New Lynx Fan

[Michael David Morsette]

I just discovered the Lynx a few months ago and quickly fell in love. As a kid I had Microvision, all the Gameboys, Game Gear, and played my neighbors Turboexpress when ever I could; but I had never heard of Lynx. My boys and I were browsing a retro game store and impulse bought an original Gameboy. I got fired up about it, like I do now and then, and set out to learn as much as I could about the history, inside info, geek musts. That is when I found out about the Lynx, put out the same year; a competitor I had never heard of. So then I set out to learn all I could about the Lynx, and the more I learned the more I fell in love. I get really siked about "firsts" (like the Microvision being the first portable cartridge system), so I got really siked about Lynx being the first backlit color portable system. I had always thought Game Gear held that title.

 

So I've started my collection. Being the obsessive person I am, my ultimate goal is to own every game produced. So far I am only 15 toward that goal with one on the way for 16. I feel like a kid in a candy store, so many games I know and love and such a small budget to get them with. Here is what I have so far:

Gauntlet, Rygar, Rampage, S.T.U.N. Runner, Hydra, Steel Talons, Double Dragon, California Games, Paperboy, Lemmings, Slime World, Batman Returns, Ninja Gaiden, Gates of Zendocon, Xybots, and Desert Strike is on it's way. I have two Lemmings carts the first one I bought was on a green cart with Lemmings logo printed on a sticker and stuck onto the chip, then I saw the curved lip cart and bought it too.

 

At the momment I'm salivating over the idea of obtaining Cybervirus Cinciclassic Edition. I know only 25 were produced so getting my hands on it will be difficult but if someone reading this happens to own it I would happily pay top dollar to get my hands on it..... Hey I can dream can't I? Well if anyone has any tips for a newbie I would appreciate it. My main concern is getting ripped off, not so much by paying too much, but more buying a "fake" like I think I did with the Lemmings (the green cart). Speaking of paying to much though, is there a good price guide somewhere? I found one with google but it didn't appear very accurate.

[Ninjabba]

Welcome aboard sounds like you're a passionate collector! Check out the homebrew productions as well.. they are a bit scattered over the board, but most of them are listed in the Current Atari Lynx Projects sticky post

[GadgetUK]

Hehe! You've got a couple of the hardest ones to find already! Lemmings and Desert strike were like rocking horse sh*t to find in the UK! Ive completed my collection recently so I know exactly how you feel =).

 

There are a lot of very useful threads on here, so have a good read and feel free to ask anything!

 

Ive now got the 'gamegear bug', just bought 2, and 40 games lol

Edited July 4, 2012 by GadgetUK

[Atari_afternoon]

There is no real problem with fake cards on the Lynx

Different versions, yes. I think, e.g. of Super Off-Road, there is a curved lip version and a chip version, but both made and marketed by Telegames, so not fake. What happens or has happened is unauthorized guys who put free homebrew on a card and sell it. I´ve never come across one of those myself but earlier when I had dug deep in the archive, some homebrewers made justified complaints about this, or take competition entries shortly again after away from the net again.- Just to mention the only oddity I can think of, be aware that if you stumble across the "Eye of the Beholder" ebay one, the one most often being sold or seen is just a DEMO

I like the Gamegear again, too - just got mine back from "refurbishing shower" - something the Lynx never needs .

[Dimitrios]

I believe i own 2 working copies of blue lightning if you are intersted. I'll look it up tommorow

[Michael David Morsette]

Welcome aboard sounds like you're a passionate collector! Check out the homebrew productions as well.. they are a bit scattered over the board, but most of them are listed in the Current Atari Lynx Projects sticky post

 

Thanks for the tip. The homebrew I think I'll be getting next is Zaku, it looks pretty fun.

 

Hehe! You've got a couple of the hardest ones to find already! Lemmings and Desert strike were like rocking horse sh*t to find in the UK! Ive completed my collection recently so I know exactly how you feel =).

 

There are a lot of very useful threads on here, so have a good read and feel free to ask anything!

 

Ive now got the 'gamegear bug', just bought 2, and 40 games lol

 

I just got a refurbished from Goldenax, new caps, new lens, works like new I don't quite the "bug" for it like I do the Lynx though. I just have a few favorites.

 

There is no real problem with fake cards on the Lynx

Different versions, yes. I think, e.g. of Super Off-Road, there is a curved lip version and a chip version, but both made and marketed by Telegames, so not fake. What happens or has happened is unauthorized guys who put free homebrew on a card and sell it. I´ve never come across one of those myself but earlier when I had dug deep in the archive, some homebrewers made justified complaints about this, or take competition entries shortly again after away from the net again.- Just to mention the only oddity I can think of, be aware that if you stumble across the "Eye of the Beholder" ebay one, the one most often being sold or seen is just a DEMO

I like the Gamegear again, too - just got mine back from "refurbishing shower" - something the Lynx never needs .

 

Thanks for the warning on "Eye of the Beholder". I've seen several on ebay that are just green carts with a white sticker with the name written on with a pen. The first Lemmings I bought came in what looked like a VHS case with a Lemmings cover printed on office paper and slipped in the case, the manual was printed on a piece of paper folded in fourths. Then the Lemmings sticker put on the chip. It was the first I bought and was really disappointed. It looked to me like a rip off of a hard to find game.

 

I believe i own 2 working copies of blue lightning if you are intersted. I'll look it up tommorow

 

Thanks for the offer. I pm'd you.

[GadgetUK]

Yeah, I wont collecting all gamegear games like ive done on Lynx. The Lynx is technically superior than gamegear and the gamegear games just arent as good from what ive seen so far.

