![Blue Lightning - Atari Lynx - Intro & Mission 1 -3 Gameplay [4K]](/images/yt/jj/blue-lightning-atari-lynx-intro-and-mission-1-3-gameplay-wz4xk.jpg)
Blue Lightning - Atari Lynx - Intro & Mission 1 -3 Gameplay [4K]
16For a 1989 launch handheld release Blue Lightning is a hugely impressive looking and playing title. It's fair to say most people haven't heard of the Atari Lynx format it released on and even less played one. Selling around 3 million units worldwide, the console as a handheld was far more powerful that both its Nintendo and Sega rivals at the time. A steep price point and a damage company image due to the North American gaming crash, no doubt didn't help the format in the market place.
Blue Lightning is an arcade airplane shooter inspired by After Burner. Featuring a number of missions, each with its own objectives, from shooting down enemy fighters to bombing runs on enemy convoys. The scaling sprite used in-game are sublime and as you fly high through cloud or low over rivers, mountain and roads. For a 1989 2D handheld game the depth and height is very well done and the atmosphere is first class. The sound effects such as the engine roar work really well, when using headphones and add to the experience. However, they aren't so great when listen to from the default speaker and the lack of music outside the intro is somewhat disappointing.
Visually this look better than both the NES and Master System and put most of the home ports of After Burner to shame. Fast and highly playable, it looks great and controls great, even if it does run at around 15 frames a second. If like us you recently joined the Atari Lynx club then this is a must buy for the system and a superb showcase of the systems power on release. Amazingly the game even got a sequel on the Atari Jaguar CD, confusingly called Blue Lightning, despite the working title being Blue Lightning 2.
Also known as : ブルーライトニング (Japan)
Release: 1989
Developer: EPYX
Publisher: Atari Corporation (Europe & North America) / Mumin Corporation ムーミン (Japan)
Format: Atari Lynx / アタリ・リンクス
Blue Lightning is not available on any other system and is unlikely to ever be re-released.
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All footage in this video is captured from MAME 0.213 which seems to be the best emulator to match the original hardware on comparison. Upscaled to 4K to improve the video bit rate.