103 replies to this topic

[Atari Smeghead]

Hi everyone! For no particular reason (other than the anal-retentive collector in me) I decided to do a definitive "cartridge style list" for the Lynx.

I know it's been mostly done before, and Eric has a really good start on it (as does AtariAge itself) but both are missing variations on some of the newer carts. I just want to know about every, single variation. I mean, why not, right?

Here's what I've come up with: 161 cartridges - 13 different cart styles

Alien vs Predator *Demo* - Green PCB 1
Alpine Games - Green PCB 1
Alpine Games Bonus Cart - Green PCB 1
A.P.B. - Curved
Awesome Golf - Curved
Baseball Heroes - Curved
Basketbrawl - Curved
Batman Returns - Curved
BattleWheels - Curved
Battlezone 2000 - Curved
Bill & Ted - Curved
Bitchy (only 20 created) - Blue PCB
Block Out - Curved
Blue Lightning - Curved, Ridged, Flat
Blue Lightning *Demo* - Curved, Green PCB 1
Bubble Trouble - Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2
California Games - Curved, Ridged, Flat
Centipede 2000 *Demo* - Green PCB 1
CGE 5th Anniversary - Black PCB 1
Championship Rally - Black PCB 1
Checkered Flag - Curved
Chip's Challenge - Curved, Ridged, Flat
Crystal Mines II - Curved
Crystal Mines II:Buried Treasure - Black PCB 1
Cyber Virus - Black PCB 1
Daemon's Gate *Demo* - Green PCB 1
Desert Strike - Curved, Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2
Dinolympics - Curved
Dirty Larry - Curved
Double Dragon - Curved, Black PCB 1
Dracula the Undead - Curved
Dragnet *Sound Demo* - Green PCB 1
Electrocop - Curved, Ridged, Flat
Euro Soccer Challenge - Curved
Eye of the Beholder *Beta pre-release* - Green PCB 1
Eye of the Beholder *Demo* - Green PCB 1
Fat Bobby - Black PCB 1 (1 w/ block label, 1 w/ color label), Black PCB 2, Green PCB 1 (Alt Version), Green PCB 3
Fidelity Ultimate Chess - Curved
Gates of Zendocon - Curved, Ridged, Flat
Gauntlet - Curved, Ridged
Gordo 106 - Curved
Hard Drivin' - Curved
Hockey - Curved
Hot Dog – Blue PCB (no hole)
Hydra - Curved
Hyperdrome - Black PCB 1 (1 w/ block label, 1 w/ color label), Green PCB 1
Ishido - Curved
Jimmy Connors Tennis - Curved
Joust - Curved
Klax - Curved, Japanese Curved Version
Krazy Ace Min Golf - Black PCB 1, Green PCB 3
Kung Food - Curved
Lemmings - Curved
Lexis - Green PCB 1, Green PCB 2, Black PCB 1
Lode Runner *Demo* - Green PCB 1
Loopz - Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1
Lynx Casino - Curved, Black PCB 2
Lynx Diagnostic - Green PCB 1
Lynx Flashcart - Red PCB
Lynx Reloaded - Green PCB 1
Lynxopoly - White PCB
Malibu Bikini Volleyball - Curved
Marlboro Man *Demo* - Green PCB 1
MegaPak Vol 1 - Black PCB 1
Ms. Pacman - Curved
NFL Football - Curved
Ninja Gaiden - Curved
Ninja Gaiden III - Curved
Othello - Green PCB 1
Pac-Land - Curved
Paperboy - Curved
Pinball Jam - Curved
Pit-Fighter - Curved
P.I.T.S. - Green PCB 1
Poker – Black PCB (no hole)
Pokermania - Green PCB 1
Ponx - Green PCB 1, Green PCB 2, Black PCB 1
Pounce - Green PCB 1
Power Factor - Curved
Qix - Curved
Raiden - Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2
Rampage - Curved
Rampart - Curved
Relief Pitcher – Green PCB 1
Remnant - Green PCB 1, Green PCB 2, Black PCB 1
RoadBlasters - Curved
Road Riot- Green PCB 1
Robo-Squash - Curved
Robotron: 2084 - Curved
Rygar - Curved
Scrapyard Dog - Curved
SFX - Green PCB 1, Green PCB 2, Black PCB 1
Shadow of the Beast - Curved
Shanghai - Curved
S.I.M.I.S - Green PCB 1
Sokomania - Green PCB 1
Solitaire! – Red PCB (round hole)
Steel Talons - Curved
S.T.U.N. Runner - Curved
Super Asteroids/Misl Cmd - Curved
Super Off-Road - Curved, Green PCB 3
Super Skweek - Curved
Switchblade II - Curved
T-Tris - Green PCB 1
Todd's Adv Slime World - Curved
Toki - Curved
Tournament Cyberball - Curved
Turbo Sub - Curved
Viking Child - Curved
Warbirds - Curved, Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2, Green PCB 1
World Class Fussball - Curved
Xenophobe - Curved
Xybots - Curved
Yastuna Vol 1 - Green PCB 1, Red PCB
Yastuna Vol 2 - Green PCB 1, Red PCB
Zaku - New Curved
Zarlor Mercenary - Curved

