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[Afro Republican]

That destroys the argument right there, but let's go into further detail shall we?

Now let's show some examples in other areas. For the below gifs, I wanted to show just how limited the Genesis Sprite and scroll/scaling capabilities actually are by comparing scaling shooters on the genesis, which Sega specialized in on their arcades, which are basically using environments of 1 or 2 colored flat colors with a ton of empty space, to Blue Lightning on the Lynx with it's better detail (and more sprites on screen) and smoother less clunky object scaling. However using Galaxy Force 2 or Afterburner II for the genesis would make that too easy, so to be fair I am going to compare it to the best in the Genesis camp, Super Thunder Blade, which actually has objects and environments instead of empty space with a few bushes at the bottom, sometimes.

Genesis: Super Thunder Blade:

Lynx: Blue Lightning:

Now let's compare these sets of 4 gifs shall we?

Image Comparison #1: STB on the Genesis has several issues here. It mostly focuses most of the material in the center of the screen expanding outward. Surrounding your Helicopter, is basally nothing, and the ground is basically 1-2 flat colored rectangles. The Buildings as they come in aren't scaling that well, and even if that was just a glitch it still they still morph from the center. The actual "road" is also a 1 or 2 colored flat colored set of rectangles.

In comparison, the first Blue Lightning Image, shows sprites and objects across the board and materializing in as you go the distance, instead of having a static background of a city to pretend you are getting closer to anything. You have tons of tree sprites, multi-colored flooring, rivers, and multiple roads as you can while still having the enemies blast you on screen and you blasting them, and that's obvious even for a game made for a low-res screen. The reason why these two stages are so different is because the Genesis not only has weaker scaling, because scaling is only half the battle, it doesn't have the ability to output and manipulate as many sprites on the screen as the Lynx, and nowhere near as consistent. The Lynx does this while keeping consistent detail across the entire screen. And many Missions in BL actually got through various different environments in a single-run, so you also have variety, but more on that later.

Image Comparison #2: Now here's an interesting one for ya, apparently in STB for Genesis, in this image you're entering a cave, however, they can't seem to work in a ceiling in there. All the problems in the first image are here as well, but now there is less detail in the environment and it almost exclusively consists of blue rectangles. The rectangle flat colored lines are also in games like Galaxy Force II and After Burner II on the Genesis as well, since the Genesis can't emulate the detail of the arcade version.

In comparison, there isn't a "cave" level in BL, however there is a night/day cycle for one of the missions. As you can see, it actually seems like it's dark in the image instead of just a bunch of grey/blue lines like in Genesis STB (and when we get to the actual STB night stage the cave will make even less sense). Not only is it night on BL Lynx, but the same detailed environment is present here, with a nice valley with enemies attacking above, and enemies hiding behind the mountains.

Image Comparison #3: In what is likely the best part of the game tech wise imo, STB actually puts together an nice looking package. Sadly, it isn't very impressive graphically. They just use shadows to create the illusion of the water animating, the middle background is a simple gradient, and the water itself is ONE repeating texture. On top of that, this stage makes it more obvious how sprite quantity takes a hit when you use such visual tricks on the genesis.

In comparison, we have a detailed valley with snowy mountains, and a snow texture for the ground, and yes, when you get close the ground with your plane, your plane does show a shadow. Again it is consistent across the whole screen, and with enemies above and hiding in between the mountains.

Image Comparison #4: For this final comparison I wanted to put out the best for both games. For Genesis STB, it isn't to different from image one with the rectangular lines, and the buildings being replaces by pipes or something. However, it does show that, despite the lack of objects on screen, that the Genesis can move them fast, and that includes the super fighting robot you fight at the start of the gif. However, the same weaknesses are here as with all the other gif for Super thunder Blade.

