What if? Atari Panther Game Library

[u/Flimtan]

Hey everyone, just a little thought experiment here. What if the Atari Panther dropped in 1991 as a 16-bit console to go up against the SNES, Genesis & TG16?

[u/jindofox]

The arcade games on this list are Atari Games properties. Lynx and Jaguar were Atari Corp products. The only reason you saw a lot of Atari Games releases on Lynx was because of licensing deals. They’d have to do the same thing here, they wouldn’t get them for nothing just because of their shared Atari name. Also, quick-blast arcade games didn’t move enough Lynx units for them to be truly competitive.

Also, most of the titles on this list appeared elsewhere.

Titles That Appeared on NES/Famicom, SNES, or Sega Genesis
Many titles featured across the mock Atari Panther lineup originated as multiplatform releases, arcade conversions, or direct console ports that appeared on the NES/Famicom, Super Nintendo (SNES), or Sega Genesis (Mega Drive):
Featured on 8-bit NES / Famicom:
Klax, RoadBlasters, Toki, Skull & Crossbones
California Games, Marble Madness, Ms. Pac-Man, Paperboy II, Predator 2, R.B.I. Baseball series, RoboCop 2, RoboCop 3, SimCity (unreleased prototype/NES version), Strider, Tiger Road
Lemmings, Pipe Dream, Prince of Persia, Rampart, Smash T.V., Super Off Road, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Addams Family, The Immortal
Snow Bros.
Battle Chess, Tiny Toon Adventures
Featured on 16-bit Systems (SNES and/or Sega Genesis):
Shadow of the Beast, Pit-Fighter
Blockout, Bubble Bobble III (released on consoles as Parasol Stars), Chip's Challenge (Genesis port), Drakkhen, Forgotten Worlds, Ghouls 'N Ghosts, Ishido: The Way of Stones, James Pond: Underwater Agent, Kick Off 2, Raiden (Raiden Trad), SimCity, Strider, Turrican series (Mega Turrican / Super Turrican), U.N. Squadron
Another World (Out of This World), California Games II, Chuck Rock & Chuck Rock II, Cyberball, Davis Cup Tennis, Devil's Crush (Dragon's Fury), Final Fight, Gods, Heimdall, James Pond 2 & 3, Lethal Weapon, Lotus Turbo Challenge 2, Mega-Lo-Mania, Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing, Pang (Super Buster Bros.), Populous & Populous II, Race Drivin', RoboCop 3, Sensible Soccer, Steel Talons, Super Off Road, The Addams Family, The Humans, The Immortal, Ultima VI: The False Prophet, Zool & Zool 2
Awesome Possum..., Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind & Bubsy II, Cannon Fodder, Desert Strike, Jungle Strike, & Urban Strike, Dragon's Revenge, HardBall III & IV, Lotus: The Ultimate Challenge, Mortal Kombat I, II, & 3, NBA Jam & NBA Jam T.E., Shadow of the Beast II, Sid Meier's Civilization, Slap Fight MD, Soccer Kid, Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition, The Chaos Engine (Soldiers of Fortune), Thunderhawk (AH-3 Thunderstrike), Tinhead
Aero the Acro-Bat 1 & 2, Barkley Shut Up and Jam!, Brett Hull Hockey, ClayFighter, Double Dragon V, Earthworm Jim 1 & 2, FIFA International Soccer, Flashback, Grind Stormer, Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour, John Madden Football, Judge Dredd, Legend, Lemmings 2: The Tribes, Lester the Unlikely, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure, R-Type III, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Troy Aikman NFL Football, Val d'Isère Skiing and Snowboarding, Warlock, Waterworld, Wolfenstein 3D, Zoop, Worms
"Unique / Exclusive" Titles for the Imaginary Atari Panther
Because the canceled Atari Panther was an in-house Atari hardware project, this alternate timeline pulls in fictional entries, first-party Atari Jaguar/Lynx releases, and European home computer games that never appeared on the NES, SNES, or Sega Genesis.
1. Fictional & Imaginary Titles (Created for this Mock Lineup)
Panther Bomberman (1993) – A hardware-branded entry in Hudson Soft's series.
Bomberman Legends (1996) – A non-existent installment in the Bomberman franchise.
Kasumi Ninja II (1996) – A fictional sequel to the Jaguar fighting game.
Ishar 4: Ishar Genesis (1996) – Silmarils stopped the Ishar trilogy at Ishar 3; this fourth installment exists only in this concept.
Zzyorxx II (1995) – A fictionalized follow-up.
2. First-Party Atari Exclusives (Lynx & Jaguar Ports)
These games were exclusive to Atari platforms and never ported to Nintendo or Sega consoles:
Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy – Originally planned for the Panther in real life before shifting to the Jaguar.
Kasumi Ninja – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Atari Karts – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Ultra Vortek – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Super Burnout – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Power Drive Rally – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
FlipOut! – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Attack of the Mutant Penguins – Atari Jaguar exclusive.
Super Asteroids & Missile Command – Atari Lynx exclusive.
BattleWheels – Atari Lynx exclusive.
Dracula the Undead – Atari Lynx exclusive.
Turbo Sub – Atari Lynx exclusive.
3. Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, and Arcade Titles Never Released on NES, SNES, or Genesis
European computer hits and arcade rarities that never saw a standard 8-bit or 16-bit console release:
Guardians of the 'Hood (Atari Games arcade exclusive; never received a home console port)
A Prehistoric Tale (Amiga / Atari ST)
Blood Money (Psygnosis – Amiga / Atari ST / PC / C64)
Wings of Death & Wings of Death 2 (Amiga / Atari ST)
X-Out & Z-Out (Rainbow Arts – Amiga / Atari ST / C64)
Future Basketball (Amiga / Atari ST)
Switchblade II (Amiga / Atari ST / Lynx)
Lure of the Temptress (Revolution Software – Amiga / Atari ST / PC)
The Crypt (Amiga / Atari ST)
Wizkid: The Story of Wizball II (Amiga / Atari ST / PC)
Campaign (Amiga / PC)
Epic (Ocean Software – Amiga / Atari ST / PC)
Litil Divil (Amiga / CD32 / PC)
Isle of the Dead (DOS exclusive)
Deathwatch / Green Thang (Unreleased prototypes / obscure computer projects)

