Game Gear vs Lynx: The 8-bit color handheld wars

 

When it comes to retro handheld gaming, most people will immediately point to the Nintendo juggernaut, the Game Boy. And while it was the clear leader in portable gaming ever since its introduction in 1989, it was far from the only player in the space. But when you’re up against a competitor that has already won, the real console war is for second place. That’s where we find the Sega Game Gear and the Atari Lynx.

While on the surface, these may look like nothing more than color pretenders to the throne, the Game Gear and Lynx were two very different beasts. From their underlying technologies to their game libraries, both systems had pros and cons, and both had fervent fan bases willing to die on the hill of their favorite platform.

Let’s take a look at each console, then put them head-to-head to see who comes out as the ultimate color portable gaming champion! As an aside, we’re not going to throw the NEC TurboExpress into the mix. As truly remarkable and revolutionary as it was, it was more a portable version of a home console than a portable platform.

In the blue corner, the Sega Game Gear!

Before we discuss the Game Gear, we need to look at Sega’s most successful foray into 8-bit home console gaming. In 1985, Sega released its answer to the Nintendo NES, the Sega Master System. While it never reached the superstar status that the NES did, at least not in the US, it did well in its own right. When Sega decided to enter the portable market, it looked to the Master System’s architecture as its starting point. In many ways, the Game Gear was a portable version of the Master System. It used the same Z80 derivative processor, the same graphics VDP (Video Display Processor), and even the same Texas Instruments SN76489 sound processor. The hardware is so similar that a converter was released for the Game Gear, allowing gamers to play physical Master System carts on the portable (but, sadly, not the short-lived game cards).

Of course, there were some key differences between the two systems. The LCD had a lower resolution than the Master System’s, but the graphics processor had been tweaked to display 32 colors from a palette of 4096, compared to the Master System’s 64 total colors. The similarities between the hardware and instruction sets made porting Master System games to the Game Gear a simple affair, and many developers initially took this route when bringing titles to the platform. Approximately 25% of the system’s eventual library consisted of ports of Master System games, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Wonder Boy, and Mickey’s Castle of Illusion. Original tiles included unique entries in the Sonic series, Game Gear-exclusive versions of Shinobi, and popular shooter series Aleste. In Brazil, where the Master System remained popular years after it had been discontinued elsewhere, Game Gear titles were backported to the system, including Mortal Kombat and Sonic Triple Trouble.

Of course, one of the most apparent differences between the popular Game Boy and the Game Gear was the size. Nintendo’s offering was easily pocketable, while Sega’s was less so, coming in at over twice the size. The battery situation was worse for the Game Gear as well, averaging 3-5 hours on 6 AAs, compared to over 10 hours on the Game Boy’s 4 AAs.

Though it held a distant second to the Game Boy’s over 40 million units, with sales of nearly 10 million units, it wasn’t exactly a failure. But there was another.

In the red corner, the Atari Lynx!

The Atari Lynx didn’t start as the Atari Lynx. When development on the platform began in 1986 at developer Epyx, it was known as the “Handy”. Engineers R.J. Mical and Dave Needle (who, interestingly, were original members of the Commodore Amiga development team) wanted to develop a color handheld game system with advanced features. Unfortunately, due to the costs of R&D, custom chips, and the color LCD, Epyx ran out of money to finish developing the project in late 1988 and began looking for a partner. In early 1990, Atari Corporation was looking to expand its hardware base after lukewarm responses to the 7800 console and the Atari ST home computer. They purchased the project from Epyx, finished development, and renamed it the Atari Lynx, with Epyx agreeing to produce games for the system. Epyx exited the hardware business and, not long after that, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

What Epyx delivered to Atari was an absolute killer of a portable system, with capabilities that made the Game Boy look ancient. The processor was a 65C02, the same family as the processors under the hood of the 8-bit Commodore computers. The real power of the system came from the custom 16-bit graphics processor, named  “Suzy”. While it could display only 16 colors from a palette of 4096, it included hardware sprite scaling, a feature that wouldn’t be seen again in a handheld until the release of the Game Boy Advance, and actual hardware sprites. Coupled with the passive-matrix color LCD, games on the Lynx looked amazing and played very well. The Lynx’s software library, while largely technically impressive and of high quality, was disappointingly small, with around 76 games released during its life. It included some real highlights, though, with arcade conversions of RoadBlasters, STUN Runner, and Xybots of particular note, and original hits Blue Lightning (an Afterburner-style flight game), California Games (one of Epyx’s centerpieces), and an impressive conversion of Psygnosis’ Lemmings.