Green PCB 1 - Regular/basic design, including B&C, Best, Duranik, Songbird's second green PCB, Video 61, bootlegs, etc.
Green PCB 2 - Songbird's 1st, longer PCB
Green PCB 3 - Telegames with the large, encased chip

Black PCB 1 - Songbird's "Long Live the Lynx" board w/ external, square chip (with two different labels - one with the name printed in block, black letters, and one with a full color fancy label)
Black PCB 2 - Telegames board with "internal" (flush with the circuit board) TSOP flash chip

We have now seen PCBs in the following colors: Green, Black, Red, White and Blue.
And we have seen our first post-Atari release on a curved cart (shown as New Curved)

Klax has a Japanese variation - though curved like the regular, the label is different and the large, rectangular chip is slightly raised on the back.

Okay, if anyone owns or knows of any additional cart style variants, please reply here and I'll edit the original post. Maybe if we do a good enough job here, AA can "sticky" this thread and/or update their list.


Thanks a lot everyone!

Cheers,
Smeg

Edited by Atari Smeghead, Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:05 AM.

[matashen]

PITS is Green PCB as most of the German Homebrews cause Lars Baumstakr made the PCBs for most of the developers.

Regards
Matthias

[rygar]

can show you this pcb :

Edited by rygar, Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:04 PM.

[karri]

The black one with the text "Long Live the Lynx" is made by Todd for Songbird. This cart design is very easy to insert and remove from a Lynx. Please also note that the edge of the cart is not sharp. It has a smooth ramp so that it will slide under the metal connector instead of risking to bend it. The cart is also gold plated. Quality all the way.

But of course this will also add to the cost. You get what you pay for. I am happy that MegaPak vol 1 comes on a good cart like this
--
Karri

[EricDeLee]

I agree with Karri. These carts are top notch! I really like them. They are some of my favorite.
I have a few Green PCBs that are so thick, I am always afraid it will damage my system.

They look and feel great. Nothing but quality!

[Songbird]

Thanks for the kind words on the black PCB; I've been very happy with that design as well. Todd does a great job supporting the Lynx!

There are actually three Songbird PCBs:

Green #1 - PCB was accidentally made a bit long, and the cart sticks out of the top of the Lynx. This was a small run, only a few hundred PCBs total I think.

Green #2 - A corrected version of #1, with a shorter cart and the EPROM in a better location.

Black #1 - This is the board we've used for the past 7+ years.

The earliest Songbird games used both Green #1 and #2 (SFX, Ponx, Lexis). I know Remnant used Green #2 and maybe #1 as well. I think Champ Rally was the first cart to only come out on Black #1, but I could be wrong on this. CyberVirus and all later games were definitely only on Black #1.

EDIT: Forgot about CGE2K. That one I know was only on the black PCB, so that means it was the first on black, and then Champ Rally, CM2BT, CyberVirus, etc. were all black as well.

Edited by Songbird, Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:30 AM.

[jaguar_fan]

It is great to have such a thread. Very interesting and I will now sit down and check all my Lynx games.

Apart of the SFX cart, I do have all of them in my possession. But so far I did not pay attention to variations such as flat, riged, curved, etc.

[Atari Smeghead]

Thanks, everyone, for your feedback on this list! We've already managed to add quite a few cart styles!

Songbird, on Mon Mar 30, 2009 3:26 PM, said:

Thanks for the kind words on the black PCB; I've been very happy with that design as well. Todd does a great job supporting the Lynx!

There are actually three Songbird PCBs:

The earliest Songbird games used both Green #1 and #2 (SFX, Ponx, Lexis). I know Remnant used Green #2 and maybe #1 as well. I think Champ Rally was the first cart to only come out on Black #1, but I could be wrong on this. CyberVirus and all later games were definitely only on Black #1.

EDIT: Forgot about CGE2K. That one I know was only on the black PCB, so that means it was the first on black, and then Champ Rally, CM2BT, CyberVirus, etc. were all black as well.