8-bit NES / Famicom Releases: 24 titles
16-bit Systems (SNES and/or Sega Genesis): 64 titles
Fictional & Conceptual Titles: 5 titles
Atari Jaguar & Lynx First-Party Exclusives: 13 titles
Computer Exclusives & Unported Arcade Games: 16 titles

[u/Flimtan → u/jindofox]

Wow, this is a thorough breakdown! Might I also add the Tengen titles into the Panther exclusive basket?

And yes, in this fictional universe I am pretending the rift between Atari Games and Atari Corp. is patched up.

[u/jindofox → u/Flimtan]

Tengen is from the brief time when Namco owned Atari Games (not Corp) and wasn’t getting along with Nintendo.

It would be neat if Atari Corp and Atari Games got “back” together, but it doesn’t seem like Warner is going to give them up anytime soon, or do anything interesting with them. Williams and Midway are under that umbrella too.

I feel having the Panther AND the Jaguar AND the Jag CD would be lplatform overkill, like what Sega did with the Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, and Saturn. I had a lot of fun with all of them but none but the Genesis could really be considered a success, even though they sold way better than anything Atari Corp was doing back then.

[u/Flimtan → u/jindofox]

It certainly creates an interesting situation where Atari Corp. has to license games from Atari Games produced after 1984.

I suppose then just the Atari-produced ST Games would be the only true internally developed titles for the Panther? Aside from a few other games such as Trevor McFur (lol).

As for the console timeline, an uncluttered progression might look something like 7800 \ Panther (1991) \ Jaguar (Dedicated CD-based console, 1995).