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[Krejlooc]

S.T.U.N.Runner in general was always one of my favorite arcade games, but it ran on hardware that relied heavily on scaling making it s poor fit to port to either the snes or genesis. As such, its one of those odd games that really necer got a home conversion until the midway arcade treasures collection volume 2 (where it was poorly emulated rather than ported).

Funnily enough, the only system at the time with hardware to do a home port of the game justic was the tiny atari lynx handheld, thanks to its hardware scaling abilities. And man, what a stellar port it is:

Lynx port

Arcade original for comparison

The graphics are really chunky because the lynx has a very low resolution screen, and the entire game is sprite based rather than having polygon elements like the arcade version, but despite those changes the gameplay is rock solid and just as fun as the arcade version.

For those who never played S.T.U.N.Runner in the arcades, it was sort of like a mix of tempest and f-zero. The cabinet itself was a sitdown cockpit that you straddled like hang on, and you piloted a craft in third person perspective. While you race against a clock to checkpoints, you run over stars to increase speed as you race along cylindrical courses that let you drive up and around the walls. Eventually you get power ups like lasers which let you shoot down enemy fighters as they approach.

Aside from the visual presentation, the lynx version retains the voice audio from the arcade version, too, which is pretty impressive for a handheld from 1989. Overall, this is probably the best reason to still own a lynx, seeing as the game really still cant be found elsewhere.

Anyone else play this back in the day?

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Yeah I remember, long long ago now. Lynx was the last great Atari gaming platform for me. I was addicted to Chips Challenge.

 

[Oppo]

i loved stun runner arcade. those controls!

not sure i can go with you on a spite based Lynx port being good though. i mean cmon. the game was an early polygon pioneer like Hard Drivin'.

 

[Krejlooc]

i loved stun runner arcade. those controls!

not sure i can go with you on a spite based Lynx port being good though. i mean cmon. the game was an early polygon pioneer like Hard Drivin'.

Nothing about stun runners gameplay actually takes advantage of the fact that it is rendering polygons, unlike hard drivin. The gameplay of stun runner shares way more in common with super scalar games, which is why the lynx port is so great.

And its really not disputed among anybody who has played the lynx port - its one of the best arcade-to-home ports of its day for any system.

 

[Dreamwriter]

GBA would have been a great system for the game, as in most modes all sprites could be scaled and rotated. DS would have been better of course because you could add polygons to the mix; I'm surprised we never got a DS port.

Of course, they *did* port the game to the ZX Spectrum...

 

[Oppo]

Nothing about stun runners gameplay actually takes advantage of the fact that it is rendering polygons, unlike hard drivin. The gameplay of stun runner shares way more in common with super scalar games, which is why the lynx port is so great.

And its really not disputed among anybody who has played the lynx port - its one of the best arcade-to-home ports of its day for any system.

it came out in the Amiga! really?!

 

[@MUWANdo]

Tengen Japan almost went through with a Mega Drive port, or so I've heard.

 

[Krejlooc]

it came out in the Amiga! really?!

None of the microcomputer ports are any good. The amiga version looks really good in screenshots, but it plays like shit and runs in a framerate in the single digits.

The smooth, fast gameplay is why the lynx version is so good.

 

[Tizoc]

welcome back kreij, please stop getting banned.

This is my first hearing of this game, gonna watch some more vids on it.

 

[Dreamwriter]

it came out in the Amiga! really?!

Amiga version had the most horrid framerate ever

 

[MrCunningham]

Yeah, they are pretty good for the hardware. I actually played this on a real Lynx, even though the game was on a Lynx SD card reader that plugged into the cartridge slot. But then again, the majority of the Atari Lynx ROM's are allowed to be distributed freely, and they are all at Atari Age. I didn't get to play this one back in the day, though. But I could only imaged being blown away by it if I did.

The developer(s?) made good use of the Atari Lynx sprite scaling. Really great showcase of the machine. The sound samples from the original Arcade game are pretty awesome too. Overall, very good title for the system.

I also really liked Battle Wheels for the system. It was a car combat game that used the sprite scaling. You could jump out of your car and run around on foot also, and even highjack enemy cars. Awesome for its day.

Roadblasters also has a great arcade port on the Atari Lynx. Almost spot on, aide from the resolution. But it played smooth and sounded great. I like this one more than the one on the Genesis. And the Genesis had a good port as well.

Hydra is kind of like Roadblasters with a boat. It is hard, but makes heavy use of the Lynx scaling.

 

[Krejlooc]

Stun runner isnt.

 

[MrCunningham]

Stun runner isnt.

