122 SEPTEMBER 2019 |COMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE 379
I
t’s 30 years since Atari launchedthe Lynx,
its cutting-edge handheldgames console.
It’s also getting on for15years since it was
bettered by the Nintendo DS and Sony
PlayStation Portable,which means it stood
proud as the most technologicallyadvanced
handheldforadecade and ahalf.
On that note, perhapswe should be
praisingamachine that smashedits
competitors out of the market:a16-bit
handheldwith apaletteof4,096 colours,a
backlit display, speedypseudo-3Dgraphics
and even the ability to be
flipped upside down so it
would appeal equallyto
left-handersas those who
favouredthe right hand.
And yet to do so would
be alie.Sure,the Lynx
was well ahead of its
time,but in the crazy
world of technology–
and we’re lookingat
you, VHS and Betamax
–the best feature set
doesn’t always win.
In this case,Nintendolaunchedthe Game Boytwo monthsearlier
and it squishedthe Atari Lynx like Mario
jumpingon aGoomba.
Want proof? Just look at the sales figures.
Nintendo sold in excess of 118.69 million Game
Boys, while Atari only managedto shift three
million Lynxes. That’s despitethe former being
an 8-bit consolethat ran 2D graphicsin 2-bit
colour,effectivelyblessingplayers’ eyes with
four shades that ran from light to dark olive
green. But could things have been different?
As it happens,yes. Dave Needle,the
co-creator of the Atari Lynx
with RJ Mical, spoke to me on
numerousoccasionsbefore he
sadly passed awayin2016, but
one of his many stories stood
out the most. It told of a
potentiallypivotal momentin
handheldgaminghistory,and it
began one afternoon“at about
3pm ”when David Morse,CEOof the successfulsoftware firm Epyx, walked
over to Needle with great urgency.THE MISSINGLYNX
Before we embarkon that tale,however,it’s
worth briefly lookingback at how the Lynx
came to be and, forthat, we cast our minds
back to August1986, when Morse was tucking
intohis seafood meal in aplush little caféin
affluentFoster City,California, with his old
friends Mical and Needle,apair he’d worked
with during his days at Commodore.
Morse’s son had raised the tantalising
prospectof makingahandheldgames
consoleat atime when doing so was, to a
great extent, aswim in uncharted waters.
Up to that point, Nintendo had releasedits
successfulone-title-per-device Game and
Watchseries, but there were also ahandful
of cheap LCD-screenefforts that had barely
causedaripple.In1984, Epoch launched122
⬅A tari was unafraidto pitch the
Ly nx in direct competitionwith
Nint endo’s Game Boyand attempted
to diss its rival in advertsd3pm⬅
Ly
Nin
toTheLynxeffect
A16-bithandheldconsole withjaw-dropping graphicsversusan8-bitdevicewith
agreenscreen.Surelynocontest?DavidCrookeslooksatthe ill-fatedAtariLynx
⬆Epyxshowcasedthe Handy at CES in January
1989,but Atari changedits name to the Portable
Color EntertainmentSystem by the summerand
to Lynx just ahead of its launch.Chip’s Challenge
(shownonscreen)was one of its launch titles