View Full Version : Lynx and Jaguar Games. What's good and what's affordable?
8-Bit Archeology
04-29-2013, 12:50 AM
So I have realized with the many consoles I have, I am not getting games for my jaguar and lynx.
Anyone know of any good and/or affordable games to add to my collection.
Also excuse my ignorance but, What wher the icon jaguar and lynx titles? I.E. sonic to sega or mario to nintendo.
PreZZ
04-29-2013, 01:49 AM
The jaguar is probably the worst console ever, its library is awful. The only game I enjoyed in the 90's was Alien vs Predator, but its pretty bad by today's standards in FPS. Rayman is a good game, but you can find it cheaper on psone and saturn. The pack in games were also ridiculously bad, trevor mcfur and later cybermorph. Boggles the mind to think Atari thought these games were system sellers next to Mario and Sonic.
BricatSegaFan
04-29-2013, 03:22 AM
The jaguar is probably the worst console ever, its library is awful. The only game I enjoyed in the 90's was Alien vs Predator, but its pretty bad by today's standards in FPS. Rayman is a good game, but you can find it cheaper on psone and saturn. The pack in games were also ridiculously bad, trevor mcfur and later cybermorph. Boggles the mind to think Atari thought these games were system sellers next to Mario and Sonic.
Raiden wasn't that bad. Only game I can think of that's worth it.
Akov456
04-29-2013, 05:56 AM
As far as lynx goes there are a good amount of solid titles. Todd's Adventures in Slime World is a personal fave. Ninja Gaiden, Chips Challenge, Blue Lightning, checkered flag and Rygar are a handful of solid games that I can think of. Prices probably vary on those but nothing too crazy.
FrankSerpico
04-29-2013, 09:27 AM
Robo Squash for the Lynx is severely underrated imo. Basically pseudo-first person pong
Edit: also, the Jag is nowhere near as worthless as the CD-i. There are also a grip of more obscure consoles more deserving of the "worst ever" title.
bb_hood
04-29-2013, 09:43 AM
also, the Jag is nowhere near as worthless as the CD-i. There are also a grip of more obscure consoles more deserving of the "worst ever" title.
Personally I think the Jaguar and CD-i are both just not worth owning. Jaguar has Pitfall and Tempest and thats it for games I like on that system, but I can play better versions elsewhere. I would say the Jaguar and CD-i are about equal in worthlessness. The Jaguar does have the cd attachment which looks like a toilet, which is amusing.
Ive played Raiden on Jaguar and personally I think its another "meh" title. Its playable but kinda boring. This is my opinion about all the games in the Raiden series, playable but boring shooters.
MachineGex
04-29-2013, 10:05 AM
I love playing Tempest on the Jag. I bought the Rotary controller for $45 shipped and the game is addictive with that controller. I can play that game for hours. I also like Missle Command. Wish I had a Track Ball to play it. Both games are great and eat a lot of my gaming time.
Another game that is really under-rated is Power Drive Rally. If you like the racing(and control) of games like Micro Machines, you'll love Power Drive Rally.
I personally think owning Tempest with the Rotary controller is worth the cost of the system all by itself. It is that good and I like playing it that much!!!
Also, Raiden is a great game on the Jag!
Spleeze
04-29-2013, 10:13 AM
I would not buy a Jaguar if you're interested in experiencing 'Good' games.
I think Jaguars are awesome though. The sheer amount of garbage and nearly unplayable games that were released for the system is staggering. It's really amazing how much junk got pushed out on that system, and some of the titles are hilarious to play.
Raiden is mediocre at best, what really annoys me is that there is a very weak auto-fire, and if you want to actually shoot a reasonable amount you need to pound the fire button. It gets old fast, and isn't all that interesting.
Rayman was actually developed primarily for the Jaguar, so you could shoot for a copy of that if you're into Rayman. But in the end of the day, it's still Rayman.
Zool 2 is a fairly awful platformer whose claim to fame is including product placement for Chupa Chups brand lollipops EVERYWHERE.
Club Drive is a truly awful racing game. Just amazingly bad.
Attack of the mutant penguins is actually kind of fun in a masochistic kind of way. Really unique game, very hard to play.
Fight for Life is a sad clone of Virtua Fighter. Programmed entirely by one guy, it kinda makes you feel bad for him. Maybe if he had a real team of developers it wouldn't be such a pile of junk. Also, it supports the 6 button controller and kinda needs it, being a fighter, but good luck getting one of those for a reasonable amount of money.