In comparison for BL, I wanted to show off the change in environment I mentioned before. Here, you start off in the desert, with desert ground texture and giant rock formations. With enemies shooting at you from behind the formations themselves, or from the air. You then fly out of this formation into the flat desert busting enemies on the ground and above, until you start seeing the Blue Sea in the distance. As you get closer, you see the waves rushing on the beach leading to the navy battleship populated waters as you blow the ships to smithereens.

the difference between these two games is staggering. The only advantage Super Thunder Blade has over Blue Lightning is resolution (which by default means bigger sprites on screen).

To say STB is more impressive then BL would have to involve some of the most powerful mind degrading drugs ever seen by man as it's just not possible. It also shows the weakness of the Genesis. Almost all similar styled games have similar issues, while nothing comes close to the power shown in BL. Well, outside of those games with the higher-end helper chips, but guess what, the Lynx did this alone. As shown here @ nkarafo has no clue what he's talking about, both in the above articles (he thinks the TE is better than the lynx lol) to the gif comparison above. If anyone is crazy enough to still not believe the different I challenge you to find a ONE native STOCK Genesis scaller game, or first gen memory enhanced Genesis Stock scaller game, that can even tough the amount of sprites and detail on the screen. You won't find it because it's not possible to emulate BL on the Genesis. There's nothing on the console close.


What's more funny about this? Blue Lightning is a 1989 launch game for the Lynx console. ouch.

 

[Bullet Club]

 

[Havoc2049]

Are you R. Martinez?

 

[Bullet Club]

Are you R. Martinez?

No. Why?

 

[cartman414]

April 3rd is when Atari broke their own announced time frame and released shipments of the Lynx in the US to take fire of the Game Boy after analysts saw the trends of how fast the console was selling and wanted to show a better alternative to slow down sales. However this was limited to some states in the US only and worldwide and naationwide production wouldn't be ready for another few months.

The Atari Lynx was the most powerful portable until the GameBoy Advance came out 12 years later, and could do some thing even a console like the SNES couldn't do. It did really well in Europe and was sold along with even the computer lines, and did pretty good in the US, there was a little known niche in Japan as wel. Of course Atari never released sales numbers coming from the gaming espionage age where people would crack information, buyout engineers, and other stuff. So we will never actually know how many it actually sold, but Atari reported a profit in old business wire press releases for the Lynx every single time the console was included and it was a financial success. To bad Atari put all thier bets on one last home consoles instead of sequel to its portable line-up which was cancelled. Lynx was also capable of polygon games in limited fashion, which was impressive back then, but now those games are "mostly" near unplayable. Though some hybrid games like Stun Runner that uses sprites a flat polygon here works, but generally polygon on a 1989 portable game system hasn't aged well.

Some of The Lynx Games in Action:

The Lynx was a amazing machine with a great library of games and should definitely be added to your collection, especially since it's the only old skool portable that has actually aged well. Lynx 2 is recommended for the nicer hold and slightly better screen.

Darn shame that the cancelled successor was never made, was expected to be a good deal more powerful and cleaner, with the ability to run polygons at a decent speed (unlike Lynx Steel Talons which runs like a slide-show) and you could plug it into the TV. But yeah with 3DO there, and the fact the computers were already in 3D land I can see why they decided to drop a console hybrid when the successor was originally going to launch when the Lynx did. It would be horribly outclassed.

But maybe it could have worked, the SNES and Genesis (mostly the former) managed to stay a float until 95 and there were some decent 2D games on PSX/SAt for another year or so before they went full on 3D.

Anyway crazy how it took 12 years before the Lynx was surpassed.

What the what now? Never heard about such a thing.

 

[nkarafo]

To say STB is more impressive then BL would have to involve some of the most powerful mind degrading drugs ever seen by man as it's just not possible. It also shows the weakness of the Genesis. Almost all similar styled games have similar issues, while nothing comes close to the power shown in BL. Well, outside of those games with the higher-end helper chips, but guess what, the Lynx did this alone. As shown here @ nkarafo has no clue what he's talking about, both in the above articles (he thinks the TE is better than the lynx lol) to the gif comparison above. If anyone is crazy enough to still not believe the different I challenge you to find a ONE native STOCK Genesis scaller game, or first gen memory enhanced Genesis Stock scaller game, that can even tough the amount of sprites and detail on the screen. You won't find it because it's not possible to emulate BL on the Genesis. There's nothing on the console close.