 

One important bit of advice if you start taking Lynxes 2's apart etc. if you find your Lynx is missing the screw in the battery compartment (many have lost that screw over the years), dont do what I did and try and put a screw in there that looks like it will fit - you end up screwing straight through the mylar ribbon cable for the controls...

[TrekMD]

Welcome to the Lynx. It is an excellent handheld that was ahead of its time. You'll have lots of fun collecting for it and keep an eye out here int he forums for some of the homebrew releases that will be upcoming.

[Ninjabba]

btw, couldn't help but notice your avatar. I created a game of life demo for the lynx a while ago. You can find it probably by searching or through my profile

[Michael David Morsette]

Yeah, I wont collecting all gamegear games like ive done on Lynx. The Lynx is technically superior than gamegear and the gamegear games just arent as good from what ive seen so far.

 

One important bit of advice if you start taking Lynxes 2's apart etc. if you find your Lynx is missing the screw in the battery compartment (many have lost that screw over the years), dont do what I did and try and put a screw in there that looks like it will fit - you end up screwing straight through the mylar ribbon cable for the controls...

 

The Game Gear was the first new system I bought, I bought Lemmings with it. I loved that system. I had an enormous case for it that made it water proof so I took the Game Gear everywhere with me. Camping, conoeing you name it, I had my Game Gear I never had a very large collection of games but I thought they were all good. I had Chuck Rock, Cool Spot, Double Dragon, Ecco Tides of time, Lemmings, Mortal Kombat, Shinobi II (my favorite at the time), Sonic (1, 2, and triple trouble), and Streets of Rage. Nowadays my boys play it most (2,4 and 6 years old; infant also but still too young to play ) Their favorite is Lion King.

 

Thanks for the tip on the Lynx, I bought mine new from Best Electronics so hopefully I won't have those issues for a while

Welcome to the Lynx. It is an excellent handheld that was ahead of its time. You'll have lots of fun collecting for it and keep an eye out here int he forums for some of the homebrew releases that will be upcoming.

Thanks, I feel like I'm a bit late to the game so to speak; already missed out on some great opportunities like Eye of the Beholder. I'll keep my eye out to keep more from slipping my grasp

btw, couldn't help but notice your avatar. I created a game of life demo for the lynx a while ago. You can find it probably by searching or through my profile

 

I'll check that out, I have a Lynx emulator on my Xoom (tablet) I'll see how it runs.

[doomwaves]

I too am really new to the Lynx. So new in fact, that I don't even have one yet. Haven't been able to find a good deal in my price range just yet..

[Michael David Morsette]

www.myatari.com has them for 50, www.best-electronics-ca.com has them for 45, or if you want to chance it I just checked ebay and there is a LynxII with slime world for 20 bucks. hope that helps :-)

[Fadest]

The first Lemmings I bought came in what looked like a VHS case with a Lemmings cover printed on office paper and slipped in the case, the manual was printed on a piece of paper folded in fourths. Then the Lemmings sticker put on the chip. It was the first I bought and was really disappointed. It looked to me like a rip off of a hard to find game.

It is a rip off…

 

[Michael David Morsette]

It is a rip off…

 

Yeah it was the first independant game I bought (some were packaged with the Lynx); I didn't know much.... still don't know much but I knew even less then I loved Lemmings as a kid and was easily fooled. But not all was a loss, I bought it with Double Dragon (which was not a fake) and have since aquired the REAL Lemmings.... live and learn.

[doomwaves]

www.myatari.com has them for 50, www.best-electronics-ca.com has them for 45, or if you want to chance it I just checked ebay and there is a LynxII with slime world for 20 bucks. hope that helps :-)

 

Thanks for the heads up.. Alas, I am a poor lad.. We'll have to wait to get my hands on one. Soon..

[Michael David Morsette]

Thanks for the heads up.. Alas, I am a poor lad.. We'll have to wait to get my hands on one. Soon..

 

Well hope you can get one soon. Keep your eye on ebay I've seen some go for a real steal recently....

 

Speaking of which I was thinking there should be a thread showcasing good or unusual finds on ebay or other sites, maybe I'll try that. One other thing, I started a thread to showcase collections, I was hoping to update the original post as the collection evolved but I lost the option to edit it. Is there a way to edit the post a few days after you've posted or do you have to do a whole new post?

Edited July 11, 2012 by MrBland

[johannesmutlu]

I also become now a atari lynx fan, there are many reasons for it, 1 it's the first color and 16 bit handheld game system ever made, 2 had some advanced features wich even the snes and sega genesis lack, like sprite scaling and polygon rendering,3 it had features wich all 8bit handhelds lacks like mode7,scrolling backgrounds,4 channel 8bit digital sound,etc,,,4 it has left/richt hand feature it took 17 years before a handheld system could do that,but trough software like brain training on the ds,5 it had many great arcade ports and some home ports on it,like rygar,road blasters,rampard,shadow of the beast, etc,,,6 you could link an massive 18 lynxes together howabout a chat software for it? 7 despites some limitations of it,like low-res,16 colors atonce, slow ram,and being a non-standard type, these limitations can be overcome trough software tricks, like ham color,bankswitching, etc,,, 8 there,re some amezing homebrew games wich show off the amezing capabilities of the lynx, like alphine games,zaku ,luchtenstein, wich pushes the lynx over it's limits to be gba standard quality, 9 despites many third party's avoided the lynx, many games wich are on both the genesis & snes were also on the lynx, like lemmings,rampard,steel talons,hard drivn,shadow of the beast,pacman,pac mania, etc,,, wich were also good ports either,10 old or not, the lynx is just a timeless machine wich still does not feel obsolete like the gameboy does since there,re somany improved versions of it,also 16bit graphics are still used today in 2D games like angry birds,flappy,