6 replies to this topic

[guyjin]

I've often read that the original lynx was made much larger than it had to be, because some focus group thought it gave you 'more for your money'.

1) is there actual evidence for this, or just a gaming rumor?

2) if this is actually the case, how much of the size reduction between the original Lynx and the Lynx II was 'this is what size it should have been to begin with', and how much was miniaturization of components between 1989 and 1991?

[Isgoed]

1) If I remember correctly, was it R.J Michal who said in an interview that people told him to make it big (which I think is a weird reason for a portable console).

The link to that article was posted here on Atari Age I think.

[GadgetUK]

Its funny but as a teenager back then, the fact it was large and was sophisticated at that time made me think it was totally cutting edge and 'full' of electronics.  It was cutting edge, but large only because people thought bigger was better

[Felyx]

Keep in mind the Gamegear was almost as big and that to make it smaller, the Lynx 2 got the cartridge slot on the back instead on the right side.
Whatever the reason was, the Lynx needed room for 6 batteries so all in all i am not that sure they could reduce the size dramatically.

Anyway the main problems that cut the wings of the Lynx were: 1) eat too much batteries to be really portable and not enough good games compared to the Gameboy.

[GadgetUK]

You want to try a GP2X lol, that eats AA batteries faster than my Lynx 2.  Despite how it used batteries, rechargeables always worked well with Lynx, so I dont think its down fall was power related.  The issue was that too few publishers targetted the Lynx.

[toptenmaterial]

There is a guy here on AA who managed to build a 5200 that is about the size of a 5200 cart!! Most old systems and carts are largely filler.

[shadow460]

I've been inside the Lynx I before to make repairs. There's a lot of stuff in there, but it's not crowded at all. I think the unit could have been made smaller.