What a pile of utter tripe. A game that on the face of it looks a bit like the original Batman on the Megadrive (which was actually pretty good), but is actually nothing of the sort.
In this game, Batman moves from left to right failing to avoid enemies and their attacks because it impossible to dodge them all. Sometimes he’ll fall in a hole because of this, and it’ll be Game Over. That’s right – you have a single life, and if you fall in a hole it’s instant death and you start the entire game all over again. Utter nonsense.
You can’t even bide your time and take baddies out when you’re able to avoid their guns or bombs or rockets or whatever, as they constantly respawn and crowd you. The game is impossible.
Thankfully, there’s a level skip cheat that I employed to save having to play the whole thing again every time I died. I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned it’s a missing Continue option.
Over on uk.games.video.misc we have a regular Monday topic. A simple list, with a short exposition, of each game we’ve played over the last week, those we want, stuff we’ve essentially (or literally) binned, and what we’ve bought.
Play
Puzzle & Dragons Z (3DS)
Still. See here.
Lego Jurassic World (PS4)
We completed it a while back, now we’re mopping up all the bricks and minikits. 55%-ish complete.
Various Lynx Games (Lynx)
Mainly Chips Challenge and Xenophobe, as they’re the most fun of what I’ve got. Then Super Skweek. And a little bit of California Games. And Batman Returns which is rubbish and I completed it.
Grim Fandango Remastered (PS4)See here for more. Basically, it’s funny but it’s too obtuse.
Splatoon (Wii U)
I’ve not played it in a while so there have been a lot of additional maps and weapons. I thought I’d be terrible now as everyone would be on level 40+ (I’m on 14 still) but apparently I could still hold my own.
Want
Lego Marvel Avengers (PS4)
When Jurassic World is done, we’ve only Lord of the Rings left and we’ve done all the Lego games. So we’ll need this.
Bin
The Lynx screen. It’s pretty awful.
Viking Child (Lynx). It’s trying to hard to be Wonder Boy in Monster Land and fails in every single way.
Expense
No money spent, but I did get a free copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the 360, as it was on Games With Gold.
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My Atari Lynx History
Apart from seeing an Atari Lynx behind glass in my tiny local games shop, my first experience with the handheld was back in 1992 when a friend brought his along on our German exchange school trip. I didn’t get a chance to play with it on the trip over, and neither did he for very long – the batteries didn’t even last until the ferry port and it wasn’t until he bought some more while we were in Germany that I had a turn.
It was a long time before I owned a handheld games console, but I’d already played on a Game Boy and a Game Gear, so I had something to compare it to. The overwhelming difference: size. The Lynx was a humongous grey surfboard of a machine. Once you get past that, in most observable respects, it wasn’t much different to a Game Gear. Similar screen, same battery chomping capability, different size and set of games. That was all. I don’t remember what I played back then, but I suspect it was California Games.
And that was that. I never played on one again, and it was rare I even saw a Lynx in the flesh. Sometimes I’d see them in second hand shops or the odd one at a carboot sale, and every so often I’d take a punt on one on eBay but never actually bought one. That changed a few weeks ago when I saw one advertised privately for an excellent price and nabbed it.
The Console
It’s an Atari Lynx II, so quite a bit smaller than the original I played with all those years ago. It’s still a beast by modern standards, dwarfing my 3DS. Actually, even way back when it was substantially larger and heavier than the Game Boy and Game Gear. The thickness was unexpected, sitting with a pleasing chunkiness in your hand – albeit a little on the heavy side.
There are four fire buttons on the face of the unit, but they’re really just two sets of the same two. The Lynx had an unusual feature where lefties could rotate the entire console 180 degrees and put the d-pad on the right, hence the reason for duplicate A and B buttons. Other buttons include the Atari 2600 hangers on Option 1 and 2, and a virtually useless backlight toggle. With the light off, the screen is literally black even when you shine an external source on it. Sure, it probably saves batteries until you can plug the thing in, but that’s all.
Speaking of the screen, it’s terrible. The colours are washed out, there’s motion blur and it’s really low res. That said, it’s no worse than the Game Gear and it is, of course, in colour at least unlike the Game Boy at the time. Like the Game Gear though, this screen eats through batteries so a PSU is essential – defying the point of a portable, really. Mind you, I do that with my Playstation Vita half the time too.