Tempest 2000 is actually a good title if you enjoy playing Tempest. There's some nice rotational controllers you can buy on ebay to enhance the experience.
Atari Karts is like a watered down, less fun Mario Kart. Also, fairly expensive.
In short, if you want to have a good laugh, buy a Jag. If you want to play good games, get another system.
Polygon
04-29-2013, 10:34 AM
That Jaguar doesn't have many good game for sure, but it does have good games.
Alien Vs. Predator
Syndicate
Wolfestein 3D
Tempest
Raiden
Pitfall
Rayman
Defender
Power Drive Rally
Hyper Force
Protector SE
Those would be my suggestions.
Atari Lynx, one of the best handhelds in the world, excellent good games-bad games ratio, almost no duds.
Small library of ~80 titles, most rock, Checkered Flag (best played with 2 players), Toki, Slime World (best played with 8 players) Battlezone 2000, Gates of Zendocon, Rampart, Lemmings, S.T.U.N. Runner, Xybots, Steel Talons, Robotron 2084, Warbirds etc, After life releases: Alpine Games, Lode Runner, Loops etc....most are cheap to buy too, even cib.
Atari sure did get this one right.......
Atari Jaguar, different story, excellent console, 64 bit, but no good programmers to tackle the machine properly.
At first, the Jaguar showed promise, Cybermorph was a great pack-in, real 3D (not like this awful Nintendo stuff like Star Fox), real time light sourced polygons at 50 frames per second, fly everywhere, no restrictions, excellent stereo superb sound effects, 27Mks sound samples packed into a great cartridge. Great start, but then came Crescent Galaxy....eeewh
Some good games on Jaguar: Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, Tempest, AvP, World Tour Racing, Syndicate, Zool 2, Rayman, Battlemorph, Space Ace, Dragon's Lair, Cannon Fodder, Theme Park, Atari Karts, Iron Soldier, Zero 5, Worms, Myst, Val d'Isere Skiing and Snowboarding etc...and the best: GORF.
People keep dissing the Jag and comparing stuff like Mario and Sonic is good, everything on Jaguar is bad. Most Nintendo fanboys never even owned a Jaguar, that's for sure. Maybe the Jaguar was missing the Japanese programmers; things might have been different. American programmers were really that bad at the time? Who knows. One thing's for sure, US programmers did produce much rubbish on Japanese consoles too, THQ, Acclaim anyone?
Manga4life
04-29-2013, 11:00 AM
I personally LOVED the Atari Jaguar, but I have absolutely NO experience with the Lynx.
Games for the Jaguar I played and enjoyed are as follows.....
Tempest 2000
Defender 2000
Breakout 2000
Alien VS Predator
DOOM
Kasumi Ninja
Ultra Vortek
Rayman
Cybermorph
There were a couple of other games for the Jaguar I enjoyed as well but I can't think of them at the moment, but overall I wouldn't say the Jaguar was nearly as bad as the media made it out to be and there were some gems worth owning/playing if you take the time to find them.
Personally I think the Jaguar and CD-i are both just not worth owning. Jaguar has Pitfall and Tempest and thats it for games I like on that system, but I can play better versions elsewhere. I would say the Jaguar and CD-i are about equal in worthlessness. The Jaguar does have the cd attachment which looks like a toilet, which is amusing.
Ive played Raiden on Jaguar and personally I think its another "meh" title. Its playable but kinda boring. This is my opinion about all the games in the Raiden series, playable but boring shooters.
Jaguar and CDi are not comparable, the Jaguar was a gaming console, the CDi was/is not:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/cdifromretrogamesmag.jpg
bb_hood
04-29-2013, 11:25 AM
Jaguar and CDi are not comparable, the Jaguar was a gaming console, the CDi was/is not:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/cdifromretrogamesmag.jpg
I wasnt comparing them, I was just expressing that in my opinion, they are both junk not worth owning. I feel the same way about Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Intellivision.
I do like playing older games, but in terms of making room for these systems next to my saturn, nes, turbo, snes, not gonna happen.
Edit: Something I just gotta get off my chest: Aliens v Predator isnt that great. Actually I think its a piss poor game. 1st person shooter, wow, sounds great. In reality its wicked slow and it has a total of about 5 different enemies to kill. Ive played it more than a few times and always unimpressed. I do think the graphics are shit but mainly the gameplay is just weak.
