Atari Lynx

The Atari Lynx is an 8 bit handheld game console that was released by Atari Corporation in October 1989 in North America, and in Europe and Japan in 1990. The Lynx holds the distinction of being the world's first handheld electronic game with a color LCD. The system is also notable for its forward-looking features, advanced graphics, and ambidextrous layout. As part of the fourth generation of gaming, the Lynx competed with Nintendo's Game Boy (released just 2 months earlier), the Sega Game Gear and NEC's TurboExpress, both released the following year.

As with many classic consoles, there is a modern retrogaming community, creating and selling games for the system.

Features

The Atari Lynx's innovative features include being the first color handheld, with a backlit display, a switchable right-handed/left-handed (upside down) configuration, and the ability to network with up to 17 other units via its "Comlynx" system (though most games would network eight or fewer players). Comlynx was originally developed to run over infrared links (and was codenamed RedEye). This was changed to a cable-based networking system before the final release.