The Games
The games that came with my Lynx are pretty varied. There’s the Lynx staples California Games (which is mostly excellent, especially the footbag and surfing events), Klax (which was always terrible compared to Tetris and Columns) and Roadblasters (Outrun with guns, except you don’t need to steer round corners!). There was also Batman Returns, which I’ve completed and wrote about here (it was dismal, if you want to save yourself the bother of reading it), Viking Child (a rubbish Wonder Boy in Monster Land clone) and Electrocop, which I haven’t actually played yet. Thankfully, I also picked out a few additional titles to go with this little lot.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not AliensXenophobe was a surprise. My previous experiences of this game were a poor demo of the Spectrum version, and (coincidentally) picking up a copy of the Atari 2600 version cheaply on the same German exchange trip mentioned previously. I’d always dismissed the game based on these two copies, but a recent article in Retro Gamer Magazine about it piqued my interest again, and I’m glad I tried a competent port of Xenophobe as the Atari Lynx version is excellent fun, if somewhat difficult! Those damn door monsters who often one-hit-kill you can do one, frankly. As an aside, it was actually the editior of said magazine I bought this little lot from!
Contender for Worst Box ArtChips Challenge was almost exactly what I was expecting. Again, I’d played a Spectrum demo of it, but had enjoyed it at the time. I’d never picked up the full version, and I knew it was a Lynx game so pledged to buy it if I ever bought a Lynx. And so the prophecy has been fulfilled. It’s a tile-based puzzle game with keys and switches and baddies, and is a great example of the genre. My only real complaint is there are no checkpoints in the levels, some of which are really too long to go without.
Nothing Super About ItSuper Skweek, however, was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be another tile-based puzzle game where you have to colour in all the tiles. It is, but the gimmicks and baddies and overall chaos on the levels strip any fun from it right away. A shame.
Overall
As a collector, I’m obviously pleased to finally own an Atari Lynx. The device itself is solidly built, although the screen is a slight disappointment. The set of titles that came with the my Lynx are mostly pretty dire, but Xenophobe, California Games and Chips Challenge are all great. Now I just need to decide which titles I want next!
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Pingback: Atari Lynx - deKay's Blog
(This suggestion from @spudgfsh)
My first thought here is that I don’t play terrible games, and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t play them to completion unless they were very short and/or very easy. Naturally, some of you may suggest that one or more of the games I have played to completion are crap, but in my opinion (which is of course the correct opinion) they are not.
My second thought is this: Oh god, I completed Kameo.
Before getting onto that, let us have a little wander through some of the less than stellar titles I’ve finished in the past, shall we? Thank $deity I keep a gaming diary to remember them all…
Pre-History
That is, before I started the diary. I recall just one game from this era which was awful but I completed it (and completed it many, many times) was The Great Waldo Search, a game based version of the Where’s Wally? books that was crap because it was so easy. Maybe it was aimed at toddlers. Maybe, it was just crap.
2005
A few poor titles come to mind – Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude for the Xbox wasn’t as saucy, fun, clever or good as the previous games in the series. Too many repetitive minigames, not enough point-and-clicking. Sonic Heroes (Gamecube) was the first of many, many disappointing Sonic games but far from the worst, and although Tony Hawk’s Underground and its sequel (both GC) are bad in terms of Tony Hawk games, they’re far better than that Waldo thing.
2006
The only game in 2006 I completed that’d I’d class as even nearly crap was Prey for the Xbox 360. It was clever, had some great mechanics (like the spirit walk), but there’s a bit in the middle where you are forced to kill your girlfriend and I hated it for it. Stupid game, but not rubbish.
2007
In 2007 I completed Ico which I didn’t really enjoy, but far, far worse was the monstrosity I mentioned earlier: Kameo: Elements of Power (360). Even back then, Rare had lost whatever made them great in the 8 and 16bit eras, and Kameo was an unfinished, wax-covered, repetitive pile of festering… something. The only reason I completed it was to prove wrong those who said if I played the whole game, rather than the unenjoyable demo, it’d redeem itself. It didn’t – the demo was a warning. I’ve written about it in the past, so won’t repeat myself, but to sum up: No.
