Sonic on the Lynx??!!

[crc_73]

I was browsing the main site, looking at the catalogues in the Lynx section, and in one of the scans there is a picture of a Lynx apparently running Sonic.

 

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?...2&currentPage=3

 

How'd that happen?

 

Looking at the pictures of the Lynxes on the 2nd page (http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=72&currentPage=1), they look as if the game pictures have been pasted in (esp. Blue Lightning - the Super Squeek one looks a bit more believable, but not quite). I guess a picture could have been taken from a GameGear, and pasted in the same way.

[joeybastard]

My guess would be a layout artist that didn't know any better

[TailChao]

That is the basic story, you might want to take a peek at this older topic for more information:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=38756

[SteveW]

Yeah, it's just a screw-up. The same way Apple Powerbooks ended up in Gateway PC laptop advertisements a year or two ago.

[Trip_Cannon]

It could happen.... one of these days...

[Ziggy_Stardust]

Crap, I thought this was some awesome hack I was gonna have to buy! On the other hand, I wonder how many people casually flipping through the magazine noticed this...

[The_Laird]

Ah but did any of you know that way back in 1991 some bunch of smart bods developed an adaptor to play Gamegear games on a Lynx? A friend of mine who did work experience at C&VG magazine even saw a bulky prototype Lynx 2 version working running copies of Space Harrier and sonic 1 this was actully shown in an addition of their handheld magazine GO! This converter was never released though as Sega threatened legal action if they did. I wonder if anyone out there still a one of those prototype units? Ironically just before Atari as we new it went bust they won a court case against Sega for copyright infringements ( Joystick D-plugs etc. ) and were given the license to realease any of Sega's back catalogue. Sega probaly knew full well Atari would never use it though!

[+Sauron]

The Lynx could never play GG games for one reason alone: The GG has a higher res screen. I think your friend was full of it.

[wapchimp]

 

Space harrier I would love on a lynx, but I digress - there is the GG vs Lynx thread for that

 

[The_Laird]

The screen resolution has nothing to do with it, the G.G plays Master System games and they don't have the same res! Yes it does mean you lose some detail but as i said this device was featured in many magazines and even shown working, my friend who now designs websites was lucky enough to see it first person. I can't believe no-one else out there remembers it. The makers were also planning to do versions that played Gameboy games on both machines and also designed the Blackbox which allowed you to play Lynx games on a T.V. set. I believe that was actully sold but was very expensive so not comercially viable, although T.V review shows and games mags used them alot.

[tdp]

The screen resolution has nothing to do with it, the G.G plays Master System games and they don't have the same res! Yes it does mean you lose some detail but as i said this device was featured in many magazines and even shown working, my friend who now designs websites was lucky enough to see it first person. I can't believe no-one else out there remembers it. The makers were also planning to do versions that played Gameboy games on both machines and also designed the Blackbox which allowed you to play Lynx games on a T.V. set. I believe that was actully sold but was very expensive so not comercially viable, although T.V review shows and games mags used them alot.

 

Check out http://www.wizztronics.com/lynx.htm

 

They did develop a device that allowed the Lynx to be linked to a TV.

[Shawn Jefferson]

The screen resolution has nothing to do with it, the G.G plays Master System games and they don't have the same res! Yes it does mean you lose some detail

 

How do you figure that would work? Would the screen be shrunk, or clipped?

 

but as i said this device was featured in many magazines and even shown working, my friend who now designs websites was lucky enough to see it first person.

 

No one here has ever seen such a device featured in any magazine. Some of the folks here have been Lynx collectors from day one.

 

I can't believe no-one else out there remembers it.

 

I can think of one reason why not: the device doesn't exist.

 

The makers were also planning to do versions that played Gameboy games on both machines and also designed the Blackbox which allowed you to play Lynx games on a T.V. set. I believe that was actully sold but was very expensive so not comercially viable, although T.V review shows and games mags used them alot.

 

There was a device, mentioned above, to hook up the lynx to a TV. Atari also had a unit that would allow them to display lynx games on a TV, for internal use only IIRC. The Wizztronics unit requires internal modification of your lynx.

 

Everything that I know about the internal workings of the lynx would make a Game Gear module very, very difficult. The first being that there (IIRC) is no way to get any signals from the cart connector to the video display hardware. Also access to the cartridge ram is not random access like most machines. There are only a small amount of address lines taken out to the cartridge. Then there is a counter that increments automatically at each read of the cartridge. This sytem would make it very difficult to create a game gear module that plugs into the cartridge slot.

 

If a game gear module was created by someone (and not advertised in magazines but shown at some electronics show) then it would essentially be a huge hack of the lynx hardware, with basically a game gear somehow hooked up to the LCD screen of the lynx, or some other very expensive and intrusive method of connecting to the lynx hardware. Hardly something that any company that didn't want to go bankrupt would produce, IMO.

 

I'd love for such a device to actually exist, but I very much doubt it.

