Thoughts about Lynx/NGPC porting (bear with me on this)

I was looking at my Lynx the other day (a tough portable to beat, though it has few good games ), and I got to thinking. I thought to myself, "Self, do you think it would be possible to port NGPC games to the Lynx or vice versa?" I looked at the specs, and figured that a more likely option would probably be NGPC-to-Lynx, because of the larger screen on the Lynx (yes, it's even bigger than the GBA's screen ).

So, my question to anyone in the know is as follows: How feasible would it be to port some NGPC games over to the Lynx? This is a serious question.

Something about the Lynx that made the way it pushed 2d look really ugly, as I recall. I think there's some faqs on the net that would better answer this.

bokmeow:
Something about the Lynx that made the way it pushed 2d look really ugly, as I recall. I think there's some faqs on the net that would better answer this.

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I think one of its tricks to get more colors (flickering through a combination of colors) was most likely the culprit. Klax is highly addictive, though. Very highly addictive. I am jonesin' like a mother for that sweet, sweet Klax... drool_2

Sorry.

2d look really ugly

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I BLOODY DON'T!

Much too difficult I'd say. The Lynx simply wouldn'y cope with the graphics....

Klax is a great game

I don't think the Lynx could handle the detail of the NGPC graphics,but I don't think the NGPC could handle the sheer power of some lynx games (Blue Lightning,Xybots,any racing game

Thank you all for your input and also for not saying stuff like "LOL fsckn l4m3r."

They're very different architectures. Direct ports are likely to be almost impossible. Let me see...

(Bear in mind that I'm no expert on coding for the Lynx)

Screen resolutions are different: Atari Lynx 160x102, NGPC 160x152. Although the Lynx screen is physically larger wink

Graphics capabilities: The NGPC supports 2 indpendent tile plane and up to 64 sprites at 8x8, the Lynx (as I understand it) relies on direct screen access, with some limited sprite capability. The Lynx supports 16 colours per scan line as opposed to the NGPC which use four colour tiles (three "colours", plus a transparency). Both approaches have their advantages - the Lynx is more capable of 3d graphics while the NGPC specialises in shoving 2d around the screen as fast as it possibly can (and it can be *very* fast).

Processor speeds, and capabilities are roughly comparable. Although the Lynx is often quoted as running at 16Mhz, I think the clock speed of the 65C02 is closer to 4Mhz (the 16Mhz figure applies to the custom CMOS chip). The NGPC runs a Toshiba TLCS-900H at 6andabitMhz.

They both have fairly similar sound capabilities, with the NGPC sporting 4 channel 12 bit sound against 4 channel 8 bit on the Lynx. Translating between them wouldn't be practical though as the Lynx uses a custom sound processor and the NGPC uses a standard z80.

Cheers
Chris

Just a quick addendum... I found this handy comparison over at Harry Dodgson's site:

<a href="http://www.provide.net/~hdodgson/compare.html" target="_blank">http://www.provide.net/~hdodgson/compare.html</a>

Cheers
Chris

A better idea is to use the GP32 (GamePark) for the ports. The GamePark already runs NGPC games, GBA, TurboGrafx, etc and has a bigger screen, I believe.

Check this link out:
<a href="http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=2839" target="_blank">http://www.lik-sang.com/news.php?artc=2839</a>

(New thread)

Not that you would lower yourself to using such an item....... wink

Something else to keep in mind is that, in order to port a game, you need to have the source code. Aside from the homebrew games, there's no sources available for Neo Poke or Lynx games, so the closest you could get to "porting" them would be re-writing them from scratch with the original as a model.

Neo Poke games wouldn't be as nice on the Lynx anyway since the d-pad and screen are so inferior.

Sweater Fish Deluxe:
Something else to keep in mind is that, in order to port a game, you need to have the source code. Aside from the homebrew games, there's no sources available for Neo Poke or Lynx games, so the closest you could get to "porting" them would be re-writing them from scratch with the original as a model.

Neo Poke games wouldn't be as nice on the Lynx anyway since the d-pad and screen are so inferior.

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An interesting point. That said, I remember having Mark of the Wolves (Fatal Fury 2001) for the GBA (got it through UGTZ). If color is the issue, the Lynx had tricks to get around that. If resolution is the issue, that would be a much tougher chestnut to crack.

I just brought up the issue because it seemed like SNK and Atari were alike in some way--retrogaming darlings that were hobbled by some poor judgments. That, and the Lynx is still unrivaled in some aspects--it's the first, and to my knowledge the only, handheld that caters to southpaws; also, its screen is bigger than even the GBA's (and backlit to boot ).

*Don't get me wrong, I have and enjoy a GBA. Final Fantasy Tactics is one of the greatest games I've ever played.

An interesting point. That said, I remember having Mark of the Wolves (Fatal Fury 2001) for the GBA (got it through UGTZ). If color is the issue, the Lynx had tricks to get around that. If resolution is the issue, that would be a much tougher chestnut to crack.

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Oh wacky, you have that Hong Kong hack with all the Engrish on it? There was the biggeest disputes on forums everywhere from Gamefaqs to, well, gamefaqs, in regards to the authenticity of that title. Basically it's just animated sprites stolen from Neo Geo Pocket Color's pocket fighting games as I understand it, because, why else would Ryo be in MOTW 2001?

<small>[ March 07, 2003, 11:13 PM: Message edited by: bokmeow ]</small>

bokmeow:

An interesting point. That said, I remember having Mark of the Wolves (Fatal Fury 2001) for the GBA (got it through UGTZ). If color is the issue, the Lynx had tricks to get around that. If resolution is the issue, that would be a much tougher chestnut to crack.

Click to expand...

Oh wacky, you have that Hong Kong hack with all the Engrish on it? There was the biggeest disputes on forums everywhere from Gamefaqs to, well, gamefaqs, in regards to the authenticity of that title. Basically it's just animated sprites stolen from Neo Geo Pocket Color's pocket fighting games as I understand it, because, why else would Ryo be in MOTW 2001?

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Yep. I think Joe might have been in it too. But I don't have anymore, or at least I can't find it.

From what I recall...Lynx~8-bit
NGPC~16-bit

probably not possible in the NGPC~Lynx way. And with the screening on Lynx and the speed I couldn't say vice versa either.

You know the flash advance linker (the pocketnes houser) for gba? someone was working on a lynx emu for it and I think still is