The press and copy edit proofs for GameSpite Quarterly #1 should be arriving soon — probably tomorrow or Wednesday. That means we’re nearing the finish line for this first project. I’m trying to not to go overboard with status updates, because tiny little milestones are less exciting to observers than they are to me… although my free time has been so consumed by getting this thing together that I haven’t had time to write much else around here. So it goes. I suppose if you want to keep fully abreast of “the haps” (as the kids say), you can follow my Twitter feed, although be warned that most of what I post there involves what I’m eating for dinner or other such trivia you couldn’t possibly care about unless you’re planning to stalk me, kill me, and live in my skin. In which case you’re probably already following me.
Dot-Matrix Green: Game Boy’s Prehistory
Our Game Boy-centric issue breaks the system’s history into distinct eras, with each period of the system’s life standing as its own chapter. And each chapter begins with a narrative thread that gives a little background on the state of the industry at the time to help contextualize the game reviews. Very tidy and organized. Anyway, today’s piece is about the dark times: life before Game Boy.
Atari Lynx: The Tortoise and the Hare
Ben Langberg writes about the system that by all rights should have conquered Game Boy without breaking a sweat… but didn’t. And he writes about Atari’s Lynx from a rare perspective: that of a former devotee, though one without a zealous chip on his shoulder. Like WWI vets, Lynx fans such as Ben are a dying breed and should be cherished as precious historical commodities.
it is the 90’s and there is time for Klax
Matloooooock!!!
The surprising Best Lynx Game Ever? Crystal Mines II. Yup–the sequel to an unlicensed NES game. It improves on the original in every way possible, with bright colors, super-catchy music, and the most diabolical puzzles EVER. Sort of Chip’s Challenge-ish, but with a bit more action. And…better.
I finished Gauntlet on the Lynx – I think it may have been the first computer game I actually finished. It didn’t have saves or passwords, so it was a bit of an accomplishment…
I had a friend with a Lynx, who was constantly taking it up on the school bus, saying how terrible the gameboy looked. Also, I think he was left-handed. I was kind of jealous of how bright California Games was (although I longed for the NES version), but I didn’t ever play anything else.
I loved my Lynx….for a while. I Got the model 2 version along with Ninja Gaiden & Checkered Flag (a damn fine racing game & the reason I bought the system). I only had it for like 6-8 months before I ended up trading it in for a Genesis. Once I realized Atari had no 3rd party support and the games stopped coming…it was hard to stay on the bandwagon despite how cool the tech was at the time. Add the horrific battery life and it was game over.
I went on to own (in succession) the Game Gear, Game Boy, Nomad, GBA, NDS and the PSP, but the Lynx started my obsession for portable gaming….not the Game Boy.
I remember Gauntlet being a very good port on the Lynx. Although like you said there were never enough Lynx around to take advantage of the 4 player mode. Wasn’t the Lynx version of Ninja Gaiden a port of the arcade version?