The first colour handheld videogame system in the world was the Atari Lynx. This handheld was originally released in 1989, and came with three dimensional, as well as multiplayer capabilities. The Atari Lynx had a large selection of games, unfortunately, these games were not considered to be high-end. This was actually Atari's fault as they were unable to persuade the various game developers to produce these high end games for the Atari Lynx.
Originally designed in 1987 the Atari Lynx was known as the Handy and was designed by a couple of members of the Amiga design team who worked at Epyx. These developers were R.J. Mical and Dave Needle. During the Winter CES in 1989, the game was first introduced to the world. Although Nintendo also had an opportunity to release a colour portable, it was to be Atari that would release their gaming system first. Nintendo passed on the opportunity, allowing Atari to scoop up the design and be the first company to release a colour portable.
Although Nintendo passed on the opportunity for the Handy, sure enough, the same year that the Atari Lynx was released, Nintendo released their Game Boy system. Even though the Lynx featured a colour screen the Game Boy won by comparison due to its light weight, smaller size, as well as its low battery consumption.
The Atari Lynx was released at almost twice the cost of the Nintendo Game Boy. There were more big-name game developers that opted to supply the Nintendo Game Boy, meaning more games than the Atari Lynx, and this coupled with their high price tag would ultimately be the down-fall for the Atari Lynx. By 1991, Atari attempted to increase their marketing and reduced the cost of the Atari Lynx to $99. This however did not lose their competition as the Lynx was losing compared to the Game Boy.
The final blow to the Atari Lynx, was the May release of the Sega Game Gear in 1991. What this meant was that the Lynx was no longer the only colour potable system on the market. The Sega Game Gear was released with more titles than the Atari Lynx could ever manage. The handheld market was already dominated by the Nintendo Game Boy, and then with the new release of the Sega Game Gear, the Atari Lynx could not withstand the competition. The Atari handheld quickly dropped out of the picture.
The Atari Lynx would never reach its goals and although it had some amazing games in its line-up it’s handheld system was to fade into the Chronicles of gaming history. By 1993, Atari had completely stopped all marketing of their handheld system. They instead opted to focus on the new console, the Atari Jaguar.
The Atari Lynx is no longer sold, but much like any of the gaming systems of the time, the Lynx has a large community of followers, fans and collectors. This community still actively plays as well as discussing the system and there is even a game developing company called Songbird who is still producing games for the Atari Lynx. You can even get an emulator to play the Atari Lynx games on your PC.
Original Authors: Gobel Team (Nick)
Edit Update Authors: M.A.Harris
Updated On: 19/05/2008