One of the truly unique features of the Lynx was its ambidextrous design, with control buttons on both the top and bottom of the right side. By pressing a button combination, the screen could be flipped horizontally, flipping the control pad to the right and the action buttons to the left. The system also supported vertical gameplay, or TATE mode, allowing games such as Klax and Gauntlet to be oriented more like their arcade counterparts. Other hardware developers never considered either feature at the time.

Similar to the Game Gear, the Lynx suffered from a massive footprint, coming in even larger and heavier than the Sega offering. Just two years after its release, Atari released a new version of the hardware, dubbed the Lynx II, that scaled the system down to a size similar to the Game Gear, without sacrificing either control or screen size. Like the Game Gear, both versions of the Lynx ran off 6 AAs, though the Lynx’s slightly more efficient hardware and screen gave it an hour or two more game time than the Sega system. Another unique power-saving feature, introduced with the Lynx II redesign, was the ability to turn off the LCD screen’s backlight. This allowed players to pause gameplay for extended periods without sacrificing significant battery life.

Unfortunately, in the sales category, the Lynx came in a distant 3rd, with around 3 million units shipped over its life, a tiny fraction of the Game Boy’s sales and less than a third of the Game Gear’s. But its technical prowess has made it a cult classic, highly sought after by collectors.

So, which one ultimately comes out on top? Let’s fight!

Round 1: Hardware

Both systems opted for variations on existing CPUs, which ensured that the instruction sets would be familiar to developers at the time. The processors themselves were essentially equal in processing power. Where the systems diverge is the introduction of the Lynx’s custom graphics processor. The ability to implement advanced scaling and rotation effects in hardware gave Lynx games a unique look and feel that the Game Gear could not replicate. Similarly, the Lynx’s sound processor had capabilities the Game Gear’s PSG didn’t, such as sampled sound playback, which allowed for much richer, more modern audio than the Game Gear’s 8-bit chiptunes.

Winner: Atari Lynx

Round 2: Game Libraries

In sheer numbers, the library available to the Game Gear is massive, with nearly 300 native titles, and almost as many Master System games available with the Master System adapter. Sega gamers had portable access to classic characters like Sonic the Hedgehog and Shinobi and could choose from a wide range of genres, including platformers, puzzle games, and RPGs. The Lynx library was tiny in comparison, with just 76 released titles. And licensed games didn’t stray far from the Atari stable, with some of the most impressive titles being conversions of Atari arcade classics like RoadBlasters and Xybots. Tecmo’s Rygar and Midway’s Rampage had remarkable outings on the Lynx, but overall, third-party support was lacking (a deficiency that would plague Atari’s ill-fated Jaguar console later).

Winner: Sega Game Gear

Final Round: Success and Legacy

The first part of this comes down to numbers. Ten million units moved compared to 3 million, simple math gives us the winner there. The legacy of each system is more subjective. The Game Gear enjoyed a much larger global presence and was exceptionally long-lived in both Brazil and Europe. Being associated with such a recognizable brand didn’t hurt, either. While its game library was extensive and varied, it wasn’t as technically impressive as the Lynx’s offerings. While the Lynx had a smaller library, retro gamers are often impressed by its technical prowess, which has given it cult status among the retro gaming community.

Winner: Toss-Up

I apologize if that seems like a cop-out. I love both of these systems for different reasons, and it’s hard to pick one over the other. If I want a unique gaming experience, I’ll pull out my Lynx. If I want to choose among a massive, varied library, I’ll opt for the Game Gear. Ultimately, it’s what gives you gaming joy that’s the correct choice. And, really, that’s all we’re looking for in our retro gaming. So grab a handful of AA batteries and fire up some old-school color portable gaming goodness with either of these.

The post Game Gear vs Lynx: The 8-bit color handheld wars appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

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