List of all 71 officially released games for the Atari Lynx

When getting started with collecting games for the Atari Lynx it can be a little difficult to pin down how many games are in the 'officially released' collection. When looking around, there are various contradictory numbers being presented that peg the figure at between 71 to 76. So what is the actual number? To answer that question, Atari Lynx Vault decided to put together the definitive list of the officially released games for the Lynx. This list is the result of much research and many discussions with collectors and places the number at 71 games and some 120+ variants.

Of course we can't not mention the controversial release of Krazy Ace, which after all the research must be concluded that it is not an official release, but more on that later.

What's the criteria for an officially released game? The way Atari Lynx Vault defines it is the game must have been released commercially during the 'Atari Era' i.e. 1989 - 1995, on an official (dark grey) flat, ridged or curved lip cartridge type, with either the standard or big box packaging and endorsed by Atari.

So lets see the list, in alphabetical order, with release years and additional information on available variants...

TitleYearVariants TitleYearVariants
A.P.B.1991πŸ₯‡ Awesome Golf1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Baseball Heroes1991πŸ₯‡ Basketbrawl1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Batman Returns1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ BattleWheels1993πŸ₯‡
Battlezone 20001995πŸ₯‡ Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Block Out1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Blue Lightning1989πŸ₯‰πŸ–ΌπŸŽπŸ“¦πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
California Games1989πŸ₯‰πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Checkered Flag1991πŸ₯‡
Chip's Challenge1989πŸ₯‰πŸ–ΌπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Crystal Mines II1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Desert Strike1993πŸ₯‡ Dinolympics1992πŸ₯‡
Dirty Larry--Renegade Cop1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Double Dragon1993πŸ₯‡
Dracula - The Undead1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Electrocop1989πŸ₯‰πŸ–ΌπŸŽπŸ“¦πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
European Soccer Challenge1993πŸ₯‡ Fidelity Ultimate Chess Challenge1991πŸ₯‡
Gates of Zendocon1989πŸ₯‰πŸ–ΌπŸ“¦πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Gauntlet: The Third Encounter1990πŸ₯ˆπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
Gordo 1061993πŸ₯‡ Hard Drivin'1991πŸ₯‡
Hockey1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Hydra1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Ishido: The Way of the Stones1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Jimmy Connors' Tennis1993πŸ₯‡
Joust1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ KLAX1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
Kung Food1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Lemmings1993πŸ₯‡
Lynx Casino1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Malibu Bikini Volleyball1993πŸ₯‡
Ms. Pac-Man1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ NFL Football1992πŸ₯‡
Ninja Gaiden1991πŸ₯‡ Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom1993πŸ₯‡
Pac-Land1991πŸ₯‡ Paperboy1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
Pinball Jam1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Pit-Fighter1992πŸ₯‡
Power Factor1992πŸ₯‡ Qix1991πŸ₯‡
Rampage1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Rampart1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
RoadBlasters1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Robo-Squash1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
Robotron: 20841991πŸ₯‡ Rygar1990πŸ₯‡πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
S.T.U.N. Runner1991πŸ₯‡ Scrapyard Dog1991πŸ₯‡
Shadow of the Beast1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Shanghai1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
Steel Talons1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Super Asteroids & Missile Command1995πŸ₯‡
Super Off Road1993πŸ₯‡ Super Skweek1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Switchblade II1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Todd's Adventures in Slime World1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅
Toki1992πŸ₯‡πŸŽ Tournament Cyberball 20721991πŸ₯‡
Turbo Sub1991πŸ₯‡ Viking Child1991πŸ₯‡
Warbirds1991πŸ₯‡ World Class Fussball/Soccer1992πŸ₯‡
Xenophobe1990πŸ₯‡πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ Xybots1991πŸ₯‡πŸŽ
Zarlor Mercenary1990πŸ₯‡πŸŽπŸ‡―πŸ‡΅    
Legend

πŸ₯‡ - One cart variant
πŸ₯ˆ - Two cart variants
πŸ₯‰ - Three cart variants
πŸ–Ό - Has a 'No Stripe' variant
🎁 - Has a blister pack variant
πŸ“¦ - Has a big box variant
πŸ‡―πŸ‡΅ - Has a Japanese release

If you want to find out more details about all of the available games for the Atari Lynx be sure to check out the game database. As well as what's shown in this article, you will be able to look up information on official games with French and German manuals, homebrew games, demos, prototypes and even aftermarket releases.

So now to touch on the topic of Krazy Ace. This is a disputed '72nd' title that some consider an official release. However that is not correct for several reasons. This game was released three years after its copyright year, placing its availability to some time in 1995. That's still in the Atari Era of course, but it was far from a commercially available game. Talking to Pete Mortimer of Telegames, the publisher of this game, he said - "It never had retail coverage - just internet in limited pcb style carts." That alone disqualifies it from being considered an official release.

The box claims that it has the 'Official Atari Seal of Quality', but given how pedantic Atari was about its quality assurance, they would have never allowed a game to be released on PCB style cartridges. The claim of the quality seal also falls short with the game itself - it's not complete, the last two levels are simply repeats of the first two levels, and there are several major bugs. Not to mention the manual, which was a folded up photocopied A4 piece of paper. Would that have passed any kind of quality checks? Probably not!

So the final count for official releases stands at 71.

Changed

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