2008
Remember when Xbox Live died and to make up for it Microsoft gave us the worst game on Xbox Live Arcade for free? You know, Undertow? Yeah, that was pretty poor, and I did complete it in 2008, but was it worse than Kameo? Of course it wasn’t. Also free (but for advertising reasons rather than barely-there apology) game Dash of Destruction wasn’t great either, but again, not as bad as Kameo.
2009
A crap-free year! At least in terms of games I completed, anyway. Bit Boy!! on WiiWare was the weakest of those from 2009, but even that was enjoyable.
2010
Some people would say The Conduit on the Wii was a bad game. Those people are Wrong people. It’s a FPS which is excellent to control with the Wii remote, and I don’t need to discuss it further because it’s not crap.
2011
Hold you hard, boy. Hold you hard. In 2011 I played the Neo Geo game Magician Lord on the Wii (there’s an SNK compliation I worked my way through over a few months) and OH MY is it a stinker. For the full story, you can click here, but it makes Kameo look like Bioshock. It is nightmarishly bad with everything that can be bad about a game all in one go. I summed up my thoughts in one line: “If this game were a person, I’d both punch and kick it in the face”. Bear this in mind when I tell you that also in 2011 I completed both Sonic Colours (Wii) and Sonic Generations (360).
2012
This was a good year, especially compared to the last. Mad Dog McCree on the 3DS wasn’t fantastic, and the Goldeneye 007 reimagining on the Wii wasn’t as good as the N64 original, but neither even approached crap.
2013
When the worst game you’ve played all year is F-Zero (the SNES original, on the Wii U Virtual Console), then the rest isn’t even worth considering for this blog post.
2014
Another decent year. There were dips with Blok Drop U (Wii U) and Armillo (also Wii U), but neither can trouble Magician Lord.
2015
84 games I completed last year. 84. You’d expect there to be a fairly large pile of crap titles in there as a result, right? Somehow, that isn’t the case. By a very long way, the 3D remake of Altered Beast for the 3DS was undoubtedly the lowest point of the year, but even that has some slight redemption. I wrote about the original Mega Drive game here, and all that is still true, but it’s no Magician Lord.
2016
At the time of writing I’ve completed 64 games so far this year, and almost every one of them has been great. Or at least good. Apart from two, and they’re both Batman. The Mega Drive game Batman was a favourite back in the day, but replaying it a few months back left me disappointed as it’s not as wonderful as I recall it being. That said, it’s still reasonable and Magician Lord has nothing to fear from it. However, Batman Returns (Atari Lynx) is far, far worse – as I wrote here.
And the winner isn’t
It’s down to whether Batman Returns (Lynx) is worse than Magician Lord (Neo Geo) and I have to say, it’s a tough call. They’re both terrible, I never want to play either again, and either would be hard to beat as I very much doubt a worse game than the pair exists that I would want to see through to the end.
However, Batman Returns does have a few things over Magician Lord. It’s a lot shorter, with just four levels, and Magician Lord seems to go on and on and on and on and on forever. Batman Returns also has a cheat of sorts that lets you continue (and ergo allow you complete it, and be done forever with it, much quicker) which I don’t think Magician Lord has. Even if it did, it’s still a much longer game. Finally, when it came out, Magician Lord cost about £150, which is around THREE HUNDRED POUNDS in today’s money, whereas Batman Returns was nearer £30 (approximately £60 now). Imagine spending £300 today on the stinker that is Magician Lord. I’d be physically sick.
Honestly, it plays even worse than it looks.There’s your answer then. The worst game I’ve ever completed is Magician Lord for the Neo Geo. But please, never play Kameo: Elements of Power either.
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Just like last year, this year I took part in the RetroCollect 52 Game Challenge. The idea was to complete, uh, 52 games in a single year. Back in June, I successfully became the first person taking part to hit the 52 game barrier. But I wasn’t going to stop there.
With the challenge over before the year was half done, I aimed for 104 games. The 104 Game Challenge, if you will. For the less mathematical of my readers, 104 is two lots of 52.
This week, with just 16 days left of the year to spare, I completed my 104th game. Which game? Lego Dimensions.
