Epyx Collection Bringing Atari Lynx Games to the Nintendo Switch

Way back in the day, Atari purchased the rights to release a little handheld which eventually became the Atari Lynx. Their goal was to chip away at the handheld market that Nintendo pretty much had a stranglehold on with their Game Boy. Whatever sales the Lynx was able to get simply did not add up to enough to even scratch the surface of Nintendo’s portable kingdom. That did not stop companies from making some good games available for the Atari Lynx though. Who would be better to program the portable than the company that was behind making it in the first place?

The Term Classic Depends on The Individual

The Epyx Collection will feature six Epyx games from the meager library of Atari Lynx games. Your feelings about these titles may vary greatly but if this is priced right, it may be a null point as it is still six games in one.

California Games is one of the “Games” series which also featured Winter and Summer games. These entries are known for gathering several mini games into one. California Games features MBX Biking, roller skating, frisbee, and hacky sack.

My memories of California Games are all based on getting mad at hacky sack and turning the game off (I played mainly on the Commodore 64).

Next up is ElectroCop. You are the future of law enforcement tasked with restoring the peace. You have many weapons and gadgets available to accomplish your job.

This game was a good show off of the scaling capabilities of the Atari Lynx as you walked into and out of the background entering rooms and opening up new areas. I have never played this one though I remember seeing it on demo at a local game store back in the days, there was always a crowd of kids around it waiting to play.

Blue Lightning is another showcase of the scaling the Lynx could do. This time you are flying a plane in a similar fashion to Afterburner as you take on enemies coming at you. Another I never played but man, I really wanted to as I was into this style game back then.

Another shooter comes into play with Gates of Zendocon. This was a 2D side scrolling shooter rather than a 3D one like Blue Lightning. The levels are more than one screen tall and will require you to work in the whole area if you want to survive.

Todd’s Adventures in Slime World is the only action-adventure game in this collection. You must run around labyrinthine levels solving puzzles as you fend off slime creatures.

About all I remember on this one is the zit popping mini game. This was never high on my list of games I wanted to play on the Lynx, if I were to ever get one. Many people love this one though.

Finally, we have Zarlor Mercenary, rounding out the shooter selection, this time an overhead scrolling shooter. The Epyx Collection is well represented in the shooter’s genre.

This one was probably impressive back in the day but now, at least graphically, it is probably the weakest of this collection. I am a fan of overhead scrolling shooters but have never played this one.

Your Mileage Will Vary

The Epyx Collection is available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop for about $12 so the price is good - $2 a game, $4 per game if you only like 3 of them. Honestly, if you are not a fan of these games already, I suggest watching them on YouTube first, get a feel for the various games in the collection, then decide on buying this or not.

For me, if I had a Switch, or if they released this on Steam as well, I would buy it. If nothing else to relive those frustrating times playing Hacky Sack in California games, finally playing Blue Lightning, and trying out that Todd’s Adventures game. The rest, I am just not all that interested in. How about you? Let me know in the comments below.

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