The 20 Greatest Atari Lynx Games of All-Time

[@TheLairdsLair]

Full Top 50 Games List: 50 - Battlezone 2000 49 - Tournament Cyberball 48 - Pac-Land 47 - Malibu Bikini Volleyball 46 - Ninja Gaiden III 45 - Hockey 44 - Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure 43 - Robo-Squash 42 - Ms. Pac-Man 41 - Pit-Fighter 40 - Joust 39 - Lemmings 38 - Super Skweek 37 - Turbo Sub 36 - Desert Strike 35 - Viking Child 34 - Double Dragon 33 - Awesome Golf 32 - Crystal Mines II 31 - Rampage 30 - Super Asteroids / Missile Command 29 - Dracula: The Undead 28 - Scrapyard Dog 27 - Shanghai 26 - Pinball Jam 25 - Paperboy 24 - Checkered Flag 23 - A.P.B. 22 - Gauntlet: The Third Encounter 21 - Batman Returns 20 - Xybots 19 - Robotron 2084 18 - Toki 17 - Ninja Gaiden 16 - Electrocop 15 - Battle Wheels 14 - Xenophobe 13 - Shadow of the Beast 12 - Gates of Zendocon 11 - Rampart 10 - Road Blasters 9 - Zarlor Mercenary 8 - Warbirds 7 - Rygar 6 - Blue Lightning 5 - Chip's Challenge 4 - Todd's Adventure's in Slime World 3 - Klax 2 - STUN Runner 1 - California Games

[@TheTiktok4321]

Just 20 more games to fill out the whole list. :D Do you have a listing of the top Homebrews?

[@heavysystemsinc.]

Lynx is like Neo Geo Pocket...small library, but damn, almost all of them are bangers.

[@kwylde]

We must've watched two different videos.

[@imranahmad2733]

I'm glad I got mine in the early 90s, was always used with the wall wart and third party external nicad battery pack, played quite alot of the games shown plus I did play gauntlet, scrapyard dog, batman returns and rampage a fair bit, only thing I never got to experience was the comlynx back then as no one else had one, most had the Gameboy and a few game gears.

[@dwightdixon8508]

Bought the Lynx II when it released and spent many hours playing Gates of Zendocon, Scrapyard Dog, Zenophobe, Chips Challenge, Rampart, Toki and Todd’s Adventure in Slimworld. The games had zero slowdown and were laden with awesome scaling & parallax scrolling almost on every title that wasn’t not usually seen or experienced on the home consoles at that time. Lynx was indeed a powerhouse of entertainment and I recently had mine modded with a McWill screen which looks incredible and I’m reliving all those games like never before

[@TheLairdsLair]

Yep, I'm still impressed every time I turn on my Lynx.

[@DontrelleRoosevelt]

What is "Bought the Lynx II when it released"?

[@scottboehmer1975]

Good list. I'm pretty shocked Checkered Flag didn't make an appearance. That was a tremendously well done racer and is one of the Lynx games I most fondly remembered. I'm also a bit surprised Blue Lightning didn't rank even higher on the list.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Checkered Flag was 24th. To be honest Blue Lightning wouldn't even make the top 40 for me, it's a great tech demo but not a particularly great game.

[@marcodena4679]

Finally a rankings that reflects the true quality of certain titles. There are definitely others of course but that's a matter of taste.

[@alexsky88749]

In the 80's, 90's and 2000's I did have a lot of computers and consoles: Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga ,Game Boy, Game Gear, Super Nintento, Megadrive, Atari Lynx, Neo Geo, then later Playstation 3, X Box One, of course modern and ancient PC 's, I had a Macintosh at one time. Really I was lucky...

[@ParsnipCelery]

Love your videos, I watch them whenever they come out. Good stuff here.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Awesome, really glad you like them!

[@GullySyde28]

This thing blew my mind back in the day. Cheers

[@Sinn0100]

The first time I saw Xybots on the Lynx I was floored by it. At that point I had my Sega Genesis but not the Sega CD or my Snes yet (neither were out, I don't think). How was this "little" handheld spitting 3d graphics like that like it's nothing?! Also Guantlet blew my mind again as it featured 3D graphics that just weren't really happening anywhere else. Incredible!