Oh, I didn't know that. I guess it makes sense since Warner Bros. might own the IP now. They bought out the Midway catalogue. I think a lot of the other IP's that were published by Atari for the Lynx were sub-licensed so Atari could gain ownership to the version that they made for their console. But only with some licenses.

It is a really good port though. I was lucky enough to live near an arcade that had a real S.T.U.N. Runner machine, and I sunk many quarters into it. The Lynx version was pretty close for an 8 and 16bit hybrid.

 

[Krejlooc]

I used to play STUN Runner when the line to play Afterburner (and later Rad Mobile) was too long.

 

[panda-zebra]

Remember this thread on AA having good info on the game: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/194231-lynx-stun-runner-3d-techniques/

 

[jaypah]

Ah, this game was great. I never played the hand-held version but want to now. This was a go to game in the arcade for me. It was right by the entrance door in the arcade by the Sears at Oakwood Mall in New Orleans. There were 2 arcades in the mall and the one by the food court was always a lot busier so you could waltz into the other one and pretty much play what ever you wanted. I'm rambling lol but damn do I miss those days. I would be so hyped to run across a S.T.U.N. Runner cab these days.

 

[Phediuk]

The Lynx was actually a pretty solid piece of hardware.

But then Atari had to go and make the device fucking huge because focus groups didn't think it felt "meaty" enough.

 

[Krejlooc]

Ah, this game was great. I never played the hand-held version but want to now. This was a go to game in the arcade for me. It was right by the entrance door in the arcade by the Sears at Oakwood Mall in New Orleans. There were 2 arcades in the mall and the one by the food court was always a lot busier so you could waltz into the other one and pretty much play what ever you wanted. I'm rambling lol but damn do I miss those days. I would be so hyped to run across a S.T.U.N. Runner cab these days.

I knew a guy on the Penny-Arcade forums, he was the only other major fan of STUNRunner I knew. We chatted back and forth a lot about the Midway Arcade Treasures collection when we found out STUN Runner was going to be included and were both super disappointed by the emulation (that entire collection had terrible emulation -- Primal Rage, for example, is straight up broken! They never defeated the copy protection, and thus the game is censored and moves are missing).

He wound up being so disappointed by the MAT collection that he actually bought a real-deal STUN Runner cabinet.

The guy was also an enormous blood rayne fan...

 

[Phediuk]

And yeah, Stun Runner was a cool game, part of that first wave of polygonal driving games that started with Namco's Winning Run in Dec 1988:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G01FZUtIMX0

And then continued shortly thereafter with Hard Drivin' (which I believe may have even been in development first):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6JC-HCNcio

 

[MrCunningham]

And yeah, Stun Runner was a cool game, part of that first wave of polygonal driving games that started with Namco's Winning Run in Dec 1988:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G01FZUtIMX0

And then continued shortly thereafter with Hard Drivin' (which I believe may have even been in development first):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6JC-HCNcio

Check out the Air Race prototype that Atari's arcade division had in development back in 1985: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYLCsmNKfE

Pretty sure Air Race was the precursor to STUN Runner.

In 1984 Atari was also working on a polygon arcade game based on the movie "Last Star Fighter". The arcade game was suppose to tie into the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghjjeZpoKLI

Atari was working with polygon 3D back in the early to mid '80s, (they did release I, Robot in 1983) but a lot of this stuff never became commercial because of budget cuts and the hardware just being too expensive to produce.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

And yeah, Stun Runner was a cool game, part of that first wave of polygonal driving games that started with Namco's Winning Run in Dec 1988:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G01FZUtIMX0

And then continued shortly thereafter with Hard Drivin' (which I believe may have even been in development first):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6JC-HCNcio

Holy shit. I remember Hard Drivin', but I've never heard of Winning Run. That game not only looks amazing for the year it was released, with the tunnels, barriers & palm trees it's so obviously a proto Ridge Racer. I had no idea so many of RR's tricks had already been laid down years prior in another Namco game.

 

[Piichan]

This was the only version of the game I ever knew. I don't think I ever beat it, but I remember liking it. I was a bit young at the time.

My household was the only I had ever known of owning a Lynx. We might still have it. Might be worth something.

 

[DigitalDevil]

My LYNX stays under my bathroom sink with Chips Challenge for those.... Lazy bathroom trips

 

[JaseC]

Oh, I didn't know that. I guess it makes sense since Warner Bros. might own the IP now. They bought out the Midway catalogue.

Yeah. That's just some of the IPs WB acquired rather than the full list, to be clear. Apparently, they were processed in batches (e.g. Wheelman belongs to another lot).

