Retro Video Gamer

Released by Atari in 1989 the Lynx was actually designed by well known software publishers Epyx and designed by many of the same team as the Atari 8-bit computers and the Commodore Amiga.

It cost a massive (back then) £179.99 with California Games free which was double the price of its only competitor, the Nintendo Gameboy. It was criticised for its large size, 12 inches long, but praised for its superb colour screen and excellent speaker. The funniest thing is that when Atari ran a focus group on the machine before its release the majority of people favoured the large size as they felt they were getting more for their money!

Within a year the price dropped to £129.99 and not long after that the smaller more compact Lynx II was introduced to the market with a retail price of £89.99 without a game. The new model offered stereo sound, rubber handgrips, a better placed card slot (back instead of side), longer battery life and a backlight switch to save power when the machine was paused.

While often considered a failure by many the Lynx managed to sell close to 5 million units worldwide and did especially well in parts of Europe like the UK, Netherlands and France. It's commercial life ended in 1995 as Atari dropped all support to try and bolster its failing Jaguar console.

Due to its hardcore following the machine continued to be supported by Telegames for a further few years and is still being supported by Songbird Productions as well as a number of independent homebrew coders.

The biggest downfall of the Lynx was its lack of game releases but it does feature some of the best arcade conversions available on any console and the best good to bad ratio of any console too. The Lynx hardware was so good that it remained the most powerful handheld on the market from its 1989 debut up until the release of the Gameboy Advance a full 13 years later!

While it used a custom version of the 8-bit 6502 CPU (same as the NES, C64 and PC Engine) running at 4mhz it also featured the following custom chips / abilities:

- A 16-bit blitter chip to speed up math calculations.
- A 4-Channel DAC stereo sound chip called "Mikey" which allowed sampled sound to played on any channel.
- 4096 colours of which 16 could be displayed per scanline with a resolution of 160 x 102
- 64k of RAM with game cards that went up to 512k in ROM size (2 meg is possible)
- The graphics chip "Suzy" was also capable of infinate hardware sprites, hardware scaling, rotation, panning, distortion, hardware scrolling and a frame rate of up to 75 fps.



I have both versions.. Must say i prefer the 1st version even though its bigger.

So there are still new games being made and sold?

Quote from: "zapiy"I have both versions.. Must say i prefer the 1st version even though its bigger.

So there are still new games being made and sold?

Oh yeah, all the time.

Most recent releases from the last year include:



Zaku - By Super Fighter Team



Solitaire Card Games - By Karri



Eye Of The Beholder - TSR Inc / Eric DeLee



Peg Solitaire - Ninjabba



Megapak 1 - Songbird



Hot Dog - Beta Phase Games



Relief Pitcher - Beta Phase Games

Wow that amazing. I need to look into that a lot more.

The Lynx is a great handheld.  It's got some briliant games.  My faves are:

California Games
Checkered Flag
Chips Challenge
Crystal Mines II
Desert Strike
Dracula The Undead
Joust
Klax
Qix
Rampage
Switchblade II
Toki
Todd's Adventures in Slime World
Turbo Sub

I spent hours on Klax and Rampage. Fantastic games

My most favorite handheld console!    I'm looking forward to some of the new releases for this  year.

Nice collection fella, Looked for mine on Sunday.. Pehaps i should show you all a photo of my garages current state lol.

Yeah really nice collection there, when I had mine, i got to around 70 games and most of the accessories and hardware....sniff i no longer own any but one of my favourite boxes was the big flat California Games box which was half the depth of a normal box, which i cant seem to find a picture of on the net!

eye of the beholder looks excellent! I've recently gotten back into the lynx and bought the following games:

Battlewheels
Electrocop
Hydra
Rygar
Todds Adventures in Slime World

Zaku is on the way

I find the lynx to have a far better game library than say the game gear in terms of variety, the games can be long, indepth and challenging where as a lot of Game Gear games are fairly short and basic, I have some photos coming soon so I will show my collection etc... I think I have a post somewhere with my collection already but I need to update it

We were having a great discussion about the Lynx last night in the Retro Gamer chatroom and got onto the discussion about just how good the sound chip was. There certainly wasn't any other machine back in 1990 that could do speech like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8axK_fYC79c (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8axK_fYC79c)

Skip to 2:12 to hear the digitised speech

The Lynx is a remarkable device and it was ahead of its time when it launched.  It is remarkable how poor marketing and support killed what was superior to the GameBoy in almost every way (size may be the only detractor by comparison).  It took years for any other handheld to match the Lynx.

It pains me to think what Nintendo would have achieved with it.. Far more than Atari did, i guess it was a money issue?

Quote from: "zapiy"It pains me to think what Nintendo would have achieved with it.. Far more than Atari did, i guess it was a money issue?

Epyx actually offered the Lynx to Nintendo first and they turned it down 

Pretty much though, yes. Atari just didn't have the money to support it like they could of.

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "zapiy"It pains me to think what Nintendo would have achieved with it.. Far more than Atari did, i guess it was a money issue?

Epyx actually offered the Lynx to Nintendo first and they turned it down 

Pretty much though, yes. Atari just didn't have the money to support it like they could of.

Which is quite unfortunate.  Despite that, it has a nice set of games and many of the homebrews are very good.

It would have been a very different machine had Nintendo got hold of it, lots of shit platformers and RPG's probably.

We certainly never would have got all those fantastic arcade conversions.

Quote from: "The Laird"It would have been a very different machine had Nintendo got hold of it, lots of shit platformers and RPG's probably.