[@TheLairdsLair]

Xybots was seriously impressive, I got it at launch, but the one that sticks in my mind for making my jaw drop was Klax, I just couldn't believe the quality of the speech. Also STUN Runner, for throwing around 3D graphics like that without even sweating.

[@colinmcdonald2499]

8:50 Yes Rampart. I never played Lynx really, outside of a 5 minute trial of a friend's ( probably why it is underrated.). But Rampart on MSDos was excellent.

[@themadmoderator8465]

i remember was working and travelling staying in a hotel looked local paper got lynx like new with 30 games dirt cheap. loved it to bits

[@williamcrowe2576]

Bought my Atari Lynx from a bargain bin at Venture back in the 1990s. It was a battery drainer like the first comment said, yet it was packaged with a fairly decent port of Hard Drivin' plus three other games.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Lynx Hard Drivin' is fantastic, got it for Christmas in 1992.

[@brandonb6005]

I had about half these games and a lot of great memories with them. I wish more people had gotten to experience the Lynx in its day rather than by emulation such as on Evercade, as the stark contrast in visuals and software quality between it and the original Gameboy was immense. I’m glad Zarlor Mercenary, Electrocop, and Slime World got some love in particular as those are three of my favorites with Electrocop being the game that got me to buy the system after having played most of the launch titles.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I couldn't agree more! Zarlor is one of my personal Top 10 games for the Lynx, superb on every level.

[@dad7275]

Thats some great hits! One I did notice thats not in your list (and its one of my top 5) is Ms Pacman. Great conversion. Home brew scene is live and well too and Songbird productions just finished and released Centipede. Its a vertical player but its nice.

[@TheLairdsLair]

It made the wider top 40, it's a nicely enhanced port.

[@chrislaustin]

I was never one for the console/handheld war BS back in the day, as I was just about the games and how best to play them. But I did have favorites from time to time and the Lynx was one of those. The first model was massive and not really portable but the Lynx 2 fixed that and then some. The technology Epix created was next level and the Lynx had some of the best arcade conversions of the time. I still play many on a regular basis. And did anyone notice a young Tobey Maguire in the Lynx commercial were the kid goes to the bathroom to play?

[@TheLairdsLair]

Most certainly did, love that advert anyway but his appearance makes it even better!

[@mortimore4030]

I can’t believe my two favourite games didn’t make the top 20. Paperboy and Pac-Land.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Paperboy was 25th, Pac-Land didn't rank.

[@mortimore4030]

@@TheLairdsLair How do you rate those two games? I think Paperboy is probably my number one Lynx game.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Both are great arcade ports, I prefer Pac-Land out of the 2 though.

[@TheTiktok4321]

I'm so happy that I refreshed my Lynx that I bought new back in 1990. Got a BennVenn IPS screen and a nice overhaul. Cost about what I paid new for the unit, but OH so worth it. But how did Gauntlet not make the list at all?

[@TheLairdsLair]

If you look at the pinned comment you will see it was 22nd.

[@TheTiktok4321]

@@TheLairdsLair Missed it by -->THAT

[@yasin_GD]

That's wholesome that you have that personal story about the lynx what games did you have as a kid?

[@davidpotts1974]

Loads of great titles on there but I always thought Lemmings worked really well too! What's that in the ad at 15:30 about an option switch to play at double speed though?

[@MIKandJEAN]

Lol it's the afterburner button on Blue Lightning. 😀

[@GCSoundArtifacts]

I'm really impressed with the fact that Rampage isn't here!! And I haven't voted for it to reinforce... Shame on me. What was its place in the Top 40...? But I've enjoyed watching this ranking. California Games is definitely a favorite and it deserves as much respect as the 2nd place, which is S.T.U.N. Runner... Rygar and Xenophobe made me think about revising my list... Anyway, great to see my comment about Ninja Gaiden here! Lynx is one of those systems that never came officially to my country, but I'd love to experience by myself someday...

[@TheLairdsLair]

Rampage was in 31st place.

[@darkridearts]

It would be awesome to get an Atari Lynx Plus, like they’ve done for the 2600 & 7800

[@alexsky88749]

Great video! I had an Atary Lynx for 2 years during the 90's...But I preffered the SEGA Game Gear...

[@TheLairdsLair]

I nearly bought a Sega Game Gear, but changed my mind at last minute and got a Lynx. I'm glad I did as it's the vastly superior machine in my opinion.

