Atari announced a CD-ROM drive for the Jaguar before the console's November 1993 launch.

Code-named the Jaguar II during development, the Jaguar CD was released on September 21, 1995.The device sits on top the Jaguar console, fitting into the ROM cartridge slot.

The drive has its own cartridge slot to allow cartridge games to be played without removing the CD drive, and to run software which used cartridge and CD in tandem, though ultimately no such software was released for the system.There was a separate "Memory Track" cartridge for storing saved game position and high scores.