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The Lynx had not only a backlit color display, but also 16-bit graphics and scaling and rotation functions, usually reserved for arcade boards of the time. It may not seem so crazy today, but it was more than a year before the launch of the Super Nintendo, with its conceptually similar "Mode 7" feature. Keep in mind that SNES was Nintendo's flagship home console, and you'll get an idea of how powerful the Lynx was at the time.
When the Lynx came out, the game landscape was very different from what it is now. Heck, if you had told people when Sony and Microsoft would become the dominant game brands, we would have laughed and nearly knocked over our Jolt Cola. In a sense, the players' crown felt like a winner, despite the dominance of Nintendo and Sega at the time.
Atari was trying his luck with the Lynx. He was in limbo between his rival NES 8-bit, the 7800, and the Jaguar "64-bit" (but also unfortunate). The company was hoping people wanted arcade style classics like Mrs. Pac-Man and Battlezone 2000 on the go and that weird ambidextrous design (you can "flip" the screen and have the d-pad right) would win the players often left-handed. Meanwhile, Nintendo has opted for platform games and pocket puzzles. History tells us that Nintendo did things right. Left-handers are damned.
In a confusing way, Atari would launch a second handheld called … Atari Lynx II, but it was not a sequel; it was more a redesign (a bit like Nintendo's Game Boy Pocket was). The original Lynx had a comic width, which made it a little bulky, even in 1989. The Lynx II was also quite stocky, but at least a little more manageable.
It was not the only thing that Atari had changed during the Lynx's short life span. At launch, the games came on flat cartridges (you could even say "cards", even). They seemed magical at the time, which leaves one wondering where was the real part of the game. But the combination of the strange game slot "trap" of the original Lynx and, I can only assume, weak Juvenile hands meant that removing the cartridges could be tricky. To solve this problem, Atari revised the drawing … twice, to finally fall on a "curved lip" format. It would ultimately have the unintended effect of making these old cartridges easier to collect. If you have a "streaked" copy of Glove hang out, hit me.
But what about games? Well, there is no Mario or Sonic right here. In fact, there are not many platforms (the dominant format for consoles of the time). The closest thing the Lynx had to a "mascot" was probably Scrap dogwhich is surprisingly fun with a lot of hidden secrets to discover, but not the iconic IP that the platform needed.
Where the lynx made the brilliance was arcade conversions. Whether it's classic fighters like Double Dragon, racing games like Runner S.T.U.N or classics like rampageIf you like maceration of pimples, the Lynx has you covered. There were also good ports of titles like The shadow of the beast and original IP addresses like Blue lightning (a afterburning clone). Unfortunately, the Lynx lacked any good role play, though, oddly, The great adventure of Bill and Ted shares a lot of DNA with the kind.
In the end – in my opinion at least – the limited library of games would see the Lynx disappear quite quickly from the new battlefield held in the hand. Which is a shame, because Atari seemed to have exciting plans for it, including a scenario where the Lynx would connect to the Jaguar and function as a controller or a second screen, years before the Nintendo Wii U even. This was never the case, but when the console turns 30, it still has a core of dedicated fans – enough to see a new game appear from time to time.
After Atari abandoned the Lynx in the mid-1990s, some unfinished titles were published. Some of them clearly slapped together at the last minute (as Krazy Ace Miniature Golf), some were shared as playable ROMs (as the Door of the demon) and some remain lost in time – like the unfinished port of Vindicators.
This weekend, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary, Lynx fans could receive up to 10 new homebrew games through a developer contest organized by AtariGamer.com. Some entries seem as fun and deep as anything published at its peak. Thanks to the hard work of dedicated fans (who tend to hang out at the AtariAge) the new titles will be revealed on Sunday 1st September (anniversary date of the Lynx) and will be made available free of charge.
If you feel nostalgic, an occasional Lynx will bring you around 50 USD on eBay. If you dare, you can search for a template listed as "non-functional". The Lynx will not turn on without a game, and many people cleaning their lofts do not know it. So, when they put in batteries and nothing happens, they assume that he is dead and sell it at a low price. I've picked up a few work units this way (and some duds, to be fair). If you feel a little less, there are many online emulators that will perfectly play the new games.
Whatever game wins the competition, it's a testament to the handful of dedicated fans who keep the Lynx alive.
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