Why did they do the Lynx so dirty?

[APeacefulWarrior]

I love this collection overall... except for the terrible Lynx selection. WTH. There are just five Lynx games, and only TWO of them are exclusive to Lynx. Otherwise, two are ports of 7800 games - which are both included too - plus an Asteroids/Missile Command pack, which are over-represented already.

And one of the exclusives is Malibu Bikini Volleyball of all things?? Turbo Sub is literally the only game there that's halfway decent and shows off what the Lynx could do. And yes, I know Epyx made a lot of the Lynx classics (such as they are) but Atari developed/published plenty of other good games for it.

Where's STUN Runner? Where's RoadBlasters? For the love of god, where's Klax?

I'm genuinely baffled by this, especially since the rest of the package is so good.

[sleepygaymer]

I want to know what happened to Warbirds as just a month ago they said it would be included.

https://twitter.com/atari/status/1580262534749507585?cxt=HHwWgsDSueOZnO4rAAAA

[RetroWizard 2600]

It's a shame Warbirds isn't included, even though they advertised it on their social media channels. But this is the same Twitter account that said Atari Vault wouldn't be discontinued and look what happened LOL.

STUN Runner, Klax, and RoadBlasters are currently owned by WB Games. Atari, SA would have to license those to be included.

[Wasabi Alt]

Originally posted by RetroWizard 2600:

It's a shame Warbirds isn't included, even though they advertised it on their social media channels. But this is the same Twitter account that said Atari Vault wouldn't be discontinued and look what happened LOL.

STUN Runner, Klax, and RoadBlasters are currently owned by WB Games. Atari, SA would have to license those to be included.

Not to mention some games that appeared in the trailer and the Atari 50 logo that are not included.

[Dan Amrich]

Originally posted by APeacefulWarrior:

Where's STUN Runner? Where's RoadBlasters? For the love of god, where's Klax?

In the Warner Bros IP library, having acquired those titles as part of the Atari Games purchase. Anything the coin-op division developed after 1983 is not owned by Atari.

It doesn't mean they aren't excellent games on Lynx -- or that the dev team didn't know they were excellent games on Lynx. It just means they were not available.

Similarly, Bridgestone owns Epyx IP.

[Tempest]

Dan Amrich thanks for responding to the community. Atari needs to mention these things in the history sections so that fans are aware of why all the later games are omitted. Everyone wants these games but they are not mentioned in the history material. If Atari can mention Intellivision and Activision and iMagic they should be able to mention Atari Games, etc. You cannot celebrate 50 years of history by ignoring the last 25 years.

[Dan Amrich]

Originally posted by Tempest:

Dan Amrich thanks for responding to the community. Atari needs to mention these things in the history sections so that fans are aware of why all the later games are omitted. Everyone wants these games but they are not mentioned in the history material. If Atari can mention Intellivision and Activision and iMagic they should be able to mention Atari Games, etc. You cannot celebrate 50 years of history by ignoring the last 25 years.

I don't think it's fair to say the last 25 years were ignored, given the rest of the content, but we were able to secure permission to show Intellivision. We did not have permission to show the Atari Games content. We are hoping the positive reception that the project has gotten might open some doors in the future.

[sleepygaymer]

Originally posted by Dan Amrich:

Originally posted by APeacefulWarrior:

Where's STUN Runner? Where's RoadBlasters? For the love of god, where's Klax?

In the Warner Bros IP library, having acquired those titles as part of the Atari Games purchase. Anything the coin-op division developed after 1983 is not owned by Atari.

It doesn't mean they aren't excellent games on Lynx -- or that the dev team didn't know they were excellent games on Lynx. It just means they were not available.

Similarly, Bridgestone owns Epyx IP.

I'm just going to point out that Atari SA (the current Atari) owns warbirds.

[Dan Amrich]

Originally posted by sleepygaymer:

I'm just going to point out that Atari SA (the current Atari) owns warbirds.

Unfortunately, the ownership of Warbirds is more detailed than that. :/

[jbrodack]

I get the feeling that current Atari really wants to make the most of the IP that they currently have but don't want to get back or license old IP. Couldn't have been that expensive to license Epyx games or homebrew from Songbird.

Edit: why wasn't Dracula the undead included? Atari owns it from what I could tell.

If you want good legal Lynx collections Evercade has you covered.

[APeacefulWarrior]

Oh wow, you're right. Dracula The Undead would have been a fantastic game to include. Plus, being emulated would solve its one big problem: the lack of a save feature. With saves, it's an absolutely solid adventure game by any standard.

[Pinballwiz45b]

I'd ask for Pinball Jam, but that's 3 separate licenses by itself. And that conflicts with another developer who has recreation rights, assuming they're going for as many tables as possible.

Bally, Williams, and Elvira are included.

[RetroWizard 2600]

I think Dracula: The Undead is owned by Songbird Productions. Unless Atari, SA acquired it from them (they have been buying back IPs lately).

Warbirds was sold to Tommo during the 2013 bankruptcy auction. Not sure if it's still with them.

EDIT: Here's the AtariAge link where Songbird states that they've acquired the HandMade Software catalog (developer of Dracula).

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/294528-songbird-acquires-classic-gaming-properties/#comment-4325653

[Dan Amrich]

Originally posted by Pinballwiz45b:

I'd ask for Pinball Jam, but that's 3 separate licenses by itself. And that conflicts with another developer who has recreation rights, assuming they're going for as many tables as possible.

Bally, Williams, and Elvira are included.

This was one I was hoping for too, but you've spotted three significant hurdles already. :)

[sleepygaymer]

Originally posted by Dan Amrich:

Originally posted by sleepygaymer:

I'm just going to point out that Atari SA (the current Atari) owns warbirds.

Unfortunately, the ownership of Warbirds is more detailed than that. :/

Pretty sure it isn't.

[coolman]

Bruh he worked on the game, he knows lol