Top’s options menu, the game allows you to choose from your desired music, vehicle and specific destination. As I mentioned earlier, some of the game’s faster vehicles have a hard time trudging it through certain locales, making things not all that fun when attempting to force a Ferrari through the snow. While playing Over Top, what I like to do is select my tunes, choose a particular course that I want to race through with a vehicle that will match well with it, set the route to three or four laps and I’m ready to rock – and because the game technically doesn’t need to load any new content while running laps through a single course, it doesn’t pause following checkpoints either, allowing me to practice on different tracks with a variety of vehicles coupled with the absence of brief interruptions, ultimately making this method of spinning the disc my favourite way of playing. 

At first, Over Top is the definitive example of a game that you need to learn to love. Similar to getting in the driver’s seat of a new Lamborghini, the car isn’t going to control the same way that your family sedan does, but once you take the time to master its ins and outs, it becomes an absolute dream to drive… or so I would assume, I’ve never driven a Lambo. What Over Top offers really is what its name implies: over the top music, style, graphics and gameplay all jam packed into one seriously spirited CD. It takes a bit of time to tame, but going in with a preface of patience and understanding will have you enjoying a hidden gem that all too few have gotten the chance to appreciate. So if you’re a fan of top-down rally racers, give Over Top a spin for a challenge you won’t soon forget.

Burning Fight

Neo Geo CD
SNK
1994

 

When it comes to SNK hardware, it is an absolutely cemented fact that the company’s console and arcade cabinets were developed with the fighting game enthusiast in mind. From Fatal Fury to The King of Fighters, the Neo Geo brand of systems became (and remain) synonymous with a genre that revolves around beating the tar out of your opponents. Eager to take some new competition to hamburger hill? One needn’t look far when surveying the Neo Geo catalog, as out of the 98 officially released Neo Geo CD games that exist, a substantial 38 of them stem from the fighting variety. What’s more is that the majority of them are excellent, equipped with their own unique senses of style, music and gameplay. So why is it that when the discussion shifts to beat ‘em ups, a genre that is undeniably akin to the almighty fighter, more than a few people’s opinions turn lukewarm, if not downright frigid, regarding SNK’s efforts in that stadium? For some, the opinion is that SNK just couldn’t manage to develop a really stellar beat ‘em up, releasing offerings of games that ranged within decent-to-poor, always coming up short when stacked alongside heavy hitters such as Final Fight, Double Dragon, and Streets of Rage. To some extent, I covered SNK’s difficulties in legitimately locking horns with the aforementioned legendary titles in my review of Ninja Combat, but in all honesty, that game looks and plays like a tech demo compared to the likes of Sega and Capcom’s entries in the rough and rugged class of pummeling waves of enemies beyond black and blue. What SNK needed to beef up their library was a real deal contender to the beat ‘em up throne, a title with enough brawn and aggression to make it sizzle Hotter Than New York. With the assistance of SNK’s founder, Eikichi Kawasaki, the fight for arcade supremacy was on once again, and it wasn’t just balmy, it was burning! (sorry…). So if you’re in the mood to kick ass and eat hotdogs, get ready to spin a game that’s guaranteed to deliver both in full.

 

Released in the very early 90’s (though ported to the Neo Geo CD in 1994), one of the immediate positives that Burning Fight slogged me with from the onset was its impressive attention to detail in the visual department. Modeled after the Japanese city of Osaka, the game fulminates to life with metropolis color and sound, even going as far as to allow the player to walk into a variety of shops, if for nothing else than to beat up more baddies or destroy a multitude of items and furniture. That said, it's still really cool to have access to the different establishments, if only to see a few products on the wall of a convenience store or what the interior of a bar looked like. As I played through its stages for the first time, it was becoming clear to me that for all of the similarities that the game shared with its contemporaries, it managed to retain a unique identity of its own, packing enough caliber to legitimately separate it from the pack. The Sea Area stages are some of the best that the game has to offer, leading your character through different levels of a massive boat on water. Similar to Sega’s earnest attempts with Streets of Rage 2, SNK nailed the atmosphere of each area as they do a fantastic job of engrossing the player. A visual feast from level to level, Burning Fight is simply stunning for a title released in 1991. 