What's more funny about this? Blue Lightning is a 1989 launch game for the Lynx console. ouch.

Sorry, it's you who doesn't know what he is talking about. Comparing the lynx to any other more powerful console because of a few quirks and saying the lynx is better because of said quirks is not an argument.

And linking old magazine articles? Dude, you don't want me to link old magazine articles about how the N64 is as good as a PC with a 3DFX do you? Or how Street Fighter 2 on the Amiga is graphically like the arcade. Most magazines were bullish bait articles 90% of the time. Seriously, i'm going through a ton of them right now and laugh most of the time. Especially the American mags, the UK ones were a bit better but still, lots of bullshit. But i still can't believe the misinformation and bait we had to go through. It's "blast processing" level of crap.

You only care about games with sprite scaling or polygons. YES WE GET IT, the Genesis or the PC Engine can't do that (not via hardware). So what? I told you before but you avoided answering it, the Neo-Geo also doesn't have those abilities either. You say the Lynx supports polygons via hardware and i'll take your word for it. Well, many other more powerful consoles did polygons via software. The 32X and the GBA do their 3D graphics via software. The Genesis has demos that show many more polygons than any Lynx game, via software. The Amiga (which falls between the PCEngine and the Genesis) has amazing flat shaded polygon demos that make the Lynx look like a toy, even though it doesn't have a 3D chip. You know why? Because all these systems are way, WAY more powerful than the Lynx.


And you still claim the Lynx is more powerful because of these quirks, with the same flawed logic it must also be more powerful than the Amiga 500/1200, the 32X, GBA, Neo-Geo, etc. I hope now you realize how idiotic that is.

Again, you take a few quirks the system has that the others don't and claim it's the more powerful system only because of that, while ignoring the abilities of the later completely. Let that sink in.


Also, i thought comparing "Screenshots" wasn't eligible for you? So it's only bad when i do it?

For some reason you dismiss that though due to "Screenshots" which doesn't make sense when one is a portable from 1989.

Anyway, your screenshots look more impressive compared to sprite scale games, mine look more impressive compared to any other game. So who wins?


Oh and the Genesis has better examples than those early arcade ports:

 

[nkarafo]

Also:



^ This is from an actual (cancelled) game. No extra chips involved.



^ Also no extra chips.

You don't need "3D hardware" to produce more polygons than the Lynx. Just a more powerful hardware to brute force them.


Now lets compare those to the "hardware polygons" of Lynx:



^ Ew!



"More powerful" my ass.


Lynx Demoscene can reach better results but still nothing compared to Genesis/Amiga demoscene




Better but not as good as this:




And some stock Amiga 500:

 

[Afro Republican]

Also, i thought comparing "Screenshots" wasn't eligible for you? So it's only bad when i do it?



Anyway, your screenshots look more impressive compared to sprite scale games, mine look more impressive compared to any other game. So who wins?


Oh and the Genesis has better examples than those early arcade ports:

There are no quirks. You're just factually wrong and no tech guy who looks at console in depth will say the Genesis is more powerful.

The "quirks" you're talking about are the main capabilites of both consoles. The Genesis was meant to be a home machine that had scaling capabilities, high sprite support, and able to fill the screening objects. The Lynx beats the Genesis at that.

Also the argument is WHICH IS MORE POWERFUL not your third grade eye candy temper tantrum.

Even your new pic here as all the same problems as Thunderbiade:

1. Flat color gradient on ground.

2. Detailed object focus is mostly center of screen.

3. No 360 degree environment.

4. Not capable of displaying but a limited number of objects on screen, which are those rock objects on the ground. Sky is flat, and it uses a background static image of mountains.

