Reviewing *ALL 71* Atari Lynx Games!!!
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- čas přidán 7. 08. 2023
- The Atari Lynx was an awesome handheld with, dare I say, the BEST collection of arcade ports from 1989-1995. It really is an underrated system and in this video, I play and review EVERY commercially released game for it! (Homebrews and later releases in a later video.)
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I hope you enjoyed the video. Please check out the following links:
/ @gregsvlog
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/ gregsgameroom
www.ataritimes.com
#videogames #retrogaming #retrogames #classicgaming #classicgames #classicvideogames #vintagegaming #vintagegames #arcadegames #atari #atari2600 #atari5200 #atari7800 #atarilynx #atarijaguar #nintendo #nintendones #nes #nintendosnes #supernintendo #nintendowii #sega #segagenesis #megadrive #segasaturn #segadreamcast #turbografx #pcengine #colecovision #intellivision #arcade1up #arcadegames #playstation #sony #xbox #microsoft - Hry
Lynx was my first console, I only bought it because it was easy to hide from my mum who forbid me to buy a console. Loved chips challenge
I assume you never left the house with it and played with the AC adapter? Cause I remember mine ate batteries like popcorn. I think the Lynx was second only to the Sega Game Gear in battery consumption 😆
@@therexbellator Had the car adapter
What? ShadowOfTheBeast B?? I was able to finish the game in 25 minutes without getting hurt. Excellent port.
The Lynx was way ahead of it's time... great system. I loved Gauntlet back in the day.
Definitely ahead of it’s time.
Ahead of its time but now left in the past.
The hardware was. The software philosophy is what also tanked the Sega Master System. They were still make Atari 2600-style games in a wold post Zelda and Super Mario
5:34 - My uncle did the music for Crystal Mines 2! I still wish he composed more of it.
That’s awesome!
Warbirds really shined in multiplayer. I had two Lynxes I'd take to work with me and I'd play against a guy who was an out-of-work cargo pilot, it was fantastic. Turns out I'm better at dogfighting than an actual pilot.
Yeah it seems like it would be better multiplayer. Like the biplanes in Combat but 3D.
I was bought this as a Christmas gift and it blew my mind. I was so happy that year and I still have it to this day :)
Still amazes me just how good this system is, and was for its time. Such good games, such good graphics. Amazing
Where Warbirds shines is in 2 player mode. It’s seriously fun taking down a friend’s plane!
I can see how it would be
I have a new respect for the Lynx. I had a GameBoy and this Atari handheld was totally off my radar. I definitely didn’t realize how good these games looked.
It’s great if you love arcade games (which I do!)
You forgot to mention the secret Mandelbrot generator “game” in Chips Challenge. I would play that for hours on end when I was a kid.
Wow. The scaling capabilities really made the difference with this system. I chose Gameboy back in the day but I'm pretty sure I would have been really happy with this one.
It was big and expensive, but I loved it.
@@GregsGameRoom It really chewed through batteries, and I remember playing it with the power adapter a lot. I still remember playing S.T.U.N. Runner and Hydra on road trips quite a bit though.
I regret I didn’t get the Game Boy instead
"Awesome Golf" really is impressive for a 90's hand-held console. As a retro collector I'd like to find an Atari Lynx before they get even more expensive.
Wow! The 3d games are mind-blowing for a handheld in 1989. Very similar to what I was playing (and I remember the crappy framerates well!) on a 32-bit 386 PC! (Hard driving, test drive 3, A10 tank killer)
Was definitely mind-blowing!
Ahh that took me back. First console I ever bought with my own money! I had 3 friends with them too and we lost hours duelling in WarBirds. Happy days…
Thank you!!! I've never owned a Lynx but there are at least a dozen or so A+ games in this video that I would enjoy.
Shadow of the Beast reminds me of Shinobi III, which I still play from time to time.
For anyone who has a Lynx and wants to experience these games, Stone Age sells the Lynx GameDrive. It’s basically an Everdrive for the Lynx. The entire game collection fits on less than a 8gb microSD
i guess that 98% of that sd card is empty 😅
Those games were kilo bytes big ^^
Spent some time recently coding for this system. Wow, it's so powerful! Not only does it have the sprite scaling / tilt features, but a hardware multiply and divide. Absolute insanity!
I distinctly remember a trip to Edinburgh Scotland and playing Batman Returns for the first time in a Dixons store and being absolutely blown away by the graphics. Fond memories. 🦇
I have made it to the end of Rygar so many times and yet have never been able to beat the final boss.
But kudos to Xenophobe- it IS the best port of that game, and probably my favorite game on the system. I still play it when I have enough AA batteries to lock myself in the spare bedroom for an afternoon.
