Atari Lynx Part 1: Hardware - Ashens
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- The Atari Lynx was a handheld video game console released in 1989. It had a lit colour screen, sprite scaling capabilities, very few good games, was the size of a house and used 900 AA batteries every 12 seconds. But still I love it.
![[ TEASER ] เงาะป่า - วงL.กฮ. | TMG RECORD](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M4ObdFfcPww/mqdefault.jpg)
The Lynx emulator is so good, it drains all the batteries in your household without you even knowing.
Zanon XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD
If the emulator does that, it must be built with very sloppy, inefficent code. Probally calling libraries and functions it dosen't need. Maybe has a mickey slipped into it turning your phone into a node for a network of crypto-currency miners. =|
The processor is so low powered in those old systems (a couple MHZ, at most), with system RAM measured in KILOBYTES, there is no way it should require a monster amount of resources to emulate
@@plateshutoverlock r/whoosh
@@TurboWafflz man he whooshed hard
Ruining (in-)jokes with facts is a joke in itself.
A real man carries a game gear in one pocket a lynx in the other, and a fanny pack of batteries.
Octavia Black Game Gear w/ TV tuner and battery pack.
Octavia Black In the UK fanny means Vagina
ojideagu h
Need those 90s jnco jeans for that lol
Papa Bear Best comment I’ve seen all day.
Who the hell _doesn't_ watch an entire Ashens video?
Ghost81 the people who don't 😄
Ghost81 Haters.
Deus Why? I can't not see a whole video!
I stopped watching at 21:35
Oh man! 21:36 is the best bit! You're missing out!
Lynx in the description.
This pun needs more appreciation
OoF
LYNX! Hah I see what you did their bud
It burns
Tenfey 😏😏😏
Review the Nokia N-GAGE. There's a game called Ashen.
Daggett Beaver I saw a Nokia "Ashens" phone in the window of a GAME once. It was a mis-labelled Asha.
GASHA
It has too much of a cult following to bash.
Ashen was a pretty good game for 2004.
I only just found out aswell.....
Oddly the protagonist of the Ashen N-Gage game is....... Stuart Ashen!
lolollolollollololo
Clearly they missed an opportunity by not releasing the External Portable Nuclear Power Plant.
It'd be quite the struggle to actually get them safe enough to avoid the lawsuits from inevitable radiation coming from irresponsible children that didn't wear the free Lynx radsuits.
Welcome to the Salty Spatoon, How tuff are ya?
How tuff am I? How tuff am I?!?! I watched Ashen's Pandora handheld review all the way through.
Yeah, So?
*The painfully long version*
Come right in!
Klax was played vertically. Took me by complete surprise when I booted it up on my Lynx 2.
Instablaster...
@@henrikalijah3840 WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME
I loved my Lynx. Like an idiot I sold it before it became retro. My wife managed to get me one, the case and a few games. Great times.
Programming for this system was quite a chore as far i could see on the techdocs.
You had to do things like turning off the CPU while the video chip was using the memory and so forth.
3:06 "it is the only console I can think of that has games on it you play vertically" hey man, let's not forget the classic Brain Training for the Nintendo DS! Or have you not been training your brain?! DR Kawashima will be disappointed
ffishfinger And the Wonderswan! Such a wonderful little handheld. You have heard of the Wonderswan right? If not, I understand, not many people know what a Wonderswan is.
Also the ps Vita in little big planet you could play some mini games vertically
@@michaelwhite3418 yes because it was not released outside of Japan
ffishfinger you can also play games vertically on the switch such as the pinball machine games available
"BRAIN GAIN! WHO HAS THE BIGGEST?
... Brain, I hope." -- An ancient Ashens video
I can't tell you how happy I'd be to look around Ashens' house for a day.
I had that Lynx bag. Completely forgot about it.
Hope you talk about Chips Challenge next time, best game on the system imo
I put the ash in Ashens.
And I shall provide the "ens."
Warhead Urban Exploration ?
