Lynx (console)
Encyclopedia
The Atari Lynx is a 16-bit handheld game console
that was released by Atari Corporation in 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game
with a color
LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. The Lynx was released in 1989, the same year as Nintendo
's best-selling, monochromatic Game Boy
. However, the Lynx failed to achieve the sales numbers required to attract quality third party developers, and was eventually abandoned.
Today, as with many older consoles, there is still a small group of devoted fans, creating and selling games for the system.
The Lynx was also the first gaming console with hardware
support for zooming/distortion of sprites
, allowing fast pseudo-3D games with unrivaled quality at the time and a capacity for drawing filled polygons with limited CPU intervention. Blue Lightning
, a game with After Burner
-like graphics, was especially notable and featured in TV advertising for the console.
The games were originally meant to be loaded from tape
, but were later changed to load from ROM. The game data still needed to be copied from ROM to RAM before it could be used, so less memory was available and the games loaded relatively slowly.
Touch Me
. Atari Inc. had previously worked on several other handheld projects including the Breakout, Space Invaders
, and the Atari Cosmos
portable/tabletop console. However, those projects were shut down during development - some just short of their intended commercial release.
The Lynx system was originally developed by Epyx
as the Handy Game. Planning and design of the console began in 1986 and completed in 1987. Epyx first showed the Handy system at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show
(CES) in January 1989. Facing financial difficulties, Epyx sought out partners. Atari Corp. and Epyx eventually agreed that Atari Corp. would handle production and marketing, while Epyx would handle software development.
Atari Corp. changed the internal speaker and removed the thumb-stick on the control pad before releasing it as the Lynx, initially retailing in the US at US$179.95. Atari Corp. then showed the Lynx to the press at the Summer 1989 CES as the "Portable Color Entertainment System", which was changed to Lynx when actual consoles were distributed to resellers.
However, Nintendo
's new Game Boy
was also introduced at the 1989 CES. At $90, it was much less expensive than the Lynx, without the color or custom chips. Nintendo had no problems supplying retailers with the Game Boy for the Christmas season while Atari Corp. only managed limited distribution of their Lynx by year's end.
During 1990, the Lynx had moderate sales but Nintendo's Game Boy continued to gain market share. In 1991, Atari Corp. relaunched the Lynx with a new marketing campaign, new packaging, slightly improved hardware, and a new sleek look. The new system (referred to within Atari Corp. as the "Lynx II") featured rubber hand grips and a clearer backlit color screen with a power save option (which turned off the LCD panel's backlighting). It also replaced the monaural headphone jack of the original Lynx with one wired for stereo. The new packaging made the Lynx available without any accessories, dropping the price to $99. Although sales improved, Nintendo still dominated the handheld market.
As with the actual console units, the game cartridges themselves evolved over the first year of the console's release. The first generation of cartridges were flat, and were designed to be stackable for ease of storage. However, this design proved to be very difficult to remove from the console and was replaced by a second design. This style, called "tabbed" or "ridged", used the same basic design as the original cartridges with the addition of two small tabs on the cartridge's underside to aid in removal. The original flat style cartridges could be stacked on top of the newer cartridges, but the newer cartridges could not be easily stacked on each other, nor were they stored easily. Thus a third style, the "curved lip" style was produced, and all official and third-party cartridges during the console's lifespan were released (or re-released) using this style.
In May 1991, Sega
launched its Game Gear portable gaming handheld. Also a color handheld, in comparison to the Lynx it had a higher cost, slightly smaller bulk, and similar battery life. However, the Game Gear was backed up by significantly more popular titles and consequently the market became dominated by Nintendo followed by Sega in a distant second and the Lynx in third except in the UK and parts of Europe such as France and Holland where the Lynx retained 2nd place.
In 1994, Atari Corp. shifted its focus away from the Lynx. As Nintendo's Super Nintendo
and Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis
filled retailers' shelves, Atari Corp. refocused its efforts on its Jaguar
console. A handful of games were released during this time, including Battlezone 2000. In 1996, Atari shut down its internal game development.
Telegames released a number of games in the second half of the 1990s, including a port of Raiden
and a platformer called Fat Bobby in 1997, as well as an action sports game called Hyperdrome in 1999. At the end of the 1990s, Hasbro, the owners of the Atari properties at the time, released the rights to develop for the system to the public domain. Since then a number of independent developers released games into the new decade, like Championship Rally, CyberVirus, and Alpine Games. Some of the late 90s/early 2000s games were under development by other companies at one time, but rights to the game programs and all of the existing code was bought and finished by other developers.
In 2008 Atari was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
s for pioneering the development of handheld games with its Lynx game unit.
On October 24, 2009, North American company Super Fighter Team
released Zaku
, an all new, all original horizontal shooter for the Lynx developed by PenguiNet. Of significant note is that it was the first new game for the system whose game card has an authentic "curved lip" plastic shell. The game also shipped with a full color cardstock box, and 31 page instruction manual printed in both English and French.
