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RETRO
ISSUE 379|COMPUTERSHOPPER|SEPTEMBER 2019
Some at Epyx said they’d quit on the spot
when Tramiel becameinvolvedwith the
handheldproject.Tramiel also put Epyx on a
strict contract,and its task was to continue
makinggames forthe console.When Tramiel
felt Epyx was falling short of its obligations,
he withheldamilestone payment that caused
massivefinancialproblems.Atari then made
Epyx apayment on the conditionthat it would
seize ownershipof everythingto do with the
Lynx. Epyx went bust shortly afterwards.
ATARI’S CHALLENGE
Even so,the Lynx got its release,costing £179,
which was aroundtwice that of the Game Boy.
The handheldneededsix AA batteries and its
plastic casing felt cheap.Itwas also huge,
makingit difficultto carry aroundcomfortably.
Atari struggledto make enoughunits, and
it took awhile forittobuild momentum
againstabuoyant Game Boy–not helped by a
frosty relationshipwith some retailers,which
meant anumber of them wouldn’t stock it.
People voted with their wallet and instinct,and
Nintendo took an early lead and didn’t let go.
And yet the Lynx did end up having so
much going forit, not least some wonderful
titles. Chip’s Challenge,Lemmings,Blue
Lightning,Robotron:2084, RampartRampage
and S.T.U.N. Runnerwere looked upon with
envy,and there’s no doubtingthe quality of
the arcade ports. Looking back, it was ashame
that more third-partydevelopersdidn’t get
involvedwith the machine,but those who did
sought to give players value formoney, adding
features to those ports, forinstance.
Trouble was, the Game Boy’s impact
proved fartoo strong and its successproved
Yamauchito be entirelycorrectin his
assessmentof his rival’s product.The Lynx’s
smallercatalogueof games was stark against
the Game Boy, its indulgencewas costly and
the ‘whole product’suffered.The more people
boughtaGame Boy, the more others wanted
one,and the better supported it became.
The Lynx only really began to fare better
after it had been redesignedas the smaller
Lynx II in 1991 with aless expensiveprice,
better battery lifeand stereo sound. But by
that point, Sega had releasedthe Game Gear,anothercolour handheld,which provided
seriouscompetition.Atari’s games catalogue
still couldn’t compete, and it was eventually
shelvedin 1995 –the year Nintendo began to
releasedifferentGame Boymodels with
colouredcases and had the marketsewn up.
Perhaps most surprisingis that Atari didn’t
learn from this. The company’snext major
releasewas the Jaguar in 1993: the first 64-bit
games console,and one it felt would again win
on specificationsalone.Ithad ahandful of
great exclusivesand toomany terrible titles,
with developersfinding it hard to develop for.
Nintendo,onthe other hand, began to
favour an overall gamingexperienceto
technologicalprowess.So while Sony’s PSP
was more advanced than the Nintendo DS, the
latter dominated, selling astaggering154.9
million units. Likewise,when it decidednot to
competeonspecs during the developmentof
the Wii, it focused on the motioncontrol
remoteand this differentwayofplaying made
it the fifth best-sellingconsoleof all time.Little
wonderAtari never tried to competeagain in
either the handheldor consolerace.RACINGSIMULATOR
DRIVINGCPC GAMERS
CRAZY
Seeing old technologydriven to
its limits is always ajoy,and it
does make you wonderwhat
could have been all those years
ago had developersbecomeeven
more familiar with the systems
theywere using.
In our last issue,welooked at
asmooth port of Super Mario
Bros on the Commodore64,
which Nintendo swiftly took
down. But since then, we’ve
spotted Vespertino,aracing
game in developmentby the
BatmanGroup forthe 8-bit
AmstradCPC that looks and
runs as if it was made fora
16-bit computer.
So far, glimpsesof the sim
have come via avideo on
YouTube (tinyurl.com/379retro),
where the makersclaim it runs at
25fps in full overscan using a3D
CRTC-FX engine on
an originalCPC
machine.Many
commentators are
now desperateto
discover how it has
been achieved,
althoughtheymay
have to wait since
there’s no current
releasedate.CHECKTHE
GAMES RUNNING
IN PLATFORM 14
The NationalVideogame
Museumis makingitself at home
in Sheffield, and it’s continuingto
keep retro fans happy. It has
launchedan exhibition
called Platform 14:
DonkeyKong to
explorehow games
are ported to run on
other platforms,
examiningthe
effects different
machineshave on
the look and feel
of atitle.
As the name
suggests,the
exhibitionshows
how the game runs
on 14 machines,
includingthe originalcoin-opcabinet,ahandheld
Game and Watch, aGame Boy,
Apple II and Intellivision.
Differencesfrom the numberof
levels to the range of coloursand
objectsare highlighted, and the
idea is that more games will be
placed under the
spotlightin future.
The museum,
which is operated
by the British
Games Institute,
also has other retro
games on display,
amongthem
Duck Hunt, Ms Pac
Man, Sonic the
Hedgehog,Tetris
and Track &Field.
See the website
(www .thenvm.org)
fo ropening times
and ticket prices.nfo
and⬆California Games was apack-in title forthe Lynx
and gave players achoice of four sports
⬆Shadow of the Beast was as frustratingon the
Lynx as on other platforms, despitethe graphics⬆It’s surprisinghow well Lemmingsworkedon the
Lynx, even with tiny characters on asmall screen