I'm sorry to say but you don't have an argument and never had one
In fact you aren't competent enough to even discuss this issue because you aren't making power comparisons you're only looking at this from a stubborn fanboy lens because you refuse to concede the Lynx is more powerful so default to Bs excuses. It's not just scaling games either, but that's the poor excuse you will desperately make.

The Neo Geo is stronger than the Lynx, even though the Lynx can do things the Neo Geo can't, because the Neo Geo has a lot of raw horsepower allowing for quick animations with large sprites that zoom in and out with high sprite detail. The sprite and hardware tech for manipulation is actually stronger and more capable based on that raw horse power, but the Neo Geo was design limited to specific types of games.

The Genesis doesn't have raw horsepower over the Lynx like that, the Genesis was a cheap affordable compromise when it released. The Lynx graphical architecture is more powerful and you can't find a single stock Genesis game that shows otherwise.

The Facts when comparing Genesis to the Lynx:

1. 360 degree movement with high sprite count= Lynx

2. Amount of sprite objects on screen= Lynx

3. Resolution for game and sprites= Genesis (because it's a TV console)

4. Colors per sprite= Genesis

5. Scaling = Lynx

6. Hardware Rotation = Lynx

7. Real-time sprite size manipulation = Lynx

8. Sprite Warping = Lynx

9. Polygons = Lynx

10. Sprite animation speed = Lynx

11. Parallax Scrolling layers = Lynx

12. Hardware Real-time Sprite swapping = Lynx

13. Unlimited Sprite count as long as memory is there.

Also take note how you ignored those magazine articles above. You clearly are just desperately trying really hard to pretend it's more powerful. Your only argument compares screenshots of a TV screen to a low res outdated portable Lcd. That's literally it.

Just stop. If we have to continue its just going to dismantle you more.

 

[Afro Republican]

Also:



^ This is from an actual (cancelled) game. No extra chips involved.



^ Also no extra chips.

You don't need "3D hardware" to produce more polygons than the Lynx. Just a more powerful hardware to brute force them.


Now lets compare those to the "hardware polygons" of Lynx:



^ Ew!



"More powerful" my ass.


Lynx Demoscene can reach better results but still nothing compared to Genesis/Amiga demoscene




Better but not as good as this:




And some stock Amiga 500:

So you're just going to not only ignore the fact magazines such as the above say that the Lynx out performs the Amiga, but you're going to post a Starfox tech demo that basically has nothing happening on screen, has only a handful of flat Polysgons in one area, and the rest is a green void while chugging?

You really don't have any idea how tech capabilities actually work do you?

But it does say something when you have to already move to tech demos. Sorry man but I'm fairly certain the tech experts know what they are talking about.

 

[nkarafo]

The "quirks" you're talking about are the main capabilites of both consoles. The Genesis was meant to be a home machine that had scaling capabilities, high sprite support, and able to fill the screening objects. The Lynx beats the Genesis at that.

Show me one game with "high sprite support" or one example of "fill the screening objects". Show some examples of these instead of throwing meaningless buzzwords around.

Also the argument is WHICH IS MORE POWERFUL not your third grade eye candy temper tantrum.

And you still haven't showed enough examples to prove this other than one game that shows off sprite scaling in particular (and nothing else).

1. Flat color gradient on ground.

2. Detailed object focus is mostly center of screen.

3. No 360 degree environment.

4. Not capable of displaying but a limited number of objects on screen, which are those rock objects on the ground. Sky is flat, and it uses a background static image of mountains.

Has faster frame rate and pace and also has many more enemies and sprites on screen

I'm sorry to say but you don't have an argument and never had one
In fact you aren't competent enough to even discuss this issue because you aren't making power comparisons you're only looking at this from a stubborn fanboy lens because you refuse to concede the Lynx is more powerful so default to Bs excuses. It's not just scaling games either, but that's the poor excuse you will desperately make.