However, the game system was reviewed in 1990 in Dragon
#155 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the Lynx 5 out of 5 stars.
Some (homebrew) carts with EEPROM to save hi-scores.
Handheld game console
A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place...
that was released by Atari Corporation in 1989. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game
Handheld electronic game
----Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they...
with a color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. The Lynx was released in 1989, the same year as Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's best-selling, monochromatic Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
. However, the Lynx failed to achieve the sales numbers required to attract quality third party developers, and was eventually abandoned.
Today, as with many older consoles, there is still a small group of devoted fans, creating and selling games for the system.
Features
The Atari Lynx has several innovative features including its being the first color handheld, with a backlit display, a switchable right-handed/left-handed (upside down) configuration, and the ability to network with up to 17 other units via its "ComLynx" system (though most games would network eight or fewer players). ComLynx was originally developed to run over infrared links (and was codenamed RedEye). This was changed to a cable-based networking system before the final release.The Lynx was also the first gaming console with hardware
Hardware
Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
support for zooming/distortion of sprites
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
, allowing fast pseudo-3D games with unrivaled quality at the time and a capacity for drawing filled polygons with limited CPU intervention. Blue Lightning
Blue Lightning
Blue Lightning is a pseudo-simulation computer game in which the player controls a military airplane. The game was one of the first games for the Atari Lynx, released in 1989 and was programmed by Epyx, headed by lead programmer, Brian Bowhay, .The game is considered by many to be one of the best...
, a game with After Burner
After Burner
is a 1987 Japanese flight simulator arcade game by Sega. It is one of the first games designed by Yu Suzuki. The player flew an F-14 using a specialized joystick , and the game spawned several sequels.-Gameplay:...
-like graphics, was especially notable and featured in TV advertising for the console.
The games were originally meant to be loaded from tape
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, but were later changed to load from ROM. The game data still needed to be copied from ROM to RAM before it could be used, so less memory was available and the games loaded relatively slowly.
History
The Lynx was the second handheld game with the Atari name to actually be produced, the first was Atari Inc.'s handheld electronic gameHandheld electronic game
----Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they...
Touch Me
Touch Me (arcade game)
Touch Me is an arcade game first released by Atari Inc. in 1974, and later as a handheld game in 1978. It can be described as a Simon-like game that involves touching a series of buttons that light up and produce sounds. The player must observe a sequence of blinking lights and repeat the...
. Atari Inc. had previously worked on several other handheld projects including the Breakout, Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
, and the Atari Cosmos
Atari Cosmos
The Atari Cosmos was an unreleased product by Atari Inc. for the handheld/tabletop video game system market that uses holography to improve the display. It is similar to other small video games of the era that used a simple LED-based display, but superimposes a two-layer holographic image over the...
portable/tabletop console. However, those projects were shut down during development - some just short of their intended commercial release.
The Lynx system was originally developed by Epyx
Epyx
Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before renaming the company to match in 1983...
as the Handy Game. Planning and design of the console began in 1986 and completed in 1987. Epyx first showed the Handy system at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
(CES) in January 1989. Facing financial difficulties, Epyx sought out partners. Atari Corp. and Epyx eventually agreed that Atari Corp. would handle production and marketing, while Epyx would handle software development.
Atari Corp. changed the internal speaker and removed the thumb-stick on the control pad before releasing it as the Lynx, initially retailing in the US at US$179.95. Atari Corp. then showed the Lynx to the press at the Summer 1989 CES as the "Portable Color Entertainment System", which was changed to Lynx when actual consoles were distributed to resellers.
However, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
's new Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
was also introduced at the 1989 CES. At $90, it was much less expensive than the Lynx, without the color or custom chips. Nintendo had no problems supplying retailers with the Game Boy for the Christmas season while Atari Corp. only managed limited distribution of their Lynx by year's end.
As with the actual console units, the game cartridges themselves evolved over the first year of the console's release. The first generation of cartridges were flat, and were designed to be stackable for ease of storage. However, this design proved to be very difficult to remove from the console and was replaced by a second design. This style, called "tabbed" or "ridged", used the same basic design as the original cartridges with the addition of two small tabs on the cartridge's underside to aid in removal. The original flat style cartridges could be stacked on top of the newer cartridges, but the newer cartridges could not be easily stacked on each other, nor were they stored easily. Thus a third style, the "curved lip" style was produced, and all official and third-party cartridges during the console's lifespan were released (or re-released) using this style.
In May 1991, Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
launched its Game Gear portable gaming handheld. Also a color handheld, in comparison to the Lynx it had a higher cost, slightly smaller bulk, and similar battery life. However, the Game Gear was backed up by significantly more popular titles and consequently the market became dominated by Nintendo followed by Sega in a distant second and the Lynx in third except in the UK and parts of Europe such as France and Holland where the Lynx retained 2nd place.
