Interview With Atari Jaguar creator John Mathieson

Bill Kendrick writes "The website Toxic Mag has an interview with John Mathieson, creator of the short-lived Atari Jaguar 64-bit game system - the system we can thank for such awesome games as the original Alien vs. Predtor, Iron Soldier, and the gorgeously psychadelic Tempest 2000. The beginng and end of the interview are in French, but the actual questions and answers are 'en anglais.'"

Comments

Question about the "64"

[briglass]

Now the Jaguar came out quite a while back, and if I remember correctly, quite a while before the N64. I remember there was some "catch" to the "64-bt" aspect. Was it really 64-bit?

Re:Question about the "64"

[Saige]

Depends on what part of the system you look at.

The graphics processor, "Tom", consisted of the GPU, which was 32-bit, but could read all 64 bits of data off of the system bus, and the Object Processor and Blitter, both of which were 64-bit chips. The Sound processor, "Jerry", had a 32-bit DSP, and a couple other minor features. The 68000, the third chip, was the standard ship.

Was it a 64-bit system? Well, it had a 64-bit system bus, and some chips that did 64-bit processing.

There were a lot of ridiculous claims by people that the system was "64-bit" only by adding the bit sizes of all the chips together, or some silly garbage like that.

clip from the faq for completeness:

- "Tom"
- 750,000 transistors, 208 pins
- Graphics Processing Unit (processor #1)
- 32-bit RISC architecture (32/64 processor)
- 64 registers of 32 bits wide
- Has access to all 64 bits of the system bus
- Can read 64 bits of data in one instruction
- Rated at 26.591 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Runs at 26.591 MHz
- 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
- Performs a wide range of high-speed graphic effects
- Programmable
- Object processor (processor #2)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
- 64-bit wide registers
- Programmable processor that can act as a variety of different video
architectures, such as a sprite engine, a pixel-mapped display, a
character-mapped system, and others.
- Blitter (processor #3)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
- 64-bit wide registers
- Performs high-speed logical operations
- Hardware support for Z-buffering and Gouraud shading
- DRAM memory controller
- 64 bits
- Accesses the DRAM directly

- "Jerry"
- 600,000 transistors, 144 pins
- Digital Signal Processor (processor #4)
- 32 bits (32-bit registers)
- Rated at 26.6 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Runs at 26.6 MHz
- Same RISC core as the Graphics Processing Unit
- Not limited to sound generation
- 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
- CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo)
- Number of sound channels limited by software
- Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals
- Full stereo capabilities
- Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM
synthesis
- A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
- Joystick control

- Motorola 68000 (processor #5)
- Runs at 13.295MHz
- General purpose control processor

No Regional Lockouts

[clickety6]

It's ineteresting to note that the Jag had no regional lockouts - cartirdges and CDs from the US would workm in Europe and vice versa. The Jaguar would detect if it was NTSC or PAL and properly written software would display properly on the TV. Pity things aren't so simple these days...

Open Source Emulator

[sdjunky]

For those who might be interested you can find an Open Source emulator here

Re:Open Source Emulator

[unicron]

And a ton of roms can be found he-..uh, nevermind.

Re:I still have one... thinking of selling it

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh nice memories.

Of the console? Or the wife?

Odd response, Jag ramblings

[jvmatthe]

The games that pushed Jaguar hardest was either Doom or Iron Soldier 2. Both of these took the machine to its limit. The Doom port took a lot of personal involvement from John Carmack. The best game is of course Tempest 2000.

I would have thought that, after all their hype, the Battlesphere people would have the claim to the game that pushed the Jag the hardest. And given that Carmack has said he could optimized DooM better if he had it to do over again, I find it difficult to believe that it's pushing the Jag to the limit. Surely something that pushed more texture mapped polygons was tougher for the system to handle.

Other than that, it was an ok interview, I suppose. I'm not sure that there is a whole lot there that we haven't heard before, except for some of the details about the next-gen hardware. Would have been neat to see an example of the full-antialised graphics from their next sytem, given that good AA is still something people are stiving for today. (E.g. PS2 with jaggies galore on some games. Ick.)

Jag ramblings to follow... ;^)

Iron Soldier on the Jag was a great game, FWIW. Since playing IS1, I've had a chance to played Iron Soldier 3 on the PSX but not Iron Soldier 2 on the Jag. The update is both better and worse. The Jaguar, for all its faults, had the most button-laden controller to ship with a console, and for a game like Iron Soldier, that rocked. Unfortunately, the PSX control scheme just doesn't work well enough. On IS1 (and presumably IS2) you could choose the weapon mounted on either shoulder or either hip or one of the two hand weapons with a single button press. For IS3 on the PSX, you have to cycle through weapons, and that turns out to be a step back in terms of control.

Of course, the graphics on the PSX are a step up, but not all they could have been.

And it's true that Tempest 2000 was the best game for the system. Best music and best control and best gameplay experience. Defender 2000 (also by Jeff Minter) and Power Drive Rally are my other favorites. I sold all the rest, including the much-ballyhooed Battlesphere (which was definitely not worth the wait or the price).

(Shameless plug: I also compared Tempest 2000 for the Jag and Tempest X for the PSX here. Jag wins, despite the better hardware of the PSX.)

Re:Odd response, Jag ramblings

[Phil Wilkins]

Minter's code may be crufty (all that time as a lone programmer doesn't exactly encourage good habits), but his game design skills are what earns him the die hard fans. No-one does stuff like he still does. Definately one of my hero's, and one of the reasons I got into professional games coding.

He does seem to pick the platforms though (anyone got a nuon?) Fortunately he's primarily working on PocketPC stuff these days, so with any luck he'll sink Microsoft...

I always liked Atari

[squaretorus]

- since I first laid hands on a square old 2600 joystick and draw a psychadelic multirainbow Atari logo on my bag.

Atari always seemed a bit more edgy, less businesslike. You kinda thought that Atari was more interested in screwing your older sister than your wallet.

The Jaguar was discounted before it even came out in the UK as far as I can remember - poor bastard.

I have another question

[shren]

(Looking at the bottom right of the motherboard diagram) What advantages are there to on-motherboard butter? Does it make the games creamy and smooth? Doesn't butter make heat dissipation a serious issue?