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[Agent X]

Question for Lynx appreciators; did you continue to play handheld games throughout the 90s? Although I got the Gameboy, Lynx and GameGear all when they launched, I quickly lost interest in handhelds after the GameGear and Lynx failed. Gameboy never interested me. I couldn't handle the poor graphics / monochrome screen.

I sure did. The Lynx was my main handheld from April 1990 (when I got my first Lynx--I later got two Lynx II systems) until about the time Game Boy Advance came out in 2001, but I had other handhelds as well.

During that time frame, I also had:

Game Boy (which I won in a video game competition about 3 weeks after I bought the Lynx--it was stolen from my home December 1990)

Game Gear (late 1994 to late 1995)

Nomad (1998-current--I own two now)

GBA finally dethroned Lynx as my main handheld, and since then I also purchased the GBASP and PSP, but Lynx still gets some occasional play even now.

 

[speculawyer]

Let's get real, people. The Atari Lynx was one of the best game systems of all time!

The system was huge, weighed about 20lbs, was in FULL COLOR, had sweet-ass games, and even LEFT HANDED people could play it.

It was truely a handheld unit before its time. And it did not weigh 20 pounds.

Its Achilles's heel was that it sucked down batteries like crazy. You could use it as a transportable, but as a mobile unit it wasn't so good unless you didn't mind spending a lot on batteries.

Best game: BattleWheels - A car combat game

 

[Barbarian]

Gauntlet: The Third Encounter on Lynx was the best non-arcade version of Gauntlet ever, IMO.

I loved that game. Wish I still had a Lynx so I could play it.

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Question for Lynx appreciators; did you continue to play handheld games throughout the 90s? Although I got the Gameboy, Lynx and GameGear all when they launched, I quickly lost interest in handhelds after the GameGear and Lynx failed. Gameboy never interested me. I couldn't handle the poor graphics / monochrome screen.

Same here. I didn't actively play another handheld until the GBA.

 

[Trojita]

I think this was one of the prizes in those catalog selling chocolate contests in grade school. When I looked at how many you had to sell, I said fuck that and just raised enough to go to the pizza party.

 

[Captain N]

I really have been tempted to pick up an Atari Lynx. which one is best? Lynx II?

 

[SpoonyBard]

Blue Lighting
Gates of Zendocon
Warbirds
Gauntlet

Those were the games I had, and I liked all four of them. Too bad my original Lynx stopped working after a while, it would be interesting to see how they hold up.

 

[$h@d0w]

Lynx I had better controls IMO, I was okay with the size too. The buttons were a bit spongy on Lynx II.

 

[Neff]

I remember seeing this in the shops in the '80s and being absolutely blown away by the colour, contrast and scaling. Even consoles didn't have sprite scaling at that time. It really did make the still-new Gameboy look antiquated.

Unfortunately the lack of good games and terrible battery life killed my desire for one and I got a Gameboy instead, without regrets.

 

[NuclearSpy]

The Lynx was awesome. California games was awesome. The AC adapter was a must.

 

[PolarGamer]

Awesome thread. The Lynx and my Amiga 500 were my favourite systems! California Games still rule. Played surfing for hours on end. It was yoga for my mind.

Too bad that I lent it to someone and never got it back.

Edit: Thanks thread. Just put in a bid on a Lynx with games

 

[Castef]

Let's get real, people. The Atari Lynx was one of the best game systems of all time!

I can't say "one of the best".

Yet, it was a very good handheld, expecially the first revision.

Some of the games were actually very good, like Toki, Ninja Gaiden, Gates of Zendocon and Blue Lightining.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Jeremy Parish just dropped this Lynx video as a Game Boy World Gaiden episode. Some good information there!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ucyN_eCnA

 

[MicroByter]

Wow, this thread came back from the dead, I feel compelled to talk about my love for the Lynx now.

Blue Lightning was amazing and probably my favorite game. That 3D scaling!

I have a fondness to this system equal to the Game Boy, those were my staples growing up along with the Game Gear. It's sad that the only systems I owned that still survive are the Game Boy related ones.

