Bones Justice

Why do you need a Lynx 2 to play homebrews and prototypes?

I'd like to have the old arcade classics: GORF Wizard of Wor Space War Space Duel Donkey Kong Popeye Moon Patrol Major Havoc Star Trek A fighting game would be cool, especially if it used the comlynx to let you have bigger arenas. Maybe something like Dragonball Z for the MegaDrive/Super Famicom only instead of a split-screen, have separate comlynx screens! Or even better, make it like Dragonball Z Legends for Sega Saturn with each player getting their own view; they probably couldn't do the polygon mountains but the rest of the graphics is just scaling and rotation which the Lynx excels at. Maybe something like Road Rash, too. Checkered Flag is good but it doesn't have the hills or traffic like Road Rash. They made Road Rash for Game Gear so it should be possible on the Lynx. A good simulation racing game, preferably based upon Formula One, like Revs+ (C64) or Formula One Gran Prix (Amiga).

Here's my top ten single player games: 1. Battlewheels 2. Electrocop 3. Xenophobe 4. Robotron 2084 5. Joust 6. Ultimate Chess Challenge 7. STUN Runner 8. Hydra 9. Shadow of the Beast 10. Batman Returns Hard list to choose after #5, on a different day my #6 through #10 might be different! Here's my top ten multiplayer games: 1. Battlewheels 2. Xenophobe 3. Warbirds 4. Joust 5. Checkered Flag 6. Battlezone 2000 7. XYBots 8. Gauntlet 3 9. Tournament Cyberball 10. Slime World

Wow, good choice with Shadow of the Beast! I still stick by my first and second choices but that's a really good one, too. I saw Yes in concert last year. I actually went to see Peter Frampton and Yes performed after that. I really liked their albums 90215 (?) and Big Generator, too.

My first Lynx is a model one but I later got a model two, as well. Most people seem to prefer the model two but I still like the model one the best. I like the d-pad and buttons better and I prefer the longer, thinner design. Maybe the model one's design is just what I am used to but I find it more comfortable to hold. Good score on the AC adapter and car adapter. I've had a Lynx since 1990 and I've never put batteries in it. I've used the external battery pack once, just to see if it worked. Every other time, I either used the AC adapter or the car adapter. I've never had trouble finding an outlet, even at the airport. Looks like you got a great collection of games, too. I would also recommend Battlewheels, Electrocop, Robotron, Joust, and Ninja Gaiden. Batman Returns and Hydra are also good though not as popular perhaps due to their difficulty.

Yeah, I'm probably more of a gamer than a collector, too. I keep my boxes, too, but I'd buy a game without it if it's cheaper. On the other hand, I have some games that I have no reason to keep because I don't play them. Most of them came with a Lynx that I bought off a friend, games like Toki or Block Out. But some that I bought new like NFL Football or Hockey, which are not bad games but I've got better games of the sort for my Nomad. I'd probably trade any of 'em for the right games but I guess I'm enough of a collector not to actively sell them. Or maybe I'm just lazy! Now that I've joined Atari Age, I've seen a few games that I might be interested in, like Zaku, but it doesn't seem to be available anymore. Either way, I think the Lynx could appeal to both gamers and collectors but not enough people seem to know about it.

My fondest memories of the Lynx include playing Electrocop, loving the game, and worrying that I would break it trying to get the cart out! I'm so glad they changed the cart design. Later, we really got into the comlynx games. Warbirds, Checkered Flag, and Xenophobe all got heavy rotation but Battlewheels was always the best. Even after we had played the "regular" game countless times, we started coming up with "new" ways to play the game. For example, one player would take a low-budget car against everyone else on foot. This was a good one against the computer, too, since we usually only had four or five human players at any given time. After Battlewheels, Xenophobe was always good, too, and everyone else always wanted to be the Xeno. The Lynx has several good arcade titles that are easy to learn but difficult to master like Joust, Robotron, and Missile Command. These games are great time-killers when you are waiting around for something. They just never get old for me.