Oh, that's interesting, Carl! Odd that while doing this list, I hadn't noticed my Lexis and Ponx are the longer green PCBs.

That brings to mind the fact that there are several diffferent versions/styles of the classic green PCBs. It might be a pain to make note of it, but heck, if I want full disclosure so badly, I guess I gotta do it!

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Smeg

[Songbird]

Atari Smeghead, on Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:24 PM, said:

Oh, that's interesting, Carl! Odd that while doing this list, I hadn't noticed my Lexis and Ponx are the longer green PCBs.

Congrats. Those will definitely be hard to find down the road, because like I said, we only made a small batch and then realized they were longer than we wanted.

More trivia: Lexis was the last game I had in stock on Green #2. I think I overdid a subsequent cart run one time by 30 carts or so, and it took me a couple years to burn through them all.

[Atari Smeghead]

Songbird, on Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:26 PM, said:

I know Remnant used Green #2 and maybe #1 as well.

If anyone knows for sure or has an extra long Green PCB version of Remnant, please let me know!

I made the changes mentioned thus far. Thanks everyone!

My next step, in the next day or two, is to document all the different versions of green PCBs.

Cheers,
Smeg

[EricDeLee]

Atari Smeghead, on Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:38 PM, said:

Songbird, on Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:26 PM, said:

I know Remnant used Green #2 and maybe #1 as well.

If anyone knows for sure or has an extra long Green PCB version of Remnant, please let me know!

I made the changes mentioned thus far. Thanks everyone!

My next step, in the next day or two, is to document all the different versions of green PCBs.

Cheers,
Smeg

That does not sound like a lot of fun.

[Atari Smeghead]

EricDeLee, on Tue Mar 31, 2009 9:48 PM, said:

That does not sound like a lot of fun.

Depends on your definition. Of course, I hope you realize this is all your fault... putting it in my head the need to collect the different cart styles... oh, the monster you have unleached, Eric!
-------------

Okay, I realize this is WAYYY over the top, but eh. Here are the various Green PCBs that I own/are aware of:

B&C (AvP, Centipede, Daemon'sGate, Road Riot)



Best Electronics (Dragnet Sound Demo) very similar to B&C, but it has the Fuji symbol



I'll call this one Duranik (Alpine Games, Alpine Games Bonus Cart, Lynx Reloaded, Pokermania, Sokomaina, SIMIS, T-Tris)



Telegames (Bubble Trouble w/ regular-sized chip, Krazy Ace Mini-Golf w/ Super-large, encased chip)





Songbird - (Ponx and Lexis with larger PCB)



Video 61 (Lode Runner and Pounce - Also Othello uses the same chip, but I don't know if it's Video 61)



My Blue Lightning Demo



PITS cart (Earlier in the thread)

And then there are all the homebrews (Yastuna 1 and 2)



... and bootlegs (Cubes, Dynablaster, Rapid Racer, my Raiden, Lynx Diagnostic, Marble Madness, Marlboro Go)



Whew! Do any of you have any additional green PCB variants?

For "list" purposes, I was thinking of having:

Green PCB 1 - Regular/basic design, including B&C, Best, Duranik, Songbird's second green PCB, Video 61, bootlegs, etc.
Green PCB 2 - Songbird's 1st, longer PCB
Green PCB 3 - Telegames with the large, encased PCB

How does that sound?

Cheers,
Smeg

Edited by Atari Smeghead, Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:08 PM.

[Atari Smeghead]

In terms of Black PCBs...

My Telegames Fat Bobby Black PCB is not the same as the Songbird Black PCB. Notice the chip is internal, and the opening on the top is larger.



However, I do have a Hyperdrome Telegames that does have the same Black PCB as Songbird.



Did Carl produce some of his carts for Telegames? Or did Telegames come up with that design first?

Cheers,
Smeg

[EricDeLee]

NICE WORK!

By the way... yes, Telegames did buy PCBs from Songbird (or the guy how makes them for Songbird). I asked about this when my Bubble Trouble and a few others showed up with the 'Long Live The Lynx' boards.

I have to dig out my 3 questionable EPROM carts. I think they are simply homebrews, not really sure though.

Your Fat Bobby cart is like the Desert Strike cart that I am looking for in my wanted thread (see my signature).
Obviously... I now need the Fat Bobby cart style you have.


sigh... one hell of a monster I created... eh?

[Songbird]

The first black PCB uses a TSOP flash chip which is exposed but flush with the circuit board. Only a few hundred of these were produced total by ICD for Telegames back in the mid-90's. I was in discussion with ICD to have them produce my first Songbird carts as well, and I have exactly three samples of these with Songbird games on them (two beta copies of Ponx, one copy of SFX). The deal fell apart for both Telegames and Songbird, so I never mass-produced my games with them.