Wow, Sega Master System is, imo, better than the NES, especially the European gaming library, many excellent classics on SMS.
Manga4life
04-29-2013, 12:05 PM
At the time that Alien VS Predator came out it was a really nice looking game, sure the control was a little slow but I've logged hours and hours trying to find all the key cards and fighting off the Alien Queen as a Marine and I really enjoyed the time I've spent with the game. I played it a lot circa 1996-1998, after that it's been once every few years and not for very long due to me not remembering where certain things were in the game. It's always been a fun game for me, though.
At the time that Alien VS Predator came out it was a really nice looking game, sure the control was a little slow but I've logged hours and hours trying to find all the key cards and fighting off the Alien Queen as a Marine and I really enjoyed the time I've spent with the game. I played it a lot circa 1996-1998, after that it's been once every few years and not for very long due to me not remembering where certain things were in the game. It's always been a fun game for me, though.
AvP is a good game and a classic, nothing 'shit' about it, just from people who are not knowledgeable.
Manga4life
04-29-2013, 12:18 PM
AvP is a good game and a classic, nothing 'shit' about it, just from people who are not knowledgeable.
It's all a matter of taste, really. People who spout off and insult a game should just express that they don't like it and move on instead of dumping on it continuously. I don't like modern games for the Wii and PS3, but I wouldn't call them "shit", I'd just express my dislike for what I've played and that's basically it. Taste-wise, I loved AVP and like I said before I still revisit it from time to time and will probably do so for the rest of my gaming days, regardless of others opinions on it.
bb_hood
04-29-2013, 12:18 PM
AvP is a good game and a classic, nothing 'shit' about it, just from people who are not knowledgeable.
Well thats YOUR opinion. I think its total garbage. Ive played it multiple times and watched speedruns so Ive seen the entire game. Like what you want but dont say Im not knowledgeable because I dont have the same opinion as you.
Manga4life
04-29-2013, 12:21 PM
I'm not sure what's "affordable" for the Jaguar these days, I do remember about 6-7 years ago many Jaguar games were going for big bucks on eBay and systems were pretty pricey. I may do a quick eBay search and see what I can find for affordable, but if it's anything like it was some years back I'd say that getting into the Jaguar may be a pricey venture.
BricatSegaFan
04-29-2013, 01:16 PM
I don't like modern games for the Wii and PS3, but I wouldn't call them "shit"
I call Call of Doodie shit....because it is.
Koa Zo
04-29-2013, 02:07 PM
on Lynx, Zaku is not to be missed!
BlastProcessing402
04-30-2013, 04:49 PM
Back in the day, what I liked about Lynx was games like Rygar and Ninja Gaiden were pretty much the closest you could get to the arcade versions. These days, with MAME and stuff, there's not really much need for closest (which in hindsight still were pretty far off) when you can have actual.
Atari Lynx, one of the best handhelds in the world, excellent good games-bad games ratio, almost no duds.
...
Atari sure did get this one right.......
Probably because Atari had very little to do with the creation of it, so it was hard for them to f it up. It was originally an Epyx system, called the Handy (heheheheh) but for whatever reason (lack of funds, probably) they couldn't put it out themselves so they sold it to Atari.
So Epyx fu.... it up...oh they had no monies left.....
An Hero
05-18-2013, 02:19 PM
I wasnt comparing them, I was just expressing that in my opinion, they are both junk not worth owning. I feel the same way about Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Intellivision.
I do like playing older games, but in terms of making room for these systems next to my saturn, nes, turbo, snes, not gonna happen.
Edit: Something I just gotta get off my chest: Aliens v Predator isnt that great. Actually I think its a piss poor game. 1st person shooter, wow, sounds great. In reality its wicked slow and it has a total of about 5 different enemies to kill. Ive played it more than a few times and always unimpressed. I do think the graphics are shit but mainly the gameplay is just weak.
I would've been able to quietly finish reading this thread, had you not grouped the Master System into your list of systems "not worth owning". I had one as a kid, as did a few of my friends. Most others, of course, had the NES. There were a handful of NES games I enjoyed, but none made me regret having my Master System instead of the NES. My neighbor showed me one of the Zelda games--he had the cool gold cart and everything. I was fine going home and playing Golden Axe Warrior. To this day, I think it's a better game than the NES Zelda games.