We certainly never would have got all those fantastic arcade conversions.

I'm sure it would have been Mario this, Mario that and just about every platformer they could develop!  I much prefer the current Lynx library. 

I disagree, as much as Nintendo aren't my favourite company, at least they would have marketed it better than Atari did, sure it would have had loads of shitty platformers and RPGs, but with hyperthetical better sales it would have had better 3rd party support like the Gameboy, so yes it would have had loads of arcade ports as well...

Not so sure. Pretty much all the "arcade games" on both the NES and Gameboy are totally different to the original coin-ops and suck because of it.

Yeah but the NES and GB were shite hardware wise, the Lynx as we know was more than capable, so I think there was a better chance at least, of course we shall never know!

For anyone who has never seen it, well heard it would perhaps be a better phrase, here is a video I made of the Dragnet Demo playing on real hardware 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tETPj87J ... e=youtu.be (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tETPj87JTlk&feature=youtu.be)

Very cool!

is it meant to be just music?

Quote from: "Minerals"is it meant to be just music?

Pretty much yes, it was made as a sound demo and bloody amazing quality it is too.

Another impressive demo, this time it's a graphical one though:

Wolfenstein 3D engine!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S4AR1YpRxU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S4AR1YpRxU)

This is a full 3D enviroment with texture mapped walls and a decent frame rate too, certainly shows just how powerful the Lynx is.

poor mans Xybots

Quote from: "Minerals"poor mans Xybots

The Lynx version of Xybots is very impressive but has fixed movement and no textures.

Here is another great demo by somebody else that shows how the Lynx can bitch slap the SNES:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVcbyWj3V5k (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVcbyWj3V5k)

God that takes me back.. great stuff.

That brings memories and, goodness, look at all those video game retailer that no longer exist!

This has to be one of the shittest videos I have ever seen.

I don't even know where to begin with this utter fail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... JxgNfb9OvU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=3JxgNfb9OvU)

Please everyone give this crap the thumbs down it deserves!

The Linux?!  Can't believe he has thousands of likes for this crappy video.

Quote from: "The Laird"This has to be one of the shittest videos I have ever seen.

I don't even know where to begin with this utter fail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... JxgNfb9OvU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=3JxgNfb9OvU)

Please everyone give this crap the thumbs down it deserves!

you are indirectly promoting this video by posting it here..

I've thumbed this dick head down, hasn't a fucking clue what he's talking about..and strange has a case of ADHD this explains why you'd take nothing this fool has to say in the first place as fact or anything worth mentioning..he needs to take a cookie like the rest of ya...

Peace!

Quote from: "Greyfox"..and strange has a case of ADHD this explains why you'd take nothing this fool has to say in the first place as fact or anything worth mentioning....

Hopefully that's not a generalisation of all people with ADHD?

Quote from: "stvd"

Quote from: "Greyfox"..and strange has a case of ADHD this explains why you'd take nothing this fool has to say in the first place as fact or anything worth mentioning....

Hopefully that's not a generalisation of all people with ADHD?

Of course not..no punted intended to other With the condition of ADHD.

That guy seems to be using it as an excuse for being a dick if you read all his comments.

I am not an expert on the Lynx or GameGear! But there is a reason that some of my GG games are still sealed.
They are not that fun to play.

Quote from: "onthinice"I am not an expert on the Lynx or GameGear! But there is a reason that some of my GG games are still sealed.
They are not that fun to play.

Yep. I had a GG plus about 70 games and I sold the lot as I never played on it.

The GG might have 3 times as many games but the Lynx still has more good ones.

I think Sonic ruined it for me. No speed. The first Lynx game I played was Pac Land. I enjoy it on the TG-16 and still like to play on the Lynx.

Quote from: "onthinice"I think Sonic ruined it for me. No speed. The first Lynx game I played was Pac Land. I enjoy it on the TG-16 and still like to play on the Lynx.

Yeah the GG and SMS versions are painfully slow and it ruins a lot of the enjoyment.

I like the TG16 Pac-Land too but the Lynx version controls better for me and it also has more levels!

Plus you can take it on the go and with the big battery add on you can look cool while gaming.

Quote from: "onthinice"Plus you can take it on the go and with the big battery add on you can look cool while gaming. :P

Yep forgot all those.

Very nice Lynx collection The Laird. ;D

Quote from: "onthinice"Yep forgot all those.

Very nice Lynx collection The Laird. ;D

The Lynx is my favourite ever machine, so maybe a little 

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "onthinice"Yep forgot all those.

Very nice Lynx collection The Laird. ;D

The Lynx is my favourite ever machine, so maybe a little  ;) 

Especially for dcultrapro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SbR_454KI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SbR_454KI)

Nice video of AvP for the Lynx.  It truly is a shame this game was never finished because it shows what the Lynx can really do.

It's a great game that's for sure.

That is a nice looking game!

Who wants a Lynx T-Shirt? 

That looks awesome!

I looooove the Lynx, yet I must absolutely defend the Game Gear as well.
The Lynx had his strenghts genre wise, but the Game Gear had his own too.

The Shinobi games are great exclusives, the Sonic- and Disney games are some of the best jump' n runs ever (since they are basically just ports of the great SMS versions), it has nice stuff like Streets of Rage, fighting games like Samurai shodown and Fatal Fury Special, and RPGs like Shining Force Gaiden.

The GG was a GREAT system imo.

The Lynx scored with classic arcade ports and technically impressive stuff; a very unique flavor for the time. But its jump' n runs are not very good, certainly no match for the GGs; no RPGs, and no fighting games either.