May I help with the period?
Does that pay well?
Warhead Urban Exploration, May I ask why
He pokes fun at games coming with instruction manuals. Even 3DS games don't come with manuals anymore, I miss them :(
Wii U games have them build-in the game
3DS too. It's utterly terrible. No more artwork to admire, stories to read, or anything in the box.
I do too.
The Legend of Zelda instructions made me think there was an animated version of that that we never got over here!
Most 3DS owners are usually not old enough to be able to read
Technically a sound machine, but the library is abysmal, as nearly all games are either targeted at very young kids or die-hard Nintendo fans. No comparison to the PS Vita, that has a far,far superior library, but also a price tag that makes it highly undesirable too,
Not sure why people wouldn't stay to the end, these system coverage videos Ashens does are both entertaining and incredibly informative.
The Nintendo DS had a few games using the vertical screen system; one I remember personally is the rather obscure rythm game Beat City. it worked alright once you get used to it.
I know I'm one year late but Beat City was a rip off of Rhythm Heaven. That game is also a vertical screened DS game!
Can't forget Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training
There was also a game called 'Style Boutique' that used this, it worked really well
There's also Bookworm, and some sort of girly diary game I had as a kid that I don't remember the name of. Bookworm DS is the definitive way to play classic Bookworm, IMO, with all the additions added to it over the old Bookworm Deluxe. Only gripe I have with it is that it didn't account for the comfort of lefties. Weird oversight considering it's as easy as flipping the screen upside down. Something pretty much every other game I've seen with that "hold the DS sideways like a book" orientation has the option, like Rhythm Heaven.
I think there was a Guitar Hero on DS, where you had to hold in a weird way to play it as well
How did Nintendo not have a GameBoy with any sort of built-in backlight until the GBA SP?
Allan Biala You're forgetting about the japanese gameboy light
WH250398 I have a Game Boy Light AND a GBA SP AGS-101 ;-) (and an original Game Boy and a Game Boy micro!)
I'm guessing cost and battery life.
Two reasons: price and battery life. Even though the Atari Lynx and the Sega Game Gear both had superior screens to the Gameboy, they both required 6 AA batteries and were generally more expensive to manufacture. The Gameboy's monochrome screen and lack of backlight meant that it could get roughly double the battery life of it's competitors while only requiring 2-4 batteries (depending on if it was the pocket version or the original). The GBA SP was the first one to use a lithium ion battery so Nintendo finally had some wiggle room to add in the backlight without sacrificing much battery life.
They were quite dismissive of color in the face of the Lynx and GameGear - due to the massive battery drain it created. I seem to remember a comment from Nintendo along the lines of "There will be no Color Gameboy until we can get close to 10 hours out of a set of batteries" - And they did. Backlight was likely the same issue.
Every time i see one of these lynx videos the nostalgia builds up inside me like a babbling mountain stream and i find myself on ebay looking for one. I know full well ill be dreadfully disappointed with it, but still i want one.
The mark 1 was the only unit for me, i always thought it felt great in the hand with its chunky feel.
wow. for being 1989 blue lightning looked amazing :O
The vertical screen thing via holding the device sideways was something that was somewhat done on the PS Vita on some games.
That external battery pack is just comical, i love it.
Ahh this takes me back. I had a Lynx 1 in 1990/1 and loved it. I was allowed to buy it with the money we made from selling Grandma's piano I stopped playing - success! I played Crystal Mines 2 and Gates of Zendocon quite a lot. Had great memories of playing Rampart via Comlynx cable with the only other guy I know who had a Lynx in my area of Sydney, Australia. When the console was no longer sold and stores were selling off stock, I got the Comlynx cable, 6-cell battery pack and the big carry case dirt cheap. Then Target had boxed games for $5 each and I managed to fill in quite a lot of gaps with unexciting games like Basketball, Tennis and Scrapyard Dog. Scored a Lynx 2 for free years later. Sold the entire collection for WAY less than I should have about ten years ago - right before the whole retro game pricing insanity we have these days. Memories...
