The Jaguar CD had a colourful introduction.   Atari had always been adamant that CD based consoles (such as the rival 3DO) were too expensive and it was steering clear until CD systems were what the consumer wanted.   Alas, CD based consoles were the future and Atari released it's Philips made 790Mb add-on drive for the Jaguar.  Rumours surfaced before it's launch, that a possible texture-mapping chip may also be added to increase the consoles power, but this wasn't to be.

The drive came with a number of software titles and demos, including the Jeff Minter designed Virtual Light Machine (built-in).  The unit sat on-top of the Jaguar, and cartridges were connected through the drive when attached.

Although Atari initially ordered 50,000 Jaguar CD units from Philips, it is very likely that less than half this number were ever produced.  Atari and Philips would soon fall out over manufacturing problems due to high MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure) rates of the CD unit.