A.C. Sativa
05-18-2013, 05:52 PM
Atari Jaguar, different story, excellent console, 64 bit
Wasn't the Jag really 32-bit, and just had a 64-bit graphics processor or something?
fergojisan
05-19-2013, 02:41 AM
Add Flip Out to the Jag list and S.T.U.N. Runner for the Lynx. I got rid of both systems though, no sense for me in owning a system for 3 or less games worth playing.
Garry Silljo
05-19-2013, 02:55 AM
My dentist really likes that game where you take pictures of people's teeth. Seems like every time I'm there he's playing it.
Wasn't the Jag really 32-bit, and just had a 64-bit graphics processor or something?
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/jagdev.jpg
TheRetroVideoGameAddict
05-19-2013, 08:06 AM
It was kind of an odd mix n' match of processors, including 2 32 bit CPU processors and a 64 bit GPU. The graphical performance didn't really showcase everything this system was capable of and its best looking game was probably AVP, but there was still plenty of fun games to be had on the Jaguar. Tempest and Defender 2000 were fun, as was Doom and AvP, but I truly loved Rayman and Breakout and felt a few of the space shooters were enjoyable. All in all the Jaguar wasn't a terrible system in my opinion, it was just under developed.
Frankie_Says_Relax
05-19-2013, 11:17 AM
LYNX?
Christ, there's really not much there that's terrible.
Here are my personal favorites in no order whatsoever.
Give me any of the following, a LYNX and a power outlet and I'm good to go for hours.
Electrocop
Blue Lightning
Chip's Challenge
Xenophobe
Ninja Gaiden (Arcade Version)
Xybots
S.T.U.N. Runner
Hydra
Rampart
A.P.B.
Battle Wheels
Block Out
Klax
Road Blasters
Rygar (Arcade Version)
Shadow of the Beast
Warbirds
Joust
Qix
Pinball Jam
Rampage
Todd's Adventures in Slime World
It was kind of an odd mix n' match of processors, including 2 32 bit CPU processors and a 64 bit GPU. The graphical performance didn't really showcase everything this system was capable of and its best looking game was probably AVP, but there was still plenty of fun games to be had on the Jaguar. Tempest and Defender 2000 were fun, as was Doom and AvP, but I truly loved Rayman and Breakout and felt a few of the space shooters were enjoyable. All in all the Jaguar wasn't a terrible system in my opinion, it was just under developed.
As said the Atari Jaguar was sooo way ahead of its time.
Look at the SNES and how people complained SMW was just like SM3:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/bookGameOver.jpg
It takes years to really get the most and best out of any machine.
klausien
05-19-2013, 02:44 PM
The saddest thing about the Jaguar is that both the incredible VLM and the system's best game other than Tempest 2000, BattleMorph, were trapped on the Jag CD, so few people have ever experienced them. The CD version of Hover Strike was also much, much better than the nearly unplayable cartridge. I wish there was a version of the original VLM for PC or Mac that could accept inputs other than CD audio. I would definitely buy that immediately.
Also, echoing what others have said, the Lynx is amazing. If you get one game for it, make it RoadBlasters. There are some stinkers, but the only true heartbreaker on the system for me was Batman Returns. Incredible graphics, but he gameplay is just completely broken.
Rob2600
05-19-2013, 04:03 PM
LYNX?
Electrocop
...
A third-person, fully 3D action game that ran at a nice framerate...on a portable console...in 1989! A very impressive technological achievement.
Frankie_Says_Relax
05-19-2013, 05:08 PM
A third-person, fully 3D action game that ran at a nice framerate...on a portable console...in 1989! A very impressive technological achievement.
Well, it fakes the 3D funk by using a ton of pixel scaling & parallax scrolling, but, pretty much all LYNX games use that tech to similar results.
Still, it looks really great, plays great, and has a killer soundtrack. Easily in my top 5 LYNX games and, back in the day that game was a pretty mind-blowing spectacle next to any classic Game Boy game.
T2KFreeker
05-19-2013, 05:36 PM
Check the Wolfenstein 3D on Jaguar. Awesome port of the game. Some nice enhancements to the graphics as well.
TheRetroVideoGameAddict
05-20-2013, 01:07 AM
It's funny, whatever article that was claimed Super Mario World was a disappointment but yet it sold millions more than the Jaguar's most important title and sits in the hearts of gamers everywhere as a solid game. But yeah, I get they were talking technically speaking and not financially speaking. Personally, I think Super Mario World looked as good as any platform title on the Jaguar aside from Rayman, which was absolutely beautiful on Jaguar and was one of the consoles best games.