Subject: Under the Lynx Microscope #5

Newsgroups: rec.games.video.atari,alt.games.lynx

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           <<<< Under the Lynx Microscope >>>>



                Edition #5, Date 10/24/97



          By: Carl Forhan (forhan@millcomm.com)



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// FEATURED GAMES: California Games                   //

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ULM is a periodic feature that will be posted to alt.games.lynx and

rec.games.video.atari.  The purpose is to generate some interest and

discussion around the Atari Lynx portable video game system, especially

for game titles that have been "under-exposed" on the internet.  



Contact forhan@millcomm.com for information on contributing to ULM.



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| California Games           |

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Ah, what Lynx would be complete without California Games?  The original

pack-in game for the Lynx, CG includes four simple yet mostly appealing

games:  biking, surfing, skateboarding, and footbagging (for lack of a

better term :-) ).



I've found CG to have repeated appeal, no matter how many new games I add

to my collection.  Why?  Because it is the epitome of the "pick up and

play" game -- you can complete any one of the competitions within five

minutes.  Yet there is enough difficulty built into the game to keep you

coming back to scrape just a few seconds off the bike trail, or squeeze

one more Quadruple jump on your surfboard.  That's the challenge, and it's

quite a refreshing change from the normal storybook puzzle solving RPG

adventure games (not that those are all bad, mind you).



Then throw in some comlynx ability, and add a whole new dimension to the

sporting events.  Have you ever played "kick-me" footbag?  What about

combat surfing?  You're missing out if you've never played this

comlynxed...



Kudos to Epyx for remembering at the inception of the Lynx what made video

games fun in the first place.



Strategy tips:



1) Bike: Besides the classic "one pixel rule," try to look for

   opportunities to make jumps and land on your front tire.  It's the

   forward spins that will garner the most points.



2) Bike: Try doing a backward spin off the largest hill.  You should be

   able to do several somersaults and still land squarely with extra

   momentum.



3) Surf: When playing comlynxed, you can get an extra boost of speed by

   nudging your opponent.  You can also wreck your opponent as he comes

   down from a jump and still do a successful jump yourself.



4) Halfpipe: I _still_ don't know how to do anything on the halfpipe. :-(



5) Footbag: Definitely keep the footbag on as wide of an arc as possible.

   And focus on keeping the bag up rather than doing the fanciest tricks;

   I've accumulated over 22,000 points by not missing once.



___    ___

 |echie |rivia:



A (harmless) code bug causes the "single scanline" bar to be visible

between the title screen and the next screen. 



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|  Carl Forhan    <><   | http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/jaguar.html

| forhan@millcomm.com   | http://www.millcomm.com/~forhan/vindicator.html

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