Now, some might say that I’ve played a lot of very short games this year, and it’s true that a large number of the titles I’ve finished have been the generally-shorter-anyway retro games, mainly for the Master System and Mega Drive. However, that’s not only allowed within the “rules”, but since it’s RetroCollect, almost certainly encouraged.
That said, there are a few very long games I’ve completed – and gone well past completion – this year. No Man’s Sky, for instance. That’s over 150 hours right there. 80 on Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, over 75 on Pokémon Y, and 30-60 each on Assassin’s Creed Unity, Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Marvel Avengers, Fallout 4 and The Witness.
If you’re interested, here’s the full list of 104:
Fallout 4(PS4 15/01/2016)
Batman Returns(Lynx 24/01/2016)
Grim Fandango Remastered(PS4/Vita 30/01/2016)
Thomas Was Alone: Benjamin’s Flight(Vita 30/01/2016)
Hatoful Boyfriend(Vita 31/01/2016)
Nova-111(PS4 15/02/2016)
Bayonetta(Wii U 15/02/2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog(MS 28/02/2016)
Street Fighter Alpha(GBC 28/02/2016)
Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush(Wii U 05/03/2016)
Disney Infinity 3.0(PS4 06/03/2016)
ToeJam and Earl(MD 10/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(MD 12/03/2016)
Mega-lo-Mania(MD 12/03/2016)
Castle of Illusion(MS 12/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(Spec 15/03/2016)
Land of Illusion(MS 16/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(C64 17/03/2016)
Strider(MD 17/03/2016)
Legend of Illusion(MS 19/03/2016)
Batman(MD 19/03/2016)
Castlevania: The New Generation(MD 20/03/2016)
Hyrule Warriors Legends(3DS 28/03/2016)
Puggsy(MCD 02/04/2016)
Time Gal(MCD 02/04/2016)
The Legend of Galahad(MD 03/04/2016)
Lego Lord of the Rings(360 04/04/2016)
Broforce(PS4 05/04/2016)
My Nintendo Picross – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess(3DS 09/04/2016)
Psycho Fox(MS 10/04/2016)
The Witness(PS4 24/04/2016)
Firewatch(PS4 27/04/2016)
The Beginner’s Guide(Mac 01/05/2016)
Freedom Planet(Wii U 02/05/2016)
Affordable Space Adventures(Wii U 06/05/2016)
Hudson Hawk(GB 07/05/2016)
Streets of Rage 3(MD 07/05/2016)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles(MD 08/05/2016)
LocoRoco Cocoreccho(PS3 13/05/2016)
Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure(MD 14/05/2016)
Rainbow Islands(MS 14/05/2016)
Gauntlet 4(MD 18/05/2016)
Star Fox Guard(Wii U 22/05/2016)
Emily is Away(Mac 22/05/2016)
Quiet, Please!(Wii U 26/05/2016)
Quiet Christmas(Wii U 28/05/2016)
Vacation Vexation(Wii U 28/05/2016)
Candy, Please!(Wii U 29/05/2016)
Star Fox Zero(Wii U 03/06/2016)
Teddy Boy(MS 04/06/2016)
James Pond II: Codename Robocod(MD 04/06/2016)
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars(MS 04/06/2016)
Asterix(MS 11/06/2016)
The Lucky Dime Caper(MS 12/06/2016)
Assassin’s Creed Unity(PS4 13/06/2016)
Kirby: Planet Robobot(3DS 21/06/2016)
The Temple of No(Mac 28/06/2016)
Battlefield 4(PS4 29/06/2016)
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse(3DS 02/07/2016)
There’s Poop In My Soup(Mac 02/07/2016)
Gunpoint(Mac 29/07/2016)
Missing: An Interactive Thriller – Episode One(Mac 30/07/2016)
McPixel(Mac 03/08/2016)
Beware Planet Earth(PC 15/08/2016)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE(Wii U 16/08/2016)
Sakura Spirit(Mac 17/08/2016)
StreetPass Trader(3DS 15/09/2016)
StreetPass Slot Racer(3DS 16/09/2016)
Running Battle(MS 18/09/2016)
Ranma 1/2(SNES 18/09/2016)
StreetPass Explorers(3DS 19/09/2016)
StreetPass Ninja(3DS 21/09/2016)
No Man’s Sky(PS4 10/10/2016)
StreetPass Chef(3DS 11/10/2016)
Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~(3DS 16/10/2016)
