Cybermorph

Cybermorph is a shooter video game developed by Attention to Detail (ATD) and published by Atari Corporation as the pack-in game for the Atari Jaguar in North America on November 23, 1993, and Europe in June 1994. It was also distributed in Japan by Mumin Corporation as a stand-alone release. Taking place in a galactic war, the player pilots the morphing attack fighter TransmoGriffon to battle against the Pernitia empire, who have conquered planets on multiple sectors and whose regenerative robotic technology become entrenched into the planets. The player is tasked with recapturing critical pods, while facing against enemies and bosses, across five sectors in order to defeat the empire. Attention to Detail were approached by Jon Dean in regards to the Konix Multisystem, working alongside Flare Technology on the operating system, development tools, and demos. One of the demos created by ATD was a 3D landscape, which was based on David Braben's Zarch. It became the basis for Cybermorph, as Atari liked the demo and approached ATD to produce demos for the Jaguar. Atari's testing department was tasked with designing levels and structures, while ATD worked with them to lay down the terrain and enemies in order to implement them into the game. Production proved challenging, as ATD were finishing the game while the hardware was being finalized. Cybermorph divided critics; some found the pod-collecting gameplay to be dull and repetitive, while others saw it as varied and challenging. Its graphics were generally regarded as a disappointment given the Jaguar's capabilities, while the audio was seen as a bigger disappointment. The more positive commentaries tended to emphasize its gameplay rather than its audio-visual performance, while unfavorable comparisons to Star Fox on Super NES came up frequently in reviews. It was reissued in 1994 as a one-megabyte cartridge, with several...