August 22, 2019|All Reviews, Retro Reviews
The Atari Lynx is often called the “also ran” handheld of the 1990s, as its sales were absolutely dwarfed by its competitors the Nintendo Gameboy and the Sega Game Gear. Yet the Atari Lynx holds a special place in this old mans heart as it’s the lovable loser I owned in high school, and I have very fond memories of playing Gauntlet 3 and Warbirds until the wee hours with my buddies. But how does it hold up now, years removed from my teenage years? Lets take a look…
The History
The Atari Lynx actually was started by a couple of former Commodore Amiga designers for the software developer Epyx, maker of many hit games such as California, Winter and Summer Games, Jumpman Junior and Impossible Mission. They developed the system and called it the Handy Game, but were running into financial difficulty, and in 1989 reached out to several companies including Nintendo and Sega for partnership, but it was Atari that eventually agreed to help get the Handy Game off the ground. Epyx would have to declare bankruptcy the same year, and Atari took over all aspects of the Handy Game, making a few cosmetic changes and renaming it to the Atari Lynx.
The Atari Lynx was released in October of 1989, just a few months after the Gameboy. It was a powerhouse compared to the relatively anemic Gameboy, and even the Sega Game Gear, which would launch a year later. It boasted a 16 Mhz CMOS chip, running alongside the 4Mhz processor (The MOS 6502). It was capable of scaling graphics years before SNES would introduce Mode 7 to the world, had a backlit colour LCD screen and could be linked with up to 15 other players via the comlynx system (although the only game that got close to supporting that was Todds Adventures in Slime World, which supported up to 8) It also had a flip feature which flipped the display 180 degrees, allowing for left handed gamers to play more comfortably.
So naturally, it must have absolutely destroyed the handheld market, right??
Nope. Despite a strong set of launch titles, and some of the best arcade ports at the time (The Lynx’s version of Stun Runner is still considered the best port of that time), Atari couldn’t drum up any 3rd party software support. Game developers were drawn to the Sega and Nintendo handhelds and the Lynx faded into oblivion in 1995, as Atari released their last home console, the Jaguar. The underwhelming Jaguar would go on to kill Atari, and would be the last console ever made by the former video gaming giant.
The Console
The Lynx came in two flavours, the model 1 and the model 2. The model 1 was the original, released in 1989. It was powered either with 6 AA batteries (of which you would get between 4 and 5 hours of battery life, or with an AC adaptor, which was sold separately. The backlit LCD screen measured 3.5 inches, and a resolution of 160X102 pixels. On the top are the power, headphone (mono sound only) and comlynx ports, along with the volume thumbwheel. Brightness was controlled by a thumbwheel on the bottom and the cartridge slot was hidden behind a door on the left side of the console. On the front, you get a dual set of A and B buttons (both worked at all times, and were like that for flipped display) and a good feeling D-pad, along with controls for flipping the display and pausing.
The Model 2 was released in 1991, and boasted a few changes. The system was about 20 percent shorter (although was a little fatter), had rubber handgrips on the back, now boasted a stereo headphone port and would get an extra hour or so on the batteries. The cartridge slot was now at the top, and the system had a button for turning off the backlighting, which saved batteries while you had your game of Klax paused when your Mom called you for supper!
So, which one is better? I personally prefer the first one, as it just feels better in my bear paws, and I’ve always prefered the D-pad on it. The Model 1 did had chronic problems with paint chipping as seen below.. The Model 2 has the better sound, better battery life and a SLIGHTLY better looking screen…so its still an excellent choice, and is the more common system out there.
The Games
In total, the Lynx had a paltry 76 commercially released games. The VAST majority of these were first party published, but included some fantastic arcade ports. Ninja Gaiden, Road Blasters, Klax, Xybots, Hard Drivin’, Hydra, Rygar and Stun Runners were all fantastic arcade ports and were leaps and bounds above what other systems were spitting out at the time. Shoot em ups like Zarlor Mercenary and Blue Lightning showed off the graphics that the system could push out. They also had some classics like Todd’s Adventures in Slime World, which supported up to 8 players and was a claustrophobic romp though mazes looking for treasure and is an absolute blast to play.
There is also a thriving homebrew market for the Lynx, even today. I didn’t list any of these games as quality seems a wee bit iffy, but a quick Google search shows everything out there.
The Verdict
The Lynx may go down in history as the worst selling major market handheld (Between 1 and 3 million total, depending on which source you believe) but there is a lot of fun in what the Lynx is. Some amazing arcade ports, and a few gems of original games, combined with the hardware itself make for some classic fun. Am I a little biased? Absolutely…the name of the site IS Grumpy Old Gamers after all.
If you can find a good deal on a Lynx (And they generally aren’t too bad in the wild), I’d highly recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of early 1990s arcade hits. And If you do, you’ll definitely want to pick up a AC adaptor as well, lest you run out of juice on the last level of Gauntlet. Not that I’d know that pain, personally or anything…there is a good market for 3rd party ones that you can pick up on the cheap.
Relive a time when Atari was still making good games, and not just licensing out their legacy again and again to the top bidders…although I still hold out hope that they will rise from the ashes again, that systems will again be covered in faux woodgrain, and that joysticks will only have 1 button, because darn it, that’s all you need…
(Atari is actually building a new system, with a suitable amount of woodgrain, for release in 2020….check it out at https://atarivcs.com. I’m currently not holding my breath that it has any hope of not being a dumpster fire, but I really really really hope I’m wrong)
The Grumpy Old Gamers 
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