60 replies to this topic

[lisalover1]

It seems the Gizmondo is on the list, as one of the usual suspects. *Sigh* I don't care what anybody says; I love my Giz.

[toptenmaterial]

It would be easy to look at the headlinr of the article and reply with the usual "1UP sucks d*ck", but they actually weren't too far off the mark. They were speaking of it as a marketing failure, and praised it's technical aspects.

Now, the question is, was the Lynx profitable? I know that Atari Corp was out of the red by the end of the 80s, and actually doing quite well with the Jr and 7800, dispite what you might think. Even Microsoft didn't make a profit with their original XBox (actually they went 5 billion in the hole). Now, was the Lynx part of those profits?

The "lack of killer app" complaint is accurate, though it does come off as pretentious today. Scrapyard Dog wasn't fucking with Mario and Link, that's for sure. That's not to say that the Lynx doesn't kick ass; it sure does! I just think that a sizable amount of popular Lynx games can be found on other systems.

I don't know about the claim that "Lynx is hard to write for because it doesn't have a Z80 and Game Boy does", maybe one of you folks could weigh in on that?

[Nuclear Pacman]

toptenmaterial, on Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:24 PM, said:

It would be easy to look at the headlinr of the article and reply with the usual "1UP sucks d*ck", but they actually weren't too far off the mark. They were speaking of it as a marketing failure, and praised it's technical aspects.

Now, the question is, was the Lynx profitable? I know that Atari Corp was out of the red by the end of the 80s, and actually doing quite well with the Jr and 7800, dispite what you might think. Even Microsoft didn't make a profit with their original XBox (actually they went 5 billion in the hole). Now, was the Lynx part of those profits?

The "lack of killer app" complaint is accurate, though it does come off as pretentious today. Scrapyard Dog wasn't fucking with Mario and Link, that's for sure. That's not to say that the Lynx doesn't kick ass; it sure does! I just think that a sizable amount of popular Lynx games can be found on other systems.

I don't know about the claim that "Lynx is hard to write for because it doesn't have a Z80 and Game Boy does", maybe one of you folks could weigh in on that?

Actually I think it is way off the mark to include the LYNX in that list. It's a 'worst' list. Worst of all time, as in 'nothing is worse than the LYNX. Now you tell me a single aspect in which the Atari Lynx is the 'worst' in any category. Any category at all.

[Emehr]

Yeah, it wasn't a list of "top 10 poorly marketed consoles", it was a list of "worst consoles". You can't blame a console for the parent company's failure to promote it. You might as well include the 7800 and Turbografx on that list too. And countless other consoles that didn't get the marketing they deserved. At that point the list becomes populated with consoles that were actually pretty good and the whole "worst" qualifier goes out the window.

Citing poor marketing as a quality that makes a console "worst" is grasping at straws and comes off as someone (the writer) having a grudge. Not only that, it gives the internet mouth-breathers something new to pick on when the topic of "worst consoles" comes up. "Well, the Lynx had poor marketing so it suuuucks! Here's the 1UP link that proves it!" Look at what happened to E.T. for the 2600. I didn't realize I was supposed to hate that game until the internet started whining about it. Might as well throw in 2600 Pac-Man too.

[toptenmaterial]

Nuclear Pacman, on Tue Nov 1, 2011 4:02 AM, said:

toptenmaterial, on Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:24 PM, said:

It would be easy to look at the headlinr of the article and reply with the usual "1UP sucks d*ck", but they actually weren't too far off the mark. They were speaking of it as a marketing failure, and praised it's technical aspects.

Now, the question is, was the Lynx profitable? I know that Atari Corp was out of the red by the end of the 80s, and actually doing quite well with the Jr and 7800, dispite what you might think. Even Microsoft didn't make a profit with their original XBox (actually they went 5 billion in the hole). Now, was the Lynx part of those profits?

The "lack of killer app" complaint is accurate, though it does come off as pretentious today. Scrapyard Dog wasn't fucking with Mario and Link, that's for sure. That's not to say that the Lynx doesn't kick ass; it sure does! I just think that a sizable amount of popular Lynx games can be found on other systems.

I don't know about the claim that "Lynx is hard to write for because it doesn't have a Z80 and Game Boy does", maybe one of you folks could weigh in on that?

Actually I think it is way off the mark to include the LYNX in that list. It's a 'worst' list. Worst of all time, as in 'nothing is worse than the LYNX. Now you tell me a single aspect in which the Atari Lynx is the 'worst' in any category. Any category at all.

1UP is trying to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids. That's why I drink only grain alcohol and rainwater.

I do agree with you that the article's title was sensational and shitty.

[108 Stars]

toptenmaterial, on Wed Nov 2, 2011 3:59 PM, said:

I do agree with you that the article's title was sensational and shitty.

It´s 1UP.

[toptenmaterial]

I would like to pose this question again: how did the Lynx perform, and was it really a market failure? Even the 2600 was still bring in some dough at the end of the 80s.

I would like to see a coherant, well researched article on market failures as opposed to "worst consoles".

[108 Stars]

Such an article would be cool.

Personally I think that the Lynx did have a decent standing until maybe 1991/1992.
Like I posted in another thread, according to Lynx User Magazine there were five Lynx-games to be released at that time, and they made it sound that Atari based the development of further games on the success of those five titles.

Making such a statement shows one thing: sofware sales must have become low by that time, or else no company would make such a statement.

Also notable is that even those five titles did not all make it to market, at least not until the after-market sales.

Also look at the loads of new and sealed Lynx games available to this day, from launch games to later ones. Lots of unsold stock.

And beside Telegames there was no 3rd Party support. If a platform is successful, 3rd parties will make games for it.

These things make me think that while the Lynx as a system did reasonable for a time, especially in the UK, game sales were not that good.
I think that the Lynx did okay in 1989,1990 and 1991 and saw a quick decline from there on. Overall I would say that it is a great system, but not a big success.

But of course, only thorough sales research could give a definite answer.

[toptenmaterial]

Hey 108, pardon me for going off-topic but was console and handheld gaming popular in Germany in the late 80s - early 90s or was it more of a home computer scene over there?

[108 Stars]

It was more of a homecomputer scene here. However, the GameBoy was a huge success and pretty much started the change from computers to consoles and handhelds.

[ThomH]

108 Stars, on Thu Nov 3, 2011 10:53 AM, said:

It was more of a homecomputer scene here. However, the GameBoy was a huge success and pretty much started the change from computers to consoles and handhelds.

Ditto here in the UK if you're looking for a complete European picture. Though the Mega Drive helped massively too.

toptenmaterial, on Mon Oct 31, 2011 8:24 PM, said:

I don't know about the claim that "Lynx is hard to write for because it doesn't have a Z80 and Game Boy does", maybe one of you folks could weigh in on that?

The Game Boy doesn't actually have a z80, it has either a cut-down z80 or a less scaled up 8080 if you prefer. The Game Gear has a full z80. But even ignoring that, I don't think there's a significant difference. Limiting to a few of the higher profile machines, the 6502 family powered the C64, NES and PC Engine, and arguably the SNES, the z80 was behind the Spectrum, MSX and Master System. So there was probably about equal general knowledge about the two varieties of CPU and a similar investment in tools.

The Lynx is kind of weird in a bunch of other ways though. It was the first console to switch to the frame buffer + blitter approach to video (though well established in the Amiga and the arcade, there's a real risk of hiring the wrong people), the serialised storage is also somewhat ahead of its time and a more fixed approach to sound generation (as per the three tone + one noise channel approach of the Game Gear, for example) would probably have made people more comfortable.