In 1994, Atari Corp. shifted its focus away from the Lynx. As Nintendo's Super Nintendo
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
and Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...
filled retailers' shelves, Atari Corp. refocused its efforts on its Jaguar
Atari Jaguar
The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...
console. A handful of games were released during this time, including Battlezone 2000. In 1996, Atari shut down its internal game development.
Telegames released a number of games in the second half of the 1990s, including a port of Raiden
Raiden (arcade game)
is a scrolling shooter arcade game that was developed by Seibu Kaihatsu. It was the first game in the popular Raiden series of scrolling shooter arcade games.Raiden first made its debut in September 1990...
and a platformer called Fat Bobby in 1997, as well as an action sports game called Hyperdrome in 1999. At the end of the 1990s, Hasbro, the owners of the Atari properties at the time, released the rights to develop for the system to the public domain. Since then a number of independent developers released games into the new decade, like Championship Rally, CyberVirus, and Alpine Games. Some of the late 90s/early 2000s games were under development by other companies at one time, but rights to the game programs and all of the existing code was bought and finished by other developers.
In 2008 Atari was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
Technology & Engineering Emmy Award
A Technology and Engineering Emmy Award is given by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievement in technical or engineering development...
s for pioneering the development of handheld games with its Lynx game unit.
On October 24, 2009, North American company Super Fighter Team
Super Fighter Team
Super Fighter Team is a video game development, production and publishing company whose primary focus is on producing new games for classic systems such as the Sega Genesis and Atari Lynx, among others...
released Zaku
Zaku (video game)
Zaku is a horizontal shooter for the Atari Lynx handheld game system. Developed over a six year period by PenguiNet with the aid of an official Lynx development kit, the game takes full advantage of the Lynx's unique features and hardware...
, an all new, all original horizontal shooter for the Lynx developed by PenguiNet. Of significant note is that it was the first new game for the system whose game card has an authentic "curved lip" plastic shell. The game also shipped with a full color cardstock box, and 31 page instruction manual printed in both English and French.
Reception
Although it was innovative and unique for its time, gamers found the Atari Lynx to be quite large and bulky, even the 2nd version of the unit.However, the game system was reviewed in 1990 in Dragon
Dragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#155 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the Lynx 5 out of 5 stars.
Technical specifications
- MOSMOS TechnologyMOS Technology, Inc., also known as CSG , was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Norristown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is most famous for its 6502 microprocessor, and various designs for Commodore International's range of home computers.-History:MOS Technology, Inc...
65SC02 processor running at up to 4 MHz (~3.6 MHz average)- 8-bit CPU, 16-bit address space
- Sound engine
- 4 channel sound (Lynx II with panning)
- 8-bit DAC for each channel (4 channels × 8-bits/channel = 32 bits commonly quoted)
- Video DMA driver for liquid-crystal display
- 4,096 color (12-bit) palette
- 16 simultaneous colors (4 bits) from palette per scanline (more than 16 colors can be displayed by changing palettes after each scanline)
- 8 System timers (2 reserved for LCD timing, one for UART)
- Interrupt controller
- UART (for ComLynx) (fixed format 8E1, up to 62500 Bd)
- 512 bytes of bootstrap and game-card loading ROM
- Suzy (16-bit custom CMOS chip running at )
- Graphics engine
- Hardware drawing support
- Unlimited number of high-speed sprites with collision detection
- Hardware high-speed sprite scaling, distortion, and tilting effects
- Hardware decoding of compressed sprite data
- Hardware clipping and multi-directional scrolling
- Variable frame rate (up to 75 frames/second)
- 160 × 102 standard resolution (16,320 addressable pixels)
- Math co-processor
- Hardware 16-bit × 16-bit → 32-bit multiply with optional accumulation; 32-bit ÷ 16-bit → 16-bit divide
- Parallel processing of CPU and a single multiply or a divide instruction
- Graphics engine
- RAMRam-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
: 64 KBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
120ns DRAMDramDram or DRAM may refer to:As a unit of measure:* Dram , an imperial unit of mass and volume* Armenian dram, a monetary unit* Dirham, a unit of currency in several Arab nationsOther uses:... - Storage: Cartridge - 128, 256 and 512 KB exist, up to 2 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
is possible with bank-switching logic.
Some (homebrew) carts with EEPROM to save hi-scores.
- Ports:
- Headphone port ( stereo; wired for mono on the original Lynx)
- ComLynx (multiple unit communications, serial)
- LCD Screen: 3.5" diagonal
- BatteryBattery (electricity)An electrical battery is one or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Since the invention of the first battery in 1800 by Alessandro Volta and especially since the technically improved Daniell cell in 1836, batteries have become a common power...
holder (six AA) ~4–5 hours (Lynx I) ~5-6 hours (Lynx II)