Let us let those systems coexist in peace, they are both great in their own right.

BTW, nice collection you have there, Laird. I need to stock up too, some things are finally getting hard to find these days...

I don't like RPG's or Platformers, which obviously affects my judgement!

The Shinobi games, for me, are pretty much the only GG exclusives worth owning.

If anyone likes that T-Shirt design than thank our very own Greyfox, I am thinking of getting some made at some point if enough people are interested.

Quote from: "The Laird"Especially for dcultrapro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SbR_454KI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SbR_454KI)

awesome, that actually looks pretty good! Whats the version you said you bought like? I mean is it quite playable? I don't suppose you can finish it huh

Quote from: "dcultrapro"

Quote from: "The Laird"Especially for dcultrapro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SbR_454KI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-SbR_454KI)

awesome, that actually looks pretty good! Whats the version you said you bought like? I mean is it quite playable? I don't suppose you can finish it huh

Same as that version. You can't finish it - I would say the prototype is about 50% complete

Okay so I've decided it's time I get serious about picking up a Lynx. Starting to feel like an outcast around here without one! LOL
Just have a couple questions for the experts here,
For one which is the better model to get of the two?
Also I'm wondering about the screen and how much nicks and scratches show up while playing a game. I would prefer to get one that has a perfect screen on it but they can be a little pricey where as the ones that have a little wear on them are much cheaper.
I'm pretty picky but I don't want to pay a fortune for one either.
Thanks for any help guys.

I have the Lynx II and I've never tried a Lynx I, however, one of the things I like about the Lynx II is that the cartridge slot is on the back and it is open so you have no problem inserting any type of cartridge for the system.  Many of the homebrew games have exposed circuit boards that make it difficult to get them into the slot of the Lynx I because of the door on it.  It is my understanding also that the Lynx II has better battery life than the Lynx I. 

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"Okay so I've decided it's time I get serious about picking up a Lynx. Starting to feel like an outcast around here without one! LOL
Just have a couple questions for the experts here,
For one which is the better model to get of the two?
Also I'm wondering about the screen and how much nicks and scratches show up while playing a game. I would prefer to get one that has a perfect screen on it but they can be a little pricey where as the ones that have a little wear on them are much cheaper.
I'm pretty picky but I don't want to pay a fortune for one either.
Thanks for any help guys.

Good man! For me the Lynx is the best machine out there!

Personally I prefer the Lynx II for a number of reasons: it has stereo sound, nicer to hold, smaller, better battery life and also the cart slot is in a better place. It can be very hard to both put in and take out homebrew games on the original Lynx  because they are often on PCB and the cover gets in the way.

Advantages of the first model are the glass covered screen (doesn't get scratched easily), louder speaker and a slightly nicer joypad (well the 8-way circle version anyway).

Although the Lynx II has a plastic screen cover that is easy to scratch it can be removed really easily to either replace it or just blow out the dust - very useful!

To be honest though once the Lynx is turned on the backlight is so good that most scratches barely notice.

Thanks guys, sounds like the Lynx II is the way to go.
Also good to know about the bright screen, I still want one in good condition but I can ignore a couple nicks if the price is right.
I'll let you know when I find one.

I prefer the original version from a nostalgia point of view. It's the real Lynx lol. But like the others you are better of getting the Lynx II. For the reasons already mentioned.

just seen the review of Eye of the Beholder on Lynx here and wondered about it. the cart is larger than normal, does it work with the Lynx model 2?? Laird have you got this? I'll have to have a look next time I see you, looks great

Quote from: "dcultrapro"just seen the review of Eye of the Beholder on Lynx here and wondered about it. the cart is larger than normal, does it work with the Lynx model 2?? Laird have you got this? I'll have to have a look next time I see you, looks great

I don't have it but I played somebody elses copy at a show. All Lynx games work on all models, its only the Lynx 1 that has a problem with some protos/repros/homebrews due to the card slot door.

hmmm... ok that's what I thought. I just thought that the Eye of the Beholder cart appeared to have chips attached to the back that were too low down to allow it to insert correctly... would love to see it one day. was it any good?

Its an RPG an Laird gave it a 9 so it must be F'N amazing! Lol
Maybe it got bonus points for being on the Lynx. 

thats more than likely what it is lol

The extra chip is an eeprom so you can save your game. This was the original reason Atari didn't release it - because of the cost of adding battery back up to the game. Yes they really were that stingy!

I have it and I can assure you that it works just fine on a Lynx II.  The Lynx I may be another issue because of the door. 

cool.... was it very expensive to get a copy? if you don't mind me asking that is

If I'm remember correctly, it was about $75 to get it. 

nice... oh I just saw this article via Raptr and thought I'd share it, apologies if its been posted before

http://obsoletegamer.com/the-atari-lynx/ (http://obsoletegamer.com/the-atari-lynx/)

I don't remember seeing it posted here before.  Thanks!

Yeah that's a good article. I bought a Lynx 2 and some games on ebay last week , just waiting for them show up in the mail. Really hope they get here tomorrow so I can play them this weekend.

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"Yeah that's a good article. I bought a Lynx 2 and some games on ebay last week , just waiting for them show up in the mail. Really hope they get here tomorrow so I can play them this weekend. 8)

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"Yeah that's a good article. I bought a Lynx 2 and some games on ebay last week , just waiting for them show up in the mail. Really hope they get here tomorrow so I can play them this weekend. ;)

Well I have a Jag and a pet cat so all that's missing is a Lynx lol

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"Well I have a Jag and a pet cat so all that's missing is a Lynx lol

nice welcome to the fold! What games did you get with it?

