Gp2x Brings Thoughts Of Atari Lynx !!!!

[Rodeo]

Well last night i was sat playing around with the GP2X (testing it works as far as my wife knows) and she was looking over my shoulder at me playing megabomberman when she says

" hey do you remember me buying you that Atari Lynx many years ago when we were courting, you spent ages playing that Todd game"

Hmmm well this set me off thinking, I was sure i still had my Atari Lynx somewhere in a box in the loft or something so i whizzed up stairs and ratched around, 1 & half hours later, very dusty and dirty i climbed from the loft triumphantly holding my old Atari Lynx & its power supply.

This thing needed a power supply as it took 6, Yes 6 AA batteries to make it work and i remember i could flatten a full set in just over an hour. I plugged it in and turned it on, Todds Adventures in Slimeworld sprung onto the screen ...........

"MY GOD" that screen is soooooo bad it has lines across it it is pale colours not vibrant like the GP2x and it has to be at a very critical angle to view it correctly, I used to think that the Lynx was the best thing since sliced bread, it is amazing how our views and impressions of things change as we come to expect better.

Apart from the fact that the Lynx is a massive console, not really "Portable" i would have fun trying to fit it in my shirt pocket, there is no way i could happily play a game of slimeworld on it now, but i really wanted to play slimeworld just for old times sake..... so i went on to the archives and downloaded HandyGP2X the atari Lynx emulator for GP2X.

What a fabulous way the GP2X and Handy is to play these old Lynx games, THE COLOURS ARE BRIGHT AND SATURATED THE SCREEN IS WONDERFULLY CRYSTAL CLEAR.

So i am now as happy as a pig in muck,

Slimeworld, Klax, Ms Pacman, Rygar (classic game), California games, Rampage, Gauntlet etc etc etc all great games that bring back many memories and i can now play as they SHOULD have been when they came out many many years ago.

The Atari Lynx was way ahead of its time and much underated by many people, it even had a multiplayer system so you could use the comlynx cable to play against your friends.


I hope some of you out there are old enough to have enjoyed the Lynx when it first came out and if not then Download HandyGP2X and get down to some classic gaming.

B)

P.S. I just got thinking, is there any multiplayer link system for the GP2X? ( please dont flame if there is,I am new to this)

 

[telegramguy]

I found an Atari Lynx commercial with four guys playing in linked mode. Man, those things were bricks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rshOhpNQUHM

Did they ever have tv adapters like the game gear for it?

 

[muppets4]

You have a great way of writing. Very pleasantly!

I never did own a Lynx, my brother did however. Played Paperboy on it for ages and that jetfighter thing (also an arcade conversion). I recently bought a Sega Game Gear, just for old times sake. My GP2x and GP32 look better, but the Game Gear 'feels' better. It's kinda heavy and you' ll have to turn up the lights to see what's going on, but it is the real thing and for that matter it can't be beaten.

Wasn't there a lighter version of the Lynx later on?

 

[craigix]

Atari should bring out a new version of the lynx with all the games built in, I bet it could be the size of a GBA micro, very cheap and it would be great.

 

[dosteridge]

Atari should bring out a new version of the lynx with all the games built in, I bet it could be the size of a GBA micro, very cheap and it would be great.

now thats a good idea, a bit like those sega and atari joystick things, only better.

I was, and still am a huge lynx fan. I am always playing lynx games on my 2x. I still have my original mk1 lynx and the everso slightly smaller mk2 and a load of games, but it just sits in the loft since I got my first gp32 and then 2x.

It was way ahead of its time, and brings back a lot of good memories for me too

 

[Rodeo]

Atari should bring out a new version of the lynx with all the games built in, I bet it could be the size of a GBA micro, very cheap and it would be great.

Glad this got you all talking, Craigix, I would not buy an Atari with all the games on it, as thanks to you I now have the GP2X which IMO is & will be far superior to anything they could ever bring out.

