The Official Atari Lovers Thread

[Tanegashima]

most of the Atari lynx library is actually 7800 games...too bad Raiden didn't make it to the 7800 though

[108 Stars]

I never saw a real 7800...it was in the Atari flyers when I was a kid, but it never spread widely around here. After seeing AtariAge forums, I have the impression that it was released too late and because of restricted budget turned out to be an inferior competitor to NES and SMS.

[Phantar]

A friend had an Atari Lynx back when it was released. I was a very proud Gameboy owner, and another friend of mine had a Game Gear, so the three of us constantly compared and showed off our handhelds and newest acquisitions.

I remeber being very impressed by the Lynx, and being very surprised about the lack of publicity and support it received. Well, compared to GameGear and Gameboy, it was huge, and holding it while playing could be a tad uncomfortable at times. Nevertheless, I thought it was pretty nice (and nowadays I own a Nomad, so who am I to complain about bulkiness?)

By the way, never was one of the AtariCrowd. Always was on the "other" side! I had an Intellivision, a friend an Atari 2600. I had an Amiga 500, a friend an Atari ST. Constant bickering and showing off ensued, but it was all in good fun. Great times.

[MrMatthews]

I always went to where the games were, which was typically the most popular system of each generation (except for the 16-bit generation; Sega was "cooler," but both systems were equally popular, I'd say).

I've been considering getting a Lynx - not necessarily because I'd like to play it, but it just seems like a good piece of video game history to own. Wasn't the Lynx the only system to actually get an "accurate" port of Ninja Gaiden?

[Tanegashima]

The Atari 7800 was supposed to be released in 1983 I believe, but it sat on the shelf until Atari decided to release it in 1986 (seeing a revived market) to compete with the SMS and NES. However, it was already 3 (maybe more considering it had to be developed in the 1st place) years old when it was released. It's technology was superior to previous Atari consoles (except in the sound department where it is sorely lacking...It's like releasing a system with Genesis sound when the Playstation/Saturn are around) sound wise, its a major step down from the 5200 and only a slight step up from the 2600.

Graphically, it was the most powerful Atari 8 bit system, but it was obsolescent the day it was released considering both Sega and Nintendo's systems were very much ahead of it.