The Lynx has such a ratio of good games to bad... I mean that little machine could do so much. For me, it's an ideal collector machine, small library but some greats. For me, I love Xybots and Gates of Zendocon... total classics for me, the reason I got a Lynx.
Exactly. So many good games!
Great reviews. My wife just got me the Atari Lynx 1 plus 4 additional games brand new from an Atari reseller in San Jose California. Lynx was so much ahead of its times, always wanted the Lynx when it was launched in 1989.
Excellent video. Thank you ! Please produce the other releases !!
Awesome vid. I have 30 of these. I'm so sad it's been 36 years since RoadBlasters came out, no sequel, update, remaster nothing :(
Not even sure who owns it now.
I think Midway has the rights to Roadblasters.
Slime world and Chips Challenge were my favorites by far… and the funny thing is that I didn’t expect either game to be any good and they both were so much fun! ( especially slime, world multiplayer.)
It's really impressive that graphics on a handheld from 1989 could look this good. I went with gameboy and game gear, but wish I got one of these.
I know right? GB and GG owners didn't know what they were missing out on.
BTW Ninja Gaiden arcade came to Amiga and others, so Lynx certainly not the only home port. The only home console port or handheld port though.
Lynx version sadly lacked the arcade intro and 1 level, cartridge limitations I suspect.
@@thefurthestmanfromhome1148 I had it and it played well. I must admit I don't remember about the first level missing but I believe you. I had that, Blue Lightning and Rygar and I was 16 when it came out and I managed to convince dad to buy me one whilst we were on a family vacation in Hawaii. I actually bought it there in Honolulu and barely left the hotel room lol. Once a gamer always a gamer.
I can't stand playing Lynx games in modern times on anything but a small screen. The best way to play them today is a small handheld with a GBA aspect ratio, just something dedicated to Lynx and GBA since they are the two that look really bad when enlarged. The good old Anbernic one from about 2 years back (RG351) - it can play up to PS1 but really I only have it for Lynx and GBA.
@@teddym2808if my memory serves me correctly, it was a couple of acts missing, I said a level last night, my apologies.
Acts II and IV have been removed I believe..
I meant only console port. I've seen a Genesis proto though.
@@GregsGameRoom Ok you didn't say console for that one, you categorically said only home port, but that's fine. No biggie!
I played this handheld a lot back in the day. California Games, Warbirds, Slime World, Ninja Gaiden, Toki, Klax, Rampage and Rygar. All great games! I also really enjoyed multiplayer Warbirds and Slime World, wandered around those slimy caverns for hours and hours. Great times 😊
Great review, gave me some ideas of what games I should give a second try.
At the time, the Lynx was shockingly good. As a kid, I was a huge arcade fan, so the Lynx was my kind of system. It's one of my top 3 favorite systems of all time.
Like 75% arcade ports which is why I love it so much.
I'm a huge fan of the Atari Lynx. I happened to find a Model II console at a local Charity Shop a decade ago. It came in a good carry case, with two games packed in with it. And it only cost $5AU! Those were the days when Charity Shops carried great deals. Sometimes they do, but most of the time, its overpriced to a major extent. Where's the charity?
Awesome video. I love the atarii lynx so much!
Great video! I'm finishing up my own Lynx library video now after contemplating it for years. Gonna mention yours in the script, hopefully that sends even more views your way. Keep up the good work! 🙏
Appreciate it! Been watching & enjoying your stuff for ages. Love it!
I take my dads old lynx on vacation every year and have a blast! Its so much fun to still see videos being released about the console! Im currently also on vacation so havent watched the full vid yet but I will def use this to see which games Im buying next :)
I was looking to fill in some gaps in my collection and those games are getting expensive!
Fantastic video! Very balanced unbiased review scores there too!
Nice overview good video👍
I had no idea there was a handheld with built-in scaling. Great video. Lynx Homebrew video please.
It looks like the Lynx versions of APB and Ninja Gaiden may have been the only home versions of those games released in North America, but there were plenty of other home versions released in Europe and Commonwealth countries.
Oh cool. Which systems?
@@GregsGameRoom Ninja Gaiden is Shadow Warriors in some countries. There were ST and Amiga ports as well as the Speccy, Amstrad CPC and Commodore. I think APB was out on all those as well.
@@GregsGameRoom It's strange that, for a US Arcade game, we only received the Lynx port, as far as consoles went, but there was a PC/DOS conversion here as well. Like welliben mentioned, there were European ports on the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga and also a DOS version there too.
