The Atari Panther:The Game Claims/UK Press Coverage etc.

My brother was working for Atari in the UK around this time and I remember the ship was very much sinking over there as well. It was around the end of the machine's brief run and they were trying to build up some sort of library for the Panther (?) (whatever it was that was meant to follow the AtariST?, I can't remember exactly) (EDIT: it was the Atari Falcon). It was complete chaos then as well... and then they went bankrupt not long after, iirc.

His game did make release - "Rock n' Roll Clams" for the Atari ST - but it was so hurried in the final phase that they were knocking out levels completely randomly. The idea was that the game would get progressively harder as you play it (like most games) but there was simply no consistency. Level 10 could have been 10x harder than the last level, etc. I remember it was incredibly hurried from what he told me. Atari (certainly in the UK) were also completely broke by the end - which explains why these guys and others weren't being paid on time.

The Atari of the 1990's was a shadow of its former self.

Amusingly, I think it was STFormat magazine (or similar) that gave the game a front page spread - not because the game was actually any good (it was 'okay') - it was purely an exercise in shameless promotion which had been paid for. It wasn't there on its own merits.

Which is why you should never trust a games review in a magazine/online. These companies pay for the promotion to get those "fantastic!" reviews... not because they deserve them. In the 8-bit days reviews were far more honest, in contrast. Your game had to be good to earn the front page. Well, most of the time

You should track down the guy who ran Caspian software - they were there at the end when it all went south:

http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-st-caspian-software_publisher_1763_S_G.html

I'm sure he may have some stories to tell.

 

Hey i'm not working for him, i posted this on my own. I have my own view of who is Ki and you have your opinion about him, but i do agree on one part that you stated, i'll do my things on my own posts while you do your things in your own posts.

 

The Ex-Atari UK guys i've been lucky enough to chat with (Martin walker, Bob Katz, Les Player (RIP), Mike Fulton, Darryl Still, etc) have been fantastic sources of information and as an Ex-800XL and ST owner, never mind Lynx and Jaguar, it's very clear why, despite repeated assurances from Atari UK, the A8 in particulart never had decent games software support.

The Falcon, much like the Panther, being canned burnt a lot of bridges Atari still had remaining (not many), with developers...The STE simply being realesed and thus publishers suddenly finding key STFM games were not working on it..Kick Off 2 etc, did a huge amount of damage to Atari's realationship..

Rebellion told Gamestm how they went to Atari UK HQ with pitch for a Falcon game, only to be told don't bother with Falcon, we want games for Jaguar..erm..what's the Jaguar was the reply, that's how out of touch Atari were.


Claim in ST format (i think) was The Bitmap Bros saw The falcon at a trade show, warned Atari the stock model needed far more Ram than they were planning to ship it with, if they expected games to be ported to it without major comprimises, Atari refused to listen, so Bitmaps sent Falcon development kits back, Falcon owners missed out on Falcon specific version of Chaos Engine.


Or how about Audiogenic? very keen to develop on Jaguar, approach atari, only to be told Atari were only interested in big name publishers..You what? Rebellion were tiny team, as were ATD, Jeff Minter a 1 man band in effect, Eclipse etc..only a small team at Core working on Soul Star etc etc


Massive thanks for you sharing your personal story, i love this Grass Roots reporting from within Atari as it proves yet again they would never of been able to make a go of it with Panther or a fully bug tested Jaguar, they simply didn't have the resources.


Luca (unseen64) did contact Caspain via Face Book (i don't touch FB) but had no reply.

As for not trusting Jurno's..tell me about it...


The amount of false leads i looked into because folks made stuff up..Harry Holmwood Edge had quoted as a Ninja Sega saturn Coder, i find him, ask him, he never touched the hardware...



Edge ran an advertising supplement for the Jaguar (Atari paid for it), Core design developing Thunderhawk, Swagman, BC Racers, Tomb Raider etc etc on Jaguar..were they ever

I contacted Richard Barclay, he was happy to chat, he supplied Edge with the screens etc, TOLD THEM these images are Mock Up's..NO specific Next Gen platforms decided as of yet, in they went as Jag CD titles, MYTH Tomb Raider started on Jaguar CD born there and then.

 

http://jagudome.atari.me.uk/faqs/missile.txt

Interview with Missile Command 3D coder and yet more tales of Atari interfering..