I never owned a console before a Lynx, only played computer games before that, with the exception of Coleco's Electronic Quarterback. It was one of those dedicated handhelds with a single red LED for each player and maybe three "players" on a team. Anyways, I never once thought of the Lynx as anything similar. I had thought that the Lynx was a new way to play console games. I didn't really think of it as a handheld. I envisioned a time when everybody would play console games with dedicated screens rather than on the television in the living room. I agree that the Gameboy made cartridge-based handheld gaming popular. I also agree that it was Nintendo strong-arming developers more than anything that made Gameboy the most popular.

Which Lynx game has the best box art? My choices: 1) Tournament Cyberball. It's just an okay game but it has awesome box art! I remember seeing this and buying it right away. I already knew Cyberball from the arcades but this artwork was far and away better than the artwork on the arcade machine. 2) Ishido: The Way of the Stones. I love the artwork on this game's box so I was a little disappointed by the game's graphics. It's a good strategy game but I wish they could have done something like the box cover to spice up the graphics a bit.

Batman Returns I think this game gets a bad rap for being too difficult. Yes, it is challenging but it's a good game, too. The graphics are really solid, no glitches or slowdown even when there is a ton of stuff on screen coming at Batman. The controls are rock-solid, I never feel like I got hit because the buttons didn't respond. The gameplay has some great subtle effects, too. Enemies can be knocked out by bombs from other enemies or by broken glass. If you time it right, Batman can take down two or three enemies at the same time with a single explosive. Knock a clown off his motorbike and it still comes sliding at you for a few seconds. One of the things that makes Batman Returns a difficult game is that you can't clear an area of enemies. They just keep coming! If you absolutely don't like that style of side-scroller, then you won't like this game. I never minded it, myself, and it adds replayability once you've finished a level because it's not just the same enemy at the same point in the level each time. Okay, the bosses are hard but my main complaint is that it's kind of boring to have to hit Penguin over thirty times to take him out. It's almost too much repetition once you know the boss pattern. But then, this is standard for side-scrolling beat-em-ups, I suppose. I have two other minor complaints about the game. One, there is no comlynx support. I know, Robin wasn't in the movie this game is based upon but it still would have been a great option. Wouldn't it be great to have a side-scroller that didn't trap both players in the same part of the screen, too? Two, it's okay for most beat-em-ups to have the main character strolling down the street but this is Batman! It's a little odd to have Batman just walking down the sidewalk rather than sticking to the shadows or climbing over the rooftops. I guess most Batman videogames from this era suffered from this, though. Overall, great single-player game for the Lynx!

Recently, a friend of mine asked me, "Hey, you collect Atari Lynx stuff, don't you?" Initially, I was a little offended by the question because I've always thought of myself as a gamer, not a collector. I don't think there is anything wrong with being a collector, mind you. I think I what bothered me was the idea that only someone collecting "stuff" would own a Lynx. I bought my first Lynx in 1990. I was fortunate enough to have several friends that owned a Lynx, too, so we played a lot of comlynx games like Battlewheels, Warbirds, and Xenophobe. We moved apart over the years and I bought a Lynx from them when they tired of it (except two, one lost and one broken) with the idea of having my own little gaming network whenever I got together with friends, new or old. More time passed and even I moved on to other machines, especially the Sega Nomad for my portable gaming. In some ways, I had never thought of the Lynx as a portable or handheld. It was the first dedicated videogame system I had purchased (I only played computer games up to that point). The Lynx had as good or better graphics and audio than any home consoles I had tried to that point like the NES or SMS. There was no competition for the television to play games! Real games, not watered-down handheld games; I thought Atari was creating a revolutionary way to play videogames, every player having his own screen (I had no idea that Atari had "real" home consoles, too). I had to laugh when a friend had shown me his Gameboy that he bought for a hundred dollars. But I was blown away by the Lynx and it was a steal at the same price. I figured that any software company would much rather make games for the Lynx than they would the Gameboy; I didn't really know anything about business politics. So back to my friend's recent question -- I realized that I had not even taken my Lynx out in years. When I got home, I took it out and spent a couple of hours re-playing some brilliant games. And now that I've checked out Atari Age, I know that I'm not just a collector because there are plenty of Lynx games that I never bought simply because I wasn't interested in them. But I'm proud of my Lynx collection that I show off when I get the chance, especially because it often leads to some comlynx sessions. I am a Lynx gamer but I guess I'm also a bit of collector, too. How about you -- gamer, collector, or both?