When did you buy your Lynx?

[cthulhu]

I was just wondering when everyone bought their Lynx.

I got my Lynx in 1990 and the first game I ever bought was Rygar.

The last game I ever bought new in the shops was Dirty Larry...I think in 1994.

Sadly a lot of games were never released where I live (the Netherlands), so now I have to buy them at fairs and over the internet.

[Harry_Dodgson]

Got mine from the Sears mail-order catalog as soon as it came out. Had no idea how the games played or sounded at the time. Then I mail-ordered one game at a time until the stores started carrying them.

[Rhindle The Red]

Bought my Lynx aroud '97/'98 in a bundle with Batman Returns. The first game I bought: Pac-Land.

[cthulhu]

A friend of mine already had a Lynx with California Games and Zarlor Mercenary, so I already knew what the Lynx was like and I was so impressed that I also bought one. It still works perfectly after all these years.

[NE146]

AT LAUNCH of course! I don't remember the first game I bought but I think it was Blue Thunder (or whatever that airplane game was). I still have that original Lynx although the ac adapter port broke off the board eons ago

[+FujiSkunk]

I got my first Lynx for Christmas. It was the year after it launched, if I remember correctly. I had saved up and bought myself a Game Boy, but I had always had my eye on the Lynx. I bought the Game Boy because I was worried the Lynx was going to go the way of the 7800. A year later, the Lynx was still going strong (or so I thought, based on the fact it was still getting shelf space at the local Babbage's), and I was still looking longingly at it. Mom noticed this, and that year Santa left a Lynx under the tree, with a California Games pack-in. I dropped the Game Boy like a hot potato, selling it shortly afterward.

 

Sadly, that Lynx died after a couple of years. Even more sadly, the Lynx finally did go the way of the 7800, and game stores began dumping them. Fortunately, toward the end of that year I found a game store that had one Lynx left in the close-out bin, and it was bundled with four games to boot! I begged and pleaded, and was later delighted to see that Santa had again left a Lynx under the tree.

 

I love Santa. I love my mother.

[eric_ruck]

The year was 1992. I was going to Comdex (remember that?) for my company and was stuck at the airport for weather. They had, uh, probably Electronics Boutique at the mall there. I know I bought Joust, I probably also bought one more but I don't remember which.

 

Eric

[D-lag]

It was in 1992, sold the GameBoy to buy the Lynx as I was an Atari enthusiast (owner of a 2600 and a 7800 at that time). I'm still having fun with it, only drawback was that all my friends had GameGears

[kickinwing]

off of Ebay. I was rather young yet when it came out, 11 i think. And my parents wouldn't buy it for me. Once i became a collector, i picked one up off EBAY and i love it, its a great system. Mine is a Lynx II

[Clint Thompson]

I got my first Lynx in 94 I believe. After I had my 2600 and 7800 already..then when I got my Jaguar and 800 for Christmas I knew I had to have a Lynx (got it bundled for $149 and 4 games)... played the hell out of some ninja gaiden! (almost beat it several times but never did).

[+Sauron]

My parents bought Lynxes for my brother and I for Christmas of 1992, I think. It was the first Christmas after the Lynx II was released. They came packed with California Games, and shortly after I was able to beef up my selection. My brother and I had major fun playing comlynxed Warbirds, which I became rather good at.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Bought mine in 2002 I think. Oddly enough, I just bought my first two games for it from an atariage member last week! I've always liked the lynx, just never got around to buying games for it.

[Emehr]

After seeing the Lynx insert in EGM's Nov. '91 issue I knew I had to have a Lynx. The GameBoy library left something to be desired for me at the time. Never owned a GB system until 2002 when I got a GBA. Anyway, no other system had my favorite Atari arcade games like Hard Drivin', STUN Runner, and Xybots. That fantastic page full of Warbirds screenshots had me sold. I got the Lynx (2nd model, no pack-in game) that Christmas along with a copy of Warbirds. I was one happy camper.

 

- Jason

[Omar]

I think I got in agust of 2002. It was an excellent deal, I think, as it included many games, ac adapter, comlynx and the carring case. I always wanted it but never could find the right situation to get it.

[dalton4life]

I was 16 when the Lynx and Gameboy launched in 1989 and working at a toy store at the time. I was totally up on the Gameboy from whatever the game mags at the time were. I bought a Gameboy at launch from a store I didn't work at becuase we didn't get them in until a week after launch but when I saw a Lynx a few months later at TRU I was blown away by the demos of Blue Lightning and California games. I never forgot about the Lynx but didn't buy one until a couple of months ago of Ebay as I started collecting this year.

[Songbird]

It was 1994. Anybody remember the Midwest chain of stores called Venture? They (along with EB and a few other "select" retailers) were offering the Atari combo deal of a Lynx II with 4 pack-in games for $79.95 IIRC. A year or two later it dropped to $50, then eventually $25!! Wish I had bought out their entire stock at that price.

