A lot of older gamers would probably say that the first portable gaming console with color was the Atari Lynx. I have had the pleasure of owning one a few years ago, and it was indeed a robust console. Because of its price, however, and the selection of games from the Nintendo Game Boy, the Lynx died a slow, painful death.


However, these gamers are wrong.



Six years before both the Game Boy and the Lynx came out, there was the Palmtex Super Micro. Only three cartridges came out for it: Aladdin’s Adventures, Outflank, and React Attack, although many more were planned. In addition to the console and one cartridge included, the system featured a LightPak, which was really just a bulky back-light for the game to be seen in dimmer areas and conditions.


I misplaced the two cartridges, but Aladdin’s Adventures was a Mario’s Cement Factory-type of game. The game really didn’t have an ending: the pace just sped up, until you lost all three lives. In my recollection it was the most boring game among the three cartridges made. You can see the game in action here (it’s a bit out of focus).

Outflank would probably be the game that would be the most boring for others, but I like playing Othello and strategy board games. For its age, the computer is quite challenging, although with a little practice one could beat it even at the hardest level. The replay value for this game is immense: the computer ‘enemy’ is actually capable and is challenging at the hardest level.


Outflank victory screen - ‘YOU WIN’ is highlighted

The game I have just obtained, React Attack, is the most well-constructed game among the three. It’s actually so advanced for its age that it predated Chip’s Challenge on the Atari Lynx by five years. It features a terrorist out to destroy the nation’s central nuclear reactor within 15 minutes. By collecting certain items, the player (the flickering light) becomes able to traverse previously impassable terrain: for example, the player must get boots in order to pass over water (the blue area in the lower left and lower middle of the screen); he must get a rope in order to swing across debris (dark red in the lower right and right middle part of the screen), and a ladder (pink in the upper right and upper middle of the screen) to escape from pits. He needs keys in order to cross locked rooms and a flashlight to illuminate dark ones. Most importantly, he needs the Geiger counter in order to locate the reactor, and a radiation suit in order to deactivate the rods.


The game plays out in real-time: all the player has is 15 minutes to find the necessary items in order to reach the reactor core and deactivate the bomb with a three-letter code. There are also terrorists that guard certain areas where one could obtain the items. These are non-violent terrorists, however: if they manage to touch you, you’re just transported to the very start of the game.



A video of React Attack’s gameplay may be seen here. I uploaded it for the curator of HandheldMuseum.com, who was very helpful with my questions.


It’s a lot more complex than the two previous games mentioned. React Attack’s hardest level features disappearing doors. Not only does one have to deal with the time aspect, one also needs to be able to map alternative routes in order to collect the necessary items, find the reactor, and deactivate it later on. Although there are no ending credits - the game just shows one’s score without the ‘game over’ sound (as could be expected from a portable console in 1983), the fact that the game had an ending in contrast to the repetitive gameplay of the Microvision or even most of the Atari 2600's library suggests that it was simply too ahead of the curve to prosper.

Even back at that time, people wanted games that were easy to get into, and easy to play. That was perhaps the death knell of the Palmtex Super Micro: because it featured complex, highly-cerebral games, it didn’t attract children. And because it was too obscure, it didn’t attract adults, either. It was simply too smart for its own good.