Catherine(PS3 17/10/2016)
Pokémon Y(3DS 25/10/2016)
Year Walk(Wii U 28/10/2016)
Gargoyle’s Quest(3DS 30/10/2016)
Actual Sunlight(Vita 02/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone(3DS 05/11/2016)
3D Puyo Puyo 2(3DS 06/11/2016)
3D Thunderblade(3DS 06/11/2016)
3D Altered Beast(3DS 06/11/2016)
One Night Stand(Mac 11/11/2016)
3D Power Drift(3DS 12/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa(3DS 12/11/2016)
3D Galaxy Force II(3DS 13/11/2016)
PaRappa the Rapper 2(PS4 13/11/2016)
Virginia(PS4 15/11/2016)
3D Maze Walker(3DS 17/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (MS Ver.)(3DS 17/11/2016)
3D Sonic the Hedgehog(3DS 19/11/2016)
Lego Marvel Avengers(PS4 21/11/2016)
Retro City Rampage DX(3DS 21/11/2016)
Apartment 666(Mac 26/11/2016)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter(PS4 26/11/2016)
Super Fantasy Zone(MD 26/11/2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure(NGPC 27/11/2016)
SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium(NGPC 27/11/2016)
Sonic Triple Trouble(3DS 07/12/2016)
Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey Remastered(PS4 10/12/2016)
Sonic Blast(3DS 11/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions(PS4 15/12/2016)
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In 2016, I completed a whopping 110 games. My previous record, because of course I’ve been keeping count, was 84 in 2015. You’d think with a number like that, I’d finally be on top of my backlog, right? Ahahahahano.
I didn’t anticipate completing that many. Like in previous years, I did strive to finish the RetroCollect 52 Game Challenge (which I managed before the end of June) and then expanded that to 104 games just for a laugh (and I sorted that by mid-December), but of course I had to go and beat that too, didn’t I?
There may be some arguments over what constitutes a “game”, and what counts as “completed”. There’s no hard and fast rule, whatever feels right for a title, usually. However, normally a game is “something you play” and “completed” is “reached the final goal”, “got all the achievements” or “watched the end credits” as appropriate.
DLC and addons are usually classed as separate games even if technically they’re not – like Life is Strange episodes, or the Lego Dimensions level packs.
Anyway, here’s the full list of 110:
Fallout 4(PS4 15/01/2016)
Batman Returns(Lynx 24/01/2016)
Grim Fandango Remastered(PS4/Vita 30/01/2016)
Thomas Was Alone: Benjamin’s Flight(Vita 30/01/2016)
Hatoful Boyfriend(Vita 31/01/2016)
Nova-111(PS4 15/02/2016)
Bayonetta(Wii U 15/02/2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog(MS 28/02/2016)
Street Fighter Alpha(GBC 28/02/2016)
Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush(Wii U 05/03/2016)
Disney Infinity 3.0(PS4 06/03/2016)
ToeJam and Earl(MD 10/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(MD 12/03/2016)
Mega-lo-Mania(MD 12/03/2016)
Castle of Illusion(MS 12/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(Spec 15/03/2016)
Land of Illusion(MS 16/03/2016)
Midnight Resistance(C64 17/03/2016)
Strider(MD 17/03/2016)
Legend of Illusion(MS 19/03/2016)
Batman(MD 19/03/2016)
Castlevania: The New Generation(MD 20/03/2016)
Hyrule Warriors Legends(3DS 28/03/2016)
Puggsy(MCD 02/04/2016)
Time Gal(MCD 02/04/2016)
The Legend of Galahad(MD 03/04/2016)
Lego Lord of the Rings(360 04/04/2016)
Broforce(PS4 05/04/2016)
My Nintendo Picross – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess(3DS 09/04/2016)
Psycho Fox(MS 10/04/2016)
The Witness(PS4 24/04/2016)
Firewatch(PS4 27/04/2016)
The Beginner’s Guide(Mac 01/05/2016)
Freedom Planet(Wii U 02/05/2016)
Affordable Space Adventures(Wii U 06/05/2016)
Hudson Hawk(GB 07/05/2016)
