The Best Game to Start your Atari Jaguar Collection
Iron Solider is an incredible experience on the Atari Jaguar. Unique, fully 3D and a lot of fun.
Collecting for the Atari Jaguar can be difficult. There’s a lot of unusual, unique titles. But also a lot of bad games to sift through. For a retro gamer, the Atari Jaguar is a prime opportunity to experience some exclusive video games and appreciate some of the first 3D graphics available at home.
Iron Soldier is a common game on eBay alongside titles like Cybermorph and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. What sets it apart is how awesome it looked by comparison. The 3D graphics, the art-style and overall design soars above what I expect from a common Atari Jaguar game. This is where anyone starting an Atari Jaguar collection should start.
Iron Soldier did what Nintendon’t
The Atari Jaguar managed to bring 3D gaming to the home in 1993. The same year Starfox was released on the Super Nintendo. With Iron Soldier released in 1994, gamers got to experience full 3D environments to explore and destroy. This is where gaming was going and Atari wasn’t backing down.
The Atari Jaguar doesn’t have a big library of games, and it’s easy to focus on why it failed. I think Iron Soldier is a great example of the Atari Jaguar working towards that promise of 64-bits. Iron Soldier is a little special because it’s an original game for the Atari Jaguar. It makes full use of the control pad’s number pad, 3D graphics (without slow-down) and uses in-game music. It’s the full package.
Iron Soldier managed to make such an impact, it managed to have two sequels. Iron Soldier 2 on the Atari Jaguar has previously been available on the Songbird Production website. Both the cartridge and Jaguar CD versions of Iron Soldier 2 have been made available in the past. There’s also Iron Soldier 3 on the Sony PlayStation and the Nuon.
The series is focused on simulating the feel of a giant robot. Slow, cumbersome with tank-like controls and limited ammunition. If you don’t complete a scenario fast enough, winning gets harder as you run out of energy and firepower. So while your robot was slow, completing your missions quickly increased chances for success.
By the time Iron Soldier was released, it started to feel particularly outdated up against some of the faster action-heavy mech games that were becoming available. It’s still heads and shoulders above Iron Soldier 1 and 2, but at least they were stand-out games for the Atari Jaguar platform.
Other Atari Jaguar Reviews
For the Leftover Culture Review, the Atari Jaguar system has been a really popular topic. I’ve come to its defense a few times. It’s been a great discussion point on the channel and in the comments. Iron Soldier marks the last game I wanted to review for the system since I started reviewing Jaguar titles in 2012. I have been hoping to go back and revisit a few of my favourite games, but Iron Soldier marks the end of an era for me.
I have been so fascinated by the Atari Jaguar. I’ve invested a lot of time, money and energy into collecting and reviewing games I thought were worth mentioning… And there aren’t many.
- Skyhammer
- Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy
- Wolfenstein 3D
- Raiden
- Alien vs Predator
- Fight for Life
- Kasumi Ninja
- Ultra Vortek
- Dragon: Bruce Lee Story
Love the Atari Jaguar? Might be worth checking out 5 reasons why the Atari Jaguar isn’t so bad. Thanks for tuning in dudes!
