Leery Licensing: Marlboro Licensed Atari Lynx, Plus Prototype Game

Atari was not scared to get out there and try weird things, like trying to convince gamers that the Jaguar was actually a 64-Bit console.  Anyhow, Atari was at least trying (Sega, I am looking your way concerning the Dreamcast).  Atari’s only hand held, the Lynx, was a decently popular device though it was, unfortunately, released against the Nintendo Game Boy.  Atari tried bringing arcade ports such as Ninja Gaiden (the NES version is NOT the arcade game), rebooting popular franchises such as Gauntlet and even going after big name licenses such as Batman Returns.  It was all for naught as the Lynx simply could not gain a large enough foothold to survive in the market.  They even licensed out the Lynx to others for endorsement purposes, such as Marlboro of all companies.

Marlboro Atari Lynx retro hand heldThe first thing you probably noticed was that “Abenteuer” is blazoned across the top of the unit.  That is German for “Adventure” which explains where this device was intended (obviously not for North America or Joe Lieberman’s prying eyes).  That also explains why this elusive little bugger is hard to find in real life.  It was probably created as a marketing ploy by Marlboro, for proof of that, just check out the game “Marlboro Go” which was released in prototype form.

Trivia question- What gaming company got in trouble with Marlboro for having ads in their game that were “too close” for the cigarette company?Marlboro Atari Lynx retro hand held 2

Marlboro Go is a dirt bike racing game that features hills, ramps and obstacles.  There is some slight parallax scrolling in the foreground/background- nothing all that impressive for the Atari Lynx.  Everything is pretty simple from the controls to the graphics- this was probably just a marketing ploy as mentioned earlier so that may explain the simplicity of the title.

Good luck finding a Marlboro Atari Lynx.  They are hard to find and cost a pretty penny.

Source: Imgur

Carl Williams
It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Leery Licensing: Marlboro Licensed Atari Lynx, Plus Prototype Game”

  1. Andrew Spence says:

    Could you get this with your Marlboro Miles?

    • Carl Williams says:

      Probably not since this was a German exclusive deal. It would have been sweet though, sitting there between leather jackets, duffel bags and hats in their catalog.

  2. […] our previous Leer Licensing we looked at the Marlboro Atari Lynx situation from a couple of decades ago.  Today, we are looking at something a little more recent, […]

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Themes Gallery | Thanks to Best Free WordPress Themes, Premium Free WordPress Themes and
%d bloggers like this:
Add to Flipboard Magazine.