25 replies to this topic

[heavy-sixer]

On page 69 of Electronic Gaming Monthly in an article about the history of Rygar, the Lynx was slammed:

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Lynx(1990): Chunky and junky, like all the games for this turd handheld.  Instead, turn that Lynx into a snowboard for your cat.

Now, I can't vouch for the Lynx version of Rygar, but I find it highly distasteful to slam the entire system this way!

[Agent X]

The irony was that in the early days of the Lynx, EGM seemed to like the system. I don't remember what the review scores were for Rygar, but I don't recall them slamming the game at the time.

Then again, the staff of EGM now is completely different than it was over a decade ago. Heck, EGM jumped the shark back when George Bush Sr. was still in office. You can tell those puerile clods are grasping in desperation when they have to resort to making derogatory blanket statements, and calling the system a "turd handheld" to convey their message.

[Ze_ro]

First of all, don't read EGM. It's quite definitely the worst video game magazine of all time. This is a magazine that used to routinely give Gameboy games low reviews simply because the graphics were in black and white (I kid you not, I can provide quotes to prove this). Seriously, do not trust anything EGM says.

Second of all, I actually managed to find their original review of Lynx Rygar (I inherited a stack of EGM's from my brother's friend... believe me, I sure as hell didn't buy them myself!). Out of 4 reviewers, 3 of them gave it 7/10, and the last gave it 5/10. Here's what they had to say (Poor grammer left intact):

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Steve:
A good action game for the Lynx Rygar certainly is. Based on the arcade version of the game, this translation has cut some corners, but still has a good mix of combat and adventure! The music is absolutely the pits, more like chimes, but with the volume down this game plays well. 7/10

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Ed:
Considering the small size of the Lynx screen, Rygar looks and plays just like it's arcade big brother. The backgrounds are multi-layered and quite detailed. The quest is very long and difficult to get through. A password every 5 levels would have eliminated all of the repetition. 7/10

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Martin:
Rygar is a good conversion for the Lynx. More along the lines of an arcade game, it lacks the originality of the NES version, but is well done nonetheless. Great background graphics and over 20 levels of intense action. My only complaint is the poor use of the 32-bit audio chip. 7/10

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Sushi-X:
A real "poser"! This just doesn't play anything like the original coin-op game that I love! The music is the pits! The hidden secrets seem to be lost in the translation! A good excuse for capital punishment! Despite some good looks, the spirit of Rygar just isn't there. 5/10

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Some notes from me: Rygar for the NES is an awful game, and is absolutely nothing like the arcade game. The Lynx version destroys the NES version in my opinion. I also think the music in Lynx Rygar isn't terrible, except for the end-of-level music, which is actually very annoying.

My only complaints about Lynx Rygar are that you can't do the upward shield throw without having a powerup (I used this move all the time in the arcade version) although you don't need to use it as much in the Lynx version anyways, and that the music could use some work. Other than that, I think it's quite a well done port of the arcade version.

--Zero

[bergbros]

I read EGM once and I thought it was incredibly juvenile. I don't know how they get off saying this stuff without ANY factual foundation. The Lynx has on the whole solid games and the technology for a 13+ year old system is incredible. Needless to say, I'll take the Lynx over 900 versions of Mario any day off the week.

[AtariDude]

EGM is currently a poor magazine. They do not really take the necessary time to actually review things and it is quite obvious that the person who did the review did not know what they were talking about since the Lynx is a great system (especially when you consider when it was released! It was ahead of its time).

I know that I have a lot of fun playing with my Lynx and there are quite a few fun games along with some not so good but that happens to every system ever made.

[atarimastermarty]

SCREW EGM!
SCREW EGM!
Lynx was a great system, but was kind of big. In my choice it destroyed the Game Gear. And the only good thiong with the original GameBoy was that its small. I'll say it again.
SCREW EGM.
We must start writting letters.

[atarian1]

Ah yes. I remember that, ahem, magazine.

Atari Lombard (Atari's Lynx programmers were stationed in Lombard, IL) was close to EGM headquarters (also in Lombard) back then, so EGM got the first reviews and previews of Lynx games. Atari lent them a Lynx development system to take screenshots for the magazine and to review/preview games. This actually made EGM THE Lynx magazine. EGM even had special inserts with Lynx previews not shown in any other magazine. So Atari helped EGM a lot in those days because of this, so they had a wonderful relationship.

Then Atari wanted the Lynx development system back from EGM. EGM whined and screamed murder at that point because they thought Atari GAVE them the $6000 Lynx dev system. (You really think the cheapskate Tramiels would do that?! ) EGM would still get to review/preview games since they were so close to Atari. All Atari wanted to do was retrieve their development system to presumably, make more games. (And we all want that, right?) EGM thought otherwise, so kicked and screamed like a hoard of spoiled brats saying Atari was being unfair and Atari was trying to sabatoge EGM. Ever since then, EGM has been trying to discredit anything and everything Atari whenever possible.

That's the story I remember.

So EGM sucks...what else is new?

[Zeptari]

You're right! Rygar on the Lynx is way better then the NES version!
Rygar is still one of me and my wife's favorite Lynx games of all time!
Simple and fun arcade game... way better then all the other Lynx side scrolling beat-em-ups, like batman,kung food, dirty harry...etc...

[Gunstar]

I've never known EGM to do anything but slam Atari products and games myself, and I haven't bought a copy for many years. Occasionally I've flipped through reviews at the news stand, but that's about it.

Rygar brings back a lot of memories from early highschool. We used to ditch class to go to the bowling alley nearby and play Rygar...and Joust, and Jungle King and Juno First and Xevious...I was once a master at Rygar (and all of the above), and when I bought the Lynx version a couple years back, it felt like an arcade perfect translation to me, excusing of course the lower resolution, I didn't even notice the sound, but it'd been years since playing the original. I think the Lynx version is great and if I'd been the reviewer back then at EGM, I probably would have given it and 8 or 9, only detracting due to (presumably) the sound and drop in resolution.