Streets of Rage 3(MD 07/05/2016)
Sonic 3 & Knuckles(MD 08/05/2016)
LocoRoco Cocoreccho(PS3 13/05/2016)
Magical Flying Hat Turbo Adventure(MD 14/05/2016)
Rainbow Islands(MS 14/05/2016)
Gauntlet 4(MD 18/05/2016)
Star Fox Guard(Wii U 22/05/2016)
Emily is Away(Mac 22/05/2016)
Quiet, Please!(Wii U 26/05/2016)
Quiet Christmas(Wii U 28/05/2016)
Vacation Vexation(Wii U 28/05/2016)
Candy, Please!(Wii U 29/05/2016)
Star Fox Zero(Wii U 03/06/2016)
Teddy Boy(MS 04/06/2016)
James Pond II: Codename Robocod(MD 04/06/2016)
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars(MS 04/06/2016)
Asterix(MS 11/06/2016)
The Lucky Dime Caper(MS 12/06/2016)
Assassin’s Creed Unity(PS4 13/06/2016)
Kirby: Planet Robobot(3DS 21/06/2016)
The Temple of No(Mac 28/06/2016)
Battlefield 4(PS4 29/06/2016)
Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse(3DS 02/07/2016)
There’s Poop In My Soup(Mac 02/07/2016)
Gunpoint(Mac 29/07/2016)
Missing: An Interactive Thriller – Episode One(Mac 30/07/2016)
McPixel(Mac 03/08/2016)
Beware Planet Earth(PC 15/08/2016)
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE(Wii U 16/08/2016)
Sakura Spirit(Mac 17/08/2016)
StreetPass Trader(3DS 15/09/2016)
StreetPass Slot Racer(3DS 16/09/2016)
Running Battle(MS 18/09/2016)
Ranma 1/2(SNES 18/09/2016)
StreetPass Explorers(3DS 19/09/2016)
StreetPass Ninja(3DS 21/09/2016)
No Man’s Sky(PS4 10/10/2016)
StreetPass Chef(3DS 11/10/2016)
Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~Distant Memories~(3DS 16/10/2016)
Catherine(PS3 17/10/2016)
Pokémon Y(3DS 25/10/2016)
Year Walk(Wii U 28/10/2016)
Gargoyle’s Quest(3DS 30/10/2016)
Actual Sunlight(Vita 02/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone(3DS 05/11/2016)
3D Puyo Puyo 2(3DS 06/11/2016)
3D Thunderblade(3DS 06/11/2016)
3D Altered Beast(3DS 06/11/2016)
One Night Stand(Mac 11/11/2016)
3D Power Drift(3DS 12/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa(3DS 12/11/2016)
3D Galaxy Force II(3DS 13/11/2016)
PaRappa the Rapper 2(PS4 13/11/2016)
Virginia(PS4 15/11/2016)
3D Maze Walker(3DS 17/11/2016)
3D Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (MS Ver.)(3DS 17/11/2016)
3D Sonic the Hedgehog(3DS 19/11/2016)
Lego Marvel Avengers(PS4 21/11/2016)
Retro City Rampage DX(3DS 21/11/2016)
Apartment 666(Mac 26/11/2016)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter(PS4 26/11/2016)
Super Fantasy Zone(MD 26/11/2016)
Sonic the Hedgehog Pocket Adventure(NGPC 27/11/2016)
SNK vs Capcom: Match of the Millennium(NGPC 27/11/2016)
Sonic Triple Trouble(3DS 07/12/2016)
Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey Remastered(PS4 10/12/2016)
Sonic Blast(3DS 11/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions(PS4 15/12/2016)
Box Box Boy!(3DS 23/12/2016)
Ultratron(Wii U 24/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: Back to the Future(PS4 26/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: Adventure Time(PS4 28/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: The Simpsons(PS4 30/12/2016)
Lego Dimensions: Midway Arcade(PS4 31/12/2016)
Now, will I repeat that in 2017? I doubt it. I’m not even going to try.
Oh, and I’ll write some more about some of my favourites in another post another time!
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My Atari Lynx History
Apart from seeing an Atari Lynx behind glass in my tiny local games shop, my first experience with the handheld was back in 1992 when a friend brought his along on our German exchange school trip. I didn’t get a chance to play with it on the trip over, and neither did he for very long – the batteries didn’t even last until the ferry port and it wasn’t until he bought some more while we were in Germany that I had a turn.