I had the Lynx 2 as a kid, and I loved it far more than the Game boy I sold years earlier. The graphics and audio were amazing. Toki, Ninja Gaiden, Hockey, California Games,
Great video! Would love to see the homebrews covered!
There’s quite a few incomplete ones.
A what a trip down memory lane. This was my very first console and I had 10 games for it and the same carry case you show at the start of the video. My dad always used to steal it to play Awesome Golf.
cool video, i owned a gamegear and am impressed with the graphics pulled off the Lynx!
Great review!
The Lynx was essentially a scaled down Amiga handheld. The irony was you needed an Amiga based devkit to create games for an Atari product.
An interesting list; it's one of my all time fave consoles. Best game Crystal Mines 2. I spent hours and hours thinking, "Just one more go!". Made a list of all the pass codes to each level; discovering all the hidden secrets and bonus levels. I rate Batman higher, even though I can find platform games difficult. I like puzzle games and place Ishido higher. The feeling you get for placing all the stones is great.
Just a good thing there’s a blaster
I didnt even know there were that few games in the Lynx library, really i should get a game gear and a lynx in the future
For what i,ve readed,the lynx does have builtin flatshade polygonal features but being very slow,but still it was very forward thinking for it’s time,also while it’s cpu is only 8bit but since it’s cpu runs at 4mhz,it runs more then twice as fast as the nes cpu and games such as lemmings,steel talons,hard driving and shadow of the beast etc,,, really do show what the lynx is capable off compared to those 16bit home consoles,
It simply is an amezing machine with lots and lots of untapped potential😁
Sadly Lemmings lost the frantic nature of the original, with the icons now on a pause screen, but otherwise a great port, they wanted to do Lemmings 2 on the platform as well, but the Lynx just wasn't commercially successful enough to see it happen 😭
Atari should have kept on the handheld tract instead of going with the Jaguar. (I still love the Jag though.)
S.T.U.N. runner was my killer app BITD. They did a respectable job--maybe didn't get as close to the source material as Roadblasters did, but still way better than expected.
It’s so freaking good! Much better than the slow wireframe Atari ST version.
The decision to build the environment out of sprite rings, thereby utilising the hardwares abilities and capturing the essence of the arcade (the sense of speed), where as the home computer versions tried to replicate the polygon 3D of the Arcade Game, featured sloth-like speeds,was a very wise one.
STUN Runner was faithful enough that the first time I saw it in the arcade, I completed it on one quarter thanks to the muscle memory built from playing the Lynx version.
Great video! Never had one back in the day. I got a Gameboy and my brother got a Sega Game Gear. So My parents said that's enough! lol! But love exploring the Lynx via emulation over the years. Some great ports for the system. My Fav. that I played is Chips Challenge. That one took me by surprise.
Yeah I didn’t hear anything about it before I saw it in the store.
Dirty Larry has a nice little throwback to The Warriors! Nice cameo!!!
This was amazing, thank you.
Thanks!
@2:35 MAAAAAAN!!!! YOU HAVE TO BE BEHIND THE MAIL BOX TO SURVIVE THE EXPLOSION!??? GOSH!!!!!! I never passed this part of the stage and never ocurred to me do this!
Yeah I read that somewhere, probably in one of the Lynx promo magazines.
Lynx was so much fun in its day - fun original games and a lot of good arcade ports as well. Though it was a handheld system, I played most of the time at home! Played a lot of STUN Runner, Robotron, Rampart, APB and of course California Games - I seem to be the only person that actually understands the half pipe event. It makes total sense to me!
Ya, Half Pipe on Lynx is a rhythm based game, pretty easy really.
@@off1k Interesting, I never thought of it that way. Next time I play I’ll see if I’m following a rhythm with all the up and down pressing.
I definitely want a lynx in my collection asap...I was born in 81 Atari I didn't get into...the nes I got the minute it dropped for Christmas..and Atari games I played were just not good Imo..but the lynx I need in my collection I'm a huge collector and this video was awesome they look really good the games
The thing about the Lynx is it could scale graphics in a way that wouldn’t be matched outside of the Neo Geo. It was ahead of even the consoles a generation ahead of it in some ways.
It was comparable to the Genesis IMO.
Lynx scaling was limited , if you wanted full scaling you had to write your own routines.
It was literally another version of the Amga chip set, the sound was slightly inferior ( five octaves not nine ) but the sprite hardware chip was more advanced. And 64kb of RAM !
The SNES could do scaling better and smoother than this, so don't know where you got that 'Neo Geo' nonsense from.
@@bigbabatunde1218 actually he's referring to the Lynch sprite system which is superior to everything else.