 

[Krejlooc]

There's a dude at atari-age working on a mass-produced consolization mod for the lynx. I want one so bad.

 

[Crayon]

I still have my lynx with a bunch of games, the carrying case and a bunch of accessories. I enjoyed it alot.

 

[commish]

Blue Lighting
Gates of Zendocon
Warbirds
Gauntlet

Those were the games I had, and I liked all four of them. Too bad my original Lynx stopped working after a while, it would be interesting to see how they hold up.

Warbirds... so good. I don't think it had any point to it though. You would just fly around, right?

Dracula was also a good one, but I still haven't beat it. It was hard.

 

[MicroByter]

Warbirds... so good. I don't think it had any point to it though. You would just fly around, right?

Dracula was also a good one, but I still haven't beat it. It was hard.

Warbirds was great if you had a buddy with a Lynx and connected together. I remember playing at lunch with a friend and dog fighting.

 

[MrCunningham]

This is what it looked like before Atari bought the rights to produce the handheld. The original Epyx Handy prototype from 1988:

I always had a strange fascination with this handheld, but sadly I have never owned one. The hardware was really ahead of most everything else from its time period and the system possessed hardware scaling and rotation tricks that neither the Genesis or the SNES had.

I look at homebrew games Zaku and Alpine Games and I am really impressed with what these developers could do with the machine.


[EDIT] I just realized that this thread is from 2010... I thought it was new.

 

[darkside31337]

Had no idea this thread even existed.

It was the first system I got as a kid. California Games was really amazing. Truth be told I had more fun with my Lynx than I did with my Gameboy.

 

[ShapeGSX]

Oh hell yes!

Here's the awesome sit down cabinet.

Man, this thread makes me want to buy a second hand Lynx! :lol

I loved the Roadblasters arcade game! They have one (sit down version) up at Fun Spot in New Hampshire!

 

[Purple Cheeto]

One of my coworkers was a programmer on a bunch of Lynx games back in the day.

 

[Dishwalla]

I actually just bought a Lynx II the other week just so I could play Chip's Challenge.

 

[MicroByter]

I actually just bought a Lynx II the other week just so I could play Chip's Challenge.

I remember chips challenGe was hard, I wonder how I would do with it now that I'm older?

Looking at the Lynx catalog, there were so many good games, at least based on my childhood memories.

 

[MicroByter]

Apparently you can replace the Lynx screen with something more modern:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NQaoRDVGms

Holy crap, I need to get another Lynx and this kit!

 

[Glix]

I got my Lynx on clearance at my local toy store for $50!!!!! My buddy and I pedaled home and demanded our parents get it as the deal was so totally loony. I think it counted as my bday gift that yeat even tho it wasnt my bday. I think Lynx 2 was coming out, and thats why they were on clearance. Either that or Play World just gave up on the thing.

Cali games was awesome. COLOR BACKLIT GRAPHICS were insane tho.

Sucka ate AA's for breakfast tho, had to be plugged into the wall for maximum awesomeness.

I remember having a sleepover with the same buddy playing in the dark, minds blown that it was color and backlit and so awesome.

Edit - I remember before they started putting a lip on the carts they were IMPOSSIBLE to get out of the system

 

[Timeless]

I actually just bought a Lynx II the other week just so I could play Chip's Challenge.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/348300/

Chip's Challenge 2 coming soon!

 

[klaus]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/348300/

Chip's Challenge 2 coming soon!

W00t awesome! Loved that game, had some crazy levels with monster spawner / lever chain reactions, blew my mind how you could fill up the level with enemies and all hell broke loose XD

 

[Rival]

I always wanted one when I was a kid. Not as much as I coveted the turbo express. But it would be cool if they could make the games available on something like the 3ds virtual console. I'd buy them.

 

[Friend of Sonic]

There's a dude at atari-age working on a mass-produced consolization mod for the lynx. I want one so bad.

