"By far the best portable in 1989."

The Lynx was released by Atari in 1989, around the same time as the Gameboy. Its main selling point was that it was the only colour portable console and was capable of having 16 colours on screen from a choice of 4096. While it could handle stereo sound, it was very rarely used. Few games featured sampled speech and even fewer had music in stereo. The sound is most of the time impressive, with the volume almost piercing the ears at its peak. The console was advertised as having 16-bit graphics and although not many games were above Mastersystem standard, some of the titles which used a 3D engine were very impressive. The resolution is pretty low considering the large screen size; the pixels are large and the graphics can seem blurry at times due to the backlight.

Because the Lynx is backlit, it is best played at night or in darker places; when played in the sun, it's hard to see the picture. The idea of the backlight was both good and bad. On a positive note, you can play it in the dark. But on the other hand, it takes 6 AA batteries to power it, and they'll only last for six hours. This makes it extremely unfriendly when it comes to portability. Personally, I use an AC adaptor to power the handheld so it always stays at home. The battery life was not the only reason why it was not portable friendly; it was wide, fat and heavy.

The console had many buttons including:
* On
* Off
* Backlight
* Option 1
* Option 2
* Pause
* A (x2)
* B (x2)

The backlight button enables you to turn the screen off without turning the actual Lynx off to save batteries. There's a volume control, a brightness control, comlynx port, headphone jack and an AC adapter port. The two main action buttons are B and A. There are two sets of these buttons located on the top right and bottom right of the system. The reason why is because one the hand-held's most innovative features is the ability to play it upside down. Pressing option 2 and pause simultaneously make the image on the screen flip over, so you can now use your right hand for the control pad and your left hand for the buttons. Atari called this the option the ability to play ''left-handed'', but being a left-hander myself I feel more comfortable playing the normal way, so it's not necessarily for lefties.

Despite what people say, the Gameboy did not kill off the Lynx. Its sales were very competitive during the early years. Unfortunately for Atari, Sega shortly released the Gamegear. Both were colour consoles, and both were backlit. The Lynx and the Gamegear were now in direct competition with each other, and with Sega releasing a lot more games, won the battle. The Lynx just didn't have enough software. Atari released their system without thinking about third party support, and they had to make most of the games themselves. You simply can't release a game system without having the companies to back it up.

In its first year, the amount of games released was in the single figures. In 1990, there were only about 20. Likewise in 1991 and 1992. In 1993, things went way downhill, with only a handful of games released. Then came 1994 when Atari only released 2 games: Battle Zone 2000 and Asteroids and Missile Command. They then gave up on it and focused on the Jaguar. Overall, only about 75 games were released which is unacceptable. One of the problems that Atari had early on was when they lost the console's biggest supporter, Epyx. Epyx, who were in fact the designers of the Lynx, released a large amount of games in the first year. They then had problems with Atari and due to legal reasons, would never develop for Atari again.

That was a big blow for the Lynx. Atari then decided to go with the retro releases. Atari were still quite big in the arcade industry, so they took some of their old favourites and turned them into Lynx games. Big mistake. When they should have been taking advantage of the system's power, they instead converted old, dated generic action games. It wasn't until 1994 when they realized what they should have done -- but by then it was too late. Aliens vs Predator could have been phenomenal. Finally, a first person shooter on the hand-held. It was cancelled though, and the end was near for Atari's portable.

Companies like Namco, Williams and Psygnosis all did their part in trying help out the struggling console. Namco released very accurate versions of Ms. Pacman and Pac-Land, Williams gave us Robotron and Joust and Psygnosis released the most outstanding Lynx game, Shadow of the Beast. But it was Atari themselves who sunk their own system. They released a hell of a lot of garbage. Did they think that by releasing Pit Fighter, Basketbrawl, World Class Soccer, Kung Food, Dirty Larry, Gordo, Hard Drivin' it would make the Lynx any better?

Atari did manage to get a little third-party licensing, but often the result would be a poor conversion. Games such as Double Dragon, Super Off-Road, and Gauntlet: The Third Encounter were all shadows of their former selves -- Gauntlet III was a far cry from the first two games, and strayed from the popular formula. The game was actually to be called ''Time-Warps and Treasure Chests'', but Atari let Epyx change the name to a more popular title to sell more copies. Raiden was also a game that suffered a dreadful port, though it only came out in 1997, far beyond when people stopped caring.