Fanboy? Is that supposed to be a joke? What am i a fanboy of? All the consoles except the Lynx or something? You are the one who claims the Lynx is the most powerful console over things like the Amiga or Genesis... That makes you the most blinded Lynx fanboy there is. Didn't know there were any but here we are.

The Genesis/Amiga/TG-16 is stronger than the Lynx, even though the Lynx can do things the Genesis/Amiga/TG-16 can't, because the Genesis/Amiga/TG-16 has a lot of raw horsepower

Fixed that for you.

but the Neo Geo was design limited to specific types of games.

Nonsense.

The Genesis doesn't have raw horsepower over the Lynx like that

Yes it does. I proved it to you.

The Facts when comparing Genesis to the Lynx:

1. 360 degree movement with high sprite count= Lynx

2. Amount of sprite objects on screen= Lynx

3. Resolution for game and sprites= Genesis (because it's a TV console)

4. Colors per sprite= Genesis

5. Scaling = Lynx

6. Hardware Rotation = Lynx

7. Real-time sprite size manipulation = Lynx

8. Sprite Warping = Lynx

9. Polygons = Lynx

10. Sprite animation speed = Lynx

11. Parallax Scrolling layers = Lynx

12. Hardware Real-time Sprite swapping = Lynx

13. Unlimited Sprite count as long as memory is there.

You can't prove any of that except the warping/scaling ability.

"Sprite animation speed" really? Show examples, Lynx games don't even have as many animation frames in it's games as the Genesis.

"Polygons" REALLY? I just proved you wrong here with examples, yet you continue to bring it up as if nothing happened.

"Parallax Scrolling layers"... Show examples. Show a game that has more than, say, Thunder Force 4. I will show you at least 10 games on the Genesis that will beat your best example.

"Hardware Real-time Sprite swapping"... buzzwords much? Show examples of these particular capabilities that the Genesis can't do.

"360 degree movement with high sprite count"... That's game dependent. Define "high sprite count".

"Amount of sprite objects on screen"... That's the funniest yet.

"Unlimited Sprite count as long as memory is there"... Too bad that the memory ISN'T there.

Also take note how you ignored those magazine articles above. You clearly are just desperately trying really hard to pretend it's more powerful. Your only argument compares screenshots of a TV screen to a low res outdated portable Lcd. That's literally it.

I just explained to you how old magazines aren't the most reliable source. Some guy wrote that in a magazine and it's the word of god now? I just told you how old magazine articles were bullshit very often, yet you don't care. You have the Internet and you are still stuck with an old magazine OPINION piece, that shows how desperate you are.

Just stop. If we have to continue its just going to dismantle you more.

Dismantle me how?

So you're just going to not only ignore the fact magazines such as the above say that the Lynx out performs the Amiga, but you're going to post a Starfox tech demo that basically has nothing happening on screen, has only a handful of flat Polysgons in one area, and the rest is a green void while chugging?

Are you for real? Show me how the Lynx isn't worse... I just did but no response as always...

Just show me some games that are better than those examples for the Genesis i showed. The first one is from an actual game, not a demo.

These videos don't show the Genesis being a capable 3D graphics machine, I never claimed it's a 3D capable machine. You are the one who claims the Lynx is capable of 3D graphics and i just showed you that even with these poor games the Genesis is better than the Lynx. There's video proof right there, you just ignored it as always. So far you only showed that Blue Lighting looks better than Thunderblade (i won't argue, Thunderblade is a bad looking Genesis game) which proves the Lynx has better sprite scaling, sure, but i proved the Genesis can handle more polygons (and everything else really).

But it does say something when you have to already move to tech demos. Sorry man but I'm fairly certain the tech experts know what they are talking about.

Tech Experts HAHAHAHAHA! Now i know you are trolling me, good job.

It doesn't matter if i show you tech demos or real game examples. I showed you game examples already but you ignore them anyway. You seem to only care about paper specs instead of actual, real life performance. Just buzzwords but no examples to back them up.