Quote from: "dcultrapro"nice welcome to the fold! What games did you get with it?

It's coming with Kung Food, Batman Returns, Block Out, Power Factor, Dirty Larry, Xybots, and Tournament Cyberball. Got all them and the system for $50.00 shipped so thought that was a pretty good deal.

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"

Quote from: "dcultrapro"nice welcome to the fold! What games did you get with it?

It's coming with Kung Food, Batman Returns, Block Out, Power Factor, Dirty Larry, Xybots, and Tournament Cyberball. Got all them and the system for $50.00 shipped so thought that was a pretty good deal.

That is a bloody excellent deal! Great score!!!

Xybots is the star game there, we had great fun playing that on ComLynx at Retrovision

shit that is a brilliant deal, $50 is like £38 or something right? wow bargain

Quote from: "dcultrapro"shit that is a brilliant deal, $50 is like £38 or something right? wow bargain

Probably less, last time I bought from the US (when I got Blackout!) it was £1 = $1.65

The seller took a really close up picture of the Lynx with a really bright flash making it impossible to tell what the condition of the screen was. They said it was in good condition but the fact that you couldn't tell scared people off I guess so I was the only bidder. Guess I'll see when I get it but I figured for that price I would take a chance. Even if it's not in great condition and I end up buying another one for the 7 games alone at that price that's only $7.00 a game.

My Lynx showed up!!!!  My gamble on the condition totally paid off. It's near mint, looks like it's hardly been used. So my first impression is my god this thing is huge!  Did Atari not know what portable means? lol
Tried out a couple of the games quickly to test it and I'm very impressed so far. Really happy with my purchase!

Quote from: "Shadowrunner"My Lynx showed up!!!!  My gamble on the condition totally paid off. It's near mint, looks like it's hardly been used. So my first impression is my god this thing is huge!  Did Atari not know what portable means? lol
Tried out a couple of the games quickly to test it and I'm very impressed so far. Really happy with my purchase! :- Same size as a Game Gear but far more powerful

Glad to hear the condition is great though, makes it an even better deal.

Sorry, Lynx II.  Yeah I guess it is close to the Game Gear but I haven't played one of those in years. Most of my handheld gaming has been with Nintendo and compared to them this is giant. Not that that's a bad thing, seems like a well built system and the graphics are amazing compared to the old Nintendo and Sega handhelds.

speaking of the size of the Lynx, did anyone see that vid I uploaded? theres a proper funny/stupid moment where the cool kid with denim clothes pulls the lynx out of the inside of his pocket, QUALITY!! Like it would fit in ANY pocket

Quote from: "dcultrapro"speaking of the size of the Lynx, did anyone see that vid I uploaded? theres a proper funny/stupid moment where the cool kid with denim clothes pulls the lynx out of the inside of his pocket, QUALITY!! Like it would fit in ANY pocket

It fitted in the pocket of my school blazer!

heh... I can actually remember having a denim jacket that had insides behind the pocket bits that could fit a VHS case so it probably could've fit in there... great days lol

So all the homies I see on the streets with baggy pants, trying to act cool really are because they have a Lynx in the back pocket making their pants fall down. Wow!  They really are cool!

I actually bought some trousers like MC Hammers so the Lynx would fit in the pockets 

Quote from: "dougtitchmarsh"I actually bought some trousers like MC Hammers so the Lynx would fit in the pockets 

LMFAO.. That would have been a sight and half..

LOL!

For those who don't already have it here is a link to download the brilliant Atari Lynx tips & cheats book:

http://www.digitpress.com/library/books ... t_book.pdf (http://www.digitpress.com/library/books/book_atari_lynx_hint_book.pdf)

Cool, thanks!

Thought I'd post a pic of my Lynx stuff today as I just retrieved it from the garage and put it all in one box.

Cool.  What's in the black box with the orange marking?

Ignore that, it's for GBA 

Quote from: "dougtitchmarsh"Ignore that, it's for GBA 

LOL OK.  I kept wondering what Lynx item came in that kind of box! 

Nice! How many box variations with games? Anyone know?

Quote from: "onthinice"Nice! How many box variations with games? Anyone know?

Excluding 3rd party titles there are 3

The original design with the Lynx logo at the top and side panel, the standard design with the border and Lynx logo at the bottom and the limited edition big boxes.

Thanks Laird!

A little look at one of the Lynx spreads in the new Atari bookazine from Retro Gamer:

Stop it lol, i will go and buy it tomorrow lol...

That looks nice!  Can't wait to get mine! 

Quote from: "TrekMD"That looks nice!  Can't wait to get mine! 

I have it here amigo so it will be in the mail very soon!

Dubchaser (who is a member here) just uploaded this great video of the amazingly impressive Alpine Games for the Lynx (dunno why he didn't post it here himself), anyway enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZbmrZl_RhA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZbmrZl_RhA)

Definitely an impressive title for the little cat!

Agree! A good sport choice that translates nicely to the Lynx.

Check this out guys!

I have had a comment made on my Electrocop music video from the actual guy who did the music, Bob Viera!!!!! 

Quote from: "The Laird"Check this out guys!

I have had a comment made on my Electrocop music video from the actual guy who did the music, Bob Viera!!!!! 

NICE!

Quote from: "The Laird"Check this out guys!

I have had a comment made on my Electrocop music video from the actual guy who did the music, Bob Viera!!!!! 

