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Profile Atarian: Wes Powell |
As a kid, I grew up with a few old Atari systems. I remember playing
Pitfall for the 2600 an awful lot. Combat was also one that was in the
slot often. We also had an old pong system....I
remember, when a game was won, the screen would flash rainbow colors.
Back then we freaked out!.. hehe I wonder what we would have done if
someone showed us a Jag game?! I also had a Lynx for a time. I wasn't
able to get games for it as often as I liked, being younger, so I ended
up getting rid of it.
Early '94, I made the choice to save up and get a Jaguar. I was considering either Jaguar, 3DO, or CDX. I think I made the best choice...hehe. I saved my cash for about 4-5 months, and the next thing I knew, I had my Jag on April 1st! That's April Fool's Day, but it definitely wasn't a foolish choice! The first game besides Cybermorph that I got was Tempest 2000. Boy was I amazed! Never before had I witnessed a video game with such power. T2K had to have been the biggest leap forward in the history of video games...nothing went that far. You know how when you shoot a guy and then it explodes, then the pixels suck back together and a power-up starts to come up the corridor? I was seeing those all day at school! I could hardly pay attention in typing class because I kept seeing particle explosions on the page!
No other Jaguar game produces an adrenaline rush quite like Defender 2000. Just yesterday, I popped it in expecting to play a few levels. Next thing I know, I'm on level 87 sweating, and kickin' stuff around the room! At that point, I was down to one ship, but I pulled back up, and managed to finish the game! Not much else will make you hold your breath like shooting it out with the final Camel on level 100. Insanely intense! I haven't found games like these on any other platform.
Jaguar games just hit the spot with me. There is something unique
about them. As with most people, Alien vs. Predator was a great gaming
experience for me. The graphics were (and are still in a lot of cases
today) second to absolutely none. Iron Soldier is still IMO the best
mech/war sim out there. I could go on and on. I try often not to focus
on the downfalls of Atari and the Jaguar. It was a superior console that
had it's short moment in the eye of the public, but in my eyes, it's had
uncountable moments. I've found more joy in the games on Jaguar than on
any other platform.