What?! Will it do RGB? My goodness. The Lynx is a system I want to play, but my 21st century self can't do the LCD screen. I got a video out mod done on my Game Gear and it is wonderful!

 

[MicroByter]

Well, this thread made me go scrounge for a Lynx I knew I knew I owned, but was dead from battery corrosion. I tool it apart, cleaned it up and re-soldered some connections and it freaking works!

I should say, it powers on and the screen turns on, but I have no games to test with it right Now. Need to hit up the retro shop tomorrow to see if it fires up.

Thanks to whoever brought this thread up from the dead!

 

[dhonk]

Oh my god guys, I was eating ice cream at Sweet Ceces. (Southern chain mainly.) and I was reading this thread. The tv had Full House on. (oh joy.) and as I'm leaving the Olsen twins pull out model 2 Atari lynxs and start playing them.

What are the freaking chances!! I guess I should get a model 2 now?!?!?

 

[jvm]

Got a lot of my Lynx stuff from the great Atari clearance by Don Thomas back in the day. Anyone else remember that? God, USENET was awesome back in the day.

 

[Krejlooc]

What?! Will it do RGB? My goodness. The Lynx is a system I want to play, but my 21st century self can't do the LCD screen. I got a video out mod done on my Game Gear and it is wonderful!

yup, he even installs an led screen in the thing so itll keep working as a portable.

 

[minkymuskyslyoldstoaty]

Zarlor Mercenary is one of the best shooters of all time. Incredible graphics move across the screen, with their shadows, with no slow-down at all. Having multiple characters with a specialist power-up was ingenious. By far my favorite Lynx game.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Warbirds... so good. I don't think it had any point to it though. You would just fly around, right?
.

I seem to remember it was just dogfighting against other planes, so no ground targets or landings and take offs. But it was still fun.

 

[MrCunningham]

I seem to remember it was just dogfighting against other planes, so no ground targets or landings and take offs. But it was still fun.

I've only played this through emulation (AtariAge legally hosts most of the original run Lynx ROM's) and it does have a few different dog fighting modes as well as a four player death match through the link cable.

There is also another game somewhat simaler to this called Battle Wheels. Which is a vehicular combat game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XaPx0pts_o

This one is pretty unique as you can leave your car at any time and even hijack enemy cars if they are not in it.

 

[Geengrenzuh]

Scrapyard dogg for the awesome soundtrack and levels packed with secrets, Gates of Zendocon because it's an kick ass multi path shoot em up, California games high score runs, etc! Still got my fatass lynx on my attic somewhere. Still working too, built to last.

 

[Shaneus]

So, you guys seen the VGA/LCD mod? I saw photos of it (not first-hand, sadly) from a guy who had it done the other day, and it would have to look incredible in person. Not the least, saving an arseload in battery (thanks backlight) and having a VGA-out port.

 

[minkymuskyslyoldstoaty]

I seem to remember it was just dogfighting against other planes, so no ground targets or landings and take offs. But it was still fun.

It was just dogfighting, although you could land for supplies. However, you just pressed land while near your base - there was no skill to landing and you were vulnerable while on the ground.

 

[roknin]

Your list needs more Slime World dammit!

True story: my first multi-player PVP experince was when I was like 11 years old, playin fucking Slime World with my cousins on our Atari Lynxes.

That, and fucking Warbirds. So many hours spent on that game dogfighting.

Chip's Challenge was also the first puzzle game I ever beat completely on my own.

Zarlor Mercenary is still one of my favorite games today. Blue Thinder too.

Lynx, despite its shortcomings, was my introduction to non-computer gaming, and I loved that gigantic mammoth of a handheld. I still have my original (but no longer working) system, as well as the carts I didn't lose as a kid (rip Slime World and Klax).

 

[minkymuskyslyoldstoaty]

I seem to remember it was just dogfighting against other planes, so no ground targets or landings and take offs. But it was still fun.

It was just dogfighting, although you could land for supplies. However, you just pressed land while near your base - there was no skill to landing and you were vulnerable while on the ground.

