Sneak Peak of New EVERCADE Atari Lynx cartridges

[Metal Jesus]

 

I was sent the 4 upcoming Evercade cartridge compilations, which include two volumes of Atari Lynx games... and I figured this fine group of enthusiasts would be curious how they turned out. Even though most of you probably have the real games in your collection, it's cool to see the Atari Lynx get more mainstream love like this and I was excited to help get the word out. Also.. it's neat that the Evercade also supports the Left/Right hand feature of the Lynx too. 

 

Cartridge 1 is mostly 17 Songbird Production licensed titles like 

Crystal Mines II
Dracula The Undead
Gordo 106
Loopz
Power Factor
Super Asteroids / Super Missile Command
Scrapyard Dog
Super Skweek
Xump

 

Cartridge 2 are all Epyx games:

California Games

Chips Challenge

Checkered Flag 

Todd’s Adventures in Slimeworld

Electro Cop

Gates of Zendocon

Zarlor Mercenary

Blue Lightning

Edited October 16, 2020 by Metal Jesus

[sirlynxalot]

Cool, nice to see lynx titles getting some potential exposure outside of the existing lynx fanbase. Who owns the rights to the Epyx titles like Zarlor Mercenary and Chip's Challenge?  Since Epyx was acquired by Atari at the time, I figured that stuff would have gone to JTS and/or Hasbro and be who knows where at this point.

[gilsaluki]

Very good review.  Thanks.  I might have to get the Evercade because of the Lynx Carts.  I am waiting for them to change the color of the unit.  Don't care for its current color scheme.  Still great to see the 'world' get a view of how advanced the Lynx was for 1989-94.

[gilsaluki]

41 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said:

Cool, nice to see lynx titles getting some potential exposure outside of the existing lynx fanbase. Who owns the rights to the Epyx titles like Zarlor Mercenary and Chip's Challenge?  Since Epyx was acquired by Atari at the time, I figured that stuff would have gone to JTS and/or Hasbro and be who knows where at this point.

Point.  Atari did not acquire Epyx.  Atari acquired the rights to the Lynx.  Epyx, hard up at that time for $$, agreed to continue to develop the software for the unit while Atari would manage the manufacturing end of the project.  Turns out Atari had to take over the SW development as well.  Under those trying times, I give Atari credit for keeping it alive for its 5-6 year run.  Atari was a shoestring operation for sure then.  Marketing was NEVER a strong Atari suite, not even when they had the entire industry with the 2600 and it was Warner Communications.  They just figured they'd skate along on their laurels.  A strategy that never worked.  Jack made some very bad decisions (delaying the 7800, thus provide NES the crown), being stingy with sharing technical data with software developers.  Not following through with hardware promises, vaporware.  No supporting the product after launch.  VERY poor customer service under Jack's watch, a phone number that was never answer or letters never replied to.  And on and on.  

 

There is no telling who owns what intellectual property at this juncture.  It's a jungle out there. 

[Metal Jesus]

52 minutes ago, sirlynxalot said:

Cool, nice to see lynx titles getting some potential exposure outside of the existing lynx fanbase. Who owns the rights to the Epyx titles like Zarlor Mercenary and Chip's Challenge?  Since Epyx was acquired by Atari at the time, I figured that stuff would have gone to JTS and/or Hasbro and be who knows where at this point.

I bet you could reach out to Blaze Entertainment and ask, as they are the ones that make the Evercade, licensed the games and they are pretty active on social media. https://twitter.com/blazeretrogames

[+davidcalgary29]

3 hours ago, gilsaluki said:

Very good review.  

Absolutely, but good god he called Gordo 106 a classic. Well, it's still got the saddest and most depressing backstory to any Lynx game...

[sirlynxalot]

3 hours ago, gilsaluki said:

Point.  Atari did not acquire Epyx.  Atari acquired the rights to the Lynx.  Epyx, hard up at that time for $$, agreed to continue to develop the software for the unit while Atari would manage the manufacturing end of the project.  Turns out Atari had to take over the SW development as well.  Under those trying times, I give Atari credit for keeping it alive for its 5-6 year run.  Atari was a shoestring operation for sure then.  Marketing was NEVER a strong Atari suite, not even when they had the entire industry with the 2600 and it was Warner Communications.  They just figured they'd skate along on their laurels.  A strategy that never worked.  Jack made some very bad decisions (delaying the 7800, thus provide NES the crown), being stingy with sharing technical data with software developers.  Not following through with hardware promises, vaporware.  No supporting the product after launch.  VERY poor customer service under Jack's watch, a phone number that was never answer or letters never replied to.  And on and on.  

 

There is no telling who owns what intellectual property at this juncture.  It's a jungle out there. 

 

Ah, I'd heard Epyx was dependent on Atari for financial support at the time of the lynx and became a "captive" of sorts.  I figured this meant Epyx might have become a subsidiary of Atari, but I guess it was all a contractual relationship for services and hardware rather than atari acquiring ownership of the Epyx company.  It seems Epyx filed for bankruptcy in 1989, the remaining employees decided to sell the company's assets in 1993 and Bridgestone Media Group acquired some of these assets offered for sale. I guess the Epyx lynx stuff could have been part of the asset sale.