@@FantasyVisuals I doubt it. Lynx games only look decent on a small screen. Imagine those games scaled up to a TV sized screen then say that. The Mega Drive and SNES still look great even to this day on whatever screen of your choice. Been playing Super Star Wars on the Legends Flashback a few weeks ago and was well impressed with the Death Star getting scaled up and down at the end. Couldn't imagine any smoother scaling.
The Lynx looks jerky by comparison.
Rampart looks like a game I would have and still would play now!! Looks bad arse!!!
I put in a lot of hours. Almost beat it.
Excellent video! I really like Paperboy, I would have given it an A as it is such a good port. You were right about Shanghai, it's a great game.
i like the lynx just for that chips challenge port. played that nonstop on dos as a kid.
Bill and Ted’s first level has some of the best retro game music I have ever heard in my life. That song is amazing.
Had a game gear at the time and also wanted one of these, always looked like such fun with unique games
Some exclusive games just not enough of them!
Nice video! Loved my Lynx when I had one. On Rygar, I'm pretty sure that you can swing the weapon, but it's a powerup. I could be mis-remembering, but I played it quite a bit back then.
Good to know!
Hi, you mis-remember unfortunately. The game is missing this swing shield from the original. Also these cameleons in the vertical sections with the long tongues are sadly missing. Apart from that it is a pretty good port for a handheld system of that time!
Electro cop is a good one. Always wanted to see Predator as well.
I enjoyed this video, I think it is great. A Grade!
Thanks!
Oh snap, you even put the guy from Food Fighter on the thumbnail.
The box of that game taught me my first spanish words: "comida mutante"
Mutant food indeed.
My brother also had Scrapyard (Junkyard?) Dog and the Batman Returns game. Batman Returns was the most rage quit inducing game ever. At least until i played Cannon Fodder on thr PC. But Cannon Fodder at least had the excuse of being fun.
The only thing Batman had going for it was we had to squeeze $40 worth of blood value out of that dry stone.
Great video! The only 2 I liked better were Paperboy and Joust, both As IMO
I was babysat in a pawn shop for a long chunk of my life. It was my favorite system to jam to.
The lynx was awesome. I still have mine. Bought it new the week it came out. Probably played 20 times. Still works like a champ/
Very underrated
Had a lynx was in the days of easy credit cards otherwise I couldn't afford 🤣awesome days living for the tech
Yeah, I'd like to see more Lynx reviews, particularly the homebrews. Zaku was a game I really wanted to like, but compared to its obvious inspiration Air Zonk, it just doesn't measure up. It's got that annoying Euro-shmup design where popcorn enemies take a billion shots to kill.
That was in development a long time as I remember.
Only thing worse than Euro-Shump design? Euro-platformer design.
My first Evercade collections will be the Atari Lynx ones. Just ordered Collection 2, and will be buying Collection 1 tomorrow. Im so happy. Don’t, DON’T YOU DARE sleep on the Atari Lynx!
Some are old and new games too 😊
Hoping to buy some of the Lynx games on Steam when the autumn sale is on.
I loved Gates of Zendacon, and it was one of the few games I beat. I also loved surfing and BMX for California Games. The Lynx was the first system I bought with my own money. I wish I still had mine.
No "Bubble Trouble"? Still, great video! Though I don't agree with your opinion on many games, thank you for your hard work making this video :)
Had a Lynx in the early 90s and loved it. Yes it has less great games than the game gear and gameboy, but the ones that were good were fun.
Very true!
Interesting. I still have my Lynx, in the original box. I have the original large one as I remember buying it not to long after it come out in the early 90s. I think I remember paying some $180 for at the time, which was a lot of money for a poor college student with a small Army salary. I'll have to bust it out as I cannot recall all the games I've had for it. I'll have to go look to see how difficult it would be to get more of these games for it as there are some on here that I recall seeing back in the day, but never having actually gotten. I may have to explore the homebrew scene as well.
It's funny this Atariy links is better than the atari jaguar. There's actually good games on that system Something the jaguar doesn't have
I’ve always said the Lynx has the best ratio of good to bad games of any Atari system.
There were good games for the Jaguar. Alien vs Predator, Tempest 2000, Syndicate, Rayman and Iron Soldier for example.
Just a minor correction:
Ninja Gaiden was converted to 8- and 16-bit computers just under a different name - Shadow Warrior (which I think was the European title for the arcade).
Double dragon was painful. The cart was so stripped , the boss had literally one move and on level two a large section of the map was literally just one pipe in the background. E - F grade
"It just seems unfair when everything is constantly attacking you." So true you said it twice! =)
Oops
21:01 I beat this several times. One of the best games my bro had, not that he had more than 2 games on the machine. Sega Game Gear was a little better in terms of games, but both had a very short life span. Probably due to their price tag.