[@retropalooza]

Gosh u love the lynx....well your in luck because I love that you love that lynx

[@WilliamSteinboner-ur8xz]

I'm a bi guy 😂

[@Tolbat]

Stun Runner and Warbirds were my favorite. I actually enjoyed Batman Returns also even though it was free mail in. These are some great games some of which I never played and wish I had.

[@JJvelHunter]

3:15 "One of the earliest examples of a first-person shooter on a hand console". This game is not a "first person" :) So it's not a FPS, it's a "third person shooter".

[@FourBudgies87]

15:08 This ad is legitimately terrifying why did they think that'd be good for a kid's commercial. lol

[@Thenostolgicdude]

The first games I remember playing when I was a kid was xenophobe and batman returns on a atari lynx model 2, I just recently bought one and Xenophone is still a great game and holds up to this day 💯

[@ddopaz]

I bought a Lynx II back in the early 1990s and always enjoyed playing A.P.B. on it. I don't think there are any other ports of the arcade game.

[@TheLairdsLair]

It's the only console port, there are various home computer versions.

[@beeperson7670]

I believe the "Bathroom Break" commercial is Tobey Maguire's first acting appearance.

[@KBXband]

Good Lord those pixels are huge

[@ultramaximusreviews]

Never had a Lynx. I was playing my friend's Gameboy during this time back in the day as I didn't have a portable game system.

[@TheLairdsLair]

You missed out big time!

[@yasin_GD]

The lynx reminds me of the Neo Geo pocket colour small but excellent games liberal and criminally underated

[@cefrio]

i miss Scrapyard Dog, Pac Land and Viking Child, but yeah geest collection

[@emunews]

My favorite Lynx game was Turbo Sub.

[@bubbythebear6891]

All of the comments surprised their favorite games didn't make the list is a testament to how good the Lynx was. It certainly packed a punch!

[@TheLairdsLair]

I was thinking the same! I said in the video how 52 of the 72 commercial games were named and since I released the video people who didn't vote have named 5 others!

[@kevinlawson1746]

Surprised Checkered Flag is not on this list , but I also enjoyed games like Rampage, Power Factor, Pac-Land , Switchblade II , Turbo Sub , APB , Batman Returns, Gauntlet and many more. Sadly I had my system stolen from one of my own family members, but even after i found out who it was , no sorry, no apology, no anything, just cold blooded. So don't loan out or let anyone borrow your stuff , because you will get burned.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Sad times, I had a friend who actually stole some games from me and denied it. Then another mutual friend saw them at his house and managed to steal a couple of them back for me, but not all of them.

[@tetnology]

Ha, #5 Chip's Challenge - Wuken Fanker

[@MattPurvis-gt3ww]

Holy shit - that's Toby Mcguire in that commercial. 😳

[@colinmcdonald2499]

14:21... No!!! You left off the intro??? 😢😅

[@laccess911]

I don’t know of anyone who had this handheld back in the days. Most kids had gameboys and a few had game gears.

[@TheLairdsLair]

I knew 6 other people with a Lynx.

[@PaulsComputerEmp]

Played xenophobe for ages was good on Comlynx the biggest game let down for me was warbirds the box graphics over hyped the game. my favs would be would be Rygar, Xenophobe, cal Games, Rampart, Chips challenge, ishido way of the stones. Thanks for video

[@TheLairdsLair]

I have to confess, I thought Warbirds was really hyped up too, it was good but not that amazing unless you played it in Comlynx.

[@michaelmalak]

I could never get past the passive LCD screen with black lines between the pixels. My detail eyesight acuity is much greater than my color eyesight acuity, so the trade-off of resolution for color was not a good one for me. I notice that the emulation you used here doesn't reflect either the dimness or the black inter-pixel lines of the physical hardware. Also, I'm a few years older than you and was winding down by that point, focusing only on the Genesis at the time. IMO, for me, Lynx would have been better if it could have been plugged into a TV.

[@TheLairdsLair]

You can put a filter on that replicates it, but it looks a bit naff. I never had an issue, but I have 20/20 vision - about the only part of my body that does work properly actually! 😂

[@halebopp8439]

I guess Crystal mines II also one of the best game!