Why have a console that ONLY plays Atari Lynx Games when we have one here that does just about everything and it does the Lynx games very very well.

I think i will try to take some photos of the two consoles side by side with slimeworld running on each, hopefully the screens will show up & it will give all the people who have never seen a Lynx an idea of the difference.

 

[DaveC]

Yeah Tuskenraider's emu is real nice.

He updates it once in a while and it is pretty close to full speed. With enough optimisation it should run full speed with no overclock.

I do remember the original lynx screen was very washed out too. The games look so much better on the GP2X than they do on a real lynx.

I wonder if it is possible for two GP2Xs to be linked up through USB and play at least 2 player if the emu was made to support it?

 

[chaos engineer]

My Lynx I is still on the heavy rotation. Even if tuskenraiders emu is nearly perfect it is still something special to play on the real thing. Maybe it is the sound, maybe it is the weight, maybe it is the cartridge coverage that you have to open up each time you swap the game

 

[Rodeo]

maybe it is the cartridge coverage that you have to open up each time you swap the game

Ahh you must have the MK1 version mine is the MK2 which made the changing of cartridges as easy as on a gameboy.

 

[darkman]

My Lynx I is still on the heavy rotation. Even if tuskenraiders emu is nearly perfect it is still something special to play on the real thing. Maybe it is the sound, maybe it is the weight, maybe it is the cartridge coverage that you have to open up each time you swap the game

I think I know how you feel. I still have 3 Atari Lynx! I have a couple of those battery packs that used D cell batteries and an AC adapter. Even though I have the Handy on my SD card for my GP2X, I still pull out a Lynx to play a round of Stun Runner, Rygar, or Toki. I just like the feel and look of the Lynx when playing one of its games. I have recently purchased a couple of games for it from ebay. They were Klax and Hydra.

I think the idea about the tiny Lynx with all the games built in would be grand! Maybe even with the look of the old Lynx 2 only it would be thin and pocket sized with a button to toggle between having a screen with the lines.

 

[Ze_ro]

"hey do you remember me buying you that Atari Lynx many years ago when we were courting, you spent ages playing that Todd game"

Incidentally, there's also a version of Todd's Adventures in Slime World for the Genesis... it's basically the same as the Lynx version, except with the higher resolution, you can see more of the caverns. Also, I think it has a two player mode (Yeah, I know the Lynx version can do 8-players, but good luck finding enough hardware to try that out!)

"MY GOD" that screen is soooooo bad it has lines across it it is pale colours not vibrant like the GP2x and it has to be at a very critical angle to view it correctly, I used to think that the Lynx was the best thing since sliced bread, it is amazing how our views and impressions of things change as we come to expect better.

Funny to think that the Lynx's screen was state-of-the-art at one point. I actually kinda like the weird scanlines look it gives, but maybe that's just my sense of nostalgia. Handy even has an option to emulate that

Wasn't there a lighter version of the Lynx later on?

They did release a second version of the Lynx later on, but I don't think it was much smaller or lighter... I have the second version myself, and I love it. Even though it's pretty big, it feels better in my hands... all these tiny systems like the GBA SP feel like they were made for the hands of a 2-year-old... or maybe I just have gorilla hands or something. My only complaint about the system is the horrible battery life, but an AC adaptor solves that pretty well.

I thought it was really clever the way the Lynx could be played left or right-handed, and could be held vertically for games that needed a taller screen. I'm amazed more portables didn't adopt those features (I know the Wonderswan can do the vertical thing too, and I'm glad to see that MAME on the GP2X will too).

--Zero

 

[bhess]

For some awesome system turning for a vertical screen, play Falldown on the Minigame Project, it's awesome!

 

[thrashmonkey]

I'm almost in tears. Due to advanced poorness, I've had to squeeze every last gram of fun out of my non-overclockable gp32 'no light unit'. I was coping OK too. Then somebody had to mention that it's like playing slimeworld on the lynx only better. Does anybody want to buy an internal organ? take your pick. £125 ono.