Top 10 Atari Jaguar Exclusives

Ruiner Pinball

Naxat Soft’s pinball games Alien Crush and Devil Crush have always been two of my favourite titles for the PC Engine and the two Mega Drive games in the same series likewise. So when I first discovered Ruiner Pinball for the Jaguar I was happier than a pig in my own poo, as it’s just that!

On this cartridge there are two very different tables, both going for fantasy over realism. The first is called The Tower and is very much like the aforementioned Devil Crash with its monsters, magical multipliers and ghoulish theme. This table is huge and is actually three screens high in length with several sets of flippers, it’s also my favourite out of the two on offer. The second table here is the titular Ruiner and this one has a more realistic military theme. This one is wide as opposed of tall – there are two tables next to each other and you can move between the two of them using the ramps.

Developed by High Voltage Software, who are still going strong to this day, Ruiner Pinball is definitely one of the most under rated games on the system and should be considered an essential part of any serious Atari Jaguar collection.

Protector: Special Edition

Coded way back in the commercial days of the Jaguar, Bethesda Softworks’ Protector actually went unreleased when the original programmer discovered Jeff Minter was working on Defender 2000 and thought that it wouldn’t sell. Thankfully for us aftermarket publisher Songbird Productions discovered the game and got it finished!

Protector is also an update of an earlier home computer game of the same name and does play exactly like Defender. You fly horizontally in both directions, shoot the enemy, rescue and protect the humans and release smart bombs for maximum carnage. Really the only additions to the core gameplay are the shields, money, new enemies types and, of course, some much improved graphics and sound. The money can be saved up to buy things like extra lives, bombs and shields in the end of level shop, which you’ll really need if you want to finish this!

This “Special Edition” of the game is the second one released and has major improvements including new levels and a much better difficulty curve. If you like old-school horizontal shoot ‘em ups then Protector: SE will be right up your alley.

Iron Soldier

Iron Soldier was one of the first mech games to come out for the new generation of 3D equipped machines in the early nineties at a time when this genre had become all the rage. It’s also one of the Jaguar’s best-selling titles, and it’s easy to see why.

In it you get to control a giant metal warrior stomping around the city shooting down helicopters, stamping on tanks and punching down skyscrapers – sounds fun right? Yeah, you bet it is! Not all the levels are simple shoot and destroy missions though, as some involve protecting buildings or acting as a courier to protect moving cargo. There are a host of mad weapons in this game too that you can load onto your mech at the beginning of each level with each being accessed via a simple press of the keypad buttons. Thankfully a handy overlay is also included to guide you.

With its large amount of stages and variation in missions Eclipse Software’s Iron Soldier is a game that will take up a lot of your time. It also received a sequel in the form of Iron Soldier 2, which is just as excellent and available in both cartridge and enhanced CD versions.

Power Drive Rally

While sharing almost the same name (“Rally” has been added to the end) this is not, as many wrongly believe, a Jaguar version of the popular 16-bit game by U.S. Gold. This Jaguar game is actually a sequel to Power Drive with multiple upgrades over those original iterations.

For those who don’t know Power Drive is overhead viewed rally-themed driving game that requires much more skill than many other similar games out there as it requires you to compete in several “driving tests” to prove you are up to progressing! The stages are set all over the world with different conditions and challenges associated with each one. Some of these even take play at night and require to use your headlights to navigate! There are also several different types of rallies too; some are just a straight time trial while others actually see you racing head-to-head. As the game progresses you can purchase new cars and upgrade them too.

There are so many nice touches in Power Drive Rally from the beautifully rendered cars to the co-driver commentary and host of secrets to discover. The Jaguar is blessed with several very good racing games but this one has a real point of difference.

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