Lynx Vs. Game Gear

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Lynx Vs. Game Gear

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 28th, 2017, 8:09 pm

Lately I've been reviewing a lot of Lynx/Game Gear titles, and it seems to me the Lynx had a lot more games with scaling effects like War Birds, Turbo Sub, and S.T.U.N. Runner. The Game Gear seems to have more standard side-scrollers. Unfortunately, I don't think too many of those innovative Lynx games were particularly good.

Am I right about this?

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pacman000
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Re: Lynx Vs. Game Gear

Postby pacman000 » December 22nd, 2017, 10:59 am

gametime wrote:Were these two even competing against each other or the GameBoy? Meaning was Atari and Sega more worried about each other or Nintendo? Maybe just getting the leftover market share?

The Atari Lynx did make a guest appearance on an episode of Full House. All about bragging rights in the 90's. :lol:


Atari Corp. sued Nintendo in the late 80's/early 90's arguing that Nintendo used their monopoly power to restrict the market. Sega spent millions in advertising dollars to convince stores to carry their systems.

Both Atari and Sega were trying to compete against Nintendo; Sega even tried to partner with Atari when they first brought the Genesis to the U.S.

lynchie137
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Re: Lynx Vs. Game Gear

Postby lynchie137 » December 22nd, 2017, 9:02 pm

The Atari Lynx did make a guest appearance on an episode of Full House. All about bragging rights in the 90's. :lol:[/quote]

Really? Wow. Which episode and what season did the Lynx appear on that sitcom?

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Re: Lynx Vs. Game Gear

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » November 27th, 2018, 3:00 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:Lately I've been reviewing a lot of Lynx/Game Gear titles, and it seems to me the Lynx had a lot more games with scaling effects like War Birds, Turbo Sub, and S.T.U.N. Runner. The Game Gear seems to have more standard side-scrollers. Unfortunately, I don't think too many of those innovative Lynx games were particularly good.

Am I right about this?


I know this is over a year old, buts since nobody ever answered...

You're right.

Unfortunately, many Western developers of that era mostly lacked an intuitive understanding of design fundamentals, other than simulation or old school arcade thrills, so many experiments failed more often than not. Atari, by that time, was already a tainted brand in the States and in Japan, and Jack was cutting costs whenever possible, so it's several miracles we got a decent library at all.

There's also the way most Western developers usually thought of the games as either a form of self expression, a science experiment, or as a soul crushing job. None of these mindsets is really trying to understand the needs of the player.

Japan's gaming industry, by contrast, featured all of these mindsets, but also had another- the gaming industry as a service industry. The relationship between developer and their audience was better understood, and there was room to play with that connection. Often, audiences were rewarded for their experimentation, rather than simply being "rewarded" for obeying restrictive rules with a straight forward difficulty spike.

Think of Super Mario Bros vs. Jet Set Willy and Pitfall. Or even the way Space Invaders allowed you to hide behind the bases and fire through them.

The difference is really obvious, sometimes even when you look at games that were better on the Lynx.

Double Dragon on the Lynx kept the original arcade design, which gave you stylish moves with a satisfying impact...then encouraged players to turn their backs to their enemies, drawing them out from hiding. Only then, could the player strike with the deadliest move in the game - the most counter intuitive thing imaginable, and a complete power trip for audiences of the day. Double Dragon on the Game Gear? You get a gun, which should technically make you feel way more powerful, but doesn't. And none of your own moves stand out in any way. They're really only there to get the job done, echoing the thoughts of the team that made them.

It's not hard to guess which game design came from an experienced Japanese company and which comes from a contracted Western sequel.

Sut
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Re: Lynx Vs. Game Gear

Postby Sut » November 27th, 2018, 3:30 pm

That’s a great post and I wholeheartedly concur. I remember moving to Japanese consoles at the time I couldn’t put my finger in why they were better but in a nutshell they were just more gamer friendly.


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