[The_Laird]

I know at least 5 or 6 people who remember this device and it was created by a company in the U.K. and featured in U.K magazines which maybe explains why you havn't seen anything about it. I'm not just making some stories up, i've been collecting consoles and computers since the days of the 2600 and Sinclair ZX80 and had games published for the ZX81, Spectrum and Atari ST. It may have been a bit of a publicity stunt and granted it may have been altered hardware but as i said it was published and seen by press.

[+davidcalgary29]

It may well have been a Game Gear-in-a-Lynx mod, or some type of one-of-a-kind, but I agree with the comments above. It is highly unlikely that such a gadget would have developed without any hint of it in development documents or from/amongst Lynx collectors. Still, there is precedent for Europe-only Lynx developments about which we didn't know in North America, e.g. Metal Mutant.

[Shawn Jefferson]

I know at least 5 or 6 people who remember this device and it was created by a company in the U.K. and featured in U.K magazines which maybe explains why you havn't seen anything about it. I'm not just making some stories up, i've been collecting consoles and computers since the days of the 2600 and Sinclair ZX80 and had games published for the ZX81, Spectrum and Atari ST. It may have been a bit of a publicity stunt and granted it may have been altered hardware but as i said it was published and seen by press.

 

So, where are the scans from the magazines? Come on, you UK lynxers... let us see it!

[SwedenLynxer]

I have read some strange things about the Lynx in UK magazines. Most of it was probably just rumors. If you can't post scans here maybe you at least can tell us what magazines you saw this in, mr kizza?

[Dan Iacovelli]

I seem to remember a law suit with Sega and Atari awhile back and I think Atari was going to get rights to some sega games for either the jagaur or Lynx. but I think that never came to pass. since atari folded shortly after that.

[DracIsBack]

I seem to remember a law suit with Sega and Atari  awhile back and I think Atari was going to get rights to some sega games for either the jagaur or Lynx. but I think that never came to pass. since atari folded shortly after that.

 

This was during the Jaguar era. In 1994, Atari settled a lawsuit with Sega for Sega's ingrindgement of Atari's patents. Sega paid $90 million to settle the ingringement and get a license for future use. Atari and Sega subsequently agreed to produce games for each other's systems. But Atari did the reverse merger with JTS about 18 months later.

[Isgoed]

Hi,

 

About the lynx/gamegear convertor, in the early nineties I bought so now and then the CVG (computer and videogames)magazine

Sometimes there was a little handheld mag included named GO!

 

I have this magazine, issue 12, oct 1992 on page 5 there is an article about the gg to lynx convertor and vica-versa, which should be coming real soon(back in those days) for around 20 pounds

 

Since I don't own a digitcamera or a scanner I am unable to make a scan of it

 

I always thought it to be a joke, due to resolution/color matters

 

Maybe that someone else has this magazine and can make a scan of it?

[Lost Monkey]

Why is it that ONLY people who just joined have heard of this GG-Lynx device?

 

If it isn't a conspiracy, it sure looks like one...

[wapchimp]

[Nubian]

Hey All,

So is the consensus that this gg to Lynx convertor existed or didn't exist? Are some of you suggesting that someone,or two, haved joined Atariage and makiing a false profile and posting that they are sure this convertor exists? If they are then that's foul play. If we can see the scans of the mag then I'm satisfied. I collected C&VG since days of when it was competing with Zzap 64 and didn't hear anything along the way.

 

A bit off the topic here, but do any of you UK Lynxers remember a mag from back in the 80's called Big K? It always had great front cover illustrations.

 

Hope we get to the bottom of this gg/lynx convertor mystery.

 

Regards,

 

Nubian.

[wapchimp]

Ive got a digi cam & scanner so if any UK lynx'er wants to post me the mag, I can scan it. We can get this sorted

[+davidcalgary29]

Hey All,

So is the consensus that this gg to Lynx convertor existed or didn't exist? Are some of you suggesting that someone,or two, haved joined Atariage and makiing a false profile and posting that they are sure this convertor exists? If they are then that's foul play. If we can see the scans of the mag then I'm satisfied. I collected C&VG since days of when it was competing with Zzap 64 and didn't hear anything along the way.

 

A bit off the topic here, but do any of you UK Lynxers remember a mag from back in the 80's called Big K? It always had great front cover illustrations.  

 

Hope we get to the bottom of this gg/lynx convertor mystery.  

 

Regards,

 

Nubian.  

 

 

I doubt that anyone's trying to be deliberately deceptive, as the Lynx market is too small to justify the expense of creating a hoax (and then offer said hoax for sale). I think that it's possible that a magazine did do a write-up on a Lynx-GG "converter" in Europe either on hope or rumour that such a device existed. I think that it is very doubtful that anything like this existed, and it probably would have cost more than 20 pounds to make (let alone retail for) in the early '90s.

[Lost Monkey]

I think that it's possible that a magazine did do a write-up on a Lynx-GG "converter" in Europe either on hope or rumour that such a device existed. I think that it is very doubtful that anything like this existed, and it probably would have cost more than 20 pounds to make (let alone retail for) in the early '90s.

 

Maybe there was speculation raised in a magazine after the Sonic screen was displayed in print?