[NE146]

I have an EGM with a huge centerfold section where it's has about 20 or so pages all devouted to the Lynx. However I think it was paid for as an advertisement but it was obviously created and done by EGM and is in their "preview" style.

Maybe I should scan it

[atarian1]

NE146,

Is this the first Lynx supplement that EGM made? (They made a couple IIRC)

I found it amusing in the first supplement that in the Tournament Cyberball review, if you take the first letter of every sentence, it will spell out what they think of their competition.

[Ze_ro]

Crazy! I never noticed that before! I think that's actually their second insert... I have three in total, except that one of them is in an EGM that isn't staples, so I can't pull it out.

... and GamePro is better than EGM any day. Although GamePro ain't that great anyways.

--Zero

[NE146]

atarimusician1: Yes I think so... If we're thinking about the same magazine it's blue with that Tournament Cyberball cover (or at least I think it is.. it has some close up of some robot's face holding something). I'll have to dig it out to be absolutely sure

[Ze_ro]

By the way, AtariAge has the first (Or at least, what I think is the first) of the pull-outs archived right here. I've been meaning to scan my other two, but my scanner has stopped working for some unknown reason

--Zero

[NE146]

Wow Ze_ro! I didn't even know that was there! I really should dig around this site more seeing as I spend so much time here. Too cool.

But having seen that now, it made me go and dig out that old EGM and I think the one I have is even earlier!

It is from EGM #21 (April 1991) and shows the original style Lynx and the title says "Atari Adventure - Previews of More Than 25 Hot New Lynx Hits for 1991!!!". It has a 2 page layout each for Ninja Gaiden, Tournament Cyberball, and Block Out. Then has previews of various titles coming out for 1991. Do you have this one? If not I can scan it this week. But I'll have to do it at work again as I don't have a scanner here

[Atari Smeghead]

Boy, it's too bad GeoDuel (Page 24) never came out. The pics sure made it look interesting.
Anyone ever heard what happened to that one?

[Ze_ro]

NE146: Yes, I have that one... but with my scanner out of commission, feel free to scan it in I didn't realize that one was from April... the one on this site is from the November '91 EGM. The third one I have is titled "Grey Matters Vol. 3", and has Batman on the front. It's dated 1992 (Not sure what month), and it actually has a price on the front! (Although I'm quite sure it was a magazine pullout). It gives the appearance that it's all about portable games in general, but it's just another Atari sponsored advertisement. It shows quite a few games though, including a bunch that don't appear in the other two (Daemon's Gate for example)

Smeghead: 'fraid I don't have much information on that one... although I think it looks good too. There's more screenshots of this game over at Harry Dodgson's Page. He claims the screenshots were taken through Handy (The Lynx emulator)... which implies that a ROM of the game is around somewhere..... Lets hope someone coughs this one up someday.

--Zero

[Opa Opa]

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Originally posted by Heavy-Sixer:
On page 69 of Electronic Gaming Monthly in an article about the history of Rygar, the Lynx was slammed:

Now, I can't vouch for the Lynx version of Rygar, but I find it highly distasteful to slam the entire system this way!

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EGM MUST DIE!!!!!!


I'll go hunt them down and poison their leader. Anyone wanna join me?

[sdstuff64]

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!EGM RULES!!!!!!!

[shepdawg06]

Zero! GamePro rocks, ive been reading it only a few issues after their first! Although recently they havnt been as great as they used to be...and the letters are questions from stupid gaming newbies. But their reviews are always deadf on with my opinions...EGM suks terribly, they just seem to go what will make the majority of their readers happy..

[Ze_ro]

Actually, I haven't been reading video game magazines in a long time... the newest system I have is a Dreamcast (I don't even have a Playstation), so they don't talk about anything that interests me anymore. However, I have quite a large collection of Gamepro's from around '92-'95 that I occasionally still read. I've always thought their reviews were quite well done too. They definitely gave more in-depth information about the games than EGM did!

--Zero

[Opa Opa]

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Originally posted by Ze_ro:
Actually, I haven't been reading video game magazines in a long time... the newest system I have is a Dreamcast (I don't even have a Playstation), so they don't talk about anything that interests me anymore. However, I have quite a large collection of Gamepro's from around '92-'95 that I occasionally still read. I've always thought their reviews were quite well done too. They definitely gave more in-depth information about the games than EGM did!

--Zero

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I agree with you totally (Except I have a PlayStation._)

If Its after Dreamcast I dont like it!

[Lastblade]

I was alittle ticked off reading that line from EGM (i think they are a decent mag, considering they do pack alot of info). Oh well, it just goes to show that they don't appreciate old games like we do I like the lynx, it is way way way ahead of its time (GBA, try to do a decent port of STUN Runner)

[Videology]

As far as I'm concern, its still better then anything out on the market today! The only reason The Lynx can't get on top again is You can't go to Toys-R-Us or Walmart (or what ever toy store is Closest) and pick up a new Lynx or accessory or a new Songbird release...

[chris_lynx1989]

this was canned at atari because it and hyperdrome where unplayable as
lynx games(their words on it).hyperdrome did finally see the light of day and did make it to the 90% plus beta area.as far as i know,geo duel only
exists as a small bit of demo rom on the howard setup.pounce is the same
way-only a few seconds of demo(less than 30 seconds).some games only
exist like this on the dev system disks.some are a few seconds long or are
only just some still images of what was planned.not much to write home or
any where else about.the scans look nice but aren't much to play with!too
bad there isn't more to them.-chris