Awesome!

Congrats Laird!

Video of the Simpsons Demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uJ1uWTrO0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9uJ1uWTrO0)

Cool to hear the digitized sounds.  Would have loved to have seen a game of the Simpsons for the Lynx, though! 

I saw Nimtene on AA selling these and I did think about it but decided to pass. Glad I did as there doesn't seem to be much to it.

Quote from: "The Laird"I saw Nimtene on AA selling these and I did think about it but decided to pass. Glad I did as there doesn't seem to be much to it.

I would have purchased a game.  This thing, not really. 

Clever stuff though,..

Top 10 games as chosen by a few of you all.. In no particular order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GbSm3ofWaw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GbSm3ofWaw)

Good video Zap, many of my favourites there!

Cheers.

I love doing them when I get the time. Lemmings is a good port I think as well.

Thanks for the video Zapiy!!!!

Wolfenstein 3D finally coming to the Lynx?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... OvxXpmIt6M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SOvxXpmIt6M)

 

Any time frame?

Quote from: "onthinice"Any time frame?

Nope, 108 Stars (who is a member here) is helping him with the graphics

Now that's impressive! 

I know it is asking too much, but if they could give you the original as a bonus that would be the icing on the cake

Bloody awesome news.

That's very good, nice graphics on the gun and hand, though shame it's not full screen, one to keep an eye on.

A couple of screenshots for you too:

   

Impressed! but bit hard to make out just what your shooting at, plus no audio as of yet? wonder if performance can be maintained for final product.

Nice one cheers.

Wolfenstein on the Lynx is looking prime! 

I have been playing my way through loads of interesting Lynx demos tonight . . . .





   



   



   

Those all look pretty good.  How far into development are these?

Most of them are incredibly simple and pretty much just one screen.

Para Lemi (4th game) is kind of playable but a long way off being finished.

Marble Madness is actually very playable, it just lacks sound and a bit of polish.

Dungeon is fun to play around with, it's just a graphics demo really.

There is some more stuff too, I can send you the whole Zip file if you like 

Quote from: "The Laird"There is some more stuff too, I can send you the whole Zip file if you like 

That'd be cool!  Thanks!

Look good Laird, good to see the Lynx still getting some love with new projects.

Wow! Those look really amazing!

Great to see this stuff.. Cheers

Jaz Rignal reviewed a batch of Lynx releases for a double-pager in C+VG:

Klax 93%
Road Blasters 76%
Slime World 90%
Xenophobe 79%
Ms Pacman 79%

Quote from: "Rogue Trooper"Jaz Rignal reviewed a batch of Lynx releases for a double-pager in C+VG:

Klax 93%
Road Blasters 76%
Slime World 90%
Xenophobe 79%
Ms Pacman 79%

I have always thought Jazz Rignall was a dickhead and that confirms it, those scores for Xenophobe and Road Blasters are way too low.

Even for Ms. Pac-Man that score is too low. 

Quote from: "TrekMD"Even for Ms. Pac-Man that's score is too low.

Interesting as always to get feedback from 'we' gamers on how we feel games were rated back in the day, got a few more misc scores to post tonight.Keep the comments coming.

Thanks Laird! Really great scans!!!!

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "Rogue Trooper"Jaz Rignal reviewed a batch of Lynx releases for a double-pager in C+VG:

Klax 93%
Road Blasters 76%
Slime World 90%
Xenophobe 79%
Ms Pacman 79%

I have always thought Jazz Rignall was a dickhead and that confirms it, those scores for Xenophobe and Road Blasters are way too low.

That's the beauty of reviews they are one persons opinion and therefore rarely put much faith in any review until I play the game for myself. Reviews are guides.

Here are a couple of very rare magazine adverts for 3rd party Lynx games!!!!

Loving that Robotron 2084 ad'. 

The Official Seal of Quality was something that Atari only implemented for the Lynx, that I can recall.

Quote from: "TrekMD"The Official Seal of Quality was something that Atari only implemented for the Lynx, that I can recall.

Seeing the quality of many of Atari's Jaguar-games, it was a wise decision to leave it away there.^^

Quote from: "108 Stars"

Quote from: "TrekMD"The Official Seal of Quality was something that Atari only implemented for the Lynx, that I can recall.

Seeing the quality of many of Atari's Jaguar-games, it was a wise decision to leave it away there.^^

 

So, who of you is planning to get a nice screen mod for his Lynx this summer?

What do you mean fella?

I mean that AtariAge user candle, who supposedly has done quite a bit of Atari-8-bit-hardware stuff has finally managed (within a few months including breaks) what has been said to be near impossibe in the past: he can replace the old screens of the Lynx with crisp, modern LCDs.

The prototypes will arrive soon and be put in homebrewers hands to test. Probably sometime next month a pre order list will be made for those who want an upgrade kit.

The upgrade kit features the new screen for the Lynx II (no model 1 sadly, because it would not fit in the case or something), VGA and RGB out (so you can play Lynx on monitors and TV) and a joypad connection for either Mega Drive/Genesis or SNES pads.

That's two dreams come true at once: new LCDs, because let's face it, they were good for the time but are long outdated, and a connection to the big screen which had cost Atari thousands of dollars and where people in the past failed to make an affordable version for gamers.

The Lynx is getting a luxury overhaul and will shine like never before soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... wM0Fwnz24# (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2xwM0Fwnz24#)!

(//http)

Damn, that sounds fantastic!  I may get a second Lynx just to do this!