This is quite a classy console! Even the cartridge looks very high-tech compared to everything else at the time. Shame it didn't catch on, because the graphics looks incredible for its time. Definitely looks better than even GBC could be compared with GBA even!
SpeedStriker No sorry it can't really compete with the GBAs graphics at all, mainly as the GBA came out what, 12 years later? And looks far better
Nyvia Nicholson Plus the batteries drain very quickly.
I got a Game Gear when they first came out... I loved it! I remember getting G-Loc, Columns and Castle of Illusion with it on Christmas Day and when I first played it, after 5 mins the batteries were dead, so imagine how happy I was when they released the rechargeable battery pack & power adaptor for that!
The best part of the Lynx is if you play it, girls all flock to you. That's the Lynx effect.
HowlingSnail
Because its huge
When it is in your pants they think it is penis
back in those days i never heard of a girl that played video games.
Is that an Atari Lynx 2 in your trousers or are you happy to see me?
@@christopherm.7310 The fact that you didn't know one doesn't mean they didn't exist
I realize I have been asking for this for like 4 years BUT, Neo Geo Pocket Color review please.
Please?
Persistence is key.
Send him one, and he will.
Joe Snes he has one. it appeared in a 10 reviews in 10 minutes
Pretty sure he already has one, a seen in older videos
It's a beautiful system. I bought one solely off of how stuart raved about it in a gameboy special. (I shelled out 60 USD / 48 GBP on blind faith! had it shipped from japan and all!) and it was worth it!
Slime World was pretty much the only game that supported that wild daisy chain idea. Up to 8 players IIRC. I also remember reading that the giant Lynx 1 was so huge due to focus testing.
That is actually genuinely astounding how good that looks.
I really like the style of the standard Lynx cartridges. The combination of how sleek and thin they are with the gaudy game logos and the visible contacts at the bottom makes for a very retro-future sort of look!
The Nintendo Switch looked better in the ad
I get it
😂😂
*Switch Lite
Good one, but needs update.
“Please sir, i need to eat and my shoes are on fire”
Pure gold, still after all these years.
That cable coming out of the broken lynx makes me think that it was a display kit.
I just discovered your Channel, and I'm very pleased with your content. and how your humor never lets things get boring.
thank you!
Thank you very much for these retrospective videos Ashens! Especially with this one, I learned so much about the Lynx. I guess it really is a misunderstood species of a handheld, oh well
Oh Ashens this is nostalgia overload 😊👍
If you're reading this........
Have a wonderful day or night🌜🌜😀
Also..........
You're awesome😀😀😀
CanadianGuy XPG it's 12:50 am :-)
***** well why are u still up???
Just kidding, you do as you please😀
CanadianGuy XPG to inform you of the time in the UK of course silly :-P
CanadianGuy XPG >a leaf
Well hello there fellow Canadian.
This thing predates my existence, but it still brings me nostalgia, due to having a father who enjoys collecting old Atari hardware. I still have not managed to figure out California Games, though. Damn that wave...
Great video as always, Ashens!
That part at the end is hilarious... "I quite misremembered this" 😂😂😂
Funny.. The lynx is considered hilariously huge, with piss poor battery life, at roughly 10" x 4" with 4 hours of battery life... Yet we've now got he new portable Nintendo Switch coming out, with dimensions of roughly 10" x 4" with 3-4 hours of battery life....... We've come a long way!
(Reliably) rechargeable Li-Ion batteries greatly changed people's tolerance for low battery life.
If the battery runs out on something like a Lynx, you have to go to the store (inconvenient) to buy (costs a lotta money) another set of six AA's. Rechargable batteries did exist, but since they were Ni-Cd, they were often *pretty fucking bad*. And needed to be unplugged from the device in order to charge. This is why the GameBoy was so tempting. It was a billion years behind its competitors in raw tech, and also quite bulky -- But it would give you a whole day worth of play from a pack of batteries.
