Atari Lynx, the laptop that was almost from Sega

Although the Game Boy dominated the handheld market for most of the ’90s, there were some contenders who did their best to stay on the crest of the wave and out of Nintendo’s shadow. We especially remember Game Gear, Sega’s bet, which many may remember mainly for the small TV tuner you could buy, and of course the color screen, great for the time. But now we’ve learned that the 16-bit Atari Lynx might have been Sega’s first handheld console. This was recently revealed in an interview by veterans of Sega of America tom kalinske and Al Nilsen.

“The interesting thing and we haven’t talked about it much over the years, Tom, I’m not even sure you know, the Game Gear was almost not our first handheld system. When we were getting ready to release the Genesis [Mega Drive en Europa]Sega was in talks with Atari about the possibility of marketing the Atari Lynx under the Sega brand. So when we were building the booth for the Consumer Electronics Show in 1989, when we launched the Mega Drive, I had a separate area and display stand ready, just in case the decision was made to go and bring the Lynx. And as we know, That never happened, and it was Atari that did it.”

The full interview is well worth watching and the two continue to bring a ton of wisdom, despite their age. You can check it out here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdc7D-73xO8/

Remember the Atari Lynx? Did you get to have it?