In 1992 Telegames would have released the first RPG, titled Guardians: Storm Over Doria. It also would have been the first Lynx game to include battery back-up. The game earned the seal of quality, and had four player capabilities. This could've been the big one that gave the portable just what it needed. However, Atari held the game back, because the Lynx wasn't selling well. It doesn't make sense. They hold back a game that could've saved the console, and instead they release crap like Pit-Fighter? It frustrates the heck out of me that Atari can be that ignorant and stupid.

That's another problem with the games -- none of them had battery save; none of the games had any real depth. It's a bit ironic since most of the games were action games, so they were based on merely getting points. Therefore, heaps of the games had high score tables which was pointless since the data was lost when you turn the system off. Most of the games were cheap, basic platformers or action games -- there were a few that broke the generic trend like Dracula, Battlewheels, Crystal Mines 2 and Rampage, but there wasn't enough variation. Fighting games were non-existent (Pit-Fighter does not count), as were turn-based RPGs. FPSs were possible, but they were also neglected. Also few were puzzle games and serious racers.

One of the best things about the Lynx was the multi-player capability. To Atari's credit, they released a large amount of games that took advantage of the comlynx. Four players can participate in California Games, then there's Zarlor Mercenary, an overhead-shooter with 4-player link play and Checkered Flag, which is a Formula 1 racer, can have up to six players. But it is Slime World that is the most impressive. The platformer/exploration game can have up to eight players comlynxed together for what I can only imagine to be an awesome experience. The chances of anyone actually taking part in an eight-player game is minute however. I don't even know seven people who own a Lynx let alone seven friends who own one, let alone seven friends with seven link cables, seven copies of Slime World...

Because the Lynx had many problems, Atari released a number of accessories to help remedy the flaws. To play the system in the car without having to use batteries, they made the cigarette lighter adapter. This was a very good idea because car trips are one of the most popular times to play a portable console. They made a sunvisor which was an inexpensive item which connected onto the console to shade the sun so you can play it outside during the day. Atari knew that the battery life was less than impressive, so they brought out the battery pack. It's a pack that you connect to the Lynx which uses 6 D size batteries. But although it did solve the battery life problem, it was very expensive to use.

The system is gigantic and heavy, so it's easily damaged. To help keep it in good condition when travelling, Atari released the pouch and the carry case. The pouch is a simple cover for it that has some padding on the inside and a few pockets to store some games. The carry case was its greatest accessory. It is shaped like a small briefcase, it has a handle on the top and a shoulder strap as well. There are twelve separate slots for cartridges on the inside plus heaps of space for the console and other things. The case is reasonably deep and the Lynx fits well into it. The walls of the case are well padded and there are removable sections which are padded as well. Most of the accessories were well priced, very efficient and one of Atari's few good moves.

I guess I seem a bit negative towards a system I love but it's only because I care about it...it could've been so much better. As good as it could have been though, there were still some great titles released. Some of these include: Shadow of the Beast (the best), Rygar, Robotron: 2084, Desert Strike, Shanghai, California Games, Zarlor Mercenary, Battle Wheels, Klax, Pac-Land, Dracula: The Undead, Rampart, Crystal Mines 2, Lemmings, Pinball Jam, Rampage, Road Blasters, Scrapyard Dog and Slime World. With the handful of positives come the awful negatives, and I advise everyone still interested in the software to stay away from: Super Off-Road, World Class Soccer, Pit-Fighter, Double Dragon, Gordo 106, Gauntlet: The Third Encounter, Hard Drivin', Krazy Ace Miniature Golf, Kung Food, NFL, Baseball Heroes and many more monstrosities.

When I think back, I really do feel sorry for Atari. But I also feel angry. They tried really hard to make the Lynx a success but there were too many problems, and they made too many bad decisions. They released it without enough third party support or advertising, which led to a fate recently repeated by the Neo Geo Pocket Colour. Instead of using the system's power, Atari converted their old arcade classics. When they could have been making FPSs they made platformers. Wrong.

The battery life, lack of games, and the size all added to the demise of Atari's portable. But it never should have died so long ago. Considering that only now with the GBA is there a more powerful portable system, it should have kept going for much longer. It's too bad, it had great potential. I guess the only thing Lynx owners can do now is cherish the few good games that it had. And with the cancellation of Guardians: Storm Over Doria, Alien vs Predator, Ultra Vortek and Eye of the Beholder, be left wondering what might have been.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/02, Updated 12/24/03