It sure does!

The crisp graphics, more vivid colours and total lack of screen blurring looked superb.

Any info' on the battery life as I presume said modern screen likely consumes less power than Lynx II's screen?

That looks bloody awesome. Any idea on prices yet?

Does it affect battery life? Has anyone ever attempted a lithium battery for the Lynx? 

It is a very smart idea but a couple of thoughts.
 
The power supply could be a drawback for a bigger screen hook-up.
The Xbox 360 controller might be a better hook up so any chance of a USB instead?
HDMI in the future?

Can you not just emulate the Lynx on a 360/PSIII and have a better controller & 1080p?

Thanks for any answers!

Quote from: "onthinice"Does it affect battery life? Has anyone ever attempted a lithium battery for the Lynx? 

It is a very smart idea but a couple of thoughts.
 
The power supply could be a drawback for a bigger screen hook-up.

To the best of my knowledge modern screens are far more energy efficient than the LCD panels of old. Hence the question in my previous post.

I read the responses but wanted to add the importance of battery life.

I was not trying to be obtuse. Picturing sitting on a couch playing on a big screen with a power chord draped across the floor, makes a better battery a must. There still are concerns over the boards power usage even with a better screen.

I thought these newer LCD screens run hotter. Will that cause internal problems with a sealed Lynx? Could overheating be a factor?

Guess you could gut it and call it a Lynx III or Puma and start from scratch.

Now if somebody would just build a Lynx FPGA with most of the Lynx consolidated into one chip we could build a whole host of new machines!  :5:

Quote from: "The Laird"A man can dream can't he? 

[align=center:1yxh91mc][/align:1yxh91mc]

The plane, the plane

LOL

About your questions...

I am not candle, I have just been following the thread on AA. Without reading it all again I don't recall any concerns about overheating or battery life. In fact battery life should rather improve thanks to lower power consumption of modern displays.

The Mega Drive (6-button-version)/SNES pads were chosen because they are both popular and cheap, work via plug'n play, yet have enough buttons for the Lynx.
Stuff like PS3 or Xbox 360 pads wouldn't work, that modern stuff requires driver software etc, which would in turn require more stuff put into the kit (and more work for candle). We all want the price to be reasonable I believe. :)

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/202796 ... e__st__200 (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/202796-lynx-to-vga/page__st__200)

Thanks 108 Stars! You peaked my interest and I just wanted to know more.

So now would be a good time to invest in Lynx II models. I hear cash register clings as prices are already climbing

Thanks for the detailed explanation, 108 Stars. 

By coincidence I was wondering if there may potentially be something such as 'tricks' used by Lynx games devs to exploit the nature of its screen so I found it interesting to read of that particular limitation to using this modern screen.

I thought the quote below was great news for those not wanting to dabble with a soldering iron,

Quote from: "108 Stars"... you just need two screwdrivers to do the mod.

Finally, I'm also wondering about the vividness of colours in certain games when displayed on a modern screen such as this. I suspect that some Lynx games devs carefully chose the palet combination of colours they did with the console's screen in mind.

For example, choosing a vivid green colour for Lemmings that'd look too garish displayed on the Amiga dev system's monitor but looks fine on Lynx's screen. The greys of Chip's Challenge looked fine though. Maybe it's needless worrying on my part but I hope you appreciate the point I'm trying to make.

For those who like little and short games here is a short presentation of : The castle of Khon-gis !!!

It is the game coded by Fadest (Yastuna Vol 1 & 2) for the AC 2013. THe objective of the coding was to create a Baroudeur like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLa0ohRl6ms (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLa0ohRl6ms)

You will have to get throufg three to five level to end the game.

Here is the links to the roms
http://www.mirari.fr/lFTH (http://www.mirari.fr/lFTH)
http://www.mirari.fr/o2YI (http://www.mirari.fr/o2YI)

Fadest gave those link himslef on the following thread. Enjoy
http://www.yaronet.com/posts.php?sl=172&s=155622 (http://www.yaronet.com/posts.php?sl=172&s=155622)

I downloaded that other day but havn't had the chance to give it a try yet, I will do a review of it when I have 

Quote from: "DreamcastRIP"Maybe it's needless worrying on my part but I hope you appreciate the point I'm trying to make.

Absolutely, you make a valid point.
I also usually pick very rich, contrastful colors because of the original screen's flaws. So in that regard you may find some games to be somewhat too strong in their color palette when you have the new screen installed. I remember a similar problem from the GBA, where the first GBA model had no backlight so developers made the colors stronger to be more visible; which looked not so good on later backlit models etc. Some games like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance even had the option topick between two palettes, a rich one suited for dark screens and a more subtle one for backlit screens.

So I guess we will have to see from case to case. Sadly there is no perfect solution, it's either live with the old screen or take the new one ad risk other problems. I'd pick the new screen any day personally, the old one really is hard to see, and to be honest... it won't live forever. eventually, the old screens will die. And looking at the photo with the crisp title screen of Rampage on the new LCD next to the old Lynx screen the benefits far outweigh the risks for me. :(

Quote from: "108 Stars"... But surely not everyone will have two Lynxes. :o

(a Lynx with the circular rocker-style d-pad, a Lynx with the crosshair-style d-pad, a Lynx II and a second Lynx II that's BNIB never been used)

I far prefer Lynx to Lynx II and prefer the circular rocker-style d-pad mostly because I find it easier to rack up high scores playing the sublime surfing stage of California Games.