It was a long time before I owned a handheld games console, but I’d already played on a Game Boy and a Game Gear, so I had something to compare it to. The overwhelming difference: size. The Lynx was a humongous grey surfboard of a machine. Once you get past that, in most observable respects, it wasn’t much different to a Game Gear. Similar screen, same battery chomping capability, different size and set of games. That was all. I don’t remember what I played back then, but I suspect it was California Games.
And that was that. I never played on one again, and it was rare I even saw a Lynx in the flesh. Sometimes I’d see them in second hand shops or the odd one at a carboot sale, and every so often I’d take a punt on one on eBay but never actually bought one. That changed a few weeks ago when I saw one advertised privately for an excellent price and nabbed it.
The Console
It’s an Atari Lynx II, so quite a bit smaller than the original I played with all those years ago. It’s still a beast by modern standards, dwarfing my 3DS. Actually, even way back when it was substantially larger and heavier than the Game Boy and Game Gear. The thickness was unexpected, sitting with a pleasing chunkiness in your hand – albeit a little on the heavy side.
There are four fire buttons on the face of the unit, but they’re really just two sets of the same two. The Lynx had an unusual feature where lefties could rotate the entire console 180 degrees and put the d-pad on the right, hence the reason for duplicate A and B buttons. Other buttons include the Atari 2600 hangers on Option 1 and 2, and a virtually useless backlight toggle. With the light off, the screen is literally black even when you shine an external source on it. Sure, it probably saves batteries until you can plug the thing in, but that’s all.
Speaking of the screen, it’s terrible. The colours are washed out, there’s motion blur and it’s really low res. That said, it’s no worse than the Game Gear and it is, of course, in colour at least unlike the Game Boy at the time. Like the Game Gear though, this screen eats through batteries so a PSU is essential – defying the point of a portable, really. Mind you, I do that with my Playstation Vita half the time too.
The Games
The games that came with my Lynx are pretty varied. There’s the Lynx staples California Games (which is mostly excellent, especially the footbag and surfing events), Klax (which was always terrible compared to Tetris and Columns) and Roadblasters (Outrun with guns, except you don’t need to steer round corners!). There was also Batman Returns, which I’ve completed and wrote about here (it was dismal, if you want to save yourself the bother of reading it), Viking Child (a rubbish Wonder Boy in Monster Land clone) and Electrocop, which I haven’t actually played yet. Thankfully, I also picked out a few additional titles to go with this little lot.
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Aliens
Xenophobe was a surprise. My previous experiences of this game were a poor demo of the Spectrum version, and (coincidentally) picking up a copy of the Atari 2600 version cheaply on the same German exchange trip mentioned previously. I’d always dismissed the game based on these two copies, but a recent article in Retro Gamer Magazine about it piqued my interest again, and I’m glad I tried a competent port of Xenophobe as the Atari Lynx version is excellent fun, if somewhat difficult! Those damn door monsters who often one-hit-kill you can do one, frankly. As an aside, it was actually the editior of said magazine I bought this little lot from!
Contender for Worst Box Art
Chips Challenge was almost exactly what I was expecting. Again, I’d played a Spectrum demo of it, but had enjoyed it at the time. I’d never picked up the full version, and I knew it was a Lynx game so pledged to buy it if I ever bought a Lynx. And so the prophecy has been fulfilled. It’s a tile-based puzzle game with keys and switches and baddies, and is a great example of the genre. My only real complaint is there are no checkpoints in the levels, some of which are really too long to go without.
Nothing Super About It
Super Skweek, however, was not what I was expecting. I thought it would be another tile-based puzzle game where you have to colour in all the tiles. It is, but the gimmicks and baddies and overall chaos on the levels strip any fun from it right away. A shame.
Overall
As a collector, I’m obviously pleased to finally own an Atari Lynx. The device itself is solidly built, although the screen is a slight disappointment. The set of titles that came with the my Lynx are mostly pretty dire, but Xenophobe, California Games and Chips Challenge are all great. Now I just need to decide which titles I want next!
This article originally ran as a post on my blog.
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