[@gammaphonic]

Atari Lynx is your favourite system of all time!? Blimey. Nostalgia really is the most powerful hallucinogen.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Obvious troll is obvious.

[@BillB808]

No spot for Crystal Mines 2 😢

[@TheLairdsLair]

It was ranked 32nd overall.

[@tomaszkonicz]

No Lemmings love here? Strange...

[@TheLairdsLair]

It finished in 39th place, I guess that's because it's rare and came out quite late so not many played it.

[@DrunkenGoodieX]

Ooph. Rampage didn’t make the top 20!? Gut punched my childhood.

[@TheLairdsLair]

It only just missed out.

[@faenethlorhalien]

Good console, but sadly it had no place in the 90s, same as the Game Gear. The lack of understanding that Sega and Atari had of what made a portable console portable (size, battery life) is baffling. Their systems looked good in screenshots, but that was it.

[@Edgel-in6bs]

Size perhaps not an issue (original gameboy was large) but the fact they took 4 or 6 expensive batteries which lasted 2hrs at best the key problem :)

[@franmui1068]

The lynx was the last successful hardware from Atari (2 million)

[@TheLairdsLair]

Battery life was more like 5-6 hours (Lynx 2) on a decent set like Duracells, a lot better than the Game Gear despite being more powerful. Lynx sales were actually about 3 million according to my research - 500k in North America and 2.5m in Europe/Australia

[@lordflashheart7427]

how did he power it in the toilet ?

[@TheLairdsLair]

Erm, batteries . . . .

[@lordflashheart7427]

ermm yes watch it again it has a power lead sticking out of it @@TheLairdsLair

[@TheLairdsLair]

There are portable battery packs that can be plugged into the PSU socket. Even then, it could still work from batteries even with a PSU plugged in if there was no power.

[@paulymc]

I'm torn. I had a Lynx as a kid, and still have a backlit modded one now with a gamedrive, but Tbh, I just don't understand your love for it at all? Some of the games on this list like Ninja Gaiden and Gates of Zendocon are just terrible imo. In fact , I actually play my NGPC more than my lynx, and the library on that is shocking. But Robotron and Xenomorph are my no.1and no.2 on the system. I do love the fact you're so passionate about the Lynx though, great video.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Not just my love read all the comments, you're very much in the minority here! I just can't fathom how anyone could not like the Lynx, the game library is outstanding.

[@paulymc]

@@TheLairdsLair fair enough, each to their own, though you're obviously going to have Lynx fans commenting in a best games on the Lynx video 😁 so not surprised I'm in the minority here. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it at all, I like all my consoles, hence why I still own them.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Well it also finished 2nd in the greatest handhelds of all-time and also made the 20 greatest consoles of all-time, so there's that too 😜

[@paulymc]

@@TheLairdsLair just done a quick Google search and no list I can see has it that high....... But if there is 1, then I guess that's the definitive list 😉

[@TheLairdsLair]

They are both videos on this channel, Google wasn't needed! Like this one, they were both voted for by the community, rather than being some guy on the internet's opinion.

[@neilthomas6042]

I didn’t vote; despite regarding the Lynx being one of my fave systems. Just couldn’t come with a top five in my head. My favourite game was Crystal Mines 2, I spent hours playing it, collecting the passwords and putting them on a sheet of paper.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Should have just gone with that game then, a lot of people didn't name 5, some named more than 5, it's not a strict rule!

[@josemartinmesagonzalez35]

José Martin Mesa González 🇮🇨🇪🇸🇮🇨🌍👍👂👨🕹️🎮🕹️🎮

[@DontrelleRoosevelt]

California Games at #1!? Hilarious.

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I forgot about Robotron. What a belter. It completely destroyed my 1992. The Lynx was far ahead of it's time.

[@sociallyresponsiblexenomor7608]

So like.....30% of the library xD

[@TheLairdsLair]

Commercial library yes, complete library no.

[@devilo92]

Heureusement mon père m'avais acheter une sega megadrive moi qui pleuré pour sa. OMG

[@qfragger]

Did I miss Dracula?

[@TheLairdsLair]

Nope, it didn't make the top 20 unfortunately, it finished in 29th place.

[@sceneitallwithjeffandjon6984]

Emulator name?

[@TheLairdsLair]

Handy - it's pretty much the only Lynx emulator.