 

Interesting. Looks like Pit Fighter and Rampart got further than the two prototypes I reviewed:

http://www.atariprotos.com/7800/software/pitfighter/pitfighter.htm
http://www.atariprotos.com/7800/software/rampart/rampart.htm

 

Geez, no wonder Atari couldn't attract 3rd party developers for the Jaguar, I wouldn't want to work with them either.

Any idea what the boxing game that Ringler Studios mentioned was?

 

Well, put it this way:

I paid good money for an issue of RetroGamer magazine, which had a full company profile on Imagitec Design, hoping to learn more about:

7800 Pitfighter and Rampart

Jaguar Freelancer 2120 and Space Junk.

Nothing new on any games on either format

I then contacted 1 coder, 2 artists..replies from all 3..send your questions...so i did.

Coder:Never replies back.

1st artist:Sorry cannot answer Q's, i'm not well (fair enough)

2nd:Give me more time, these are different to what we were asked on our FB group by RetroGamer Magazine Freelancer...


Never heard anything more

It's only thanks toUnseen64, Scott Stilphen for his Zip files and blind luck (in case of Freelancer 2120) i've discovered how far along the 7800 titles got and that even Atari got sick of waiting for Space Junk, so pulled it from the schedule.

Imagitec Design seem very much from the System 3 school of thought:

IF asked about titles we hyped, but never released, either DON'T reply, gloss over (Atari pulling out of Jaguar Market), but never admit you were juggling too many projects at once and Atari were looking into your company, you had issues with managing your staff etc


So it's been a nightmare to discover more...

 

This is what i've been trying to get across using every resouurce avaiable to me, be they internal files kindly donated by Scott stilphen, Magazine articles/interviews from back in the day-Likes of Mev Dinc making clear he wanted nothing to do with Atari's Panther, or my very own interviews with likes of Jim Gregory, making clear what a nightmare Leonard Tramiel could be when developers approached them with concerns over their hardware or cut Cart sizes, budgets and appointed Managers...things went to sh*t basically....

And this is why i find them fantastic to look into, but nigh on impossible top defend as an ex-consumer of their goods.

No idea on the Boxing Game, i never really followed the studio (not a sports fan) until i read through the files Scott passed on and was like, WOW!!!!

 

Do you have the name of the programmer for either of these? I'd like to add it to my page.

 

Sadly not, what you see is all i have, as you can imagine it's made tracking coders/artists etc who might have worked on it very difficult.

Ex-Imagitec lot are an odd bunch to get to reply.

Spotted a chap listing Humans 32X and N64 on his C.V whilst having worked at Mirage/Imagitec Design, emailed him to confirm these versions were started, never had a reply back.

This is why i'm eternally grateful to Scott for sharing the files he had, at least it's something more to add to the puzzle.

 

If there was ever a genre the Lynx was sadly lacking a killer title in, it was the RPG Genre...


A few were promised/showcased..including a conversion of Eye Of The Beholder...

(Telegames)Guardians:Storm Over Doria...

And of course Imagitec design's Daemonsgate, which had been released on PC, reviewed, but unreleased on the Amiga..

I'd only ever seen the 1 Amiga review (possibly based on unfinished code?)

Here's a selection of files i have...

Testers report with thanks again to Scott...

Amiga Review...

Interview i did with PC Coder:

http://www.gamesthatwerent.com/2014/12/an-interview-with-nigel-kershaw/


Video of Lynx version:




It doesn't appear to be much of a classic, in RPG terms, but i feel it would of done well on Lynx, espically as iF it had been released, it might well of had no real competition.

 

Sega press coverage here:

http://www.smspower.org/forums/13302-TheHumansTheVikingChildGG

 

More of Scott Stilphen's Atari Corp files, converted by myself can be found HERE:

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-jaguar-creature-shock_31083.html

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-jaguar-commander-blood_31082.html

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-jaguar-demolition-man_31087.html

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-jaguar-classic-traxx_31086.html

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-jaguar-space-war-2000_30428.html

 

....

 

I've had no experience or interest in the Jaguar, but all of your Jaguar posts have been damn entertaining. Keep it up.

 

So, there's a buddy of yours on the group? I know who is it though. That's basically what i posted before here on the unreleased jaguar games thread by quoting his words. I'm not criticizing you BTW.

 

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