The Atari Lynx. If mentioned in everyday conversation, you’ll get one of two reactions:
1) What the hell is that?
or
2) That thing must have sucked.

But you’ll get a different reaction if you ask someone who owns one. Read this review to find out why.

The Atari Lynx came out in 1989, mere months after the Game Boy. It was originally designed by Epyx in 1987, when it was known as the Handy. Epyx did not have the money to launch the system, and Atari wanted to venture into the handheld market. So, Atari agreed to slap their name on the product, distribute it, and advertise it. Both Epyx and Atari developed games for the system after its release.

The Lynx was truly a revolutionary piece of hardware. It was the first color handheld, the first handheld with a back-lit screen, the first major handheld with a horizontal layout (along the lines of a Game Gear or a PSP, as opposed to the vertical layout of the Game Boy or TurboExpress), and the only handheld with an ambidextrous layout. If a player was left-handed, he could flip the screen and turn the system upside-down to switch the directional pad to the right side. Beyond these impressive features, it also had incredible hardware for its time. It was actually as powerful as many home consoles of the time, to put it in perspective. It supported sprite zooming and pseudo-3D effects. The Lynx was years ahead of its time, and wouldn’t be fully surpassed by another handheld until the Game Boy Advance was released (the NGPC and Wonderswan had some advantages over the Lynx, but also some disadvantages). Compare all of this to the original, monochrome Game Boy for a sense of perspective. The last notable feature of the system was the ComLynx cable, which enabled multiplayer gaming. Some games supported as many as 17 players, which is still amazing by today’s standards. The Lynx predated the SEGA Game Gear and TubroExpress, yet was still superior in nearly every way.

But that is not to say that the original Lynx was flawless. The system was the size of a small truck. If you thought the Game Gear or Nomad were bulky, then you’ve obviously never seen a Lynx in person. Calling the Lynx a “portable” is hard to do without chuckling. Access to the cartridge slot was an issue, as you had to flip open a hinge on the side to insert and remove games. Getting games in and out of the slot proved to be a cumbersome process. Many Lynx owners feared that they’d break a cartridge trying to insert or remove it. The Lynx was known to devour batteries at a near Game Gear rate, and Atari attempted to remedy this by releasing bulky battery pack which held 6 D batteries. The public didn’t exactly jump at the notion. Finally, though the Lynx had incredible power for a system of the time period, it also had a relatively low resolution screen.

The Lynx’s strength was in its game library, as is the case with any good system. The system was home to many solid conversions of popular arcade titles like Ms Pac-Man, Joust, Missile Command, Asteroids, Double Dragon, Klax, Paperboy, Qix, Raiden, Rampage, and Robotron: 2084. Everyone knows what they’re getting with games like those, and fans won’t at all be disappointed. The Lynx also had many great original titles like Battlewheels 2000, Hydra, Chip’s Challenge, and Steel Talons. And of course, you have great entries in other series like Ninja Gaiden, Pac-Land, Gauntlet, and Lemmings. Like many other Atari systems, the Lynx has a thriving homebrew scene. New games are published by the handful every year, and many of them are great. There are also rare prototypes floating around, which are a joy to collect and play. Even though I’ve spent a great deal of time with the Lynx, I am not even fully qualified to talk about the depth and quality of its library. I have not yet played every title in the system’s modest-sized library, but most of the titles I have played have been great. The Lynx has a very good ratio of quality titles to total titles. To put it simply, the Lynx has something for everyone. Fans of any genre will find something to occupy them on the Atari Lynx. There are no major holes in the library, and what I’ve mentioned here does not even begin to do the system justice.

Despite the system’s incredible features and solid game library, it was met with a lukewarm reception. It had sold less than 500,000 worldwide units when it was discontinued. The Game Boy was its chief competitor, and it had many advantages out of the gate. Nintendo’s reputation was soaring due to the massive success of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Atari, on the other hand, had just produced back-to-back failures with the 5200 and 7800; Atari never truly recovered from the great Crash. Beyond that, while Atari’s little system did have a good library even in comparison to Nintendo’s juggernaut, the Lynx didn’t have a killer application. The Game Boy had Tetris and Super Mario Land, and there wasn’t much anyone could’ve done to compete with those games. Finally, the Game Boy was a lot more portable, a lot better on battery consumption, and 80 dollars less expensive. Atari was fighting an up-hill battle from the start.

The Lynx II, launched in 1992, remedied many of the original system’s problems. It was a staggeringly-low 99 dollars at retail, it had a better battery life, easier access to the cartridge slot, stereo sound via the headphone jack, better ergonomics, and above all a reasonable size. The Lynx II was not much bigger than the Game Gear. But unfortunately, the Lynx II proved to be too late to save Atari’s system. Atari had done a pretty poor job of advertising the Lynx from the start, and not many third parties published a great deal of titles for the system. Though the games and hardware were good, Atari never really threw its whole weight behind the platform. It seemed more like a way for Atari to bridge the gap between the 7800 and the Jaguar than anything (which was ironic, because the Lynx had far more potential than either of them). The great features of the Lynx II were lost on the general public. Atari failed to demonstrate them and the public already had a negative perception of the Lynx name and the Atari brand in general. Besides; gamers were all too busy with their Game Boys to care.

The Atari Lynx should be a part of any right-thinking gamer’s collection. It is an incredible piece of history, it has a great library, and it’s just a cool thing to have. I highly recommend the Lynx II, as it is far superior the original. It is also cheaper. You can find many lots of games on eBay for a very low price, so building a respectable Lynx collection should not be very difficult. You can lots of five to six games, still factory sealed, for less than 30 dollars. Pay between 35 and 65 dollars for the system, depending upon the condition and what else is included in the package. If you know someone else with a Lynx, it only gets better. The multiplayer was outstanding.

Atariage.com is a very useful resource. It provides a rarity guide, screen shots, collections of reviews, and a great forum populated by friendly users. When viewing screen shots, keep in mind the fact that the images themselves are several times larger than the screen of the Lynx and that the games look a lot better in motion.

Look at the epicness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMTF6OVsvxg

Verdict: 8.5/10
Buy one.

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1. [...] Platform Review: Atari Lynx [...]

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