Atari Lynx

Advantages: Great hardware, great games
Disadvantages: bulky, short battery life

...was released in 1989 by Atari and had a number of groundbreaking features, including built-in multiplayer support, impressive hardware capabilities ("Unlimited" sprites, hardware rotation, distortion and tilting, 4096 color palette, etc), reversible controls and so on. The Lynx boasted an 8-bit main CPU with a 16-bit graphics engine. It also boasted some great games (Blue Lightening, Slime World, European Soccer Challenge, Rampart, to name but a ...
...good marketing. Atari failed spectacularly with the promotion of the Lynx, who's campaign paled into obscurity when compared to that of the more simplistic Gameboy from Nintendo (- or indeed its more similar rival, the Sega Gamegear). Couple that with a more bulky frame and short battery life and the Lynx was on a hiding to nothing. Atari tried to re-launch the Lynx with the Lynx II - it was slightly smaller, slightly lighter and the batteries lasted ... Read review

Advantages: Good graphics and sound. Feels solid to use.
Disadvantages: Bulkier than most people are used to. Limited game supply. Heavy battery drain.

...failed wonder that was the Atari Lynx. Bear in mind at the time the Lynx was full colour, 16bit (As powerful as pretty much any home machine at the time) with a sound chip again just as powerful. The games were a mixed bag but contained some real hot stuff, including the best version of California Games I've played. The problem is, or was, marketing. The late eighties and early nineties killed Atari after it failed to keep pace with the 'Hot' manufacturers. ...
...fair share of games initially, but it just never made the headway against the others. Physically it's only drawbacks were it's size (It was more a laptop console than a hend held, not much difference in size between it and a PS1) and the fact it's batteries didn't last too long. But the controls could be 'flopped' for left-handers and the screen was back-lit to make night playing easier. If you see one though, snap it up. Quality wise the games ... Read review

Advantages: brillaint
Disadvantages: none

...but was destined to fail. Atari was a good name when it come out with its history in computers and arcade stuff and the graphics were magnificent so I though. It cost me 80 squid and I had two games Batman returns and a brilliant golf game with over head veiw. you could change it to use it for caggy handed people and do other stuff it was beautiffull to hold but a bit thirsty on the old battries taking 6 for every 5 hours playing time and carts were ... Read review