Total Carnage on the Jaguar! 

Total Carnage on the Jaguar!

Total Carnage on Jaguar!

I've just discovered that Total Carnage, an arcade game from the mid 90's which was converted to the SNES and - I think - the Megadrive, has been released for the Atari Jaguar.

I love it when lost games get found!

The person responsible for this little wonder is Carl Forham of Songbird Productions. For several years now, he's been going around and finding Jaguar and Lynx games that were more or less finished and either polishing them up himself, or releasing them as they were found. Total Carnage is the latest in this line. According to Carl the game is pretty much complete, and it's possible to get to the ending screen. There's just a few menu options that don't work.

I'll get my hands on a copy as soon as possible, though at $89.95 it ain't cheap - works out at about £60 I think, though this is likely to change over time. Of course the high price reflects the fact that demand for this title will be relatively small, and that parts for the cartridges aren't cheap either. With a bit of luck, Telegames here in the UK will get it in stock some time in the future (although the price will still be high).

I have managed to get my hands on lost games before, namely Road Riot 4WD for the Lynx. This cart was never finished and the version I have is a green PCB with the ROM chip strapped to the top. It works pretty well, though there are still bugs in it and there's no ending screen. Total Carnage has been released with full box art, a glossy manual and a full colour label. Now, this may not sound impressive to most, but it's pretty special considering that this is a game that was not only scrapped, but that had to be liscenced from its parent company, Midway.

There are plenty of other Jaguar games that were listed as being ready to go at the time the console was pulled back in 1996, so fingers crossed that they make and appearance at some point in the not too distant future. They may be slow coming, but there are still Jaguar games out there waiting to be played for the first time.