 

[Tater]

I still have my Lynx, it was really ahead of its time. My option 1 button is flaky, any good way to fix it?

I thought stun runner was a really good port, but the controls didn't replicate the arcade controls as well I would have liked.

I still think the best two games are Slime World and Zendocon, but Zarlor and Electrocop are close behind.

 

[Krejlooc]

I still have my Lynx, it was really ahead of its time. My option 1 button is flaky, any good way to fix it?

I thought stun runner was a really good port, but the controls didn't replicate the arcade controls as well I would have liked.

I still think the best two games are Slime World and Zendocon, but Zarlor and Electrocop are close behind.

Slime World is alright (really impressive graphics, too), but I feel like Zendocon, Zarlor, and Electrocop are a whole lot like when Jaguar fans point to stuff like Hover Strike or Hyper Force as examples of a game worth playing - they're not flat-out awful or anything, but they aren't really stand-out awesome games. I think the small library makes fans exaggerate the quality of some titles.

My favorite Lynx titles are STUN Runner, Toki, Ninja Gaiden 3, Lemmings, Double Dragon, Mrs. Pac-man, etc. Only problem is that most of those games are better elsewhere -- STUN Runner is really the only thing that is pretty much unique to the Lynx (in that, there aren't a lot of better versions out there).

Lynx is probably my least favorite handheld of all time. But STUN Runner really makes up for it, IMO.

EDIT: Actually, I feel like, if the Lynx and Jaguar somehow had combined libraries, they'd together make for an awesome system. Like a Jaguar port of STUN Runner would have been awesome, or a Lynx port of Tempest 2000.

Together, they both have enough quality titles to make a really good system. Lynx had way better third party support, but the Jaguar has better original games.

 

[woxel1]

I love STUN Runner, had no idea about the handheld port. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Barkley's Justice]

Check out the Air Race prototype that Atari's arcade division had in development back in 1985: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvYLCsmNKfE

Pretty sure Air Race was the precursor to STUN Runner.

In 1984 Atari was also working on a polygon arcade game based on the movie "Last Star Fighter". The arcade game was suppose to tie into the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghjjeZpoKLI

Atari was working with polygon 3D back in the early to mid '80s, (they did release I, Robot in 1983) but a lot of this stuff never became commercial because of budget cuts and the hardware just being too expensive to produce.

These are amazing!

 

[Psamtik. Death's Demise]

I played this port to death as a kid; the Lynx was really something else.

It has the secret-best version of Rampart, too.

 

[Tater]

Slime World is alright (really impressive graphics, too), but I feel like Zendocon, Zarlor, and Electrocop are a whole lot like when Jaguar fans point to stuff like Hover Strike or Hyper Force as examples of a game worth playing - they're not flat-out awful or anything, but they aren't really stand-out awesome games. I think the small library makes fans exaggerate the quality of some titles.

My favorite Lynx titles are STUN Runner, Toki, Ninja Gaiden 3, Lemmings, Double Dragon, Mrs. Pac-man, etc. Only problem is that most of those games are better elsewhere -- STUN Runner is really the only thing that is pretty much unique to the Lynx (in that, there aren't a lot of better versions out there).

Lynx is probably my least favorite handheld of all time. But STUN Runner really makes up for it, IMO.

EDIT: Actually, I feel like, if the Lynx and Jaguar somehow had combined libraries, they'd together make for an awesome system. Like a Jaguar port of STUN Runner would have been awesome, or a Lynx port of Tempest 2000.

Together, they both have enough quality titles to make a really good system. Lynx had way better third party support, but the Jaguar has better original games.

Ok, I'm not on mobile any more, so I can be a little more descriptive, but I don't want to derail your thread:

The Lynx's strength (IMHO) was that it did several things the other handhelds at the time didn't: color, multiplayer, and sheer power compared to other systems at the time.

Slime World with 4+ people was amazing for its time, but that was pretty tough to pull off, given the costs and logistics. Zarlor was also amazing with multiple people.

That being said, I agree with you that the library was pretty lackluster. It soured me on Atari for years after that. I was a fan of some of the quirky titles, but I can't really defend them.

 

[Booya_base]

Great thread - STUN runner is one of my all time favourite arcade games. I'd always see it out in old arcades as the sens of speed was sooo good. Would love to see a 'full graphics' port as I can't imagine playing it on a Lynx.

 

[MrCunningham]

These are amazing!

Yeah, Atari's arcade division was doing some impressive things behind the scenes during the early-mid '80s, it seems. That Air Race demo was being prototyped during the same year that the NES was originally released. It was crazy advanced. I have no idea what kind of hardware they used, but apparently it was expensive and all custom made.

