Released in 1989, the Atari Lynx was a portable gaming device way ahead of its time. As the world’s first portable gaming device to boast a color display, the Lynx packed a host of other innovative features — including the ability to be held with the D-pad on the left or right for ambidextrous gameplay. The 16-bit gaming system packed a 3.5-inch display which supported 4,096 colors, a 4MHz processor, 64KB of RAM, a 3.5mm headphone jack, ComLynx port, and was powered by six AA batteries. The ComLynx port could be used to daisy-chain multiple Lynx players together — up to eighteen total — for collaborative multiplayer gaming. The Lynx had the misfortune of being released in the same year as Nintendo’s Game Boy, which was priced $100 cheaper and viewed as less bulky. An updated Lynx handheld — the Lynx II — was released in 1991, but, thanks to Sega’s newly launched Game Gear and continued pressure from Nintendo, it didn’t fair much better. Any gaming pioneers out there buck the Nintendo and Sega trend and own an Atari Lynx?
We’d like to thank @mikewewerka for this week’s Throwback Thursday suggestion.
BGR’s Throwback Thursday is a weekly series covering our (and your) favorite gadgets, games, and software of yesterday and yesteryear.