Joust was one of my faves on the Atari 2600.
For me, steel talons, dinolimpics, toki and lemmings were the best. When I started uni, I stacked 8 static ram chips to make my own cart and, not sure if it was just because it seemed forbidden but road riot seemed really fun (if too easy) to me… such a shame it was never finished and released.
I picked up a Lynx II 20 years ago at my local thrift store for $5 that came with a few games.
Dang, awesome deal!
A Friend of mine friend had a lynx and stun runner was the game I know of he had. I played some of it. He let me played it was alright experience. That was only physical game of the Atari lynx I played and probably my last.
C to Rygar! that was a KA game for the Lynx. Viking Child was very good as well.
Great video! The Lynx may have had a small library, but there's a lot of quality over quantity here. Kinda disagree on Turbo sub, and Warbirds, as these are two of my favorites. Also, was Raiden not an original release? I have a copy of it. I recommend plugging a strong set of speakers into the headphone jack. The Lynx audio really kicks a** when heard that way!
Raiden was released afterwards. The ratio of quality games is very high.
Background info on Double Dragon:
Knight Technologies Tom Schenck chatted to me and said:
"The Double Dragon game was the third product I worked on for Knight Technologies (the developer of the product, published by Telegames). It was the first where we had put together a complete Lynx game engine to work with for products, and I only worked on the game directly in the beginning months - it was finished by another programmer Alex, along with a few other products. I went on to start with some of the other titles you mention below.
It was based on the arcade and Genesis versions of the game, and developed without access to the original source code (but we did have the Genesis sprite source art). We wanted to showcase the Lynx graphics and used pretty big sprites - perhaps a little bigger than needed, but it worked pretty well. It was certainly better written and put together than my first project.
I think it only really suffered from some controller/input issues based on how the input was read in - with what I know now (about two decades more experience), I would have run an input system at a very high rate to make sure to capture button presses properly for attack/defend, but that meant you had to be a little lazy on your button pressing.
I would say that it was a reasonably good port from a couple of somewhat junior developers on a quirky platform."
That explains a lot.
Jimmy Conner!? That SOB stole my grill off my porch! Used it for tennis target practice!
Bull and Ted was awesome in my opinion.
APB on the lynx wasn't the only release of the game, as it was also on midway arcade treasures 2 for game cube and Xbox.
if you own 8-bit computer Amstrad, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum or a 16-bit computer Amiga / Atari ST you could play APB before those versions existed
Most impressive portable back in the day, but it lacked third party support and ate batteries like crazy.
I had this handheld console and played BATMAN all the time. I cant remember if I had another game
loved the Lynx2, wish i hadn't sold it all those years ago :-(
Imagine a lynx port of Elite
I think someone was creating a homebrew awhile back.
Handmade Software had converted some of the Atari ST version, to show Atari it was possible to bring the game to the Lynx, using their solid 3D Battlezone 2000 engine, but Atari weren't interested and didn't want to pay the license fees for it 😭
Basketbrawl is awesome!
Waited for Xenomorph, forgot about Xybots!
Both are awesome!
We want more games on Lynx
I saw it on magazine adverts all the time but no one I know has one.
i also remember playing raiden atari lynx but I don't see that gamein your video.
It wasn’t an original release.
the Lynx was such a great console... and it has a few gems. too bad Epyx didn't do more games for the system, theirs are among the best.
Im on a mission. Currently at 47 games of 71 needed for the full set
I loved the Lynx more than the Lynx loved batteries. 👍
I always used the AC adapter. I guess that makes it less than portable though.
@@GregsGameRoom Yes buying the AC was essential. Batteries I kept for holidays and school trips.
Had this this double LAMP work battery with a cable that came out of my backpack
I remember me debating with an childhood friend of my who had an Lynx , about what was better , or Game Boy he always said lynx is better , i had an Game boy at that time and he loved gaming my friend but he didnt like Sega or Nintendo home consoles , all that time he did arcade etc and when the ps1 came out he got it and showed it to me he knew what was up about graphics etc
Arcade's Ninja Gaiden had home conversion on Amiga and other home computers... so you mean the only "console" conversion perhaps.
Yes. Genesis had a proto though.
@@GregsGameRoom btw. interestingly arcade Bionic Commando also got only ported to home computers, but not consoles. While hardly comparable to arcade in fun or quality, those ports were more or less playable, maybe with the exception of DOS and Amstrad versions. Particularly the DOS one is so atrocious I kind of wonder why it is not more widely known among the worst ports in history :P I would actually really like a MegaDrive port of the arcade game back in the day.