 

Gameplay wise, Burning Fight proffers just about what one would expect from a game stemming from the beat ‘em up genre. With buttons designated for punching, kicking, jumping, and picking up items and weapons (hotdogs, knives, etc.), this brawler sticks to the time tested formula while adding a few of its own licks to the blueprint. There are three characters to choose from, with (unfortunately) only one of them being of redeemable quality. In contrast to the rest of the game’s visuals, Billy King and Duke Edwards sport disappointingly substandard designs, appearing both chunky and bovine. Slow moving and just not fun to play as, I never pick either of them when I’m playing Burning Fight. In stark comparison to his comrades, Ryu Saeba is swift and impressive, capable of dispensing punches at breakneck speeds. Another advantage that Ryu has over his allies is a really cool and effective special move, while Billy and Duke’s are clunky and difficult to pull off correctly. Overall, the game plays well enough but does seem to spin a little stiff in comparison to others from the genre. None of the three characters display any sense of urgency as they unenthusiastically stride into threatening confrontations with multiple men, ultimately making the experience a little less convincing. Other than that, gameplay is mostly tight, save for some poor hit detection here and there.

 

Burning Fight contains some amusing enemies, along with some really annoying ones. On the appreciable side of things, the game’s bosses actually stem from different subsections of criminal activity, as adversaries representing everything from the mob, to professional wrestling, to blood-curdling yakuza backgrounds will all be vying to get their hands on you. This adds some sorely needed variety to the archetypal grunts that tend to relentlessly charge you in beat ‘em ups. Typical of a game released in the late 80’s or early 90’s, you know that there absolutely had to be a character designed using Hulk Hogan’s likeness, and Tom Anderson fits that bill perfectly. There’s also another wrestling-type enemy by the name of Mad Dilly. He was apparently modeled after Macho Man Randy Savage, but he looks identical to Tom Anderson with a different color palette. There are also some really comical looking Mafioso guys that will attempt to mow you down with gunfire, with one of them going by the name of Bruce Stone. Awesome.

 

Alas, not all of the enemies in the game are satisfying to pound on, as these really irritating dudes brandishing chains will show up far more often than necessary, hopping over top of you while doggedly swinging a chain down towards your dome. Worse yet, they’re hard to avoid and equally difficult to hit. This is around where Burning Fight’s attention to detail comes to a bit of a halt, as these insatiable chain lovers are invariably named Jack or Johnny (but it’s almost always Johnny. You’re going to be beating up a lot of Johnnys). Home to almost every beat ‘em up game in existence; there also lives that infamous overweight guy that simply plows his way across a stage, seemingly unassailable as he breaks every bone in your character’s body by way of his breadbasket. You’ll get to know these chubby chaps in no time, their names consistently belonging to the Duffy or Gonzales varieties (but I always seem to get driven down by Duffy). I strongly advise against taking these two on in the earlier hours unless you’re invested in the idea of making day drinking an Olympic event. God bless unlimited continues. 

 

Burning Fight’s soundtrack is pretty good. Not stellar, but good. Yasumasa Yamada did a fine job at matching some decent tunes to the game’s environments. None of the music is bad, but none of it is particularly catchy either. That being said, there are quite a few SNK titles that come packaged with some of the greatest arcade game music of all time, so maybe my standards are set a little too high. Oddly enough, the music that accompanies the conclusion of each stage actually sounds similar to the tunes in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time. Bizarre. Following the release of Burning Fight, Yamada would go on to refine his talents, contributing work to the likes of Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown II, and The King of Fighters ’96, all of which sound incredible and remain held in high regard for their soundtracks to this day. In addition, Yamada has provided material for titles such as 2002’s Steel Battalion and 2016’s Paper Mario: Color Splash, proving that he’s not afraid to test the water in different arenas. 

 

All in all, Burning Fight is a fun game. While it could’ve used some finer tuning, it ultimately became the precursor for later releases such as Robo Army and Mutation Nation, the latter of which arguably being the best beat ‘em up available for the Neo Geo CD. For what Burning Fight lacks in polish, it makes up for in charm, as its level of aesthetic detail and commitment to showcasing goofy, yet likeable villains, are excellent. With its adjustable difficulty and limitless continues, it isn’t taxing to get through the game in a half hour sitting, and it is most definitely worth checking out for that much. A capable beat ‘em up that’s sure to make you smile a few times, check out Burning Fight for a quick, yet worthwhile ride.