You've covered the point I raised excellently. Yep, based on the Youtube video (not a guarantee then) some games (Chip's Challenge and Rampage) look fantastic on this new screen whereas others such as Lemmings looked far too garish to me. Having a standard non-modified Lynx/Lynx II and a modified Lynx II covers all bases as you say.

It'll be on game by game basis as to which screen individuals prefer most. Some games may, for some people's tastes, look too pixelated on the modern screen too. Kinda like playing some Mega Drive games displayed on a large screen LCD HDTV does but in a less exaggerated form, if that makes sense.

All in all though this is VERY welcome development and I'm delighted.

Surely you are from the UK.  Because that's probably the only place on earth where Lynx units are so common they can be found dirt cheap and people often seem to have multiple units.^^

In Germany the Lynx is somewhat rare. Not in high demand either, but there's not a lot of them around, and a friend of mine just searched two months until he finally got one from France with missing battery lid for 57 Euro shipped. That's almost 50 GBP, and the cheapest offer he had in 2 months.

Quote from: "108 Stars"Surely you are from the UK.  Because that's probably the only place on earth where Lynx units are so common they can be found dirt cheap and people often seem to have multiple units.^^

In Germany the Lynx is somewhat rare. Not in high demand either, but there's not a lot of them around, and a friend of mine just searched two months until he finally got one from France with missing battery lid for 57 Euro shipped. That's almost 50 GBP, and the cheapest offer he had in 2 months.

I wouldn't say they are that cheap, about £30+ for a working one usually.

I have 2, one of each but I will buy a Lynx II with a broken screen for this mod, plenty of those on eBay for cheap.

Well, let's put it like this: 30 GBP is still half of the price you have to pay around here.^^
It's all relative.

Quote from: "108 Stars"Surely you are from the UK.  Because that's probably the only place on earth where Lynx units are so common they can be found dirt cheap and people often seem to have multiple units.^^

In Germany the Lynx is somewhat rare. Not in high demand either, but there's not a lot of them around, and a friend of mine just searched two months until he finally got one from France with missing battery lid for 57 Euro shipped. That's almost 50 GBP, and the cheapest offer he had in 2 months.

I was most pleased with scoring one of my original model Lynx units. I 'won' it on eBay and although the console was without the box it looked in decent condition from the  so-so quality photos. When it arrived in the post I was amazed to discover that it looked VERY nearly brand new like it had almost never been used. No scratches or even the slightest of scuff marks on the screen or cartridge bay. It only cost me about £20 shipped too. That was a good day! 

Any idea for why Lynx wasn't as successful in Germany as it was here in the UK? After all, the ST was big in Germany, afaik, like it was in the UK.

I am not entirely sure, but I was surprised to learn how successful it was in the UK...

All I can say is that there was very little advertising. I remember one TV spot airing for a few weeks for the Lynx II. Only one deparment store near me had the Lynx stocked for a while. In magazines there were no print ads and barely any reviews, and if there were reviews they had mediocre or bad scores. I think no Lynx game ever reached an 80/100 here.
German magazines always had the tendency to rate lower than UK mags, but the Lynx stuff was constantly pretty low. Arcades were not accessible to kids around here, so they were dark, smokey holes with one-armed bandits next to video games. Very low profile, so the arcade ports did not give the Lynx any extra sympathy; nobody knew those games.

It's all just guessing, but in the end I can honestly say that no kid I knew ever had a Lynx or ever mentioned it. Many had GBs, some had GGs, but no Lynx. The first time in my life that I saw a real Lynx running a game was in 2009.

By coincidence I think Darryl Still inadvertently answered my question to you here in one of his responses to your questions to him in the recently published interview here on RVG. It seems Atari Germany were more focused on the computer range rather than on projecting the Atari brand as being about games.

How cool are these??? 



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classic-Retro-Atari-Lynx-Hard-Plastic-iPhone-Android-Cases-/151132376228?roken=tqhcRo (//http)

Very cool!

Check out this amazing custom paint job:





http://custom-art.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/custom-lynx-batman-returns.html (//http)

Look out!  It's the BatLynx!

I am thinking about painting my red Lynx again and doing something special..

Quote from: "zapiy"I am thinking about painting my red Lynx again and doing something special..

What do you have in mind? 

Not sure, something creative but fitting..

Cool!  Do show us your results. 

[align=center:191pu02c]A LYNX TO THE PAST!!! PLUS A BONUS BORING RANT!!! (//http)[/align:191pu02c]

Nice video.  It does show the capabilities of the Lynx.   

Quote from: "TrekMD"Nice video.  It does show the capabilities of the Lynx. 

I like the video but I can't believe he butchered that screen like that when all he had to do was unclip it and take it off!

Well, there's the easy way or the hard way.  He chose the hard way and butchered the screen in the process. 

[align=center:23w6hvn7]Left Over Culture looks at some Lynx games:

Robotron 2084 (Atari Lynx) - Leftover Culture Review (//http)

Battlewheels (Atari Lynx) - Leftover Culture Review (//http)

Ninja Gaiden (Atari Lynx) - Leftover Culture Game Review (//http)[/align:23w6hvn7]

Another great set of videos.  Interesting how he not just focuses on the Lynx but does bring up the Jaguar and even the GameBoy at times. 

great vids

Hope this ones not been posted.

20 Games That Defined the Atari Lynx (//http)

It may have been but I don't feel like checking 8 pages of posts to find out.  LOL  It's a cool video with a nice set of games. 

That's what I thought also lol.