-- If the Switch's (or any modern handheld device's) battery runs out, you just plug it in. You can even play it plugged in if you are home or whatever, and the battery will charge up, getting it ready for your next play-session in handheld mode.
As for size... Well, the Lynx was 99% bezel. These days portable devices have huuuge screens. Going back to, say, the DS (not even that old) nowadays can feel __weird__. The screen is tiny and I feel like I'm squinting at it.
The Lynx was THICC though. The Switch isnt
The switch now has a longer lasting battery, and doesn’t need to be fully straddled to control unless you want to.
I love how the french translation of the external battery pack is "le pack batteries". They just added "le" like it was already some sort of meme that if you add "le" to anything it becomes French ^^
Lapin du Métro That should become a meme.
@@ExtremeWreck it already was in like 2012 lol
Like Le Big Mac
Me: "What's the external battery pack take, something stupid like six 9-volt batteries?"
Atari Lynx: "Hold my beer."
Ashes and the Quest for the Last Two Lynx Games - 2017
Ashens*
Learn something new every time I watch your videos. I am 30 years old and a child of the 90s. I remember the Gameboy and the GameGear but never heard of either of the Atari Lynx handheld game systems.
so this is like a PS Vita
xXpuppytailsXx only the vita still lives and has a touchscreen and was more successful then this
DiamondPro they both died in a few years
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Sorry, I was just really enjoying your joke about the Vita still living.
xXpuppytailsXx
The Vita is still hanging on OK in Asia. Pretty much dead in the US and Europe, though.
There seems to be a reoccurring theme with Nintendo Handhelds and their competitors.
I bought one in 1989 at a Toys R Us with my own money. Spent hours playing road blasters, klax, california games, blue lightning and others. Back then as a gaming fanatic you really appreciated this thing..
I hope you'll mention the display mod in the next video, which will give the Lynx I/II an excellent display and an optional VGA output. Doesn't improve battery life but is a nice way to play Lynx games. Display quality is very close to emulation with this display, only downside is that some hi-color homebrew demos won't work. There's also an Everdrive-like micro sd card flash drive for both Lynxs.
The Lynx was amazing! Still is! And the port of KLAX is 2nd to none! Thank you for bringing awareness of this incredible machine!
I got my expectations all the way up for that blue lightning footage
I'm a simple man. I see Ashens' pasty hands clutching an Atari Lynx, I click like.
the bandai wonderswan had actually Quiet a Numbers of games to be played vertically
Yes, and ashens has a video about it. Surprised that he didn't mention it.
I really love the form factor of the cartridges. They are nice and thin and that little lip on them is a nice elegant solution to use to pull them out.
The Wonderswan also had games that you could play vertically.
Robo Blue so did the DS. a buttload of them
I haven't watch your vids for 5+ years its been so long I had forgotten your youtube channel but this just bring back memories
The nostalgia goggles are strong with those over-the-city flights
CiderDivider You need to see it on the console screen to see how amazing the sprite scaling looks
I love it when the screen of the LYNX shows Ashens' beautiful face in the reflection.
Also, technically the Lynx was the first true 16 bit portable, the Game Gear and Gameboy were both 8 bit (the TurboExpress was one of those "put two 8 bit processors under the hood and call it 16" deals).
Brian O'Connell well the PC Engine had a 16bit GPU.
Except it looked worst than every console at the time.
You might want to do your research. It came out in JAPAN in 1987. NOT THE US.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TurboGrafx-16
The CD only caught on because the Sega CD was sucking ass at the time... And I used to QA for Sega.
American model simply as the TurboGrafx in 1990
Such a calm and serene flight over the city at night.
Wonderful.
Lynx cartridges: Ridged for Stuart's pleasure.
I remember when Ashens was at 100,000 subscribers. Its nice to see how well his channel has done since then
please sir buy some games
i need to eat and my shoes are on fire
That Blue Lightning footage reminds me of some Ace Combat missions where it's kind of hard but if you take a minute to look at the scenery it is really beautiful.