 

[Freshmaker]

Oh! Whoops, Ninja Gaiden Arcade was called Shadow Warriors in Europe. I guess that was during the period where Ninjas were banned in the UK.

Everyone I overheard in the arcades thought it was called "Ninja in the USA" due to the opening.

Question for Lynx appreciators; did you continue to play handheld games throughout the 90s? Although I got the Gameboy, Lynx and GameGear all when they launched, I quickly lost interest in handhelds after the GameGear and Lynx failed. Gameboy never interested me. I couldn't handle the poor graphics / monochrome screen.

The Gameboy put a strange love of hand held gaming into me I think. The games tended to be a bit mroe zoomed in and they also would buck the usual trend to make everything into a NES platformer (stuff like Strider NES really bugged me at the time) and release versions closer to their arcade source material as that was apparently more portable friendly somehow etc.

I picked up the Lynx a while after it's release. (Probably a year or two after the Lynx 2 came out.) It vanished from my house one day.

I still went after the GBA and the things that followed. Mainly because portables end up in a wierd zone where they become the platform for the console games I was playing 5 years previously. They act as a bit of a lifeboat for some genres and design styles which get banked faster in the AAA zone of the consoles.

 

[minkymuskyslyoldstoaty]

I continued playing handhelds through the 90s. Never had a PC Engine, but I enjoyed the Lynx and Gamegear, although I preferred the Gameboy.

Will post a picture of my Lynx stuff soon.

Great to see a bit of appreciation for Zarlor Mercenary. When I play the Lynx now, a few games haven't stood up to the test of time all that well, but this is still my favorite Lynx game.

 

[Lazaro]

I like Checkered Flag. You could choose your cars colours and choose whether to be a male or female driver.

When you win the race, depending on your gender you get a kiss from the male or female swimsuit model. I thought that was pretty cool.

Also was Steve Jobs or Wozniak involved with the development of the Lynx? I know they worked at Atari at one stage and I know OSX used to get it's names from wild cats also.

 

[SpoonyBard]

Also was Steve Jobs or Wozniak involved with the development of the Lynx? I know they worked at Atari at one stage and I know OSX used to get it's names from wild cats also.

No. Hell no. It was designed by some of the same people who came up with Amiga previously, working for the game company Epyx (known for California Games and other Games series).

Atari only handled production and marketing (Badly).

 

[MicroByter]

I continued playing handhelds through the 90s. Never had a PC Engine, but I enjoyed the Lynx and Gamegear, although I preferred the Gameboy.

Will post a picture of my Lynx stuff soon.

Great to see a bit of appreciation for Zarlor Mercenary. When I play the Lynx now, a few games haven't stood up to the test of time all that well, but this is still my favorite Lynx game.

Same here, Game Gear, Lynx and Game Boy were my main gaming systems back then, I loved taking them to school or laying in bed at night playing. I think my Lynx and Game Gear were almost always connected to a main though, couldn't afford the batteries!

I did own the Turbo Express later on and could kick myself for getting rid of it years ago, it was really a cool system to own.

 

[lebowski4ever]

after burner and california games kept me addicted for quite a long time. then i bought the revised model of the lynx.

 

[Laws00]

I remember back years ago. This girl that I used to baby sit me had one of those and later on my cousin had one. Didn't know what the hell it was.

I just know playing California games. So much fun.

Hacky sack was my fucking game

 

[dark10x]

What's odd is that, now, the GameBoy screen looks kind of better than the Lynx. I have a couple of Lynx systems and a bunch of GameBoys on hand and the Lynx screen just looks really bad. Horrible viewing angles, really bad ghosting, and bad contrast. I could see it being impressive at the time but it's harder to see in some ways compared to the GameBoy. GB is very visible in light and ghosting is actually less severe.

I also think its games often hold up worse. GameBoy platform games are almost entirely 60fps while most Lynx games are far FAR below this. The visuals are more impressive and support features the GB could not offer but they all run worse. :\

Still a neat system, though.