 

Edited October 16, 2020 by sirlynxalot

[Yarzzz]

1 hour ago, davidcalgary29 said:

Absolutely, but good god he called Gordo 106 a classic. Well, it's still got the saddest and most depressing backstory to any Lynx game...

Why?

[+davidcalgary29]

1 minute ago, Yarzzz said:

Why?

"Brutally exploited lab monkeys" are not the first thing that come to mind when I think about platformers.  Just sayin'. 

[PFG 9000]

Cool review!  It's always good to see the Lynx get some screen time, and this is positive screen time no less. 

 

But did anybody else notice that the Evercade "thumbnail" screenshot for Slime World uses a screenshot of the Genesis port?  Dunno how they didn't catch that, as the Genesis has something like four times the resolution of the Lynx.

Edited October 17, 2020 by PFG 9000
Grammar

[Agent X]

13 hours ago, Metal Jesus said:

I was sent the 4 upcoming Evercade cartridge compilations, which include two volumes of Atari Lynx games... and I figured this fine group of enthusiasts would be curious how they turned out. Even though most of you probably have the real games in your collection, it's cool to see the Atari Lynx get more mainstream love like this and I was excited to help get the word out. Also.. it's neat that the Evercade also supports the Left/Right hand feature of the Lynx too. 

 

That was a great video! I liked the fact that you were able to directly capture the video footage, and also showed a little bit of the games running on Evercade's LCD screen. The emulation appears to be excellent as far as the graphics are concerned. I do wish that you had let us hear the sound from the games, as that would have helped longtime Lynx enthusiasts like me to get a better overall sense of the emulation quality.

 

Also, a minor nitpick, but Checkered Flag was not an Epyx creation.

 

Overall, I still appreciate the effort that you put into this video. I've enjoyed many of your videos over the years...keep up the good work!

[LordKraken]

I was a bit skeptical with the evercade concept in the first place, but I have to admit that the editorial work is excellent and many cartridges are very appealing (except maybe interplay 1 and 2; they would have benefit to be merged into one cartridge imo).

 

The only downside of the console for me is the cheap design. With better plastic and buttons it would have been a must have (maybe a mat black edition in the future?).

 

Also excellent video as usual @Metal Jesus, really nice to see you focus on "unknown" consoles and games from time to time (really like your hidden gems videos).

Edited October 17, 2020 by LordKraken

[+karri]

Evercade just arrived in Finland. Gigantti is selling these for €85 (with a Nemco cart) or €110 with two more carts (interplay collection1, Atari collection 1)

https://www.gigantti.fi/product/gaming/konsolit/retro-ja-muut-pelikonsolit/211804/evercade-starter-pack-pelikonsoli

[+davidcalgary29]

11 hours ago, LordKraken said:

I was a bit skeptical with the evercade concept in the first place, but I have to admit that the editorial work is excellent and many cartridges are very appealing (except maybe interplay 1 and 2; they would have benefit to be merged into one cartridge imo).

 

The only downside of the console for me is the cheap design. With better plastic and buttons it would have been a must have (maybe a mat black edition in the future?).

 

Also excellent video as usual @Metal Jesus, really nice to see you focus on "unknown" consoles and games from time to time (really like your hidden gems videos).

Several months on and I'd give the Evercade a solid "B" myself. I do play it...but mainly for things I never thought would interest me, like 7800 Alien Brigade and Food Fight. Games that I thought I'd love, like Burgertime, don't play all that well in this format, but that's also been compensated by lots of fun games that I thought were just filler titles, like Magical Drop II.

 

I still sort-of-don't like the ergonomics of the system, either. It just doesn't feel as nice to play as my other horizontal handhelds, and I can't figure out why. Too small, perhaps? The d-pad and buttons need to be lower, so I'll play the Lynx titles flipped.

 

I'm looking forward to the Lynx titles, but Evercade isn't going to replace my Lynxes, period. I'll certainly make room for it, but so far I haven't played it more than about twenty minutes at a time.

[+MacRorie]

12 hours ago, LordKraken said:

The only downside of the console for me is the cheap design. With better plastic and buttons it would have been a must have (maybe a mat black edition in the future?).

They had a nice black edition.  I thought it looks great. https://funstock.co.uk/products/evercade-all-in-edition-black

 

[gilsaluki]

I likes the Black edition better, but still, that red racing stripe has got to vanish.  I am partial to that Lynx's wonder charcoal color.  Who/whom ever came up with that was brilliant.  Best hand console color EVER!

[+davidcalgary29]

1 hour ago, gilsaluki said:

I likes the Black edition better, but still, that red racing stripe has got to vanish.  I am partial to that Lynx's wonder charcoal color.  Who/whom ever came up with that was brilliant.  Best hand console color EVER!

The Lynx and the PSP take it for me for each of their respective generations. Nothing else has done it for me in handheld gaming, although the Vita's -- almost -- up there as well.