 

[FStubbs]

Lynx was a generation ahead of Gameboy, sure. The most powerful handheld when it came out? Absolutely.
But compared to the Genesis? Seriously? We're seriously having this argument?
It should be common sense that a top end handheld in 1989 does not have the capabilities of a top end console in 1989!

 

[nkarafo]

Apparently it is because some magazine journalist said so 30 years ago when both consoles were brand new.

Magazine people don't do wrong. Sure, UK N64 Magazine reviewer also told me that Turok 2 runs very fast without a "smidgen" of slowdown, even in high-res. So it doesn't matter if all copies in the world suffer from some of the most horrible slow down and frame rate issues in the N64 library, even in low-res. Afro Republican will tell you the game runs fast and smooth because magazine person said it. Magazine guy is the god.

Afro Republican
You should make this into a poll, see what everyone else have to say.

 

[Digital Gex]

Both arguments in this thread show what happens when two people who don't know anything about engineering get into a spec argument. It's also very annoying how many times both dismiss the other argument with either "BUT ITS THE GENESIS" or "It can do hardware XYZ" both of those arguments don't educate someone wanting to know more about either machine.

To Say the Genesis is stronger than the Lynx is stupid and the same can be said the other way around. Neither of them are stronger than the other, their designed specifically for certain types of games and then their weaknesses are the other machines strength. To say one is "more powerful" especially with standard hardware is just as ridiculous as those 7800 Vs. NES threads back in the day (though one could argue the 7800 is slightly powerful but that doesn't show in real world use)

For example, the Genesis is clearly a much faster machine, It has a much better CPU, The Lynx doesn't have a fast CPU but has better graphical chips. Both these statements don't mean anything by themselves.

The Lynx can produce a much more detailed experience for scaling as shown with OP's Blue Lightning screens, however notice that those gifs of Thunderblade are much faster? As is NK's gif of Space harrier.

Even if you were to strip Blue Lightning down to be like either Genesis game, the Lynx will never be able to move anywhere near the same speed. While the Genesis is not capable of having as many background sprites on screen at once. This is why those games have less detail overall.

Both have games that are shared that are better on one or the other based on their strengths.

The biggest advantages for each are the following:

• Genesis: Speed, Larger detailed sprites, top-down Scaling.
• Lynx: Quantity of Sprites, 3rd person Scaling, More Hardware for Sprite techniques.

That generation of of gaming is filled with machines that specialize in certain aspects at the expense of others:

The SNK has the best most detailed sprites for that era, it has the memory to allow many more frames for a single sprite, and its image quality can make pre-rendered games like ViewPoint look amazing. But it is strictly a 2D machine.

The SNES has Hardware Mode 7 Scaling and Parallax, and is designed to be expandable to make up for any areas that are lacking.

The Genesis is insanely fast, and takes some tricks from Sega's arcade machines for flashy presentation. It's CPU can also do a good job attempting to imitate hardware features other machines have.

The LYNX produces a large quantity of sprites, has Hardware features for Sprite effects, and had a developer architecture similar to a computer.

The CD-i is the best at Audio and Video Quality which is very good for FMV's, memory management, and has the tech to put out basic First-person style games. But it's 2D game support severely limited, and its sprites are often blurry and not as impressive as the other machines as it was never made to play those types of games.

The ST and Amiga have the tech for full 3D games (granted most of them run like shit), with pretty good 2D support and good memory. But they don't have as impressive sprite technology.

The only machine that really out of the race is the Turbo and that's because it released way to early and has too many limitations (although iirc it can display more colors on screen simultaneously than ALL the machines listed above, but when your pallet is only 512 that does't really mean that much. )

Every other machine basically has an equal amount of drawbacks and strengths. The only debate is which machine is better at what specific category that you are the most interested in as the player:

Do you want 3D effects and cool sprite tricks?
Do you want fast paced arcade action with enemies flying all over with cool presentation?
Do you want a machine that allows developers to add expansions to show off capabilities like Capcoms wireframe effect seen in Mega Man X2?
Do you want a console that is basically arcade perfect with high image quality?
Do you want a CD machine that lets you play First Person games and interactive movies?
Do you want a gaming computer that gives you total flexibility, has some good 2D games, and is capable of fully 3D titles?

