Atari Jaguar Festival History
The roots of the Midwest Gaming Classic can be traced back to the first show that was held in Milwaukee by the name of Atari Jaguar Festival 2001: Beyond Tempest on June 30th, 2001. This event celebrated the last console which Atari released, the Atari Jaguar, and it traveled from location to location. The 2001 event was actually the fifth anniversary of the original 'Jagfest' event. This page gives a brief history on the Atari Jaguar Festival, or "Jagfest" as it was known amongst enthusiasts, and helps to explain how the Midwest Gaming Classic got its start.
Why the Atari Jaguar?
The biggest question that most people ask about Jagfest is why celebrate the Atari Jaguar console? To understand why the Atari Jaguar had enough fans to create a unique standalone event, a quick history of the console is a must:
The Atari Jaguar was released in select markets in 1993, and the entire US in 1994. It was released during the time of the "16-bit wars" and declared itself the winner by boasting that it featured 64-bits in it. The problem with this is that while the Jaguar did technically boast 64 bits of power, it is only one part of a console, and the rest of it matters just as much if not more than the 'bits' it contains. (The Xbox is a 32 bit console, for instance.)
When the Jaguar launched, it was hailed by many for the innovative gameplay that it was able to provide with games such as Cybermorph, one of the first true free-roaming flight games on a console. As the Jaguar progressed however, it was clear that it was not four times more powerful than other consoles. Many games which were released for it did not take advantage of the convoluted hardware structure, and instead looked only slightly better than games that were being released on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis at about the same time. Because of this and other factors, the Atari Jaguar was quietly discontinued in April of 1996.
At the end of its life however, the Atari Jaguar had gained some momentum. Developers were finally starting to figure out how the strange hardware design functioned, and it seemed like there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Then all of a sudden, when Atari pulled the plug, people that had been interested in seeing what was coming were still excited to see these new developments and play their Jaguars, but they didn't know what to do.
The first Jagfest
In 1997, a company called Telegames had decided that they would still release four Jaguar games that they had planned to release even though the Jaguar was officially "dead." This created a lot of excitement amongst the biggest Atari Jaguar forums at the time, and some of the most active members decided to create an event that would celebrate what was done in the past year with the Jaguar, and what they hoped would still occur in the future.
While the Jaguar had officially been discontinued by Atari, the fact that other companies were stepping up to re-examine releasing games was an exciting step forward, and the first Jagfest held in 1997 celebrated these games as well as the hope that other interesting looking titles such as Battlesphere and Skyhammer may one day be published in the future. Held in Chicago, this small gathering was a truly exciting occasion, even if the future of the Jaguar didn't seem as bright at the time.
More Jagfests throughout the country
With the success of the 1997 event, developers became more interested in releasing games they had abandoned, and the Jaguar community was once again active. The event moved to Corfu, New York in 1998, Rochester, Minnesota in 1999, and Austin, Texas in 2000. Each of the events was hosted by a different member of the Atari Jaguar scene, and was attended by people in each part of the country.
The Jaguar underwent some amazing changes during this time. A small company named Songbird Productions, who hosted the 1999 event released five brand new Atari Jaguar games during these years, and the anticipated game Battlesphere was released to much fanfare, although the fanfare was so high that not enough copies were made making the resale market for the game explode, and raising even more awareness for the Jaguar. The Jaguar was having some of its best moments after it had been discontinued, and these Jagfest events celebrated the occasion throughout the nation.
2001 goes to Milwaukee
In 2001, the two people still behind the Midwest Gaming Classic offered to host the event in Milwaukee. Once it was agreed upon by the Jaguar community that Milwaukee would be a great location, they got to work planning to make the event something special. Basing their plans on the 1999 event, which they had both attended, the show began to take place as new and unique products and offerings for the Atari Jaguar and Lynx were found to bring to the show.
The show was also opened to all home consoles, as the first Classic Gaming and Computing Museum area was implemented. The event, which was referred to as "Atari Jaguar Festival" in the promotional materials to get people around town interested, had a number of unique things that could be seen at the show. The subname of 'Beyond Tempest' was added because the Jaguar's most popular game was Tempest 2000, and the focus for Jagfest was to bring gamers together to celebrate what on the Jaguar was worth celebrating since the release of Tempest, and what else in the gaming world was out there.
Beyond Tempest
Even though the subname of "Beyond Tempest" had been chose, the organizers of the event didn't neglect Tempest 2000 at all, as Jeff Minter who created the game was nice enough to sign some copies to give away to showgoers, and a special "Flossie Edition" of the brand new Tempest 3000 was made specifically to give away at the show from Minter. It also featured the largest public network of Battlesphere, being played on 8 consoles at the same time, a picture that was taken at the event by Songbird Productions was to be placed as a hidden feature in one of their upcoming releases, the first and one of only two public debuts of the Jaguar VR helmet which was thought to be fake but turned out to be real and completely working, and many games that were thought to be lost forever were revealed.
Overall, the event was a huge success with the largest turn out for a Jagfest stand alone event ever, with many of the attendees coming to the show from around the country and around the world! It was a real high point for a console that had been abandoned six years earlier, and it laid the groundwork for what the Midwest Gaming Classic would become today.
Jagfest since 2001
After the 2001 event, the Atari Jaguar community started to drift apart. With less releases coming out and less and less fascinating finds like the VR Headset, the Jaguar was no longer revealing surprises on a regular basis to keep people as interested in it. An event was held in St Louis in 2002, but it failed to attract as many fans as previous Jagfests had. In 2003, it was determined that instead of attempting to keep the show as a standalone event in the US (Jagfests are still held by small groups of fans in other countries around the world!), Jagfest would become a 'traveling' affair known as Jagfest: On Tour, with people hosting Jagfest displays at tables within larger gaming events to introduce newcomers to the Atari Jaguar console, as well as celebrate the life of the console with other fans of it.
These events started out pretty strong in 2003, with events being planned for lots of different shows, including the Midwest Classic, but declining interest and cost to run these displays at shows, as well as many shows deciding to stop being held meant that by 2006, Jagfest: On Tour was only held at one location in the US.
Jagfest Today
Today, the only location to still annually host an official Atari Jaguar Festival or 'Jagfest' section is the Midwest Gaming Classic! It still does make sporadic appearances at other shows, and the international shows still draw small but devoted crowds, but the Midwest Gaming Classic is the one show in the US that can be counted on to always have a small Jagfest section. While this section is nothing like the original 2001 show, the show organizers feel that it is an important piece of the Midwest Gaming Classic's history, and wouldn't feel right without it being involved.
As odd as it may sound, today without Jagfest, there would be no Midwest Gaming Classic, and without the Midwest Gaming Classic there would be no more Jagfests.
For more information on the Jagfest section at the upcoming show, click on the Events section. If there isn't information up about it yet, you can be assured that there will be before the show is really ready to launch!