 

I was only using text-based internet at the time, and found out there were a few people trying to hack some new games for the Lynx (Hi, Harry!). That inspired me to follow a dream and try to produce some games myself.

 

The Lynx is a very cool system, and I'm looking forward to playing some head-to-head games with my kids some day. So far, the only Lynx game they've played is Crystal Mines and they love it.

[xubidoo]

Bought my 1st lynx on release ,had about 12 games or so at the most ,kept it for a a couple of years then sold it.

 

then recently a friend dug out there old Lynx and as they dont have net access ,they asked me if id look on ebay for some games for them,which i did ,bought them about 10 games so far.

after seeing all the games id pld years ago ,got me interested in getting a Lynx for myslef again after all them years ,so in last 4 weeks ive aquired 2 Atari Lynx 1s (1 is fully boxed with all manauls in mint condition) ,and so far im up to 25 games ,and loving every minute of rediscovering the Atari Lynx and is games.

[CGQuarterly]

I bought mine in '95 from a co-worker. $50 got me a model 2 Lynx, Rygar, Viking Child, California Games, a link-up cable, and the official carrying case.

 

Chris

[Hellvin]

A store near me in AZ called Game Zone. Bought it complete it box for like 35 bucks. First games I got were Rygar and Chip's Challange. I picked up a boxed Ninja Gaiden a while back at a place called gamer's but haven't checked it out yet.

[Godzilla]

I had been following the Lynx in the video game magazines for quite a while, and I found out there was a test market Atari was doing in California and New York, long before the normal retail roll-out. I got my first lynx from the California test market, with, I believe, California Games, Electrocop and Blue Lightening. Electrocop was the game I was getting the Lynx for at the time. That, and the rampage/godzilla looking game that was coming out for it. Strangely enough, the pictures in the magazine of the Godzilla style game ended up looking a lot better than the final game that got released (it seems once they decided to make it rampage, they downgraded the graphocs,)

[+davidcalgary29]

I bought my first (of four) in '90, shortly after its Canadian launch, in Toronto. It cost $189.95 (bundled with "California Games") and was worth every penny.

[atarian1]

I got mine in the Spring of 1990. I've always been an Atari enthusiast and read about the Lynx in the magazines. I could not justify spending $180 on a game machine. If only it were cheaper.

 

They were still kind of hard to find, but better than before Christmas 1989 when everyone was sold out (and they were selling for $190 instead of $180). FAO Schwartz were the only place that sold them, and they were going fast. I remember while looking (drooling ) at the Lynxes behind the glass for about an hour, three Lynxes were sold and one guy bought two of them.

 

Supply got better in the Spring though, but it still was too expensive for me. But good luck struck me in that at the time, I was also an Atari stockholder. Atari offered a 20% discount for all stockholders that Spring on the Lynx and its games and accessories. (They also gave a 20% discount for the Atari Portfolio products too) That brought the price down to $145. Expensive, but much better. So, I bought it along with Electrocop and Blue Lightning.

 

Friends were impressed. Everyone wanted to play it. (I actually brought it to school) There were the usual people who hated it. (stupid Nintendo fanboys)

 

(Digressing...)

One annoying thing was that people kept saying it was "the Sega portable". Even after I clearly showed them the "Lynx" and "Atari" labels, they still thought it was not real. Even though it's right in front of them!!! Not only that, the GameGear wasn't even released yet! (idiots...)

 

Then there were the people who said, "The TurboExpress is better". Well, duh, for one thing it was not released yet, and it wouldn't be released until a year later at double the price of the Lynx!

(End of digressing...)

 

So the Spring of 1990 was a fun time for me.

[Rockin' Kat]

I got mine sometime last year.... the first Lynx I got just a few months before at a thrift didn't work...finding it made me want one more, so I ended up giving in and buying one on ebay. My parents bought me a Game Boy and later a Game Gear... I'm not too sure I even knew the lynx existed back then.

Edited July 12, 2005 by SuperPsycho

[RJ]

When it debuted. I recall buying it on the way to work & unpacking it there, telling my boss it's "the future of video games."

 

The first games I had were Cal Games (pack in), Gates of Zendocon, Blue Lightning, Chips Challenge, & ElectroCop- all were flat w/ the raised "grip-bumps". Gauntlet was the first game I had w/ the curved edge.

 

My original "dog bone"' burnt out so I bought a Lynx 2 game bundle for $70 years later.

 

I do remember my eyes nearly popping out the first time I plugged in & played Awesome Golf.

Edited July 12, 2005 by RJ

[+davidcalgary29]

I do remember my eyes nearly popping out the first time I plugged in & played Awesome Golf.

890260[/snapback]

 

As an aside, the first jaw-dropping Lynx game I can remember playing was Klax. I couldn't believe they had ported that one onto a tiny Lynx card, and am still impressed with it today. I think that the Lynx had one of the strongest initial lineup of games I've ever seen for a system; all of the Epyx efforts were incredible!