*I* care about Klax, Stuart. It's one of my favorite games.
00110100 00110010 yeah, it was even on the game gear and the original gameboy. great game.
IT IS THE NINETIES
not my problem
but are you running in them
I too, care about klax.
I really love your videos, I find there's something oddly comforting about your brown sofa and tat, its such a nice escape from the stressfulness of life. I often listen to your videos while I fall asleep because they're so wonderfully dull.
'Viking Child' was one of my favorite games for the Lynx growing up.
The lynx1!!!!!! Me and my brother had one, bought by our parents when they were sold off for cheap after the systems was declared dead. It was fun, especially NHL hockey, and linking it to one another. Good times back in the day.
4:02 "A little CRT"?! Gosh this thing must've chewed through the battery in seconds.
Xan it's an LCD with a CCFL backlight. He called the NEC TurboExpress / PC Engine GT's screen a "CRT" for some reason as well
Just to clarify: I'm aware it's an LCD. I'm poking fun at the power consumption a CRT would have.
Wow I cannot believe Blue Lightning I remembered that game as looking amazing that game blew us all away when we first got our Lynx . Just shows you how bad our memories are I truly remembered that game as looking better than Master System & NES games. My jaw hit the floor when Stuart showed that footage lol.
i can't find this thing on the internet... could someone send me a few "lynx"?
www.lynx.com/
Antonio Prola well played my good sir
+shrek is dreck www.thanx.com/
WH250398 www.google.ca/search?q=Dildo&client=ms-android-bell-ca&source=lnms&prmd=ivsn&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiBirCC7fbRAhXF8CYKHUXDC8QQ_AUIBygB&biw=360&bih=512&dpr=4.......there ya go
I was so into Klax on the Lynx back in the day. Great music as I remember.
What a coincidence! I just uploaded a video on this myself?! Awesome video Stuart, more retro handheld stuff please! Maybe the Neo Geo Pocket?
The Retro Future
Hey, love your channel
Great channel, Mr.Future
That game boy mario footage tickled my brain just right. Ah memories.
I've never seen Ashens make a comment
Alexander Bill Ashens make a comment
There you go mate
Alexander Bill I think he commented on his old videos from like 2006 before he had a million subscribers
That's because TH-cam's comment system is shit, and he knows it. He does occasionally comment on his videos, just not here.
+RJ Nash
Simmer down.
Alexander Bill Oh, I've seen comments from him lots of times, even on Big Clive's videos.
I remember wanting an Atari Lynx, but never being able to afford one back in the day. I do not regret having my money going elsewhere whatsoever.
Keep doing what you do, good sir. Many thanks.
15:03 Reminded me so much of Twin Peaks' Bob I got chills lol.
I owned the original, but it crapped out after a week. They exchanged it for a lynx 2. I still own it and all of the accessories. Thanks for this walk down memory lane. Booted it up last year and realized that I should have left well enough alone.
Don't ever believe that your fans aren't watching every second of every upload to the end. Quality over quantity, mate!
Personally I enjoy your lengthy videos a lot more than the short what's-in-the-plastic-egg-or-crap-bag videos ..
I bought one (Lynx2) for my wife right before she went to Korea (circa 1992). It's a great system, much overlooked. We never had any complaints with it. We still have it to this day and it still works a treat. We bought it with the case and have most of the games, the better ones anyway.
and, if I'm not going to sit through to the very end of a video, especially one I CHOOSE to view, then why the Bluddy Phuque am I paying for Internet Access??????
who doesn't watch these Ashens Videos all the way to the end? is there a problem with focus or attention span?? the material is entertaining enough. why not watch all of it?
Wow that sound of the plane blowing up at the end of the video sounded amazing for the time.
Well i'd rather have this lynx for christmas than another fucking lynx africa set.
A what?
SirRH this is the best comment on here.
