#10: Ms. Pac-Man Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Wow, Ms. Pac-Man... haven't seen THAT one before on a console." Well the fact is, a lot of the ports of "Ms. Pac-Man" over the years have been far from the quality of the arcade versions. The Atari Lynx version, however, does not let disappoint. It's as close to the original arcade game as you can get, and Ms. Pac-Man is always a must own for any portable system if you ask me (even your only portable system is a cell phone). Furthermore, the Lynx version had some nifty secrets in it such as a speed boost and some extra lives. You simply can't go wrong with quality portable Pac-action like this. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #9: California Games Portable gaming was all about the hardcore gamer's refusal to actually go outside and engage in any kind of physical activity. "California Games" on the Lynx is how gamers would meet the outdoorsy types halfway. Sure, gamers would be outdoors and participating in sports, but they'd be playing these sports on their portable Lynx! I'm sure carrying that heavy Atari Lynx around outdoors was considered to be exercise by some sad individuals. Regardless, the Lynx version of California Games is very faithful to the original one we all grew up playing on the Commodore 64. Furthermore, this is the game that was actually packaged with the original Atari Lynx system. Nothing like playing the hacky-sack (footbag) mini-game and trying to hit the seagulls that fly by. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #8: Rampage Let's face it, being out in the real world exposes you to the many annoyances of society. Bad drivers, noise, pollution, drunken pirates... you name it. Sometimes when you're exposed to these things, it just makes the inner beast within you want to come out and smash things up for a while. That's pretty much where "Rampage" comes in. It's a perfect port of the arcade classic, only they introduce a fourth character so you can have a 4-person multiplayer game! You've got Lizzie the Lizard, George the Gorilla, Ralph the Wolfman, and now Larry the Lab Rat! Lizzie will always be my favorite simple because she was the closest thing to Godzilla, but I definitely dig Larry if for no other reason than he's the only one of the four monsters with a pot-belly. Sadly, his pot-belly is not used to smash the buildings... even though it should be. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #7: KLAX The Nintendo Game Boy had "Tetris", the Atari Lynx had "KLAX". Now while KLAX didn't have the advantage of the awesome in-game music of Tetris, it was still every bit as addictive and challenging. So just what does "KLAX" mean? A KLAX was how you earned points in the game. As the multi-colored tiles came tumbling down you had to place them in vertical, horizontal or diagonal patterns. If you got three or more tiles of the same color in a row, that means you got a KLAX. One of the coolest things about the game was that you actually had to turn your Atari Lynx 180 degrees sideways to play it! This gave the screen more vertical space, and believe me, for a tricky game like KLAX you wanted that extra space and then some! And finally, to add insult to injury, whenever you lose a round the audience groans at you. Yes, you have an audience watching you play this game. No pressure. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #6: RoadBlasters I was torn between this one and "Checkered Flag" because they're both racing games. But in the end, "RoadBlasters" won the decision since it involves both racing AND shooting things. That's a combination that both myself and Mad Max will always be a fan of. The story behind the game is simple: the surface of the planet has been devastated by nuclear weapons, so it's up to you and your gun-mounted car to stop all the evil members of the death squad. You get to shoot their cars, including limos, with a variety of explosive weapons such as the patented "U.Z. Cannon" and the "Cruise Missile". Honestly, the only thing this racing game was missing at the time was the 3D glasses option that "Rad Racer" provided us with on the NES. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #5: Gauntlet: The Third Encounter This was another game that you could play with the Lynx turned 180 degrees sideways. At the time, I remember being amazed that somebody finally put Gauntlet on a portable system and it was a real solid version of the game. The object of "Gauntlet: The Third Encounter" is pretty much what you'd expect from any Gauntlet game: battle your way through impossible odds in the form of spiders, ghosts, slime and even land sharks all in the hopes of rescuing the Star Gem from a deadly castle. And what Gauntlet game would be complete without some great characters to choose from: An Android, a Valkyrie, a Gunfighter, a Nerd, a Pirate, a Punk Rocker, a Samurai and a Wizard! When it comes right down to it, I've always believed that Gauntlet is a multiplayer game at heart... I mean, who wouldn't want to see a Nerd and a Pirate fighting side-by-side? The Lynx does allow you to play the game with up to 3 other people, and unless you're doing just that, chances are you won't appreciate it as much. DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #4: S.T.U.N. Runner Oh "S.T.U.N. Runner"... how I wasted so many quarters on you at the local Chucky Cheese joint when I was younger. This was definitely one game that I never expected to see on a console, let alone a portable one, at the time. The impressive 3D graphics just didn't seem like something a little portable Lynx system could handle. I was wrong. This was a damned fine translation of the arcade classic, and it played surprisingly smoothly. S.T.U.N. Runner is a racing game with a futuristic twist. The object is to complete each course before time runs out, or before your ship is completely destroyed due to your ramming it into everything in its path. You can do some impressive jumps and twirls around the tunnels in this game. I'm sure any fan of the F-Zero series would be able to appreciate this classic gem. Oh and if you were wondering what the "S.T.U.N." stands for, it means "Sub-Terranean Underground Network". DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #3: Blue Lightning Yes, California Games was the first game I ever played on the Lynx since it came with the system, but it wasn't until I played "Blue Lightning" that I was extremely impressed with a Lynx game. Fighter jet games were nothing new at the time with titles such as "Top Gun" and "Afterburner" making their way onto home consoles, but I don't think they had anything on Blue Lightning. This game really showed off the Lynx's impressive hardware scaling capabilities with its super-speedy 3D graphics. Hell, I'd do the barrel roll move sometimes just to see the cool animated graphics. The cool scenery, great graphics and nonstop action really made this game one of the most well-known titles for the Lynx. You're the best pilot in the Air Force, so get up in the skies and prove it, Ice Man! DOWNLOAD THIS GAME #2: Ninja Gaiden There's no denying that the NES version of "Ninja Gaiden" was one of the most entertaining and challenging games ever released for the system, but the Atari Lynx version had a lot going for it. For starters, it introduced a lot of people to the original arcade version of the game, which was quite different from the one on the NES. Lots of psychos in hockey masks and angry tree-swinging lumberjacks wanting to kill our ninja hero. This was a damned nice translation of the arcade version, unlike that piece o' shit that was made for the Sega Genesis. It even has the infamous buzz-saw continue game screen, where if you wait too long to continue, your ninja gets killed. I swear it was hard deciding on whether to continue or to laugh as the ninja grew increasingly panicky as the saw blade drew closer to his abdomen. Good times! DOWNLOAD THIS GAME

#1: Todd's Adventures in Slime World Aside from the huge amounts of time that I spent playing this addictive adventure game, I believe "Todd's Adventures in Slime World" was the first game to ever include a hidden mini-game in which the object was to pop a green zit faster than your opponents by mashing the buttons quickly. That's about as good of a hidden bonus as I've ever seen. But the main game itself, my god... how could a brilliant piece of work like this go virtually unnoticed by the masses for so long? I'm being dead serious here when I say this is easily one of the greatest 2D scrollers of all time. There's some ridiculously cool animated characters in it, a unique ever-shifting rich slimy landscape bubbling with danger for Todd to explore, and to top it all off, you can play a co-op multiplayer game with your friends OR you can hunt them down! Forget Contra. Forget Metroid. I'll gladly take the nasty, sticky, ooze-o-rific gameplay of Todd's Adventures in Slime World over those games any day! I just can't say enough good things about this game, so I guess that means you should play it, huh? DOWNLOAD THIS GAME PLEASE NOTE: to play any of these games, you'll need to download the "Handy" Atari Lynx emulator. You can get the Atari Lynx Handy emulator here.