The Atari Jaguar CD is a CD-ROM accessory for the Atari Jaguar video game console. During the time the Jaguar CD was available, only 11 games were officially released. Later, some previously incomplete games and games created by fans were made available.

History

Atari Corporation announced a CD-ROM drive for the Jaguar console before it was launched in November 1993. The CD-ROM drive, called Jaguar II during development, was released on September 21, 1995, for $149.95 (about $320 in 2025). It was first planned to be released during the 1994 holiday season but faced several delays. In mid-1994, Atari and Sigma Designs agreed to create a PC board that would let Jaguar CD games be played on home computers. The board was supposed to be released by the end of 1994, but it was never made available.

Technicals

The drive is inserted into the ROM cartridge slot on top of the console. It has a separate slot that allows other cartridges to be used alongside or instead of the CD. The Memory Track cartridge saves game progress and high scores. Some publications have said the Jaguar CD's design looks like a toilet.

The Jaguar CD includes a double-speed (2×) drive and built-in VLM (Virtual Light Machine) software created by Jeff Minter. This software uses a spectrum analyzer to create a complex visual display for audio CDs. It comes with Blue Lightning, Vid Grid, the Tempest 2000 soundtrack CD, and a Myst demo disc. Each startup screen is different, using the VLM to produce a random light show.

Jaguar CDs can hold up to 790 MB of data, more than regular CD-ROMs. Its proprietary CD format is based on the audio CD format, not standard CD-ROM formats. This allows more storage space but makes it harder for people to copy games illegally. However, it also reduces error correction capabilities.