The Atari Lynx is a hybrid 8/16-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe and Japan. It was the first handheld game console with a color liquid-crystal display. Powered by a 16 MHz 65C02 8-bit CPU and a custom 16-bit blitter, the Lynx was more advanced than Nintendo's monochrome Game Boy, released two months earlier. It also competed with Sega's Game Gear and NEC's TurboExpress, released the following year.
Xenophobe is a video game developed Bally Midway and released in arcades in 1987. Starbases, moons, ships, and space cities are infested with aliens, and the players have to kill the aliens before each is completely overrun. The screen is split into three horizontally-scrolling windows, one for each of up to three players, yet all players are in the same game world.
Wonder Boy in Monster Land, known by its original arcade release as Wonder Boy: Monster Land, is an platform video game developed by Westone Bit Entertainment and released by Sega in Japanese arcades in 1987 and for the Master System in 1988, with a number of other home computer and console ports following. The game is the sequel to the 1986 game Wonder Boy and takes place eleven years after the events in the previous game. After enjoying over a decade of peace on Wonder Land following the defeat of the evil King by Tom-Tom, later bestowed the title "Wonder Boy", a fire-breathing dragon called the MEKA dragon appeared; he and his minions conquered Wonder Land, turning it into "Monster Land". The people, helpless due to their lack of fighting skill, call for Wonder Boy, now a teenager, to destroy the monsters and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players control Wonder Boy through twelve linear levels as he makes his way through Monster Land to find and defeat the MEKA dragon. Players earn gold by defeating enemies and buy weapons, armor, footwear, magic, and other items to help along the way.
Chase H.Q. is a vehicular combat racing game, originally released as an arcade game by Taito in 1988. It is sometimes seen as a spiritual successor to Taito's earlier Full Throttle. The player assumes the role of a police officer named Tony Gibson, member of the "Chase Special Investigation Department". Along with his partner, Raymond Broady, he must stop fleeing criminals in high-speed pursuits in a black Porsche 928.
Blockout is a puzzle video game published in 1989 by California Dreams. It was developed in Poland by Aleksander Ustaszewski and Mirosław Zabłocki. American Technos published an arcade version. Blockout is an unlicensed, 3D version of Tetris.
Klax is a puzzle video game released in arcades in 1990 by Atari Games while Namco distributed the game in Japanese markets. It was designed by Dave Akers and Mark Stephen Pierce. The object is to catch colored blocks tumbling down a machine and arrange them in colored rows and patterns to make them disappear. Klax was originally published as a coin-op follow-up to Tetris, about which Atari Games was in a legal dispute at the time.
Paperboy is an arcade action game developed and published by Atari Games and Midway Games, and released in 1985. The player takes the role of a paperboy who delivers a fictional newspaper called The Daily Sun along a suburban street on his bicycle. The arcade version of the game featured bike handlebars as the controller.
The Humans is a puzzle-platform video game developed by Imagitec Design in Dewsbury, England and originally published by Mirage Technologies for the Amiga in May 1992. It was later ported to other home computers and consoles. The goal of the game varies per level but usually revolves around bringing at least one of the player-controlled humans to the designated end area marked by a colored tile. Doing this requires players taking advantage of the tribe's ability to build a human ladder and use tools such as spears, torches, wheels, ropes and a witch doctor in later levels.
Loopz is a puzzle video game designed and programmed by Ian Upton for the Atari ST in 1989. He previously worked as head game designer for Audiogenic, who acquired exclusive rights to the game, then in 1990 arranged for Mindscape to publish it for computers in North America and consoles worldwide.
1989 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Phantasy Star II, Super Mario Land, Super Monaco GP, along with new titles such as Big Run, Bonk's Adventure, Final Fight, Golden Axe, Strider, Hard Drivin' and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The year also saw the release of the Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 in North America, and the Game Boy worldwide along with Tetris and Super Mario Land.
Super Skweek is a puzzle game developed and published by the French company Loriciel. The game was released on multiple platforms in the early 1990s as a follow-up to 1989's Skweek.
Rygar is a side-scrolling platform game created by Tecmo in 1986 and originally released for arcades in Japan as Argos no Senshi. The player assumes the role of a "Legendary Warrior", battling through a hostile landscape. The main feature of gameplay is the use of a weapon called the "Diskarmor", a shield with a long chain attached to it.
RoadBlasters is a combat racing video game released in arcades by Atari Games in 1987. In RoadBlasters, the player must navigate an armed sports car through 50 different rally races, getting to the finish line before running out of fuel.
Todd's Adventures in Slime World is a side-scrolling platform video game first released for the Atari Lynx in 1990, with Sega Genesis and PC Engine Super CD-ROM² versions following in 1992.
Ninja Gaiden, released in Japan as Ninja Ryūkenden and in Europe as Shadow Warriors, is a 1988 side-scrolling beat-'em-up game, originally released by Tecmo as a coin-operated arcade video game. It was first released in North America and Europe in late 1988, and then in Japan in February 1989. It was the first game released in the Ninja Gaiden franchise. The arcade game was a major commercial success in North America, becoming the highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1989 in the United States.
Strider II, is a side-scrolling platform game published by U.S. Gold and originally released for various computer platforms in 1990. It is a European-developed sequel to Capcom's arcade video game Strider, which U.S. Gold previously ported to home computers in Europe.
Shanghai is a computerized version of mahjong solitaire published by Activision in 1986 for the Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, DOS, Macintosh, Apple IIGS and Master System. Shanghai was originally programmed by Brodie Lockard. It was released as an arcade game by Sunsoft in 1988.
Checkered Flag is a racing video game released for the Atari Lynx in 1991. A remake was released for the Atari Jaguar in 1994. Destination Software also planned to release a Game Boy Advance version of the title around 2005, but it was cancelled before it was released.
Dracula - The Undead is a video game released in 1991 for the Atari Lynx handheld system. The game is loosely based on Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and features Bram Stoker in the story as the narrator.
Manchester United Europe developed by Krisalis Software is the follow-up to the 1990 video game Manchester United which had sold over 100,000 copies. The Atari Lynx port was released under the title of European Soccer Challenge.
