Justin

🤔 TV connections and Control Pads for 2-Players would’ve stepped up the Lynx’s style to a true game system! And Atari would’ve had a true home console to fight in the 16-Bit wars!

I have this theory that most handheld gaming wasn’t done walking around with a portable in your pocket.

I think the best handheld gaming was done at home, lying on the floor with snacks and a movie playing on the tv in the background on a cozy Saturday afternoon. Or on long car rides during summer road trips, chilling out in the back seat with a drink, and holding it comfortably in your lap. So how much did “pocket size” really matter?

Lynx and Switch share a similar take on portable gaming, the idea of a full-blown game system portable enough to stuff into your bag and take with you anywhere. 

GameBoy came out at about the same time as Lynx, but they had two different ideas of what a portable game system should be. GameBoy became popular using the WalkMan approach of being tiny, simple, and sorta inexpensive. Lynx couldn’t fit into your pocket as easily, but offered more in terms of graphics and a full-color screen.