[align=center:12l26wzj]Some new videos by our very own Lorfarius

Switchblade 2 - Atari Lynx (//http)

Ninja Gaiden - Atari Lynx (//http)

Klax - Atari Lynx (//http)

STUN Runner (//http)

Chips Challenge - Atari Lynx (//http)[/align:12l26wzj]

Does anyone have one of the original carrying bags for their Atari Lynx?  I have one of these.  I double up the carts, though.  Here is a review by CGR!

[align=center:1izu4hfk]Classic Game Room - ATARI LYNX CARRYING CASE review (//http)[/align:1izu4hfk]

You sure can get a lot in them! 

Yep I have one of those too, and I  keep my entire Lynx collection in it, other than the game boxes of course. It's stuffed much like the picture above.

Looks like that is what we all do!  Cram them in there!  LOL

I'm exactly the same, mash it all in!



The bag would be perfect if the front had a zip and pocket, could fit the lot in one place!

Did a rambling vid about my collection earlier, really coming along now

Atari Lynx Collection Update (//http)

Good stuff mate, collection is coming along nicely!!!

Would love to see you do some more videos of games  :8:

I'll start doing a lot more now I've got the JXD pad as well.  Thinking of getting a new camera soon the quality on this isn't really the best (it claims to be 1080p on the box!). First I thought it was lighting but I had curtains open, main light, 2 desk lamps and a side light switched on. Hasn't made much difference!

Nice article about the Lynx from the folks at Austretrogamer:  Celebrating the Atari Lynx (//http).

[align=center:2bx4fn8p]OK, now this is an Atari Lynx collection!

Atari lynx Collection (//http)[/align:2bx4fn8p]

Had my Lynx out today, would not power up at first but thankfully it was just a dodgy adapter connection.

Got around to playing some of my pickups from late last year lol. :21:

Awesome!  What games did you play?

Dracula and some of my old fav, California Games lol

Quote from: "TrekMD"[align=center:wanhxmtu]OK, now this is an Atari Lynx collection!

Atari lynx Collection (//http)[/align:wanhxmtu]

I missed this, oh well it's only a year later
Wow, very impressive collection!

Quote from: "zapiy"Dracula and some of my old fav, California Games lol :21:
Wow, very impressive collection!

Better late than never! 

Lol i missed that video also, what a Lynx collection.

Here is something really cool for the Lynx.  This is a new demo that was presented at the Nordlicht 2016 party.  This was posted by Heaven/TQA over at Atari Age.  Enjoy!

Quote from: TrekMD on July 08, 2016, 00:48:57 AM
Here is something really cool for the Lynx.  This is a new demo that was presented at the Nordlicht 2016 party.  This was posted by Heaven/TQA over at Atari Age.  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/kQps7UpjzvA

Cool demo and very impressive.

Got to love the demo scene, now the Lynx gets some love.

Impressive demo! Reminds me of old Amiga demos, and being related to the Amiga it's easy to see why!

Yes, it is indeed really cool.  I need to download the binary to see if I can run it using the Lynx SD Cart!

Just read this Blog post from The Grand Emperor's Retro Video Gaming Blog on the Atari Lynx and wanted to share it.  I think he did better on this one than on the Jaguar one:  System Saturdays - Getting to Know the Atari Lynx (http://retrovideogamingblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/system-saturdays-getting-to-know-atari.html).  :)

Here is a new video review of the Lynx II by Pocket Legion...

Great video, love the quality of the production also.

Yes, it was very nicely done.  Glad you enjoyed it.  :)

Here are two reviews for the Lynx that are a bit different in what's covered and in the general feeling regarding the system...

Check out this article from Ausretrogamer:  Atari Lynx: The Games That Never Were (http://www.ausretrogamer.com/atari-lynx-the-games-that-never-were/).  So many missed opportunities.

I watched these videos of a Lynx I being restored and was impressed with the work done but I also found fascinating all the explanations of the innards of the system.  There is even some info about the differences between the I and II models.  Check these out...

Another PDF of old mag scans and reviews, this time for the old Atari Lynx, enjoy.

https://issuu.com/amigajay/docs/lynx_uk_pdf (https://issuu.com/amigajay/docs/lynx_uk_pdf)

Really cool! 

Thought I'd share this video that quickly looks at 20 titles on the Atari Lynx...

Quote from: AmigaJay on July 31, 2018, 17:25:38 PM
Another PDF of old mag scans and reviews, this time for the old Atari Lynx, enjoy.

https://issuu.com/amigajay/docs/lynx_uk_pdf (https://issuu.com/amigajay/docs/lynx_uk_pdf)

Brilliant stuff😎 But can you download it and open offline? I download it but I can't open it.

I downloaded it and it opened ok mate, have you tried it since?

I have tried to download it but have not been successful.  It says that downloads are not allowed.  I wonder if Spector has had better luck.

Hi - I've tried it again on my laptop and it doesn't seem possible to download. It says "The publisher chose not to allow downloads for this publication"

I think I downloaded it when Justin had his blog website.

Let me ask him.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just saw this Endgadget article about the Lynx's 30th Anniversary:  The Atari Lynx’s 30th birthday gift is a bunch of new games (https://www.engadget.com/2019/08/30/atari-lynx-30-year-anniversary/?fbclid=IwAR2rCri5JLIHQFI9RDZ7jcVyJsz7qq7tHbVSInaoEKnc9_0wg47pTGGntlk).  It's cool to see coverage of the system on current media.  :)

I saw that earlier and thought the same thing. Good article too. :)

Here is a new video looking at the history of the Lynx and what led to its failure...