#oneaday Day 666: Some Atari Lynx Favourites

I was actually going to post this last night when I was somewhat lacking in inspiration, but here we are now. Before anything else, though:

Calorie goal: 2023/2040 (-17)
Ring Fit?: No
Water intake: About 2L

See? Told you I was going to keep myself honest. Anyway. Some favourite Atari Lynx games, some of which are on the way to the Evercade soon, and some of which I hope we see on there eventually! I used to have a Lynx and I regret selling it during a moment of fiscal tightness… though judging by the state of the Game Gear I own I doubt it would still be going strong without a bit of TLC.

Anyway!

Turbo Sub

I guess you'd call this a game vaguely akin to Space Harrier, but it unfolds from a first-person perspective. You're piloting a sub that can also, apparently, fly, and stages alternate between above-water blastathons and underwater avoidathons. In the latter stages, you can collect crystals that allow you to purchase powerups and extra lives between levels.

This game was a real showcase of the Lynx's hardware scaling capabilities, and is still a lot of fun today. Apparently there was an arcade version of this, too, with the Lynx port coming several years later; I never knew this back in the day. It was just "that kick-ass scaling game" for the Lynx!

Steel Talons

This isn't a particularly fondly regarded Lynx title, but I loved this back in the day. I was a big fan of the arcade machine, which had realistic helicopter controls (cyclic and collective pitch levers!) and was an early polygonal 3D blaster. The Lynx actually does a very valiant effort of recreating the arcade experience, albeit in low resolution. It's a fun, if fairly simple, game.

Electrocop

This game still wows me today by how it makes use of the Lynx's sprite scaling to create a convincing 3D environment where you can run left and right (with convincing parallaxing on the floor) and "in" and "out" of the screen. It's actually an interesting game, too, involving negotiating maze-like levels, blasting enemies and hacking computers to open locked doors. One of the platform's more ambitious efforts, for sure — and great music.

Checkered Flag

There weren't a ton of good racers on the Lynx. This one was probably the best of them — and it was a great one. While at the time I bemoaned the fact that it didn't have hills — those who have been watching Atari A to Z for a while will recall that young Pete had an obsession with Racing Games With Hills — I recognised it as a really solid, enjoyable and challenging Pole Position-alike. I bet this would have been great in multiplayer, but did you know anyone else with a Lynx?

Gates of Zendocon

Probably the best blaster on the Lynx, this game takes you through a wide variety of stages with some really interesting and unusual enemy and obstacle patterns. One level you might be fighting off predictable waves of enemies; in another, shooting your way through organic… "things"; in another still, blasting a path through abandoned scrap metal. Ton of fun, lots of variety — and, again, great music.

—

The latter of these three are coming to Evercade later in the year, which I'm super-excited about. The first two I'd love to see at some point but I don't know what the licensing situation is with them. Fingers crossed, though; a couple of companies seem to have been hoovering up rights for classic Lynx games, so hopefully these are among them. We'll see!

Anyway, with more that 2L of water inside me I really need a piss now, so I'll bid you farewell for the evening. Have a good night!