Songbird has supplied most of the cart PCBs Telegames has used for the past 5+ years. I'm glad that the Telegames releases have continued to be available for Lynx fans!

[EricDeLee]

Pictures? Wanna a few?

These are a few of mine... most of the 'odd' cart styles that I own.
I believe there is a pic of my 'doctored-up' EotB along side the eye of the beholder demo that was on ebay...

Quote

DSC01310.JPG
T-Tris, Road Riot, Fat Bobby (Demo cart... the one that shoots balls out of the guitar)
I don't know what the T-Tris cart style is (It looks a bit like Alpine games without the save feature). The other two are my mystery carts (the third will be pictured later). I now think they are Video 61 carts. They match that Othello pictured above.

DSC01311.JPG
The Backs of the first group

Quote

DSC01312.JPG
SIMIS, SOKOMANIA, and LOOPZ <-- the last is of that Video 61 look. I believe that is what these are. Which is good, I only had to pay about $15 each for those.

DSC01313.JPG
The backs of the second group

Quote

DSC01314.JPG
DamonGate, Krazy Ace, Raiden

DSC01315.JPG
the backs of those

Quote

The Yastuna Group... (Love these carts!)
DSC01316.JPG
Fornts (or backs... depending on what you call them)
DSC01317.JPG
the other side

Quote

DSC01318.JPG
Mainly "Long Live The Lynx" boards. And Alpine Games
DSC01319.JPG
The backs

Quote

Eye of the Beholder carts
DSC01320.JPG
I added the stickers to the EotB proto... it had an 'open window' when I received it. Now it is within my SIMIS orange clam shell case.
DSC01322.JPG
Back of the ebay demo cart... and still the front of the EotB proto. Didn't feel like showing all of the workings!

I forgot to snap a picture of my PITS game... but it is the same board as Alpine games... it just doesn't have the little save chip in the corner.


There's my stuff...
I guess the biggest mystery is that T-tris

Note: The Fat Bobby in the Video 61 Style is a different cart (gameplay) than the one released by Telegames on the 'Long Live The Lynx' board.
You can do some interesting cheats... the intro is different and level play is different. Also... you can shoot balls out of the guitar. Kind of interesting to compare the two.

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

[bohoki]

a friend of mine had a silver blue lightning cart i havent heard anything about that

[Battlezone]

Don't know if it has been written but there is black PCB version of DESERT STRIKE and recently of DOUBLE DRAGON.

[Songbird]

EricDeLee, on Wed Apr 1, 2009 7:34 PM, said:

I guess the biggest mystery is that T-tris

What is a mystery about T-tris? It's made in Germany so it shares the same PCB as SIMIS, Sokomania, etc. But here are some interesting tidbits about rare Lynx carts:

* There are two editions of T-tris: one with a save game chip, one without.
* There are two editions of Sokomania: one with a hidden MOD player, one without (as explained in detail in Jungle Guide #2).

[EricDeLee]

Battlezone, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 5:37 AM, said:

Don't know if it has been written but there is black PCB version of DESERT STRIKE and recently of DOUBLE DRAGON.

If it is the ones you are talking about, those are the ones that people are trying to make money off of those games because their value is a bit high.
Avoid those.

Granted... there could be legit ones out there, however, I believe those are the ones being reproduced right now just to get a bit of cash.

[EricDeLee]

Songbird, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 9:41 AM, said:

EricDeLee, on Wed Apr 1, 2009 7:34 PM, said:

I guess the biggest mystery is that T-tris

What is a mystery about T-tris? It's made in Germany so it shares the same PCB as SIMIS, Sokomania, etc. But here are some interesting tidbits about rare Lynx carts:

* There are two editions of T-tris: one with a save game chip, one without.
* There are two editions of Sokomania: one with a hidden MOD player, one without (as explained in detail in Jungle Guide #2).

Hmmm... where is jungle Guide 2? I'm interested in which Sokomania I have now. LOL
Well... it is good to know my T-Tris is legit. I didn't know if it was.

Now I need to track down the one with Save game chip.

[Songbird]

EricDeLee, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 8:57 AM, said:

Battlezone, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 5:37 AM, said:

Don't know if it has been written but there is black PCB version of DESERT STRIKE and recently of DOUBLE DRAGON.

If it is the ones you are talking about, those are the ones that people are trying to make money off of those games because their value is a bit high.
Avoid those.

