RoadBlasters

If in 1990 you wanted to prove to someone that a pocket game didn't have to look like a pocket game, all it took was putting a Lynx running RoadBlasters into their hands. "This can't possibly run on a handheld" — that was exactly the reaction this title collected.

It's a port of the 1987 arcade game, and the principle is beautifully straightforward: you race down a track, shoot other vehicles and combat helicopters, dodge obstacles and try to get as far as possible before your fuel runs out. The adrenaline comes mainly from the speed — the track hurtles toward you at such a pace that there's no time to think, and every corner and enemy tests your reflexes.

But the talk was mostly about the technical side. RoadBlasters is often cited as proof of the Lynx's hardware superiority: thanks to scaling and color, the sense of speed and depth felt so convincing that players and press alike compared the result to the home console Sega Genesis rather than to a pocket machine. Seeing this on a backlit display in the early nineties was a small revelation.

The studio Atari thereby not only expanded the console's library with another arcade gem, but above all handed owners ammunition for the endless debates over whose handheld was technically ahead. And on that front, RoadBlasters spoke clearly.

As a game it's pure arcade riding — no complications, just the pedal to the floor, a finger on the trigger and the drive to get farther than last time. Exactly the type of title you switch on for five minutes and get up from half an hour later.

Why play: A blazingly fast arcade ride with shooting that fully shows off the Lynx's technical power — feeling like you're holding a home console in your palm.