That's the only argument that makes sense. The power argument barely works in that generation of gaming machines, so asking "which is the strongest" doesn't really work as it changes based on what the developers or gamers want.

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

Are we really going to have "my games console is better than yours" arguments? Really? Are we, like, nine years old or something?

Hardware doesn't mean anything and never has. Every games console has its strengths and weaknesses, and the only thing that matters in the end is software. Videogames are meant to be played, not argued about.

 

[Digital Gex]

Are we really going to have "my games console is better than yours" arguments? Really? Are we, like, nine years old or something?

Hardware doesn't mean anything and never has. Every games console has its strengths and weaknesses, and the only thing that matters in the end is software. Videogames are meant to be played, not argued about.

Power really doesn't become a thin until the Xbox/GC/PS2, because even the "wikipedia 5th generation" doesn't really have a console truly ahead in power.

The 3DO can't do as many polygons as SAT/PSX/N64 yet had cleaner polygons than all 3 of them, and seems to handle open environments a bit better for action titles specifically. But this is likely the one area where a comparable console is less powerful.

When you get to PSX/N64/SAT:

PSX has the best texture support for 3D games, no vaseline, is capable of more going on in the game world, has Decent 2d.

Saturn is technically faster than the PSX, and while modest in 3D in comparison usually it's 3D is quicker in speed. It's a 2D powerhouse above the other two by a good margin.

N64 has the best 3D tech overall, with high-red models, tons of filtering and other developer techniques for 3D models and worlds by a good margin, but sacrifices Model resolution, textures, speed, and 2D games.

 

[somerset]

The Lynx was yet another example of a console that failed cos its American designed graphics ASIC did all the *wrong* things, and thus made the general code coding problem hard to impossible. A lot of people focus on 'tricks' - especially the *2D" scaled rotated sprite problem that came before true 3D. This gimmick made some games great successes in the arcade on on various consoles- and appeared very hitech- but was fundamentally wrong-headed for the needs of most game designs.

And as many here have pointed out- with arcade ports so important- the Lynx (yet again), having an American design, could not do what japanese graphic ASIC hardware of the time could do with ease. Atari's *last* console finally cracked the problem (was that the little known 7800? or did that have a successor?)- but it was much too late by then.

I don't recall any Lynx game impressing me at the time. It seemed to have the typical library of 'special' games coded just for the console.

Some have pointed out how long it took the Lynx to be 'equalled' in the handheld space- a misleading claim. The Lynx was big, power hungry, and far too expensive to make. Yes it was ahead of its time- but commercially what does that actually imply?

PS 'unlimited' when it comes to a sprite system is *useless* when slowdown and other tech issues kick in if you try to stress the hardware. Any computer system can made to do anything if slowdown happens- big deal. The Lynx games were simple cos that is all the hardware could do well. Scrolling (a memory adressing trick alongside a shift function) is trivial and cost free- but looks great. Most other tricks (parallax with alpha, sprites) bottleneck on the memory. 2D sprite rotation with its random access worst of all.

Forget the scrolling- does your game have tons of sprites and explosion particles and *no slowdown*. Something the Japanese could do in their arcade hardware shortly after Space Invaders.

Of course the Lynx hoped for a lot of games explicitly coded to exploit its unique Graphic gimmicks- rather than ports of popular games that would not. But that's a classic chicken and egg issue.

The insanely successful Gameboy went in the opposite direction. But it shrank the portable experience- and that made all the difference. I didn't care for that either- but is showed the problem was not with support for rotatable, scaleable 2D spirite support, or a handful of faux '3d' polygon sprites.