Granted... there could be legit ones out there, however, I believe those are the ones being reproduced right now just to get a bit of cash.

Warbirds, Desert Strike, and Double Dragon have all been published on the black "Long Live the Lynx!" PCB (in addition to post-Atari releases like Fat Bobby, Hyper Drome, etc.). These are likely legitimate.

Quote

Hmmm... where is jungle Guide 2? I'm interested in which Sokomania I have now. LOL
Well... it is good to know my T-Tris is legit. I didn't know if it was.

Now I need to track down the one with Save game chip.

Jungle Guide 1 and 2 were small print magazines published by Songbird a few years ago. I meant to turn it into an annual series, but it got sidelined as my time for hobby projects diminished. Both are currently out of stock, though I would consider reprints if interest was sufficient.

I sell the T-tris with save game chip in my Songbird online store, so that won't be hard to find.

[Atari Smeghead]

Songbird, on Wed Apr 1, 2009 3:17 PM, said:

The first black PCB uses a TSOP flash chip which is exposed but flush with the circuit board. Only a few hundred of these were produced total by ICD for Telegames back in the mid-90's. I was in discussion with ICD to have them produce my first Songbird carts as well, and I have exactly three samples of these with Songbird games on them (two beta copies of Ponx, one copy of SFX). The deal fell apart for both Telegames and Songbird, so I never mass-produced my games with them.

Songbird has supplied most of the cart PCBs Telegames has used for the past 5+ years. I'm glad that the Telegames releases have continued to be available for Lynx fans!

Carl,

Thanks for all the valuable information and little-known trivia you have supplied! Even though it's taken up a bit of my time, I'm really glad I started this thread!

Would you (or anyone) know which Telegames titles came out on Green PCB 1 (standard), Green PCB 3 (w/ big, encased chip) and Black PCB 2 (with flush TSOP chip)? Telegames is certainly the tough one, variation-wise.

Here's what I've come up with:

- Bubble Trouble - Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1
- Desert Strike - Curved, Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2
- Double Dragon - Curved, Black PCB 1
- Fat Bobby - Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2, Green PCB 1 (Alt Version), Green PCB 3
- Hyperdrome - Black PCB 1, Green PCB 1???
- Krazy Ace Mini Golf - Black PCB 1???, Green PCB 3
- Raiden - Green PCB 1, Black PCB 1, Black PCB 2
- Super Off-Road - Curved, Green PCB 3
- T-Tris - Green PCB 1 (this isn't Telegames, is it?)
- Warbirds - Curved, Black PCB 1

I see you replied even before I finished writing this, so I added what you just posted. I had no idea there were Black PCB 1 versions of Warbirds, Double Dragon or Desert Strike!

This is really coming together.

Cheers,
Smeg

[Atari Smeghead]

bohoki, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 12:40 AM, said:

a friend of mine had a silver blue lightning cart i havent heard anything about that.

I've never heard or seen such a cart. If there's any way you can get a pic, I'd love to see it!

Battlezone said:

Don't know if it has been written but there is black PCB version of DESERT STRIKE and recently of DOUBLE DRAGON.

Thanks for the info! There are a lot more black PCB games then I wold've thought. Would you happen to have pics?

EricDeLee said:

Pictures? Wanna a few?

Thanks a ton for putting this pics up! That's fantastic! Say, is the dual-chip EotB the one you just spent all that money on?

Ya gotta admit Eric, this thread has either given us a lot more Lynx collection fun, or I've just made our jobs a helluva lot more difficult, huh?

Cheers,
Smeg

[SwedenLynxer]

I hope you will not include non-legit carts on your Lynx Cart Variation List, Smeg. Not include carts made by thieves. Like those polish Lemmings and Raiden carts sold on Ebay etc.

Songbird, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 3:46 PM, said:

Warbirds, Desert Strike, and Double Dragon have all been published on the black "Long Live the Lynx!" PCB (in addition to post-Atari releases like Fat Bobby, Hyper Drome, etc.).

I think you can add Lynx Casino and Checkered Flag to that list.

Songbird, on Sat Apr 4, 2009 3:46 PM, said:

Jungle Guide 1 and 2 were small print magazines published by Songbird a few years ago. I meant to turn it into an annual series, but it got sidelined as my time for hobby projects diminished. Both are currently out of stock, though I would consider reprints if interest was sufficient.

You can still get Jungle Guide 2 from Nick and Video Game Source still has both Jungle Guide 1 and 2 in stock.

http://www.1632-sale...r_Software.html

http://www.videogame...Pricelist on ch

Strongly recommended!