I think Hard Drivin' and STUN Runner were the end result of that. Hard Drivin' was released in 1988, and clearly the hardware that powered that was much much cheaper to produce than what they were prototyping with years earlier. STUN Runner was 1989 and I think it was a re imagining on the Air Race demo.

I'd love to know what other prototypes they were developing behind closed doors that never saw the light of day.

Ok, I'm not on mobile any more, so I can be a little more descriptive, but I don't want to derail your thread:

The Lynx's strength (IMHO) was that it did several things the other handhelds at the time didn't: color, multiplayer, and sheer power compared to other systems at the time.

Slime World with 4+ people was amazing for its time, but that was pretty tough to pull off, given the costs and logistics. Zarlor was also amazing with multiple people.

That being said, I agree with you that the library was pretty lackluster. It soured me on Atari for years after that. I was a fan of some of the quirky titles, but I can't really defend them.

You know, my problem with a lot of Lynx games was that they were geared around multiplayer. The chain link ability that the Lynx (see the clever pun in the name "Lynx"?) was very impressive. But unfortunately, the Lynx user base was so small that multipleyer wasn't really an option for a lot of people, unlike the Game Boy... or even Game Gear to some degree.

Slimeworld is a pretty neat Metroid clone on it's own merits, but eight player co-op sounds amazing. Battle Wheels and Warbirds would have been amazingly fun with multiplayer. Warbirds is an incredible little game with sprite scaling aerial combat. I love that the game has clouds to hide behind for cover, and that you can even stall your airplane engine to make dives. Graphically it looked amazing for 1990 on a handheld. But this game is a bit dull in single player due to the enemy AI. But this would be amazing with four players. Battle Wheels is a simaler concept to Warbirds, but with car combat and the ability to leave your car, which gives it different dynamics. It is alright in single player mode, but I could only image it being much better in multiplayer as it supported six players. Gauntlet was nice on the Lynx too (played in portrait mode), but yet again, it is best with two or four player co-op. Checkered Flag could have also been a really fun 8/16 bit styled racing game with two to six players. Jimmy Connors Tennis also showed a lot of prospect as a multiplayer game as well.

I find that most of the best software for the Lynx was designed around multiplayer. But unfortunately, very people could ever take advantage of that because the system just wasn't popular, so a lot of those multiplayer modes went to waste. I have never played a Lynx in a myltiplayer setting, nor have I ever seen two people with Lynx's in the same area together back in the day. But I used to play two player games on the Game Boy all the time, and I even new a few other people with Game Gears at school for two player games of Columns.

On the single player side, S.T.U.N. Runner was one of the better ones. I also liked Xybots, myself. It was a great port of the arcade game. Chip's Challenge is very underrated. Battlezone 2000 has a crazy hidden game in it that is bigger than the main game. It's weird, but I like it, and Battlezone 2000 also has a good version of the original arcade game. Shadow of the Beast has a really nice port on this machine, it looks great and has such smooth scrolling and even had great music. But there are better versions elsewhere. Ms. Pac-Man is fun, but you could find that anywhere as well. Klax is also a nice puzzle game that plays in portrait mode. It looks great on the Lynx.

I can still find software that I like on the machine. But it didn't have enough great single player games. Shame.

 

[Daniel Thomas MacInnes]

STUN Runner is a technical masterpiece for the Atari Lynx, and if nothing else, it demonstrates the sheer power of the hardware. The 3D graphics simply wouldn't be possible on any other home system of the era. It's astonishing to think that this was directly competing against Nintendo's humble Gameboy.

This game does a sensational job recreating the polygon graphics of the arcade (which were extremely impressive in those heady pre-Virtua Racing days) by rendering all graphics with scaled sprites. The graphics engine of the Lynx enables infinite number of sprites, and no other game demonstrated this as masterfully. What's doubly impressive is how the speed remains so fast and nimble, without and slowdown whatsoever.

D. Scott Williamson did an absolutely smashing job with STUN Runner. He deserves a trophy for this game (and also for Lynx Roadblasters, which he programmed). If you follow the Atari Age link above, you can read his stories (posted in 2012) about this game and how its graphics came together.

If there is one flaw against this game, it's the difficulty. Lynx STUN Runner is a complete cakewalk. You can blaze through all the tracks on your first or second try. You almost have to try to fail on most stages. It's an understandable compromise, given the small screen size, track designs and blazing speed. This game is really a technical showpiece and the ultimate "in your face" to all the other kids who have Gameboys and Game Gears. Heck, you can throw down with Gameboy Advance owners on this one.