The USA should have been unending masters of the console biz. All the right pieces were in place (in theory). But wrong-headed graphics ASIC design followed wrong-headed graphic ASIC design (too few lead engineers were doing the design work), and the American console biz crashed. When America returned with the Xbox, it was the age of the GPU- graphics hardware working to industry standard APIs. No more quirky designers with half-baked, game dev unfriendly proprietary graphic hardware.

 

[Afro Republican]

The Lynx was yet another example of a console that failed cos

You go in many threads making long post for the sake of long posts but your information is inaccurate.

The Lynx was a commercial success and sold millions of units, it just wasn't number one and smartly, stopped trying to reach #1 after 1991 because the GB was too far ahead and instead went for a profit model. Something Sega refused to do even though it was also clear to them they would never catch up. Also lack of killer app hurt that as well.

and far too expensive to make. Yes it was ahead of its time- but commercially what does that actually imply?

Not accurate.

Atari's *last* console finally cracked the problem (was that the little known 7800? or did that have a successor?)- but it was much too late by then.

You basically talk about a conspiracy theory about American engineering design being some imaginary problem when its easy to prove japanese hardware had similar engineering and a lot of them used american chips and parts anyway.

Meanwhile you don't even know what Ataris last console is but trashes them and then you name a console that came out BEFORE the Lynx.

 

[SpiceRacz]

The Lynx does some things really well, but I have a really hard time believing it's as or more powerful than the Genesis. There are fucking Master System games that look better than most Lynx games.

 

[Havoc2049]

Are we really going to have "my games console is better than yours" arguments? Really? Are we, like, nine years old or something?

Hardware doesn't mean anything and never has. Every games console has its strengths and weaknesses, and the only thing that matters in the end is software. Videogames are meant to be played, not argued about.

I agree.

The Lynx was a powerful piece of handheld hardware for back in the day and has a bunch of exclusive games. I know the other systems from the day had a few system link games here and there, but the Lynx was unique, especially for back then, in that about half of the library is capable of system link multiplayer, which was REALLY cool for back then. Does the Genesis (or any other console or handheld from the era) have system link 2-8 player air combat, racing, tank combat, car combat, fighting, platformer/action-adventure, sports and action-RPG games like the Lynx does? Both Gauntlet III (Lynx exclusive) and Gauntlet IV (Genesis exclusive) are great games, but in 4-Player Gauntlet IV, I'm stuck on one screen, while in 4-player Gauntlet III, all four players can move around the dungeon independently. Luckily, I have both a Lynx and a Genesis, and can enjoy both games.

BTW, this is my favorite Lynx gif.

 

[Digital Gex]

There are fucking Master System games that look better than most Lynx games.

This is one of the craziest statements I've ever heard. But like I said not many people on here know about engineering.

Like I said above, I think OP is wrong but so is everyone on the opposite site of the argument, the Genesis and Lynx aren't more powerful than the other. Ones strength is the others weakness. The Master system is basically a ColecoVision with a (in 1985) then modern GPU upgrade.

I don't get this thing about having issues with both these consoles being roughly in the same class.

Why does one HAVE to me MORE powerful than the other? I already explained in a nice ling post that almost all the machines of that period where basically equal just focusing on specific types of gamers.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

I loved my Lynx. Great machine with great games

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Are you R. Martinez?

 

[Havoc2049]

No. Why?

Lol

He is a young kid/man boy who passes himself off as as some kind of super knowledgeable Atari Super Fan on Facebook and Twitter. In reality, he is a big poser who cuts and pastes other peoples knowledge and work and passes it off as his own on Facebook and Twitter. I even doubt he owns any Atari consoles or computers.

R. Martinez-Atari Jaguar Super Fan

You’ll love the part in the above article where he admits he doesn’t even currently own an Atari Jaguar. He claims he used to own one, with around 20 games, which is far from a complete collection. Pretty sad for a so called Jaguar “Super Fan”. Then he claims he has some good ideas for new Jaguar games, but he first needs to learn how to code. We all had a good laugh on another forum I post on, that is full of real Jaguar fans and coders.