I loved my Lynx 2. The games looked amazing compared to the Gameboy and the gameplay was much more substantial. The cartridges were easy to stack and it was much more comfortable to hold as well, if only the battery life was longer.
Aww the box made me all nostalgic, I was doing all the chores around around the house for like a year to get the Lynx and opening the present was like the best thing ever.
Somebody send Ashens Super Asteroids/Missile Command and NHL Hockey!
The Lynx is a great handheld. Very handy. I’ve had a lynx 2 for a while but recently ordered a lynx 1 from telegames. Cheers for the video and keep on gaming 👍
Since Stuart kinda forgot to mention the hardware specs, here's the wiki page with the info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Lynx#Lynx_II
We had a Lynx with the Blue Lightning and Party games cartridges. It was big but quite fun at the time. Thanks for reviewing it Stuart!
There was also a TV tuner that docked intio the cartridge slot.
milksheihk Nope, that was the Game Gear. There never was a tv tuner for Lynx.
The first oh-wow moment I remember from a video game was when I first reached a bonus stage in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and saw that crazy neon-coloured half-pipe stretching and curving off into the distance. I couldn't stop talking about it for weeks afterward!
I got a Lynx around 1990? after seeing Blue Lightening in a shop. Probably spent more on AA cells in the first few weeks than I did on the system. I still have the beast in pride of place on the hall of handhelds shelf. :)
I personally look for videos of about 10-30 minutes to watch while getting ready for work. Long enough that I don't have to keep going back to my phone for something new, short enough that I can actually finish them.
This thing has a better battery life then the Nintendo Switch..... 😂😂😂
Sexy Mexican69
switch is also part home console and handheld, so...
JimRaynorRaider it's also garbage and uses modern tech like Li-On batteries instead of shitty AA batteries, and it still sucks.
Sexy Mexican69
1. Depends on the game. Breath of the Wild is estimated to last 3 hours on a charge. Other games will vary.
2. The Switch isn't exclusively portable. The portability is just a feature of it.
3. The Switch allegedly will support power bank charging via USB Type-C.
than*
Kunigaikštis Kęstutis Aww did I make the little kid mad? 😂😂😂😂😂🖕🖕🖕🖕
Nice of Ashens to remind you to wear your seatbelt when going out in the car
Wow, I would have shat a brick as a kid if I had this. I was years behind and all I got was a gameboy with 3 games.
I was in high school back when these came out. It doesn't seem like such a long time ago until I see stuff like this! California Games brought back a lot of memories though. I didn't have a Lynx, but I did have it on the Commodore 128 & played that for more hours than I can count.
I know everyone moans at emulating - but it is a god send.... I have a neo geo on my phone, it runs better than the neo geo X.... and it's totally free!!
Order Of Magnitude
I don't know why people are so annoyed about emulation. It's ONLY a good thing.
Joshua TheAwesome agreed. Sure the real thing is better, but even if you are not a purist you can smooth out the pixels. It stops arcades being forgotten... And Like I say - Ive always wanted a neogeo but could never afford one and still never will.... But I do have it on every device going that I have now... It's certainly is not bad - every game including ones that were never released and prototypes - FOR FREE!!!!
People don't like it because they're shortsighted moralist idiots.
'hur u be stellen teh germes u pirate teh developer gets no money 4 dat u fucing crime burn in hells 11!11'
Benbow
I don't get why people even call it piracy. I guarantee you that no one involved in the making, distribution or advertising of the game is making money when I buy a copy of super Mario 64. So who am I stealing from?
Joshua TheAwesome exactly. Second hand buy is like piracy from an economic point of view. 1 person buys then many use. It will be interesting to see an actual research on the subject.
That was a nice entry for the Lynx, sliding along the sofa.
always wondered.. who the hell is the bearded guy at 15:08
I'm really happy you're making these videos because the Lynx is such a cool system, so thank you!
Ashens. Talking about the Lynx. Me instantly pressing thumbs up before seeing two seconds of it.
This reminds me of the Sega gamegear
Cody Barrett only much more powerful.